Does it still matter, as we go to war, who wins the national men's basketball title? As much as it ever did. (Salon.com)
Here's the article in part:
QUOTE
When people are dying half a world away, does it really matter whether Kentucky or Texas wins the national men's basketball title, or whether Sam Houston State or Wagner can pull off a colossal first-round upset out of the 15th seed?
The answer is no, it doesn't matter any more than it ever does, which is not at all.
Except that it does matter. It matters because this is what we do, this is how we live our lives. There are always people dying half a world away and sometimes half a block away, or even closer. There are always serious issues, global, local and personal, that make the problems of an Oklahoma shooting guard with a pulled groin muscle not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
But we make room for the things in our lives that interest us. There's no contradiction in worrying about what's happening in Iraq and whether that new recipe you're trying out works, nothing wrong with wondering whether you have enough money for that Elton John-Billy Joel concert at the same time you're wondering whether the Bush administration is leading us into a quagmire in the Persian Gulf region, nothing to keep you from fearing, at the same time, for the lives of troops and civilians in Iraq and that your top-seeded alma mater will suffer an embarrassing first-round loss to some school you've never heard of.
Of course these fears and worries don't carry equal weight. If we are thinking fans in the first place, we don't need tragedies and conflagrations to, in the inevitable words of some coach, athlete or commentator during troubled times, \"put sports in perspective\" for us. Sports are already in perspective. They are part of our lives, those of us who care about them, but if we're healthy, if we're smart, if we're engaged with the world, sports don't rule our lives, they merely help give it color and shape, in the same way that the arts and tomorrow's dinner and the soft spot right below a certain someone's ear do.
The answer is no, it doesn't matter any more than it ever does, which is not at all.
Except that it does matter. It matters because this is what we do, this is how we live our lives. There are always people dying half a world away and sometimes half a block away, or even closer. There are always serious issues, global, local and personal, that make the problems of an Oklahoma shooting guard with a pulled groin muscle not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
But we make room for the things in our lives that interest us. There's no contradiction in worrying about what's happening in Iraq and whether that new recipe you're trying out works, nothing wrong with wondering whether you have enough money for that Elton John-Billy Joel concert at the same time you're wondering whether the Bush administration is leading us into a quagmire in the Persian Gulf region, nothing to keep you from fearing, at the same time, for the lives of troops and civilians in Iraq and that your top-seeded alma mater will suffer an embarrassing first-round loss to some school you've never heard of.
Of course these fears and worries don't carry equal weight. If we are thinking fans in the first place, we don't need tragedies and conflagrations to, in the inevitable words of some coach, athlete or commentator during troubled times, \"put sports in perspective\" for us. Sports are already in perspective. They are part of our lives, those of us who care about them, but if we're healthy, if we're smart, if we're engaged with the world, sports don't rule our lives, they merely help give it color and shape, in the same way that the arts and tomorrow's dinner and the soft spot right below a certain someone's ear do.