Watching vs. Playing

Since it's about time for the start of March Madness (that's the NCAA basketball championship for those of you who don't know), I felt compelled to write on the subject of watching sports.

Now, while in the past few years I discovered how fun it can be to dress up and be girly, I am still a tomboy at heart. I grew up playing sports with the guys and the whole shebang. In fact, I still play high level competitive women's soccer to this day. Over the years I picked up swimming, skating, skiing, soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, cross country, track and field (sprints, long jump and javelin specifically), golf, ultimate frisbee, touch football at recess (tackle if teachers weren't looking)...etc. Was never a fan of baseball though. To this day I dislike that sport. I find it incredibly tedious and boring. (Interesting to note though that despite being Canadian, I've never really gotten into hockey. My parents wouldn't let me play when I was younger because they were afraid I'd get hurt. They signed me up for ski racing instead. Ironic thing was that was how I broke my wrist. I did do the girl equivalent of figure skating though.)

In fact, at my grade 8 graduation I won the top female athlete award and went on to win an award for athletic achievement when I graduated high school four years later.

Now another funny thing about my family is that my dad is Canadian and my mom is American. My dad doesn't do sports. At all. My mom watches sports obsessively - especially football. And college basketball. She started watching soccer a few years ago simply because she needed something else to watch in the summer I think and because after years of watching me play she has a good idea how the game works.

This is to establish my street cred in the fact that I do get sports. I honestly do. What I don't get is the obsession with watching other people play them. Even more baffling it watching the professional sports where they are paid millions of dollars. I don't understand why you memorize all these stats and obsess over every little detail. I just don't get it. I don't think I ever will.

I watched the Olympics religiously when it was on, but that was mostly because you get to see some cool stuff you usually don't see. Like freestyle skiing. I used to always watch figure skating with my mom back in the day when I still skated. I watch March Madness with my mom as well. I also watch World Cup Soccer. And sometimes I'll watch college football.

But the idea that it is more enjoyable to watch other people play a sport than to play it myself? Pft! I'd rather go do it myself. I get frustrated watching other people play. My mom wouldn't let me go to my sister's games anymore because I used to yell to much about what they should be doing. (Oddly, I never really yelled at the ref unless they were really bad because I was a soccer referee for almost 10 years.) I've yelled at the tv too when watching certain games, so I mean I sort of get it...but I don't get the obsession people - mainly guys - seem to have. Maybe it's because as you get older you can't do stuff like that anymore? But I'll admit it kind of makes me laugh when I see people (like my mother) who clearly never played sports but get so obsessed over it on tv. To be fair to my mother she wasn't allowed because she had knee problems and she also grew up in the 50s-70s so womens sports weren't as common as they are now. And she was from small town Ohio, so their weekly excitement was the Friday night football or basketball game.

I suppose if I wanted to use my undergraduate degree in History I could probably do some research and make the links to the fact that back in the day people watched jousting and gladiator battles. There's always been contests of strength and the Olympics go way back to 776 BCE. (I know this because I just finished a lesson plan on Ancient Greece earlier today.) So why do we derive this thrill from watching others compete in these contests?

For some it's a bonding experience and something to do. I know that's why I was all excited to watch the Gold Medal Hockey game. We had some snacks and yelled at the tv and then popped champagne when Canada came out victorious because we decided to class it up a bit. But it can't be purely social, as tons of people watch games by themselves on a regular basis and follow their favourite team through thick and thin. The Toronto Maple Leafs have the strongest fanbase/franchise...yet they lose all the time.

So what is it about sports that sucks people in so that they care so much? Why is it that they'll cry when their team loses or wins a championship? It's not like they themselves contributed. They don't even personally know the team members.

It's a strange thing in my opinion. Personally, I'm going to stick with going out and actually playing the sports. Watching other people have all the fun tends to bore me.