Eric Angevine: Why Sports Matter

Contrary to conventional wisdom, sports are not a metaphor for life. They are life. I don't mean that in the overblown, overtly macho Vince Lombardi way, where killing yourself at practice and sacrificing your body to score points may be the most important thing an athlete has to offer to society. I mean it quite literally. Sports are played by human beings - sometimes inspiringly courageous, sometimes damnably fallible - and watched by other human beings. Sports has workers (the players), several layers of bosses (coaches, owners, athletics departments, university presidents), and multinational corporate HQs (MLB, NFL, UEFA, NCAA). People who work in sports probably endure the daily grind in much the same way you do, though many of the workers don't have cubicles, may make millions of dollars per year, and don't leave huge butt-dents in office chairs at the end of every work day. Fans buy into sports in much the way investors play the stock market. Buying North Carolina basketball ... (link)