Sports: The Opiate for the People

by Joe Greene

Yesterday the New England Patriots were given a victory parade in Boston. There were over one million people at the parade and many other New Englanders (like me) watching it on T.V. I really enjoy sports but yesterday’s parade left a sour taste in my mouth.

Fan after fan was interviewed and the mantra was the same. Something like, “This feels so great to finally win a championship. This is the best. We’re number one baby! (Index finger raised)” The fan would then join the huge crowd of other fans that paid homage to the sports team, calling them heroes. They celebrated together in true celebration - joyfully yelling and dancing. Some of the other things that fans and commentators said, “There is such a unity here, we are all fans. It feels to good to be a part of something so big.” “After all the events of the last year the whole region has been down – this was the perfect prescription to get us out of that.” “This is such an uplifting thing for these people – emotionally and spiritually.”

There is a natural drive in humans to feel a part of something bigger, to transcend the confines of living in a body for a few decades before we die. We all want to feel that in the midst of an evil world, truly good things happen – that in this life there are certain things that would be so good that we would dance for joy. It is a rewarding endeavor to pursue the satisfaction of these drives.

It is a sad thing, a spiritually destroying thing, to try to satisfy the drive for transcendence, goodness, and true joy through an opiate. The thrill, the detachment from reality, is temporary. It is not a true satisfaction – it is a deception. Opiates can be found in drugs. But the more law abiding ones look to a career, a hobby, an ideology, or even sports to give our lives the appearance of meaning and of transcendence. Opiates are illusions – they give us the feelings that we are looking for, but fall short of the reality and don’t last without another fix. Sports are becoming the opiate of choice in America. We get just enough satisfaction from sports to temporarily quench the thirst for meaning and transcendence – just enough so that we aren’t hungry to look for a lasting, true joy giver.

Is it that easy to fool ourselves, or do we just get caught up in the opiate moment? Should I really feel a sense of superiority (we’re number one baby) because the team from my area won a game? A game created about 130 years ago that involves achieving a contrived goal (although agreed upon) within the confines of agreed upon boundaries and rules. Not only is the game just a contrivance of the human mind but I did nothing at all to contribute to the outcome of the game. Despite these things, this victory is supposed to be “a prescription” for the woes I feel from the events of the past year. Are you kidding me? Is my heartache for my friend Jessica, who died in AA flight 11 on September 11th, supposed to feel better because this team won a contrived game and they happen to play their games in my state?

Do I feel connection to something bigger than myself because I join millions of others who are fooling themselves into thinking that because their favorite team won, something of lasting meaning has happened?

This is a true opiate and around this country children are turning to sports in droves to give themselves a place, a meaning. The tragedy is that this social contrivance has enough social proof to keep people thinking that their bowling league, their local sports team, or their softball team actually is the place to go to feel the true joy of celebration, transcendence, and meaning.

All the time, effort and resources into contrivances and in return we get deception. A rush of feelings that were put in us to call us to God and eternity instead call us to worship the heroes of the game. A rush of feelings that lull us just enough not to stay hungry for the real thing.

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