Sports Idolatry

This isn't really going along with the Pirates life lessons thing, but it really could if I wanted it to.

I'm just going to get straight into it. When you step back and look at Americans and sports it's really not far off from straight up idolatry. Skipping all of the basic ideas that are probably obvious just from that sentence, let me say this.

Doesn't getting happiness or sadness from things that people you don't know do seem wrong? Shouldn't the large majority of your life's time and emotions be about things you do, or things the people that you love do? How did we get to the point where people live to watch other people do things? What does a Pittsburgh Penguin Stanley Cup get any of their fans? Sure, they can be proud of seeing a team that they consistently support beat out all the teams that other fans support, there is some element of warranted pride there, but Americans have taken it entirely too far. Sidney Crosby winning the MVP or whatever they call that award in hockey doesn't help you get good grades, a good job, more friends, more money, or anything. All it does is provide a short term happy feeling that doesn't really get you anywhere.

I understand sports and being a fan of sports, I've been doing it all my life. That said, imagine how much better off we'd be if we took some of the time we dedicate to sports and dedicate to something more productive? What if I would have learned a bunch of stuff about computer science instead of spending the first 21 years of my life worrying about the things the Pirates did? Sure, the Pirates stuff got my name out there, and I'll probably reap some benefits of that for years to come, but honestly if I would have focused more on computer stuff the last four years I would probably be on the fast track to having a very successful and wealthy life (not that I'm just in all this for the money... although, hold up, yeah I kind of am).

The fact is that we become more passionate about things that other people do than what we do, and that holds us back. Sure, a 6'8'' LeBron James having a 40 inch vertical leap is definitely more interesting than being able to program a computer or manage a database, I'd rather spend more of my time working on me than worrying about people I'll never have a relationship with.

It really all comes down to the fact that the easier life gets, the worse we are at it.