by Zain Jaffer
After all was said and done, the 2024 Superbowl LVIII ended with the Kansas City Chiefs beating the San Francisco 49ers in a great game [https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/super-bowl]. Of course there was the halftime show with Grammy award winning singer Usher, and the side spectacles led by Taylor Swift, whose boyfriend Travis Kelce played for the Chiefs.
America is a divided country. We have red states and blue states, and sometimes the discussions have become so vitriolic. Worst we have seen the ugly spectacle of the January 6, 2021 mob insurrection at the Capitol.
Despite the efforts of some sectors to remove physical education from schools, America’s love affair with sports cannot be denied. We have basketball, football, and baseball, and many of our heroes are sports heroes. While the infatuation by some diehard fans may go overboard, and players salaries may have risen to the point where these may look obscene to some, sports has a role to play in our society.
Sports emphasizes our virtues of teamwork, hard work, sacrifice, creativity, fair play, sportsmanship, and other positive factors that benefit us. Granted we sometimes see some negative role models who go overboard, and sometimes even afoul of morals and the law, as a whole the influence of sports is positive.
Some may say for example that the goal is to win elections at all costs to “save the country.” Perhaps we should reexamine that attitude. That in trying to advance an agenda, the proponents use unfair means, maybe they should ask themselves if they are really improving society. Maybe it does not rise to the point of being criminal, but winning at all costs has a negative impact on our society that sometimes takes years, even decades to recover from.
There is the law for example. Then there is also the law we twist to suit our own agenda. Are we fooling ourselves that the policies and agendas we push are really good for America? Or are these simply good for us?
Ask yourself for example, if your political candidate is being hindered by a particular law that you want overturned but in the next election you find that the law actually helps you, will you switch sides in terms of your position on that law? In that case you might be helping your candidate win, but are you being honest with yourself or adjusting your principles to win?
It is good we still have these sports games that bring us together. Maybe our team loses, but we manage to celebrate or gloat with our friends and family if we win or lose. We humbly accept the game results for how these turn out and move on.
That is good for us. That is, and will always be, good for America.
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