Pro sports have their problems—but they meet important needs in our society

Sports are more than just entertainment. 

I know a lot of good people who are completely indifferent to professional sports, or even write them off as useless or destructive (like in the meme above). I can relate to a lot of the reasons. However, I would like to offer some thoughts that I hope may add nuance to that outlook.

In short, I think pro sports serve an important purpose in our society, even though there's plenty to critique about the industry. 

I started thinking about it while following our beloved Bengals' recent Super Bowl run, which unfortunately ended just short. I've always been a big fan, but the past few weeks have been an unprecedented whirlwind of excitement for the whole city, which made me reflect on why, and what benefits people get out of watching sports.

First let me confess that I can be an extraordinarily judgmental person, and there are many cultural norms, habits, and trends in the U.S. that I have lambasted throughout my entire life. Certainly, there are many criticisms to be made about professional sports in our country. Here are a few:

• As a country, we spend A LOT of hours in front of the TV watching sports, much more than we spend participating in them ourselves. Just like movies, shows, and everything else in the entertainment industry, it has a pacifying effect on us, and distracts us from societal problems. At least some of that time we could be spending doing other things that have a more tangible benefit to our communities. These days, I try to limit myself to mostly just watching games in which my own teams are playing.
• The cultural milieu surrounding sports often promotes toxic masculinity. A good player in most sports needs to be fast, strong, fierce, competitive, and confident. That in itself isn't the problem; the problem is that other opposing qualities—vulnerability, softness, humility—are looked down upon and denigrated throughout the mainstream culture of sports-watching. In men's sports, the role of women is limited to cheerleading and serving as a trophy or object of reward for the winners. Much more has been said about this by people more knowledgeable than me.
• Sports culture can also be anti-intellectual. Players are expected to entertain using their physicality. When they step outside of that box to express political or philosophical views that conflict with mainstream culture (like Colin Kaepernick or Muhammad Ali), they take a lot of heat. Fans, too, are expected to limit their observations to the games themselves. Too much curiosity and reflection—outside of the actual strategy of the game—is met with distrust by other fans.
• The amount of money in sports, and the inequality it represents, is pretty disgusting. I won't fall into the trap of blaming players for striking when even the highest paid among them earn a fraction of what the owners do, but nor do I believe players (or anyone) should be multi-millionaires.

These are all valid critiques of the culture around professional sports in our country, and probably throughout the world. Each of them could probably be made about other industries as well though; I think they are more a reflection of our capitalist-consumerist society than they are of sports themselves. 

So what positive role do sports play in our society?

Well, first let's keep in mind that the sedentary, post-industrial, tech-oriented world we live in, for better or for worse, is vastly different than the hunter-gatherer societies in which our species evolved to be what it is. Because of that, there are certain human needs that were met more "naturally" in the societies of our ancestors (and still are in many societies around the world), but that in our culture have to be satisfied in different ways—as strange or unnatural as they seem—because the previous options no longer exist. 

So first of all, I'm a firm believer in Carl Jung's idea that humans have an unconscious, inner-longing to adventure and complete some hero's journey, and watching professional sports gives people a way to satisfy that longing. None of my teams have ever won a championship, so I don't even know what it feels like to actually complete the quest. But what keeps me following those teams is the IDEA that they one day COULD. Watching them allows me to vicariously live out that journey, one day accomplish the mission, and come home. No matter how bad things get (and they've been bad for us Cincinnati sports fans, trust me) there's ALWAYS that hope that things will change. And so just like good mythology, sports mirror the challenges we face in life and provide much-needed hope and motivation for continuing on. 

Could there be better ways to satisfy that hero's journey? Sure, ideally. But we don't live in an ideal world; there is much alienation and misery and feelings of meaninglessness in our current society.  In hunter-gatherer or other non-industrialized societies, I imagine those needs are satisfied through the hunt, or ceremonies, or ritual story-telling. I think such methods are probably healthier, and I fully support efforts to try to reclaim some of them in the modern world. But that isn't easily accessible to the majority of folks in the U.S. So if sports provide a temporary sense of meaning, however artificial, isn't it better that they exist than not?

Similarly, sports also allow people, especially men, to express emotions they aren't allowed to express otherwise. We're usually not supposed to express sadness, but no one would look at us sideways for crying after losing an important game. We're usually expected to repress excitement and passion, but it's perfectly acceptable to scream and shout for joy after winning one. Should men have other ways to get in touch with their emotions? Absolutely; it's a journey I've been on for some time and will continue. But for those who don't have other ways readily available, sports provide an outlet to be emotional.

Secondly, I've heard it said that sports prepare people for the patriotism necessary to convince people to support war efforts. I could believe this. But could it also be that sports provide an alternative way for people to get out their aggression and tendency to make some other group into the "enemy?" People chanting or posting rude things about another team may seem crass, but it's a lot less harmful than racism, homophobia, nationalism, etc. (Unless you could convince me that sports rivalries ENCOURAGE those things—but I don't think that they do.)

Lastly, belonging to a group is something that humans are hard-wired to seek. But nowadays many of us lack a strong sense of community. Again, sports fill that gap by providing a common interest and goal for people to rally around. One of my favorite former students put it this way in a social media post right after the Bengals won the game that would send them to the Super Bowl:

"As the bengals won yesterday and I was hugging a random tight in the bar. I realized that sports really unites people! 

I ain’t know that man from a can of paint but baby we hugged when that clock hit 0:00 like we was meant to be 🤣 WHO DEY"

I couldn't express it any better, and I felt the exact same way hugging people I'd just met at a bar in Cusco every time the Bengals scored a touchdown last Sunday.

So instead of writing off professional sports as a whole, I think it would be more productive to critique what needs to be critiqued while also acknowledging their value. They provide important outlets for human adventure, combativeness, and need for community. Plus, they're just fun! Learn the rules, watch some games, and you'll see for yourself.