MAY 28, 2022 – “Well, on a happy note and apropos of our individualism is the diversity of our personal interests beyond mere existence. This results from our social and technological evolution and revolutions that have allowed us to flourish, despite our destructive behavior.”
“What on earth are you talking about now?”
I liked the alien’s flare for the idiomatic imagery of English. “I’m thinking about all the things that humans pursue in their spare . . . time. Let’s start with a Viking-Packer football game.”
“Yes, you’d mentioned that earlier. What is a Viking-Packer football game?”
“Something that means everything to some people and nothing to others.”
“How can that be?”
“For some people, football—especially Vikings vs. Packers, if you’re from Wisconsin or Minnesota—is a complex competition between two sets of players; a form of physical chess involving multi-faceted strategic thinking and tactical execution. People who see football this way become addicted to the sport, which over time, becomes a religion. For other folks, football is dumb; a boring contest between two groups of oversized people to see which group can do the better job of moving an odd-shaped, inflated, leather object up and down a green, grass-like rectangle on which lots of white lines have been painted.”
“So, an all-or-nothing proposition?”
“Well, now that you ask, not exactly. I mean lots of people are in the middle. For them, Viking-Packer football is neither dumb nor religion. I know lots of people in this group. And irrespective of my own interest (I used to be a rabid major league baseball fan)—or lack thereof (I don’t follow any sport, though I find football intriguing)—‘big sports’ generally are at the center of modern civilization around our globe. Beyond the pure entertainment factor for millions of fans, sports serve several other critical functions.”
“Such as . . .?”
“First, sports bring people together in a way that has them all cheering for the same thing, the same colors, the same team. It’s an ‘all for one and one for all,’ proposition, and that helps build community spirit, which many of us still think is a good thing.”
“I see,” said the alien, “except you said, ‘Vikings vs. Packer,’ and my understanding is that ‘versus’ means ‘against,’ so how does that bring people together.”
“You have a point there. Let me clarify. Each city with an NFL football team or other major league sports club swells with civic pride—as long as their team performs well. So within any given city or state, the teams of that state build community. Now, when the Packers come to town, you’re quite right—the ‘versus’ part is strongly apparent—for following the Packers team are many of its fans, and when they cheer, the Vikings fans boo and vice versa. To further complicate matters, close to the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, you’ll find Green Bay (Wisconsin) Packer fans who reside in Minnesota and Minnesota Vikings fans from Wisconsin. I don’t have a good explanation for that confusion. But I’ll readily admit—on earth exists much confusion for which I don’t have a good explanation.” (Cont.)
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
