The thing about sports is that they only matter because we collectively decide they do.
Last night I watched the highlights of what might be Vince Carter’s very last NBA game. It was weird because Vince Carter is in perfect health, and the NBA season should theoretically not be over. It was weird because Vince Carter is an athlete who has seemed to find meaning and joy in the craft of basketball—which is something I think we should all strive for in our work, and to see that taken away from him is unfair, even in the context of a global pandemic.
For many of us, millions of us, sports are a sort of natural frame of reference—a mutually agreed on alternative calendar. We can divide our lives in the context of Vince Carters and Tom Bradys and Ken Griffey Jrs. At a time when we are becoming increasingly isolated, both physically and spiritually, sports are something we can share, even when it means yelling at each other from opposite sides of a rivalry or a debate about how elite Joe Flacco is, or whatever dumb thing.
And it could also be brutal for us as fans. Sports are, after all, supposed to distract us from the uncertainties in our life. And for a moment, they won’t be there to do that.But the thing about sports is that they only matter because we collectively decide they do. They would be meaningless without the unspoken, unwritten contract that we all agree to; they would be meaningless without us jointly deciding to care about games with made-up rules.
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