Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Voting Results Are In: Sports Are Better.

Da Bears are playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and I am getting really excited. All of the hype and anticipation going on in Chicago reminded me of a theory brought up by one of my Dad’s favorite radio personalities as to why people care more about sports and their favorite sport teams than current politics. The man thought that it was because you can care a lot about and be very attached to a team, such as I am to the Bears or several of my friends are to the Packers, but whether they win or lose, your life is not going to be changed. If you start to care a lot about politics, and the politician or legislation you supported loses or does not pass, then your life could be affected. He theorized that people are more or less afraid to get involved in politics because they figure that they will not notice that their life is being negatively affected as long as they don’t care.

My main disagreement with his theory is that sports are way more fun than politics and it is kind of stupid to compare the two. Besides that, I think that people don’t vote or don’t get involved in politics because of several different reasons, but fear of the possible outcomes is not one of them for me. I was scowled at a lot last November because I did not vote in the Wisconsin election. My reason for not voting was that my insane schedule last semester did not afford me the time to look up information on the candidates and referendums. I decided to not vote at all rather than make an uneducated vote.

I’m not saying that I don’t understand how important a freedom it is to have the right to vote. My senior year of high school I was involved in the Center for Civic Education’s “Constitution Team” (super dorky, I know), so I basically spent 7 months of that year studying the Constitution and our nation’s government. I read up on a lot of the founding fathers thoughts on the right to vote, as well as many other things that I don't remember at all. Also, I had to keep up with current events because we could be asked about anything going on in politics during our competitions. After all that I was prepared to vote in any election, but I wasn’t 18 yet. Politics, for me, takes a lot of time. Last semester I just didn’t have that time.

I’m going home this weekend for my Mom’s birthday, so I will have time on Sunday to cheer on the Bears. I’ll probably be stressed out during the game, because I stress about everything, but hopefully they win. If not--I guess it won’t affect my life too much.

3 comments:

Sam said...

I enjoyed your post about such seemingly polar opposites in politics and sports. I'll say I'm a huge sports fan, not so much of politics, so I kind of have my own opinion on why some people care more about sports. A little bit like what the radio personalities said, I think it is the fact that if I get involved in politics, but my candidate loses, then I'll be keenly aware of how things are going against me.

For instance, I was very much a Gore supporter in 2000, and when he lost (even though he won), I was much more aware of certain things going on then I would have been otherwise. It was a very big disappointment that didn't go away the next day. But as a huge Packers fan, even though they struggled this year, it was only 8 bad Sundays, much easier to deal with than the 365 days of the year I had to deal with Bush in office (I don't mean to bash Bush).

JC said...

Two words: GO COLTS!

I'm sorry. That was unnecessary. It's sad I that I say that, too. I was born in the north suburbs of Chicago, and my family is all Bears fans and Cubs fans, while I am an avid Packers and Brewers fan. I'm glad you take a rational approach to the game ending though. I've see nway too many people that don't.

Andy said...

I think maybe a lot of people, with me included, don't get so involved in politics because, unlike sports, it has such a huge effect on their lives. As for sports, anyone can root for any team for any reason and no matter if they win or lose, it's just a game and life goes on. With politics people have to spend lots of time researching the policies and stances of each candidate in order to make an informed decision. Last November, I almost didn't vote because i didn't have enough info on the candidates for governor to make an informed decision. So, maybe thats why people like to get involved in sports rather than politics.