Love is such a tricky, connotative word. What does it really mean to love? Is how we use the word love even an actual definition of the word? We say, “I love you” to our spouses and our families everyday but what are we really saying? This goes beyond people to how we love our pets. This goes beyond the living to a love for our cars and houses. We love entities and organizations such as the Wisconsin Badgers or the Green Bay Packers. When we say the word love to our family and we say the word love concerning a professional sports franchise, are we meaning the same kind of love? Are there multiple versions and types of love out there?
The answer to that question really depends upon who you ask. If you ask most fans they would say absolutely they “love” one particular team or player as much, or in some case way more, than they love some of the members of their own family. Sometimes it depends upon when you ask the question, such as in season or out of season. “Around the holidays I really love my family but when it is opening day for my favorite team, don’t be surprised if I miss the birth of a child”.
If you ask Dr. Scott Peck in the famous book “The Road Less Traveled,” he will tell you that you cannot truly love anything that cannot think independently of you and seek a higher level of consciousness and spiritual growth. In other words, he is saying that you cannot really love anything other than a human being with their own free will and freedom of choice. Our pets “need” us for food, water and shelter. Our teams we love often have no idea we are alive or if are we rooting for or against them. We don’t like to think of it that way but it is quite true. Your favorite team’s winning or losing has nothing to do with you watching or not watching the game. There are no jinxes, and if a guy has made 61 free throws in a row and you mention he hasn’t missed since Fido was a pup, it doesn’t influence the result of the next free throw in any way, shape or form.
So yes we love our teams and we want them to be successful, but remember the type of love we speak about when we say these things. The love we have for our children and our spouses can never be compared to our ball club adding the right pieces at the trade deadline. Show what “real” love is the next time a big game is on and turn off the TV and have a candlelight dinner with your significant other. Or hit the off button and take your kids to the park and enjoy some quality time with a group of people you can actually say, “This is MY team!”