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The Importance Of The Silliness Of Sport
It’s often not about what we like but about the fact that we like it.
Retired footballer Jorge Valdano once stated that football was the most important thing among all unimportant things. This clever turn of phrase has stuck with me for years, being myself a fan of the beautiful if overstated game. Having grown up in a part of the world where the central role of sport is especially exaggerated, miles ahead of politics and a universe away from religion, I have often struggled to reconcile my passion for what should never account to more than a good or bad –depending on the score — momentary respite.
The other day, I was reminded of the power of this shared experience. A colleague watched a match that reminded her of a similar encounter between both teams a decade before. She had been there. I had been there. We each support different sides, so the outcomes of the games caused opposed reactions. However, while watching the latest iteration of this sports rivalry, we both remembered close people who had passed away the previous year. We come from different backgrounds and belong to different ages, but grief was common to both. She thought of her brother, and I thought of my friend, and we both knew how ecstatic and gutted each would feel with the final result.