Every weekday here in London a free newspaper called The Metro is printed, and if you are riding in the London Underground you are bound to see many people reading it – you almost feel left out if you are not reading one. You probably are not, however, missing anything important – since it is free, you are getting pretty much what you paid for.
The Metro conducted a poll of people in England, and asked them what historical event would they like to have seen in person. So what was number one? Seeing England win their one and only World Cup back in 1968. What was number two, you ask? The second most popular answer was to witness the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I am not even going to go into the idea of wanting to witness an event that might have never even happened – people are entitled to their beliefs and that needs to be respected. I do think, however, that the English are not that much different when it comes to Americans in terms of what they think is important. For example, ask any Boston Red Sox fan if they would rather see the Boston Tea Party or the Red Sox win the World Series in 1918. I think many would choose the World Series because another Boston Tea Party is more likely to happen than another World Series victory for the Sox.
I think that too many people in America try to put people down for having this sort of passion for something that is, in all honesty, not that important. When you really think about it, a sport is just hitting or chasing a ball or something else along those lines, and, in the grand scheme of things, it is certainly not very important.
In England, the most popular sport is football (soccer), and if you go into a pub on any given night, especially on the weekend, there is going to be large crowd of people that are cheering on their favorite team. Now, this is no different than people in America going to bars and watching their sports teams. The real difference lies in how sports fan are viewed in both countries.
American sports fans face an extremely unfair stigma: when a person would rather go to a stadium, ballpark, or arena to watch their favorite team instead of going to something more “cultural” like the orchestra or the ballet, they are perceived to be inherently less smart than the people who do attend those events. Since it is often people with more money going to the more “cultural” events, people unconsciously believe that those with money are also smarter (and if you look at our government, we know that is not true).
People in England view sports fans as people who are passionate not only about their team, but about their country, since sports culture is so large over here. But no one is looked down upon or thought to be less smart because they like sports more than they like Shakespeare. Yes, there are fans who take sports too seriously, but they are in the minority.
I am not saying that sports are better or worse than other leisure activities, but what I am saying is that we all have different passions, and no one passion makes you a more enlightened, smarter, or a more productive member of society – there is no rule that says you cannot like more than one thing. So, tonight I’m off to the pub to watch Manchester United play, and then tomorrow I’m off to theater for a little bit of Shakespeare.Matt Geiger is a senior history major.