Why bother watching sports?...

I tend hear this a lot : "Why do people watch sports? Watching a bunch of millionaires play with a ball is stupid." Well there might be something to be said for that statement... I can see once anyone bothered to look at some the contracts of the players they would find themselves asking how are these guys getting paid so much money to play a game? I don't know what to say to those people, I think some of us are getting too cynical. I can't get enough of sports, I love the real life drama, timeless stories of the underdog, and tension of watching the games play themselves out not knowing who will come out on top.

I think this past year in rooting for my teams I've seen all the highs and lows of watching sports. I can talk about being in the dumps with Raider football and UCLA basketball, watching the games hoping for some spark of life but knowing all there really was for me was to look forward to "next year". Watching Dodger baseball and Cardinal football, seeing flawed teams come together to make a run in the playoffs only for them to come up short again... However, the thrill of watching the Lakers march to back to back championships over the hated Celtics was second to none. Maybe I'm being naive and watching these millionaire jocks play games is dumb but I just don't see it that way.

I guess I'm always going to be a sucker for watching people play out their dreams on a stage in front of the world, seeing if they can make it work together. Watching for guys like Arjun Atwal, age 37, win his first ever PGA tour event and in doing so becoming both the first Indian born player to win on the PGA and the first Monday qualifier to win on tour in 24 years. I love stories like that. Of course I can just break it all down as simple as I can, in the end watching sports is a great getaway from the daily grind...