Passion for Sports...for better or worse

PASSION FOR SPORTS - POSITIVE??

One of the emotions that tends to unite people in sports is passion. It binds fans to players and teams. If you are a sports fan, and fan is a derivative of the word "fanatic", then you have crossed over into the realm of passion, likely more than once.

A fanatic is defined by Princeton University WordNet wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn as:

a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm (as for a cause);

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject"--Winston Churchill

marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea; "rabid isolationist"

That doesn't sound like a positive definition, yet within sports we hold it as a positive emotion for our players to show--for our team to show. Without it we refer to players or teams collectively as having "no heart", "playing without a sense of urgency", or worse "quitters".

It is "just" a game of course, but we feel cheated as fans if our players don't care as much or show the same passion for the game that we do.

We see the same dichotomy in the definition of the word 'passion'.

Passion is defined by Princeton University WordNet wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn as:

a strong feeling or emotion

heat: the trait of being intensely emotional

rage: something that is desired intensely; "his rage for fame destroyed him"

mania: an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action, a feeling of strong sexual desire

love: any object of warm affection or devotion; "the theater was her first love"; "he has a passion for cock fighting";

the suffering of Jesus at the Crucifixion

Interesting how both words have strongly positive and negative connotations attached to them. And as we see many times there is a thin line between the positive and negative applications and it is easy to cross from one side to the other when strong emotions are involved.

We all need some inspiration in our lives and most men get their dose of inspiration from sports--for what it's worth. They feel a sense of community with fellow fans in the shared experiences and struggles of the season. As long as that's as far as it goes, it's basically a harmless diversion.

When we see teams or fans let their passions and emotions spill over into a Hatfield vs. McCoys or Crips vs. Bloods type confrontation--USC and UCLA did recently--we collectively shake our heads and wonder how we let ourselves get to the point where we act like that. How we can turn our positive emotion into a destructive, negative emotion.



PASSION FOR SPORTS - NEGATIVE??

It just goes to show that like the song says, 'it's a thin line, between love and hate'.

A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position. - John Maxwell

We were born with baseball in our blood. It's more than just a sport. It's a passion. It's an opera. It's just a way of being. It's almost like breathing. - Omar Minaya

PASSION - My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. - Psalm 84:2