Sport and Religion

This week we discussed about sport and religion. I am definitely in the mind frame that sport can be viewed as a religion, and for many people can replace what a mainline religion could offer. People have started to replace religious rituals with sports rituals. As Jacob pointed out, in baseball they sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" religiously, and most players have pre-game rituals they religiously adhere to. 

Jordi Xifra (2008) makes the argument that, "is soccer in general, and more specifically the soccer match, a kind of sports ritual? We have seen that analogies are to be found with religious ceremonies: breaking away from everydayness, a specific framework in time and in space, the repetitive and encoded nature of the practices, emotional effervescence expressed thorough the conventional media, symbolic destiny, sacrificatory drama, the theatre of good and evil." This is a great way to describe the religiousness of sports, and the ways they effect people in a deep way. Sports can provide a ritualistic escape from the everydayness of life. They can provide people with a "symbolic" destiny seen through the dedication put into practices and the outcome of the game. 

For most of my life, I have played the game of water polo. I started playing at 12 years old, and got as far to make it onto the junior olympic team in the US. Due to an injury I had quit playing, but the love and dedication to the game has continued to stay with me. Through this personal experience, I can more than attest to sports being a way of life and a religion. The before, during and after game rituals, sense of community, superstitions, team chants, and more can all be seen in mainline and modern-day religion. To play sport on a high or professional level, many athletes practice up to 8 or more hours a day (I know I did) and will refrain from drinking, partying, and anything else that could hamper their performance. This is a much more than many people who practice religion could claim to do for their religion on a daily basis.