As I sent another e-mail to my soldier in Afghanistan, I was noticing how many of our exchanges involve sports talk. This isn't to say that we haven't also talked (written, to be exact) about family, career, service, life plans, etc.; but we're both big sports fans and with the baseball season wrapping up and both college and pro football underway, there's lots of news to share.
I realize there are women who love sports and guys who don't, but my experience tells me that most guys love to talk about sports. They love to brag about their teams and trash talk about rival teams. Sports is often a common denominator that brings strangers together. When I'm at an Eagles' game, people who don't even know each other are high-fiving after they score a touchdown. Strangers will gather around a big screen TV at a bar or restaurant and start talking with each other. Many times I've been in a cab in a distant city and I'll ask the driver a question about the local baseball or football team. In seconds, we're deep into conversation, and we don't even know each others' names! I love that.
When my soldier comes to visit in November, we're going to be seeing the Eagles host the Cowboys. Even though he's from Kentucky, he hates the Cowboys as much as the locals do here, so he can't wait to boo them. He told me that in his barracks he has Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants fan under one roof and there's non-stop trash talking amongst them. How great is that?
It's an interesting sociological phenomenon - this fascination we have with identifying with our local teams. As much as it can get out of hand at times, there's still something great about how rooting for a team can bring strangers together.
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