Prof. Paul Eidelberg
Sports has become the religion of modernity. Such is the enormous variety of
sports that one may call it a polymorphic religion. The gods and goddesses of
the sports world are of course human -- here today, gone tomorrow.
As a religion, sports does not seek to answer the riddle of life but rather
to make life amusing. And, thanks to television, sports has entertained countless
human beings in virtually every nation on the face of the earth.
Like certain other religions, sports cuts across national boundaries. One may
say that sports -- think of the Olympics -- is a religion whose universality
is without equal in the history of mankind. In fact, more pages of the world
almanac are devoted to sports than any other subject.
Although sports makes great demands on athletes, it makes no demands on their
worshippers. The latter are merely passive spectators. Admittedly, there are
certain sports, such as soccer, which can transform spectators into hysterical,
rampaging mobs. Sports enthusiasts sometimes get carried away -- on stretchers.
It is precisely enthusiasm that justifies this comparison between sports and
religion. Indeed, like certain religions, sports have “promoters.”
Not that sports promoters are out to convert the heathen. And yet, what are
sports commercials all about? Notice how the names and pictures of superstars
appear on commercial products. Surely to lure believers as well as buyers.
Today superstars are worshipped like the saints of old. Of course, those who
worship these superstars are not expected to imitate or emulate their heroes
or heroines. And in contrast to the saints of otherworldly religions -- saints
who may once have been sinners -- superstars need have no qualms about morality.
It’s enough for them to excel in this or that sport to win the adulation
and admiration of others.
In former times the exemplars of mankind were the founders of religion, philosophers,
poets -- men of the spirit or of the word. Today it’s the athlete.
The earnings of superstars are astronomical. And they are admired not only for
their athletic skills but for their wealth. Indeed, they are often ranked according
to their dollar winnings, indicating that sports is the religion of an age steeped
in commercial materialism.
Whatever the sport in question, whether it involves hitting a ball, running,
racing, jumping, skiing, or skating, one thing they all have in common: motion.
Motion is the dynamic principle of modernity.
Motion, speed, or let us say change, is typical of commercial, democratic societies.
Every manufacturer, every politician, emphasizes change. In such societies nothing
is permanent, nothing is calm. No wonder anxiety, angst, alienation, loss of
identity, are rampant. Thank goodness for sports. Now you can identify with
Michael Jordan or Martina Hingris.
Some observers deplore the ascendancy of sports as the regnant religion of our
times. They deem this symptomatic of civilizational decay. And yet, the mere
fact that people admire great athletes proves that man has an inherent need
to exalt some form of excellence. One may even say that sports is the only aristocracy
remaining in this democratic or egalitarian age, an age of abject mediocrity.
It cannot be denied, however, that the aristocracy in sports is an aristocracy
of the body. Not that the mind is irrelevant. But in sports the mind is wholly
subordinate to the body. Thus, whereas the body was once deemed the receptacle
of the soul, today, in this materialistic era of genetic engineering, the body
is virtually identical to the soul.
Let us be candid: worship of the body is the preoccupation of the democratic
world. Witness health clubs, aerobics, jogging, dieting, plastic surgery, face
lifts, liposuction, etc., etc. And then there is sex ...
Sex has invaded sports. Promoters of tennis, for example, want their female
athletes to be beautiful. This helps fill the stadium and sell more sports products.
Who wants to look at homely superstars? A tennis match can take two hours!
Speaking of time, the ascendancy of sports may be attributed to the labor-saving
devices and free time which scientific technology has made possible for people
in the West. And oh, sports is such a wonderful time-killer. Imagine the boredom
countless human beings would suffer were it not for sports. What a blessing!
Were it not for the vast variety of sports now visible on the boob tube 24 hours
a day, far more people would take drugs, blow their brains out, enter asylums,
or resort to crime.
Hence, even if we live in an age of decadence, we should be grateful for sports.
But here a word of caution is in order. It is sometimes said that sports such
as the Olympics is a great promoter of international peace. Don’t believe
it! Politics is also a sport, and so is war. People compete for power as well
as for gold and silver medals.
As von Clausewitz might have put it, sports, like politics, is a form of warfare
pursued by other means. Enjoy yourselves, but don’t forget: the biggest
stakes are war games!