Every four years the world comes together to compete in the Olympics. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but competition unites us all. Furthermore, it helps to foster a sense of nationalism here at home.
Whether you watch every event or only know who wins from conversation, it is near impossible to ignore the games completely. As a result Team USA creates a sense of companionship at home in the states.
During a time when many of our institutions are in a state of change, people look for consistency. For many, sports provide this anchor.
Sports still manage to embody much of the essence of the original American dream—the rookie, the underdog, the fair game, winning, and a general sense of succeeding as a result of hard work and determination.
Despite all the conflicting opinions on politics and social justice, Americans can still come together and appreciate a good game.
As a result American athletes are akin to celebrities, Olympians or not. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t recognize the name Sean Green or Kobe Bryant, but how many people know the name Timothy Geithner, the U.S. treasurer?
American athletes are heroes and role models for kids and adults alike. They can restore our faith in institutions, in our nation, or, at the very least, provide us with a nice distraction.
People gather around the television to watch the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Series, and Olympics because sports bring us back together and unite us in even our darkest hours.
After the stock market crash in 1929, we followed, New Yorker, James Braddock as he became heavy weight champion of the world. Americans, black and white, came together in 1947 to fight segregation and unite behind Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Then during the Cold War Americans watched the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Soviets in an inspirational game.
Throughout history sports have brought us hope, unity, and something to believe in when all else seemed bleak.
However, even our athletes are subjects of scandal. Perhaps because of their high pedestal they’re patronized even more harshly than others for succumbing to pressure and making mistakes.
Whether it’s using steroids, marijuana, or affairs, when our athletes do wrong it’s unbearable. However, we forgive them most everything because sports are our pastime, our escape, and our dream.
We hold our athletes up to high standards because, despite everything, sports have been a consistent inspiration. So, maybe despite the political complications and social inconsistencies we currently face we can once again look to our Olympic athletes to set a good example and inspire us to live up to the American dream.
If our athletes can display good sportsmanship then who is to say the rest of us can’t too? With the civil unrest on Wall Street and tensions of a presidential election year we need a positive example from our athletes more than ever.