7/16-7/22: "If My Country's Winning, I'm All For Patriotism"

What role do sports play in patriotism? As the Olympics begin, "proud sponsors" are all over the place, and it's suddenly pretty cool to be all-American. And a few weeks ago, when it looked like the English soccer team might make it to the Euro Cup final, English newspapers rumored that John Major would call a national election if England won. Why do sports create community and regional loyalty? How can we harness this positive effect?

wetfeet: Sports cuts across all divides to create a strong sense of unity, togetherness and common purpose.

Moran: Sport teams substitute as our armies. We fight without bloodshed. We have fun with this "war". We can also barbecue in the parking lots of the battlefield. Seriously though there are so many times that people are split over issues such as abortion, religious affiliation, or socio-economic status that having a single team to support is one way of bridging any or all differences amongst us. Hmmm, harnessing the postive effect of this phenomena would be difficult. How about if large corporations sponsored wars and gave out merchandising such as t-shirts with "After I kill a man, I like to relax in my barracks with a cool glass of Joe Shmoe Cola. *Slurp* Aaaaaaahhhhh!" Maybe. . . I don't know. Bye.

dorseyh: If part of "patriotism" means that the patriot votes, then maybe sports doesn't contribute much. Recently in Denver, the Denver Broncos football team's owner started making noises about needing a new stadium. It will be up to the voters to decide this issue. An enterprising reporter checked and found out that most of the Broncos-- including John Elway--aren't even registered to vote, and haven't been for years. I guess they think that standing up for the Star Spangled Banner 16 or so times a year fulfills their patriotic obligation!

dpurcel: Sports create *temporary* loyalty, because they give people a common enemy to bond against. Ultimately, sports work as a type of glue because they are a complete diversion; sporting events provide a way for issues of class, race, and gender -- or anything of substance, for that matter -- to be completely ignored. The CEO making a cool million per, and the maintenance man making a cool minimum wage, can stand in the company lunchroom and cheer on the Lakers' signing of Team Shaq. My love of Kentucky basketball is probably the only thing I have in common with conservative baptists from southern Ky. And for this reason -- the fact that sports ultimately provide distraction and not permanent, meaningful unity -- nothing positive can be harnessed from them. As a friend of mine once remarked as we both laughed over the difficulties of a certain Atlanta Braves outfielder, "sports isn't really about who you like as much as it is who you hate."

onycho: The obvious view is that sporting events build and encourage blind nationalism. Like when George Bush passed the flag burning laws just before send us into war in the middle east. I personaly could care less who wins what where. It means nothing to me. Its just a reason for Coke to sponsor something else.

delmonteM: I think sports create a feelling of familys joined together by one bond there son or daughters little league team or there son on the major league farm team with major league hopes,for years sports have been a part of american apple pie and hey its 4 hours of americans beeing together a rarer sight these days