Keeping Score and Modified War

circa
I enjoy playing sports. I also enjoy watching sports, to a great extent. I’ll even go so far as to keep up with certain teams and individual players, with great interest, keeping tabs on statistics, trades, how certain players are getting along with the rest of their team and other teams, team/player rivalries both past and present, etc.
With that being said, I do these things out of nothing more than distracted interest. Because I know what sports are, at their core: sports are a modified version of war. If one is to break down the elements of sports, it quickly becomes apparent that sports are nothing more than a succession of battles over territory, property and influence, just like war.


First, there has to be a motive, a catalyst to incite the conflict. A lot of the time, this catalyst is nothing more than a synthetic item, such as a rubber ball or a leather disk. From that point, the objective boils down to one group saying, “You have something we want, so we want to take it from you.” This is the epitome of what causes a war.
The incomplete parallel continues into dividing large groups, such as conferences, into subgroups, or teams; this is similar to countries dividing their militaries into large organizations, like the Navy, Army, Air Force, etc., then dividing those further into subgroups, or regimes, platoons, brigades, etc. This occurs only for the purpose of obtaining and/or maintaining territory. Piecing these entities together, one sees a hierarchy of roles and authority: coaches/generals, players/soldiers, even team physicians and medical officers. All of these share similar roles on the “field of battle.”
Next, these groups mobilize, not to increase the size of their territories, per se, but to gain property. For example: one militia will attempt to overtake another so they can claim shelter, food, water, weaponry and even people. Whomever obtains the most property will win the war. In the entire world of sports, there is a system of obtaining property, and that system is a “point” system. If one team scores a greater amount of points than the other, then that team wins. Wars use bullets, sports use balls.
Lastly, both the military and sports teams are seeking the power of influence. The team that wins the most games or matches has the greatest influence, and the military that wins the most battles also has the greatest influence. Both entities seek to have the greatest influence over any other, because the military or team that has the greatest influence has the greatest advantage over a long period of time. Teams that win get more money and better players. Militaries that win get more respect and recruit better soldiers. With enough influence, both sports teams and militaries create what is called a “dynasty,” and beating them is a great honor.
I tend not to take sports very seriously, as a result of all this. I enjoy the entertainment value of sports, and the inter-personal relationships that exist amongst all of the players and teams. Although, both sports and war are, as far as I can tell, completely unnecessary. Excessive to the fullest extent. The amount of money, personnel, natural and synthetic resources, health risks and damage on a social as well as a political scale are tough arguments to beat if one is to use reason, beyond what is essentially a “just because” response. Territory, property and influence are all illusions, created by men who like to wear costumes, and are, for lack of a better word, bored.

Take a look outside of the groups engaged in the conflict. You’ll see there are significantly more spectators than there are participants, cheering on one side or the other to win. Can you imagine if this greater populace took a neutral stance over the compcompeting entities? Can you imagine if the conflict was actually nothing more than a game to test each others’ abilities? Can you possibly imagine if every person involved with these wars and modified wars finally gave it all up to devote the same time, energy and resources to things which actually propel the advancement, maybe even the enlightenment, of our species?

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