All over the US, today marks the beginning of college football season! This is a time when those who are convinced that their team is the best, will be able to rally behind them, support in whatever way they can, and see if they are right (or blame officials, coaches, weather, health and physical conditions, etc. if they are wrong). Football is such an interesting season that those who are non-football often have great difficulty in coming to terms with fans’ actions, their disappointment, their celebrations and their suddenly being a part of something that they may not have ever truly been a part of.
Because I am in Alabama, let’s keep in mind the two big ones for example.
People all around me want to know which team one goes for. (This question comes right after “What’s your name? And what church do you go to?”) Startled is the best way to describe one when he hears that you really don’t care one way or the other. Often, it’s a conversation stopper because they wonder if there is something wrong with you because you don’t.
The part that “gets me” is when they say, “We won!” I often wonder why they feel it so strongly that they will take it personally. I have asked before something like, “Oh, you graduated from there?” And they say, “No.” So I again wonder how it became their team. To my amazement, some die-hard fans have never even been on the campuses of those schools they so fervently support. Amazing. But they are so convicted in their love of the team and the game that years ago, I decided to look into it a bit more closely.
I found that for many people, football represents life and the challenges therein. It’s the teamwork, the coaching, the bursts of energy, the perseverance, the dedication to see it all the way through, and yes, the intensity, all applied to life stories, like symbols. But I needed more. All those things can be seen in any sport, why do people love football so much?
In attendance of college football, the entire town (or region in our case) comes alive with a collectivity that surpasses everything else for that time. It is a time to rise above the daily lines of separation and become one, if only for four quarters (or in our region, the entire weekend). This unity is inspiring! People are able to set aside their political beliefs, their religious preference, their moral and ethical disagreements, their careers, or even the chaos in their lives and stand beside someone whom they disagree with and become “one” with that person for the duration of the pre-game, game, and post-game festivities. The lines are blurred that normally separate them and they, along with tens of thousands of other fans, agree on one team and one thing. And that is a mighty big force!
It is the opportunity to practice complete one-ness. And that makes it a spiritual endeavor, if only for a few hours.
People within a stadium have two opposing energies but they are all still one. They lift up their own team, but each person in the stadium is doing the same thing. They scream and yell, cheer and boo, and they fully support the team they call their own. Meanwhile the others do the same thing. So collectively, because they are engaging in the same actions and for the same reasons, they are one. They are energetically lifting up the team they love. And the players pull from the energy of the crowd! They are boosted in their performance based on the electricity of the people. All are sharing parts of themselves and the atmosphere is on fire!
People within a stadium have two opposing energies but they are all still one. They lift up their own team, but each person in the stadium is doing the same thing. They scream and yell, cheer and boo, and they fully support the team they call their own. Meanwhile the others do the same thing. So collectively, because they are engaging in the same actions and for the same reasons, they are one. They are energetically lifting up the team they love. And the players pull from the energy of the crowd! They are boosted in their performance based on the electricity of the people. All are sharing parts of themselves and the atmosphere is on fire!
Football is but one place this is evident. Rallies, revivals, and concerts are exactly the same. Parades, celebrations, and parties too. It’s the collective energy of the people at work changing the vibration of the very air you are breathing. All these things make it so obvious that these are spiritual events because they pull from and grow as a result of your individual energy; thousands of individual energies joined together for one collective purpose!
This is why collective meditation and prayer works too. We are all spiritual beings have a physical experience. How we choose to have our experiences are what make us individuals. Regardless, we are all part of a huge collective one and we should never forget that.
Yeah, believe it or not, football is a spiritual event for people.
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