Alright so I read this article called "sport as Religion" by Michael Novak and I have to tell you I find it a little apalling but interesting at the same time. Here's how the essay goes. The writer sort of defines religion as a social institution in which people gather and they have objects and traditions that they hold sacred. Now, I consider religion a little bit more than that, but anyway back on topic. So this guy says that based on his definition of religion, he links sports to religion.
He states that sport conjure up the emotions of freedom (found in religion,) they are centered around a sacred time such as Monday night football, and they have heroes that can be considered almost as religious heroes such as Michael Jordan.
I can see his linkages, but ultimately, I think his study is a little shallow. Religion is not a commercial entity sports are. I also think the tradition of sports such as rubbing a falcon head or something like that were just conjured up by some person that was bored one day. I don't think our religious traditions came to being that way. However, I'm not really that dedicated to sports so I don't know the real emotional ties to traditions. But the article says something very funny about our society: "On Monday nights, when television carries football games, police officers around the nation know that crime rates will fall to low levels otherwise reached only on Mother's day and Christmas.
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