I dislike competitive team sports, not for the play they promote, but for the division they engender. The main problem I have with team sports is that if you have a team, it is unacceptable to cheer on any another team, not to mention the opposing team in a particular match. But what if they make good plays, are creative in their teamwork, and bring life to the game? Nope. Not your team.
The divisive culture of competitive team sports is big in America, and in other parts of the world (see: futbol). The culture of competition has also entered other spheres of life. Private vs public school, rich vs poor, Democrat vs Republican, north vs south, even religious denominations can become team sports – dividing a people otherwise bound by a common belief. Ugh.
And yet, people defend competitive team sports as preparing people for life. What kind of life is it where you are continually divided from other people simply on account of what team they’re on?
But if we really want the world to change, then the life that we are preparing for might have a to be one that’s different from the life we see being lived by so many now. We might have to be preparing for the life we envision.