Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

Apparently, Ohio State lost big yesterday. And apparently, it’s a sore subject for a lot of Buckeye fans. I’ve never really understood sports fanaticism. I lived in Ohio for a number of years, and I know how seriously those folks take their OSU sports team, especially where it comes to football. Anyone ever heard of the classic OSU/Michigan rivalry?¹

For me sports has always just been about the game. It’s an opportunity to relax and watch an event that’s pretty fun. I’ve had teams I’ve supported in the past,² but never one I’ve been rapidly fanatical about. For one, it’s just a game, and that’s all it ever should be. I know folks who will be depressed for days because their team lost. I can appreciate folks wanting to have fun and maximize the excitement of the event. I can even appreciate those (insane) guys who paint themselves up and strip off their shirts in the dead of winter to support their team at the stadium. But I can’t justify allowing sports to govern one’s life to the extent where that’s all that life is about for them.

We all have to have hobbies, but there’s a big difference between a hobby and idolatry. Enjoy the game, have fun with it, but win or lose, once the game’s over and the players have cleared off the field, remember that it’s time to move on. Life is about bigger and more important things than how the scoreboard reads at the end of the day.

1. And from what I’ve heard, Michigan doesn’t even take the OSU/Michigan rivalry all that seriously; it’s apparently just an Ohio thing. [↩]
2. I used to be a Toronto Blue Jays fan, back when they were winning World Series and before the big strike that ruined the sport for me. [↩]

Tags: culture, sports

Originally published at Writer's Blog. Please leave any comments there.

I’m sitting here watching the news and just heard that New York City has just passed legislation to phase out the use of trans fat in all restaurants in the city. While I can see their point about the dangers of trans fat, is it really the government’s place to legislate how Americans eat? Isn’t it really up to the people themselves to determine whether or not they want to take care of themselves? I know for a fact that it’s not really that hard to exercise a little self-discipline and not eat out, choosing instead to eat in and make your own meals that are healthier than anything you’ll find in any restaurant. The trouble is that people today have no self-discipline and are incapable of self-imposing some stricter guidelines for themselves. Obesity is on the rise, as is laziness. Legislating out the use of trans fat will not, in fact, solve the problem. It is only treating a symptom of a chronic condition, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem itself.

Just one more place where Big Brother would like to tell us what to do and how to live our lives because he thinks we can’t do it for ourselves. Where does it stop?

Tags: culture, politics