118. American Athletics

            I have never considered myself to be very athletic but I have always enjoyed the benefits of sporting activities in the United States. In this country we take our athletic endeavors pretty seriously and we start training our children the benefit of sport early on. Every American knows the rudimentary skills of basketball and baseball and football. We instruct our children at a very young age how to hold a bat and to keep an eye on the ball so that they can know when to swing and hit the ball. We provide mascots for every school around which we rally and have a name so that we know that the kids who go to Potlatch Schools are called the Loggers and therefore the Loggers are the cross country team, the baseball team, etc. from Potlatch and therefore the people from that town will naturally support the children from that town or that school in that city. Go Loggers! This support continues well into adulthood so that our professional athletes can receive the same support from their cities or regions. Everyone knows that the Seahawks 12^th man for their 11-man football team is its fans in the Northwest. The six New England states support the Patriots in Boston. This is both our training in sports and athleticism and our tribalism. We start at a very early age and we continue throughout our lives to identify with both our athletic abilities (or lack thereof) and our region.

            So while I might not consider myself that athletically inclined, though I consider myself far more fit than the average Joe, I realize, after having lived abroad, that as an American I am very well trained in sports and very inclined to support both my town, my region and my country in its athletic endeavors. I don’t know if it was intended to instill pride in my country, but sports are an American factor that unite us in a common sense of purpose and a reason to rally around our sense of nationhood that goes far beyond any sense of simple tribalism but to a sense of unity. We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union will play ball.  Go Loggers! Go Hawks! USA! USA! Who knew that the ideals of equality for all could come from the support of competition? I don’t think it was conscious, it was e pluribus unum.