No , you didn’t fall asleep and miss the Superbowl and the Colts didn’t lose, and I’m not sure I’d actually ‘cry’ if that even happened (and it won’t)! But I do ‘tear up’ when I attend NFL games with 65,000 other people. Now if we can get past the image of Tom Hanks yelling at his female athletes “There is no crying in baseball!”, in the movie A League of Their Own, I’ll explain why my lacrimal glands tend to overflow at such a testosterone filled event.
First, it’s because of the National anthem, the military personnel who display the giant flag and the feeling of connection that occurs at that moment between every fan in the stadium, no matter which team they’re behind. We feel connected as Americans with no segmentation of gender, politics, race, religion or sexual orientation. We’re just Americans and just fans. That just doesn’t occur all that often. It touches me. For just a few brief moments we all put our differences aside and get behind something greater than ourselves.
Second, the event seems representative of how we are all connected as human beings and how we can live in the moment. As individuals, we are connected to the team and to the other fans. We show our connections through our colors, our cheering, and our common goal. We all want our team to win. Our energy and spirit is 100% behind the team and that’s what we focus on during the 60 minutes of the game. People who don’t even know each other will high five, jump up and down, and even embrace each other during the game, something they wouldn’t even consider if they were just walking down the street or meeting in a restaurant. This touches me too.
And finally, football games show us that anyone can accomplish anything, even when it seems impossible. If you’re a Colts fan, you’ll remember the Colts vs. Patriots game this season, when the Colts trailed New England 34-21, and scored twice in the final 2:23 minutes to win the game. I liken these types of accomplishments to the unexplainable synergistic force which enables a team to achieve the unthinkable, more than what one can achieve alone.
So, I don't full out weep or anything, but I'm touched in a tender way about the way humanity pulls together at times and it gives me incredible hope. My eyes fill up and I fight the full out spillage of tears (we are talking about the presence of huge testosterone levels after all). I can only hope to be touched more often in the same way throughout the rest of the year.
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