When our favorite team and athlete win the national championship, they don't just become the champion; they become our champions. We take pride in our athletes as their successes become our successes and their failures become our failures.
Maya Angelou and her family rooted for Joe Louis as if they were his brother because he was black. Because he represented them. When Joe Louis was on the ropes, Angelou compares it to every time that white people have hurt them. From a black man being lynched or a white woman slapping her black maid. It becomes more than about a fight between two men; it becomes a fight between two races.
That's what makes Sports exciting. When we take a side and take pride in our players and our team. Games are boring when there is nothing at stake. We want bragging rights and want our city to be declared the best. If our team wasn't the Detroit Lions, I wouldn't have watched them go 0-16 and become the laughing stock of the NFL. If our team wasn't the Detroit Pistons, I wouldn't have watched them become worse and worse going from National Champions in 2004 to not being able to even win 30 games in 2012-2013. I hate all teams from Ohio and love my Michigan teams. I don't think I would watch football or basketball or any sport if I was just curious about which team would win. No, I want to root for my team or root for the team that I dislike the least.
Maya Angelou and her family rooted for Joe Louis as if they were his brother because he was black. Because he represented them. When Joe Louis was on the ropes, Angelou compares it to every time that white people have hurt them. From a black man being lynched or a white woman slapping her black maid. It becomes more than about a fight between two men; it becomes a fight between two races.
That's what makes Sports exciting. When we take a side and take pride in our players and our team. Games are boring when there is nothing at stake. We want bragging rights and want our city to be declared the best. If our team wasn't the Detroit Lions, I wouldn't have watched them go 0-16 and become the laughing stock of the NFL. If our team wasn't the Detroit Pistons, I wouldn't have watched them become worse and worse going from National Champions in 2004 to not being able to even win 30 games in 2012-2013. I hate all teams from Ohio and love my Michigan teams. I don't think I would watch football or basketball or any sport if I was just curious about which team would win. No, I want to root for my team or root for the team that I dislike the least.
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