Football, Basketball, Baseball...Relax, It's Just a Game.

Every true sports fan has felt the thrill of victory and has endured the agony of defeat. They have celebrated their team’s highs and have hung their heads in sorrow or shame during the lows.

Regardless of the emotion, there is almost always one person trying to convince these people that, win or lose, “It’s just a game!”

I’ve heard this far too many times and have even been guilty of actually trying to use it myself.

But is it just a game?

As I stood in my living room and watched Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throw an incompletion on fourth down with 49 seconds to play, two things instantly occurred to me: My beloved Green Bay Packers were just two kneel-downs away from becoming world champions for the fourth time, and an incredible, life-long memory had just been created between myself and my family and friends who were there cheering beside me. 

I can still recall the night Indiana University defeated Syracuse in the 1987 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game. I don’t remember much of the game itself, since I wasn’t much of a basketball fan.

But what I do remember was the pure elation and excitement which came bursting out of my otherwise emotionless father (a die-hard Hoosier fan) when Keith Smart hit the game-winning shot with one second to go.

I was 14 years old, and I had never seen that part of my dad before.

Now, I’m pushing 40, and that memory is still as fresh as the day it was created—not the memory of the game but of the feelings that were attached to it.

I was able to share a very similar experience with my family as the Packers held off the Steelers to win Super Bowl XLV. I know my children will have that memory for the rest of their lives. I doubt they will be able to recall much of the game, but I know they will never forget the excitement in the room or the looks on their parents' faces.

That is what makes it special. 

So is it just a game? Does it change your life when your favorite team wins a championship? 

Probably not. 

We all have to wake up the next morning and go back to our lives.

We watch the news and see that there is still war and economic crisis. Companies are still failing. Jobs are still being lost. We still have our bills to pay. We are still facing our same daily struggles and adversities. 

But if a single event can take all of those stresses and erase them from our minds—even if only for a day—and replace them with a feeling of pure joy, if it creates everlasting memories for ourselves and our children and if it can take literally thousands upon thousands of screaming fans and unite them as one, then it ceases to be just a game. 

When your heart swells every time our flag is raised and our national anthem plays as the Olympic gold medal is presented to one of our athletes, you know it is definitely not just a game. No, it’s so much more than that. 

It’s a passion. It’s something more for us to believe in. It’s something for us to be proud of.  

It’s a part of who we are.