Sports traditions form bonds

Sports and tradition go together like PB&J. From the opening ceremonies of the Olympics to the Chicago Cubs not winning the World Series year after year, sports is rife with traditions.

Every year, a new champion is crowned in each of the major sports, but the same routine follows.

The winning team has a parade in its honor, is awarded a championship ring with diamonds the size of Tic-Tacs and proclaims they are all “going to Disney World.” That has just become tradition.

Traditions on a national level keep the large fan bases together, such as the Boston Red Sox fans singing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” during the seventh inning stretch or the Cameron Crazies at Duke basketball games going, well, crazy.

The traditions on a personal level really stick with the individual fan, though. Sports traditions are vital in my family.

My dad and I have watched every Super Bowl together but one for the last 11 years.

Each year, after the game is over, we compare every Super Bowl from his generation to those from mine.

We say the same things every year, but it is easily my favorite annual sports conversation.

Daytona 500 weekend lends itself to tradition when my stepfather will come in the living room and tell me in his drawl that NASCAR is superior to soccer and they need to make the goals bigger to make it watchable, which leads to a semi good-natured argument we have had dozens of times.

Each year, the U.S. soccer team plays a handful of games. Each of the games is a mini-holiday for us. As per tradition, my dad and I gather at his house, but with him inexplicably still without cable, we watch the game in Spanish.

With as many times as this has happened, we should easily be fluent but can remember Spanish only for “red card.”

Moments like that, watching a game in a foreign language trying to pick up on key words, are more memorable than if we watched the games in English.

My dad and I would have a good relationship regardless of sports, but watching them together creates a common bond that we will have forever.

Men don’t get together and throw a Tupperware party. They throw a Super Bowl party.

They don’t gather at a bar to watch Deal or No Deal, they gather at a bar to watch a World Series game.

Sports is a good way for the stresses of life to go away and opportunities to connect with those around us increase.

My dad and I play softball together most summers. In fact, we are the Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. of the Fort Worth Municipal Slow Pitch Softball Church League.

We may have only a small fraction of the Griffeys’ talent, but I guarantee we have more fun than they ever did playing together for the Seattle Mariners.

That’s what sports are about in the end. Win, lose, who cares.

The most important things are the traditions you look forward to and the personal relationships that come with it.