Temples of Worship

There are two things I have never understood and I suspect they're somehow related: sports and religion. I can't imagine how anyone with a logical mind can believe there is a supreme being hiding behind a cloud somewhere who actually gives a damn what you do, and is keeping a tally to decide whether you can go to heaven or hell. In the same way I cannot comprehend why so many people give a damn about the outcome of a game played with a ball by indifferent-to-them multi-millionaires who aren't even from their community. Making it even more incomprehensible is that the fan has to pay excessively high ticket prices to experience this repetitive adoration and often has to be incredibly hot or cold to sit through the thrill. Of course the God fans also have to pay admission to their promised heavenly arena in the form of donations, tithes, suppression of endless pleasures and the burden of relentless guilt. Both situations require keeping score And while the sports rooters are often mysteriously depressed because their strangers lost; the religious always feel that their team is the best no matter what. The way I see life is this: The world was here for billions for years before I was born. I recall none of it, and wasn't the least bit offended that I was left out. One of these days I will die and experience—or rather, not experience—the same kind of oblivion on the other end endlessly. This is fine with me. I don't really mind being an insignificant and temporal being as long as I can have some fun while I'm here. The way I see sports is this: I couldn't possibly care less what a bunch of complete strangers does with a selection of various shaped balls. There is no way I could ever think of their victories and successes as somehow achieved by, and in any way related to, me. And I think giving a profit-making organization a large amount of money so that I can sit foolishly by and admire the prowess of someone playing a game is totally absurd. But as a learned friend once said, "It really doesn't matter what you think." He was, of course, absolutely right and this weekend, despite my scorn, millions will flock to a variety of churches, temples and mosques with beatific expressions on their faces. And other millions will attend games or sit for hours in front of the television and in many cases gleefully shout with intense pride, "We won. We won."