September 13, 2009

On Football and Friendships

I realized last night as I left the Cal alumni bar in Chicago, having just watched my beloved Golden Bears rack up fifty-something points for the second week in a row, that I probably care more about Cal football than almost anything else in my (necessarily futile) life—including people. The sheer silliness of the previous statement ought not be dismissed lightly. But neither should the grain of truth that rests beneath it. And as I made my way back home on that warm autumn night, if there was anything I was certain about, it was that surely there was some truth to that sentiment. The realization, moreover, made me profoundly uncomfortable, though I am still at a loss as to explain precisely why.