Finding Friends Among the “Enemies”

My new year started out in one of the best ways possible: I had the opportunity to travel with my beloved University of Tennessee Volunteers to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL. We (and I do count myself as an important part of the team) were playing Indiana University for bragging rights between two teams that honestly could have had better seasons.

I had the chance to do some sightseeing around Jacksonville, and in every place I visited I saw scores of people proudly decked out in their school’s colors. There was enough bright orange and crimson red mixed together to make the color wheel explode in horror. But the interesting thing was that in all of the situations I saw in which supposed “enemies” were put together, no one was angry or belligerent. Everybody was as friendly as could be. Complete strangers struck up conversations, laughed together, shared travel tips, and basically were having a great time with each other.

Now, there was no question that Indiana fans wanted their team to beat us (and they almost did), and there was an equal desire on the part of Tennessee fans for our team to send those Yankees back home after a thorough trouncing. But there was something stronger than our desire for winning. We were all able to celebrate our similarities. We all had made sacrifices of time and treasure to travel with our teams. We all loved the game of football. We all were enjoying warm Florida weather. We all wanted to enjoy the pageantry of a post-season college bowl game. We were all annoyed with traffic and the high cost of parking. When we totaled it all up, there were far more similarities between us than differences.

I compare that with much of the atmosphere in our nation’s politics and even our faith communities, and I think that sports fans may have a little better understanding of how to relate to someone with a different perspective. Honestly, isn’t it more fun to engage in pretend animosity against another team than the very real animosity that divides churches and even families? I find that much of our political and religious conversations are focused more on ridicule and destroying the humanity of our rivals than seeking to truly understand some of the similarities we may have.

Don’t get me wrong: I usually have a “side”, and I believe that people on the other “side” have some misguided ideas and some thoughts that may have not been critically reviewed quite as thoroughly as possible. But I understand that they have reasons for thinking as they do, and those reasons might challenge or inform my beliefs. I also understand that even opposing convictions can come from a desire to seek what is best for the most people. When disagreement over philosophy or perspective crosses over into an obsession with merely winning the debate at any cost, we’ve gone too far.

I realize I’m biased. I’m a sports fan. I love the camaraderie between members of my Volunteer “tribe”. I love the fact that people are willing to make fools of themselves and wear outlandish costumes as a way to support their team. I love good clean trash-talking between rivals. But I also love that for the most part we sports fans understand the boundaries. Before the game and after the game we can put aside the rancor and realize that we’re at our best when we discover and highlight the things that take us from our tribe and into a larger community.