I might open my story with my emotions after the Philadelphia Eagles, my favourite football team, won the Superbowl in 2018. I would pose certain questions such as “why did I feel such strong emotions?” or “why did I even care who won?” Another anecdote that I might start my story with is a stand-up comedy skit that Jerry Seinfeld performed. He says that rooting for a sports team is like rooting for clothes. I found it hilarious and it got me thinking about my obsession with football.
The investigative question that I am asking is why are people so obsessed with sports?
The conventional wisdom that my story will be challenging is that watching and following sports is a waste of time.
I want to write about this topic because I am so obsessed with football, specifically, the Philadelphia Eagles. Since the football season has ended and we started brainstorming for feature story topics in class, I had this lingering question in my head: why do I care so much about football? I’ve decided that it’s time to get to the bottom of it.
By writing this article, I hope to find a clear-cut, scientific answer as to why people are crazy about sports.
One bigger picture idea that comes to mind when I think of this topic is men’s desire for dominance and superiority. When you love a sports team as much as I do, you want them to be the best. You want them to be far superior to any other team. Why do we want this so badly? Another one that comes to mind is our desire to escape reality. We love watching extraordinary athletes do extraordinary things. What causes us to seek this escape from reality?
This feature story will be an investigation. I’ll be investigating this lingering question in my head to find an answer. Hopefully I’ll be able to link the question to bigger picture ideas in order to expand my investigation.
I will be writing this feature story for all of the crazy sports fans around the world. Hopefully it will give them a bit of insight into what drives their raging obsession with sports and with a certain team.
I am not necessarily trying to affect a change in my audience. Instead, I am just trying to provide my audience and myself some insight into their obsession with sports. Perhaps it might answer some of my audience’s questions, and hopefully it will answer mine.
My feature story will start off with a story about my feelings after my favourite NFL team, the Eagles, won the Superbowl. I’d like to explain to the best of my abilities the sheer joy and relief that I was overcome with. I want to pose certain questions such as “why do I care so much about this team?” or “why are there so many sports fans around the world? Why do people obsess over sports so much?” I want to take a deeper look into these questions and I want to lay out some scientific facts about brain activity and hormones released when watching sports. Then, I want to look at some bigger picture ideas. For example, watching sports allows some people to escape their lives for a few hours and watch fantastical athletes perform. What is it about society that gives us the urge to escape reality and watch extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. I want to wrap my feature story up with the assertion that there is no real answer to this question. Although science may say that watching sports releases a certain hormone, everyone has their own story and everyone has their own reason for watching sports.
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