Tradition

I think that most sporting traditions are over-hyped. You hear all the time about how the rivalry between team X and team Y is one of the greatest in sports and then the teams switch conferences and it's no longer so important. Alternately, one team could go into the tank for a decade, which puts a damper on the enthusiasm. Finally, (and let's face it) sports is a business and business does what business must.

One of the few sporting traditions that I truly support is the Army-Navy football game. This isn't because of the great players or the quality of play; for the most part neither school attracts the best players and neither is likely to challenge for whatever passes as the national championship. Nor is it because of the importance of the game; nothing of any real meaning will be decided on the field.

Instead, it is a great tradition precisely because it is a trivial event. When the United States is at war, many of the young men on the field will face opponents for whom the stakes are literally life and death very soon. They will have the opportunity to make critical decisions that could alter the fate of nations and they will be commanding dozens and then hundreds of other young men and women. But for one day each winter, all of this lies far ahead of them and all that matters for the hundred or so men on each team and the few thousand of their fellows in the stands is winning a football game.

How could any sporting event have a greater tradition than that?