“Why, besides the fact that you went to college there (The University of Texas), do you always watch the games? Why do you care so much? It doesn’t really affect your life, yet you care so much. Why?” It is a very good question asked by one of my middle-school writing students. She wasn’t asking specifically about my alma mater, she wanted to know why anyone was so obsessive about any team, celebrity, or other public figure.

To set the record straight, I have more than one obsession when it comes to sports or performers. I grew up in Fort Worth, raised as a Dallas Cowboy fan, and I always will be. When it comes to baseball, my real sports passion, I am just a fan. I love to see the game played well.

There are many in music that I follow. Living in Austin in the 60s and 70s, I met, and got to know, many people who are now considered celebrities, but in that day and time, they were struggling to make their mark, as was I.

They are just folks, not special, not a lot different from me. They had a dream and the drive to get to it, and I think therein lies the cause of celebrity, and part of the answer to my student’s question.

We love success. I go to a baseball game not so much to pull for a team, but to see the near balletic moves of a well-turned 4-6-3 double play, or the beauty of a swing that drives the ball into the gap, or over the fence. I love to see the work of a good catcher as he controls the game.

We go to sporting events, concerts, opera, theater, or any anywhere there is a performance, to see people do what we can’t, or haven’t had the discipline, or were not willing to sacrifice, to master. A pianist, a figure skater, a basketball, or football player who is at the top of his or her game is a joy to behold.

There is a darker side to celebrity worship. We like to see them fail. They are good at what they do, but when they make a mistake, we die with them, or celebrate their failure depending on our affiliation.

NASCAR has grown in popularity in recent years. It is something to see, cars speeding at nearly 200 mph, but to be honest, constant left turns are boring. What keeps us interested is a driver making a mistake and cars spinning everywhere. The failure of machine or man intrigues us.

Celebrities do affect my life. A team does matter. I can read a good writer and think, “I can do that”, and if I try, and work, I can. The same goes for sports, music, dance, theater, science, or any other pursuit. On the other hand, I can see a singer fail in her personal life and identify with her. She is like me. She’s human, she makes mistakes. It softens the blow of my failures.

We go to events and watch games because there is light and dark in all of us. We deify or vilify performers in relation to our own lives. It is a measure of who we are and where we want to be, or where we want the celebrity to be.

Why do we watch a game with such passion? Because it is in us, it’s our nature. It is how we measure and are measured. That is why.

David Wilson Atwood is a local writer whose human interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be contacted, and his other works viewed at: www.starchasers.us, or david@starchasers.us.