Basketball, art, and the meter stick

"No one celebrated when the women's softball team won their national championships."

"I bet Lute Olson isn't wanting for chalk."

"Clearly this university cares more about sports than education."

And the truly succinct t-shirt printed with:

"U of A B-Ball, I don't give a goddamn."

If nothing else, one must appreciate the ability of this event to raise such a breadth of responses from those within its circle of influence.

Regardless of meaning or interpretation, what we have just taken part in is a moment of common identity, one which I have never seen the likes of in Arizona.

Attempting to assign absolute value to a social phenomenon is akin to doing the same with art. Paintings, literature, music and sculpture have value which we call aesthetic, defined as that pertaining to beauty, or the quality that is present in a thing g iving intense pleasure or satisfaction to the mind. As we have no clear definition of what is "mind," we can have no real objectivity as to what is aesthetic.

While we do not commonly associate sporting events with art appreciation, one of the common characteristics that we share with other species of the order Primate is heightened social interaction. One only need to look around to know this is true. We group ourselves into families, and families into neighborhoods, neighborhoods into cities, and our cities into countries.

We share common goals and use common resources to further our group's ambitions. Individuals within a group are viewed to represent the interests of the whole, just as the whole is driven to protect the interests of its individuals. Thus, as a method deve loped in nature to be advantageous to survival, our consciousness grieves with common defeat and revels in common victory with whatever group we find identity in.

So how does this relate to basketball?

While intently watching the game at a local bar, I noticed that a table of UA students seated next to me were only casually paying attention in favor of their conversation.

They occupied a favorable position with respect to the television, and therefore were drawing some scornful looks from other students as the mob moved about for the best viewing. However, as the game moved to a close, the hysteria heightened and drew them in to the groaning and cheering as points traded back and forth.

Soon they were as engaged as I was, caught up in the drama and excitement, every bit amplified by each person who joined the fray. No understanding of the game was necessary, no judgment was passed upon individual qualification, no prior commitment was re quired; identity was as simple as "Go Cats!"

Human social interaction is typically far more complicated and "political" than the simple bond that we might share because of the school we attend or the town we live in.

Such complications make us hesitant and thoughtful about the people we speak with, the relations we enter into, and the alliances we make with others. Thus, the rallying about a sports team may well represent the most basic aspects of collective, social i dentity.

As far as weighing the worth of such an event against other sports, education, and our own personal dispositions, I'm afraid it's another fruitless activity engaged in by the idle intellect of our culture.

The nature of the human animal is quite multidimensional, thus many aspects of who we are and what we do exist independently from each other. Our continuing quest to toss every part of our being onto the same meter stick will never result in any meaningfu l understanding of who we are or what we can become.

Go Cats!

Jason Pyle is a senior majoring in engineering physics. His column, 'Critical Point,' appears every other Monday.

By Jason Pyle (columnist)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 7, 1997