The extreme nationalism and fascism I saw overseas killed the concept of sports for me. Took an incredibly long time for me to enjoy them again. Sports & war mimic each other like life & art. I was later able to get into the fervor of my college BB program tho. Even enjoy it.1/

Then came Trump and all of the extreme tribalism that he inspired. He turned my country against itself. Friends and family chose their cultish tribe over all else. And all those same feelings came back. Though I tried watching games, I recoiled from it all again. 2/

Today, when I see big sporting events, I don’t see healthy competition or harmless fun. I see the QAnon Shaman in every shirtless fanatic. I see proud boys who consider their party and race “their team”. I see ex-military looking for meaning again in MAGA. 3/

I see the civil war we narrowly escaped. I see every flag laden pick up truck from Iraq to the Capitol insurrection. I see every deployment I was on, every shitty thing I ever did, every poor shattered soul I came across, & the gulf between myself & those I came home to.

War is the ultimate sport and we’ve made it a national kink. So much so that we were ready to turn on each other just a few weeks ago. Fuck the Super Bowl and it’s phony combat culture. I want my country, friends, and family back.

Addendum. When Iraq popped off, a person I cared deeply for was all for it. I pointed out how surreal it was that people were driving around with flags on their trucks like it’s a football game. She asked what was wrong with that. I said “because it’s not goddamn football game”.

There is a good portion of our population that can’t tell the difference between them anymore. The Venn diagram of fandom and RW patriotism is basically a circle. The responses are identical. One day they’re storming a basketball court, the next our Capitol.

Seems to be why MAGA thinks it’s harmless to put tribe over country, & why so many don’t think there should be consequences from being part of the MAGA fan insurrection. They took their fandom to the extreme and damn near started a war.

Even many in the military can’t tell the difference. They use sports metaphors on deployment or promote the stereotypical athletic types regardless of competence. Chase glory like they’re quarterbacks. They are same ones who push us into debacles like Vietnam or Iraq.

To me, Super Bowl Sunday is not so much an escape as it is training for the next national mobilization against a foe or against each other. When war is no different than a football game, there is no incentive to avoid it, and every incentive to jump right in. MAGA=rabid fandom.