I love sports.

 

Ever since childhood, I gravitated towards nearly every sport with a ball. 

-Baseball

-Basketball

-Football

-Lacrosse

-Volleyball

 

The list goes on and on.  It’s always been in my nature.  It’s in my bones.  

 

Like every American who loved sports growing up, I’d cheer my favorite teams on, watch on TV, go to games, and wear a favorite players jersey.  Sports were passionate and exciting.  Anyone could be the hero. I'd binge watch Rocky, and pretend to be a boxer fighting Ivan Drago.

 

But... Why? Why sports? What is a sport? What is the point? And why do we care?

 

Below, we’re going to try to answer the following questions:

-What are sports and where’d they come from?

-What’s the point?

-What have they become?

-How can we bring sports back?

 

As I’ve matured, and entered adulthood, one question above all has become abundantly clear: Do we love sports, or do we love the warrior spirit?

 

What Are Sports and Where’d They Come From?

 

At their most basic & historical level - sports were and have been organized events for men to compete athletically when they were not at war. We’re talking about simulated combat.  Who can run the fastest, fight the hardest, and win? What team is most connected, synchronized, and effective?

 

Sports are competitions.  They are unique tests of superior athleticism, strength, courage, endurance, skill, and will power.  They always have a winner, and a loser (unless it’s a solo event).  They always have an objective or score. 

 

Most importantly, they create bonds of brotherhood.  Team sports were used to develop chemistry, teamwork, relationships, skills, endurance, and war-fighting attributes (I use past tense here, because this is mostly foreign to modern sports).

 

In ancient cultures, sport like events, were used as a rite of passage.  African Maasai tribes had their young men hunt, spear, and kill male lions.  It was a test of courage, proven strength, brotherhood, and entry into adulthood.

 

In modern western civilization, sports are quite different, and as of 2025, practically unrecognizable from history and what they used to be even 20 years ago.  This leads us to our next question, what’s the point?

 

What’s The Point?

 

Why do we play sports? Why do we watch? What’s the point?

 

In the modern west, the purpose varies from person to person, but generally revolves around the following:

-To stay in shape & exercise

-To have fun

-For entertainment

-To socialize

-To make money

-To obtain fame & glory

 

Throughout my life, at one point or another, I have played for several of the above reasons.  They are not all inherently bad.  Staying in shape is a good thing, as well as socializing and having fun. Sports are indeed, fun!

 

However, none of those things truly reach to the core meaning of “sports”.  They don’t ignite our spirit.  They don’t rouse passion.  They are, generally speaking, uninspiring motives. 

 

Sports, when played with purpose, should be incredibly inspiring.  They instill courage in the youth.  The underdog, the heart of a warrior, the grit, the passion, the ferocious intensity, the teamwork, rising in the clutch, the determination to never give up, and fight back hard. These are the real reasons why kids desire to play sports.  These are the reasons kids dream of becoming heroic professional athletes. 

 

Sadly, this ideal has faded, seemingly overnight.  The modern sports landscape is quite different than what it used to be. 
 

What Have They Become?

 

Modern sports, as of 2025, compared even to 2010, feel very different.  They look relatively similar though, so what’s the difference?

 

If you have followed American sports the last 25 years, or even back to the late 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, you know what I’m getting at. 

 

Players, generally speaking, are weaker than ever before.  They may have more muscle, but mentally, they’re sheep.  They are increasingly passive.  The quality of play is noticeably worse.  One could argue, this reality reflects the state of men in the west, and I would agree.

 

When you watch professional sports (this now includes “college”), you witness flopping as an epidemic.  Players spend most of the game complaining.  Most of them are incredibly unlikeable.  They have no moral compass.   There’s no gritty teamwork.   In fact, there’s no team at all.  Gambling scandals are constantly being exposed.   Professional athletes are selling out their teams for $2,000 in cash.  The games revolve around commercials, advertisements, merchandise, and money. The excitement is artificially generated through music, mega screens, fireworks, cheerleaders, and cameras.

 

The College Landscape.

 

The new college NIL is the worst thing to happen to sports, maybe ever.  It’s just the worst.  Initially, they told people it was meant to provide players with the ability to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness.  However, that’s not the only thing it did.  It made college sports, into professional sports.  College kids now live, play, and die for the money, and for themselves.

 

The college landscape is insufferable.  Players and coaches leave their teams midseason to take positions at other schools, for the following season.  Players abandon their teams at the most critical point, even mid-game, for the sake of self-enrichment.  At Miami University, Cam Ward, who would eventually become the #1 draft pick in the 2025 NFL draft, betrayed his team in the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl.  He played half the game, and then quit so as not to get hurt, and his team lost by 1 point.

 

There’s really no team at all.  Entire teams transfer each year, all to different schools, for more money.  The coaches do the same.  If you’re a fan of a university, the joke is on you.  You can’t be a fan, or at least a reasonable one, because everyone you just started to like, left after 1 year (sometimes less).  It’s even worse for the players.  No one is loyal to the brother next to him.  No one is loyal to anyone or anything but money.  This shows in the quality of play.  This is why it’s so uninspiring to watch, and frankly, depressing.

 

The college landscape is just the tip of the iceberg.  These issues are a reflection of a much deeper problem.  American society doesn’t have any idea what the purpose of sports originally was or what it should be.  They won’t fix the problem, because they don’t know that the problem exists. In fact, they’d consider it a success. More players, making more money? Sounds like a good thing, right? Wrong.

 

It’s a Values Problem.

 

This issue runs deep.  Having lived nearly a decade in Charlotte, NC, I witnessed it first-hand.  I played basketball at many different locations throughout the city.  I can say with certainty, the basketball culture is broken.  Half the game is spent watching as players scream at each other and argue over fouls.  Players play for their own glory.  There’s rarely quality ball movement or team chemistry.  

 

I know this is the case for nearly all cities around America, because I witness it at every level on TV and social media.  Social media has allowed everyone, especially kids, to mimic each other’s behavior, skill, and technique.  This has been detrimental to sports.  Most players have the same technique and skillset now.  There’s little, to none, unique play style. 

 

Why is All of This Happening? 

 

These are all indicators of a broken society.  A society with no moral compass or intrinsic values.  A society with no higher authority, being God in Heaven.  A society with no men.  A society with no loyalty.  Future blog posts may dive further into the specifics of why American culture and society is broken, for now we’ll focus primarily on how it relates to sports. 

 

So, how can we bring sports back? How can we remedy these issues?

 

How Can We Bring Sports Back?

 

So far, this all sounds very pessimistic.  But if we are committed to the truth above all else, we must shine light on the dark. There is hope.

 

I love sports.  I want the greatness of humanity to return to sports.  Sports provide humans with the opportunity to show courage, strength, endurance, brotherhood, teamwork, skill, and love.  Everything God gifted us with, but all which lacks in modern culture and society.

 

We can bring sports back.  But first, we must identify the issue, acknowledge it, and work toward fixing it.  The root causes do not do not come from sports themselves.  The root problems reside with men.   Men must become strong again.  We must submit to God, humble ourselves, love one another, and find again that which has been lost: the warrior poet spirit, the grit, the brotherhood, and the fighter mindset.

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Fathers must also be present with their children. They must learn themselves, truth and love, so they can teach their children in wisdom and knowledge.  The family is the binding force that provides children with the opportunity to flourish, and grow up with foundational values that show in their play on the court and field.

 

We need to treat the sports realm as we do a battlefield.  To train young men for war.  They need to be strong, humble, courageous, relentless in endurance, determination, and teamwork.  Get your kids into martial arts.  I highly recommend Jiu jitsu and Muay Thai, among others.

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People are already waking up to this idea.  UFC is at peak popularity, because it’s just raw fighting.   There are very few fouls, penalties, rules, or intermissions.  It’s just one man against another, at full intensity. 

 

As an example, here’s what my ideal team would look like:

 

They are a local, gritty football team.  There’s no names on the players jersey’s, other than the team’s name.  There are no stadium advertisements, commercials breaks, mega screens, blaring music, bands, or fireworks.  There are no contracts involved.  There are no cheerleaders. 

 

It’s just a raw, barebones football team.  They hit hard, play by the rules, and are ferociously aggressive.   They play for each other, are disciplined, and do not complain.  When they score, there’s no solo dancing, just brotherly team hugs. 

 

Even if this team lacks skill, and loses every game, they have the ability to inspire. They play with heart and play for each other, and that’s truly what moves the soul. That’s the purpose of sports.

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The Warrior Saint

12/3/2025