On election day, a day that rips homes, cities, states and our country in halves or even thirds, it was fitting that Nick Bell was able to bring the entire sports world together as one.
The reaction by people, both within and outside of Mississippi State, to the sad and sudden loss of Bell stressed something many academics might disagree with: sports matter.
I’m not saying each game is life or death, though some people treat them that way, and Bell’s passing shows us what life and death really is.
In today’s world, there are no good guys. There are crooked politicians, attention-starved and drug-hungry celebrities and power-driven CEOs. There are few in this country who can agree on religion, wars and presidents.
In a world with no heroes, sports give us something to cheer for. Once upon a time, America was fighting for its freedom. William Wallace found his, though he lost his life. Ghandi and Princess Dianna fought for peace, understanding and healing. Not so very long ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., was at the front of the civil rights movement.
As humans, we yearn for something to fight for, though finding common ground and something worth fighting for is rare. A team to support and rally behind gives us a rallying point and and cause to fight for, no matter how inconsequential the results may be.
In a country that argues daily over wars and spirituality, sport is a religion that all can agree on. Our teams are our families, our conferences are our churches and sport is the religion.
Nick Bell came to Mississippi State to fight for the Bulldogs. In the end, he fought for his life. In his last hours, his family was with him, and so was his team. His teammates and coaches dropped everything for their stricken brother. By extension, the rest of the Bulldog family mourned the loss. Whether or not they knew him, every person who cheered for Nick on Saturdays rooted even stronger for the humble 20-year-old when his battle transitioned from the field to his body and the cancer within it. Cancer takes lives every day, and too many more young men and women, Bulldogs and others alike, are lost too early and too often.
However, Bell’s death illustrates how important sports are. Few people have more reason to dislike Dan Mullen and Mississippi State than Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt.But in the wake of tragedy, there is no rivalry and no Egg Bowl, if only for a short time. Nutt, along with nearly every other coach in the Southeastern Conference, expressed his sympathy and sorrow for MSU and its football team in a public forum. While the rivalries and arguments within never end, sport is a fraternity in which all who participate or observe are joined together.
When a celebrity dies, it’s news and often scandal, and there is rarely significant, widespread mourning. When Bell lost his life, football players, coaches and fans across the state, region and country collectively ached for Bell, his family and his friends.
Sports offer something everyone desires: a community. Walk around The Junction or The Grove on a Saturday in the fall, and you will see an extended family at their weekly reunion.
Between elections, wars on terror and health insurance, have Americans agreed on anything since 9/11? The list is short, and the Olympics and the World Cup are two of the very few things that come to mind.
When the Yanks played in South Africa, I wore American flag shorts, sandals and shirts. I ate meat, drank American beer and chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A!” with complete strangers. I’ll never see some of those people again, and I likely have nothing in common with them. However, in that moment, sports made us brothers and sisters.
Athletes may not be ideal role models, but even a cussing, ‘roided-out baseball players is better than a lying, stealing politician.
Sports are not the be-all, end-all of existence, and they should not be treated as such. The outcome of a game, over the course of history, is trivial.
However, sport should be cherished for what it offers us: camaraderie, family, community, common ground and someone or something to unabashedly cheer and root for, and with Bell, someone to miss and honor together.