Morris: The vibrant and meaningful currency of sports

Sports are an essential form of social currency. Events like the Olympic Games, professional, collegiate and prep sports bring people together even through fierce rivalries. I loathe the Steelers but have a healthy respect for the city and people of Pittsburgh. Sports create an environment for seamless appreciation for communities near and far.

I recently found a slice of Cleveland, Ohio, on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. The place is called Mackenzie Pub. The tavern bills itself as a Scottish bar with an Irish theme. On Sundays, the place turns into a mini–Dawg Pound, where Browns fans can gather to commiserate, cry and cheer their hearts out. No other games are available for viewing at Mackenzie while the Browns are playing.

I’ve been to the Browns Backer’s bar three times, and already made fast Sunday afternoon friends. During commercials or at halftime, we talk about topics other than football, such as food, boating, the weather, and mostly anything that falls short of a sharp turn into political chatter.

In a deeply polarized country and world that produces an endless succession of disturbing and frightening headlines, the civil gathering of people united over a shared interest or a positive neighborly agenda matters.

A 2023 Pew survey found that Americans are less likely than others around the world to feel close to people in their country or community. The survey also found that fewer than half of U.S. adults under 30 feel close to other Americans.

Why is that? What has happened to our collective sense of community, and how can it be reclaimed?