Having lived in Wisconsin for two-and-a-half decades, the struggle is real.
Being a Cubs and Bears fan while living behind the Cheddar Curtain is no picnic. I’ve spent the majority of my adult life suffocated by Brewers and Packers propaganda. Visiting Illinois — and especially Chicagoland — is like a breath of fresh air. Seeing all the Cubs and Bears billboards and bumper stickers feels like sweet, sweet freedom.
Even though it feels good to be around friendly fans, I’m glad I live in Wisconsin because it has helped me remember that although we root for different teams, we’re not all that different.
Many of my good friends are Brewers and Packers fans. Although we rib each other from time to time, doing life with them reinforces our similarities. We may wear different jerseys, but we love our families, our state, and our country, and share the same hopes and fears for our future.
Even the reason we root for the teams we do have remarkably similar origin stories. In most cases, you cheer for the team you learned to love as a kid. Perhaps your dad or your grandma was a fan, and you enjoyed spending time watching games with them, and because they were happy when your team won, so were you. Maybe you fell in love with a certain player as you were coming of age, and for all these reasons, the team carries a great sense of nostalgia, reminding you of happy memories from a simpler time.
When it comes down to it, as Jerry Seinfeld says, we’re actually just rooting for clothes.
It’s one thing to talk about a trivial thing like sports, but what about the other, more important causes for division in our lives, like politics and religion?
Doesn’t matter. We’re still fundamentally the same.
Before I explain, let’s have some fun. Check out this image below, the one with the dark block on top of the white one.
Actually, the gray of both blocks is exactly the same.
Don’t believe me? Cover the middle line with your finger.
Our perception and our reality are not always aligned. Truth, like color, is impacted by what’s around us.
The truth is that most people want to live in a peaceful, safe, just, and free society. They want to live in an environment that allows them and their loved ones to thrive.
Yes, differences remain. We disagree on the best way to achieve those things. Obviously, other people have different tastes and preferences. They enjoy different hobbies, like different kinds of music, and spend their weekend differently from you.
But on the most basic, fundamental, human level, they want the same things as you.
The problem is that, as in the image above, there are forces that come between us, creating division. It can take the form of politicians inventing enemies to earn votes, the news media sowing fear and outrage to capture attention, or even social media algorithms, designed to curate an experience that ensures we are surrounded only by people who agree with us.
What are you letting into your life? Are you spending the majority of your time watching, listening, and conversing with people who agree with you, while lamenting how angry and divisive our world has become?
It’s easy to hate Brewer fans when I’m in a bar surrounded by Cub fans.
But having a beer with a Brewers fan, one-on-one, talking about life and our families, is a great way to be reminded how similar we actually are.
Sometime soon, spend real time in a real conversation (not a debate!) with someone who seems super different from you. Don’t talk about the stuff that divides you; talk about life, and the place you grew up, and memories from your childhood, and who your favorite player was when you were twelve.
I’ll bet anything you’ll realize you’re not as different as you thought.
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