Sports, What Are They Good For?

Author

John Snyder
October 09, 2024

This title reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where Jerry convinces Elaine that Tolstoy’s book, War and Peace, was originally going to be named, “War, What is it Good For?”.

In the episode Elaine and her boss are riding in a car with a Russian writer and she says, “One wonders if War and Peace would have been as highly acclaimed as it was, had it been published under it’s original title, War: What Is It Good For?”

After she says this her boss tries to cover for her, and says that it’s just her sense of humor. As this is happening her pocket organizer alarm starts going off, the Russian writer flips out and throws the pocket organizer out the window.

I tell you this story for two reasons.

  1. I think Seinfeld is hilarious. This episode cracks me up, and not just for that storyline. In the same episode George lies and says he’s a marine biologist. Kramer hits a golf ball from the beach. The ball lands in a whale’s blowhole. George is walking on the same beach with a woman. People are freaking out because the whale needs help. The woman tells everyone that George is a marine biologist. At this point all he can do is try to help without getting caught. He sticks his hand in the blowhole and pulls out a golf ball. The whale is saved. He goes back and tells this story to the gang, and Kramer reacts only as Kramer does. You have to see it if you haven’t. Every episode of Seinfeld seems to be that insane.

  2. Sometimes I wonder what sports are good for. I tend to question this more often during college football season when my Oklahoma State Cowboys are struggling. This tends to happen quite often. As I get older I realize that what sports are good for is that they are a great escape from the real world. There’s a lot of nonsense happening in the world today, and sports a way to escape. In the same way that Seinfeld is, sports are an escape. Because in the grand scheme of things, sports don’t matter. Well, sports my kids aren’t involved in don’t matter. That’s a whole other issue. If you’re a parent you understand.

So, if there’s anything sports are good for, other than entertainment, it’s escape.

Watch some sports this week and escape the real world just for a bit. It will be worth it.