I remember when I was in middle school and played soccer. The games were every Sunday and my parents came with their folding chairs to watch and cheer for me on the sidelines.

Win or lose, the results often didn’t matter, maybe it was the sugar rush of the treats after the game that made me forget what happened, or more likely it was just the joy of playing. It could also be that there was no grand prize when I was little for winning. The team either won or lost and eventually a new season would start.

Sports entertain some; for others they are a source of fun for participating in, as well as exercise.

There is a multitude of cable channels as well as network shows about them. With these options we still have a section of the news which covers scores, plays, and news about the different sports.

The hold sports has over society show up in other forms, from bumper stickers to clothing – a slew of merchandise for any person to show their proud allegiance to a particular team, picked in some arbitrary manner.

As with most other things that become widely popular, sports appears harmless and full of well-intentioned ideas. Only recently have people begun to reevaluate the emphasis that people, or more precisely, adults, put on sports.

Take for instance the case of Danny Almonte. His team went to the Little League World Series, and while they didn’t win they took third place. Then it all came crashing down. When officials in the Dominican Republic found out that Danny wasn’t 12, but he was 14, two years too old to play little league.

His team was subsequently stripped of their third place win, Danny’s father was charged with doctoring his son’s birth certificate and Danny’s coach, Rolando Paulino, was barred from Little League for the rest of his life.

This winning at any cost attitude taken on by many parents today has manifested in other forms as well. Numerous incidents have been reported of parents at all kinds of sporting events, screaming and in some cases attacking coaches, referees and each other.

Sports have permeated the lives of these parents in such a way that they truly believe, “It’s not how you play the game, it’s whether you win or lose.”

These parents don’t let their kids enjoy what they are doing, but rather they fulfill some empty part in their own lives where they missed being a sports hero, or they gave up their dream for someone else.

As we get older, sometimes the pressure goes away, until we reach college. In college we reach the height of sports being crammed down our throat, all the while being told it’s part of being a “good Cyclone.”

I’m sure I’ll be met with “how it’s a student’s responsibility to go support the sports team,” but people fail to realize students come to school for their education first; it would be a rarity to find anyone that came here just to “be a Cyclone.”

There are some students who do come for that reason, but most of those students play on our sports teams and are paid to come here.

It’s not that I hate sports at Iowa State, or anywhere else for that matter.

I just disagree with the idea that I have some sort of obligation to go to the different sporting events on campus to get the proper college experience.

Since when did spending time not doing homework become synonymous with being a good Iowa Stater?

What makes the students that go tailgating prior to a football game better students than one who chooses to read for their classes and do homework instead?

Why do I have to be consumed with “my team” winning? What do I actually get out of each game when Iowa State wins?

Nothing, except maybe the belief that I’m a better person because it was MY team that won.

If being a “good” ISU student means that I’ll grow up to be like Rolando Paulino, or Danny Almonte’s father in which winning is more important then happiness, or honesty, then I suppose I’ll just have to be a bad one.

Blaine Moyle is a junior in English from Des Moines.