It happens to every sports fan at least once.

Maybe you’re watching intently (and intensely) as your favorite team scampers down the field on a last-minute drive, or yelling in disgust at the umpire on television, or moping inconsolably after a disastrous defeat.

Suddenly, when you’re least expecting it, a friend will turn to you and ask, simply, “Why do you care so much? It’s just a game.”

And so, for a moment, you ask yourself, “Wait … why do I care so much?”

As your skeptical friend will likely point out, sports can be broken down to the most simplistic of activities, such as hitting a ball with a stick and then running around (baseball), chasing a ball and then kicking it (soccer) or bouncing a ball on the ground and then throwing it in into a hoop (basketball). And yet we invest our emotions, our pride and our income into these teams. We link our fates with those of people we will never meet and who would otherwise have no impact on our lives. So why do we do it?

Perhaps it’s the thrill of victory. Or, if you’re a Northwestern fan, the potential for the thrill of victory. Sports are, indeed, akin to emotional gambling.

And the payoff can be tremendous. Just ask Colts fans how they felt after the Super Bowl, or Cardinals fans if they have yet to come down after the World Series, or Cubs fans how … umm, on second thought, better not ask the Cubs fans. But the truth remains: When your team wins, you feel like you’ve won.

Or perhaps it’s because sports are beautiful. Take lacrosse, for example: Even if you have never seen a lacrosse game in your life, I challenge you to come to the NU-Duke showdown this weekend and tell me that it’s not beautiful. To even the inexperienced fan, the game transforms into art. For, even without prior exposure, knowledge of the sport’s history and influences or an understanding of how the athletes do what they do, you realize you are watching something special – witnessing people perform at the highest level.

Or perhaps it’s because we’ve all been there ourselves. Be it as a shortstop in little league, a quarterback in high school or a point guard at the Y, we’ve all got stories of our “glory days” as athletes, convincing ourselves that if it wasn’t for (insert excuse here), we could have been stars. And if you’re shaking your head right now, you’re lying to yourself. Try telling me that you have never, at one time or another, been watching a game, seen somebody mess up and thought to yourself, “I could have done better than that!”

But more than anything, sports are just a welcome distraction from everyday life. They’re a chance to sit down, grab a beer or a Coke, and watch some incredibly gifted people do some remarkable things. Like hit a ball over a fence hundreds of feet away. Or kick a ball into a net. Or throw a ball into a hoop.

You know what? It’s probably best not to think about it. Sports are great. Just tell your friend to pass the chips and turn up the TV.