I admit that I have never been one for sports.

I played several growing up for short intervals, but I never found my calling. And I cannot recall a time when my family and I sat down in front of the television to watch “the big game.”

When I was a very young child, I remember asking my dad why he never watched sports on TV like all the other dads.

During holidays, when we visited with family, my cousins would all huddle in my grandpa’s room watching whatever football game was on. Sometimes I would join them, only to become quite bored.

Since I was raised in a family where both my parents and brothers paid little attention to what went on in the athletic world, for the longest time I thought watching sports was a useless way to spend time. When there were so many important things one could be doing, sports seemed trivial to me.

The madness of tailgating and giant beer-drinking and screaming fans in shiny jerseys with foam fingers put me a little on edge to be quite honest, and being packed like sardines inside a stadium was not the way I would have chosen to spend my Sunday afternoon. I just did not see the point of dedicating an entire day to this unfamiliar and strange ritual amongst strangers or even friends.

My perception was changed slightly after Katrina when New Orleanians came together in support of the Saints, and I recognized for the first time the sense of community that sports can provide.

I saw that spirit of community renewed last Sunday in the Superdome during the Saints game. Being able to have a connection with strangers through a sport was miraculous to me. High-fiving someone I have never met or even talked to in my entire life proved that sports truly was something more than I had previously thought.

After the game, New Orleanians of all colors and lifestyles were united in a sea of black and gold shouting “Who dat!” as we marched victoriously out of the Superdome. It was comforting feeling that we were all in this together.

It made me wonder though, how we could be a strong community during something like this but not on an everyday basis. After the game everyone returns to their everyday lives.

Why is our community and world so divided, not just in terms of race and class, but the whole attitude that comes along with it? Why do sports serve to unite us for only a little while?

While I still might not choose to watch a football game over doing another activity, I do now recognize that sports are much more than I originally thought they were and serve, if only for a small moment in time, as an important uniting force in a world that greatly needs one.

It is a small step in the right direction.

Emily Ramirez can be reached at [email protected]