Adi Patel0:00 Hey y'all, I was watching this uh documentary on my TV about the rise of the Olympics, and I was really fascinated at how Olympics really brought countries together.0:12 And not just all like every not the how they brought the world together pretty much and how these individual countries were able to unite with each other, even in different backgrounds, different racial ethnicities, how they were able to unite.0:26 And so I was thinking about how sports can be used to unite different how how they can be used to unite different people in countries and how they could really resolve political problems.0:38 Um an example of this was the 1995 uh Rugby World Cup, where at this period in time South America was on the verge of a civil war.0:47 They were they were divided internally, government was falling apart, um nothing was going for them politically, and the country was almost in shambles.0:56 But during this time, the 1995 Rugby World Cup was happening, and Nelson Mandela used this to his advantage, and he brought the country together through this rugby world cup match.1:09 And even though the country was divided internally, this one period in time they the country united pretty much, and everybody wore the same jersey, everybody rooted for the same country, and after this period in time, South Africa really came back together and sparked a new country.1:27 And so I was just thinking how sports can be used to unite different countries, different families, different ethnicities all under one love pretty much, because sports truly brings out the best and the worst in people.1:44 And even though sports can be used to you you know unify countries like they did in South Africa, they could also divide countries.1:52 And I think sports plays a huge role on p like relationship relations, especially on a global scale.2:00 Um an example of how they could be used to divide countries is through the um India-Pakistan cricket relationship.2:07 So back in time India and Pakistan have always been huge rivals of each other, especially through war, they've had multiple conflicts, all the battles in Kashmir, they've had huge political um conflicts, and as a result of this, the tensions carry over into sports.2:27 They have a huge cricket rivalry, and every single time they play each other, each country divides itself and divides its people, and one half supports India, the other half sports Pakistan.2:37 And whenever there's a loss inside the country or something, riots could happen and the country could be just torn apart internally.2:46 And so it's pretty fascinating to me how the growth of sports and the growing demand for watching sports throughout the country, throughout the nation throughout the globe actually, has really shifted how uh countries could either unify or divide.3:00 And I mean I think it's pretty interesting the role sports plays in human relations.3:04 Um let me know y'all's thoughts about this.
Thomas Freer0:00 Yeah, those were some great points you made.0:03 And I think one more example to look at, especially within the United States, just generally throughout our history, um, sports have been a great way to pioneer uh change in regards to the civil rights movement.0:19 If you look at guys like Jackie Robinson and um obviously in baseball, and then Bill Russell in basketball, Bill Russell won 11 championships playing for the Celtics, and uh he also coached and played as well, continued, he had a great career.0:37 Um, but while he was playing, while he was coaching, he was also paving the way for civil rights movements.0:43 He was putting in a ton of work on that end, and many people argue that he accomplished as successful as he was on the court and as a coach, he accomplished way more in terms of the civil rights movement.0:57 He had great successes there, and he sadly just passed away recently, but he was a very celebrated individual.1:04 And then switching gears, if you look at internationally, just recently, the NHL, uh this last season, instead of doing the normal all-star game during the all-star break or whatever they do, um, like basket, like the NBA has been come under fire for doing because you know, players just don't take it very seriously.1:25 Uh, they don't really try, they don't care to win at all.1:27 The NHL just did the four-nation face-off between the USA, um, Canada, Finland, and Sweden.1:37 And it was a it was great.1:38 It was a hit.1:39 Everyone was talking about it all over social media.1:42 Sure, millions of people were watching it.1:44 Um, and as much as there was some hatred in the beginning, I know we definitely wanted to beat Canada.1:49 Um, it was definitely friendly banter in the end.1:53 Um, and it was just a great event.1:55 I think everyone would look forward to seeing that every year.