Super Bowl weekend is upon us and everybody is excited, even those who know almost nothing about the sport.

It’s one of those odd days of the year when it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, chances are you’ll spend it just like about almost everyone else.

Being a huge sports fan myself, I know what it’s like to be passionate beyond rationality.

However, I did not grow up around football, so this time I can take a step back and observe proceedings from a more neutral perspective.

Nevertheless, the importance of the occasion has not been lost.

It causes me to once again wonder why human beings place so much importance on something that can mean everything and nothing at the same time.

I believe sports can be summed up in onesimple comparison.

While I write this, America is in the midst of pre-game festivities that include the inevitable trash talking and mocking of the opposition by just about anyone even remotely involved and extensive analysis of both teams by supposed experts (a flexible term since most fans think they fall into this category).

This is a good example of how a sporting event can provide people with a much-needed break from reality.

However, there are times when things can become all too real and for the wrong reasons, as is what happened last week in Egypt.

A nation torn by civil strife has just faced a new catastrophe: a riot and stampede during a soccer match that left at least 74 people dead and close to a thousand injured.

In my opinion, this truly emphasizes what can happen when people lose touch with what is truly important.

Attacking one another, physically or otherwise, takes away from the occasion and ruins the point of the event.

Competitive occasions make life more meaningful, even if it is irrational in some sense.

Few things can compare to the pride and joy in seeing your team achieve something great.

The bragging rights that come with it are a very welcome bonus.

An event such as the Superbowl and FIFA World Cup have the ability to make entire nations put aside everything else and share one single point of focus, a feat of enormous proportions.

However, history is littered with examples where horrible things happen when a game stops becoming just that.

It is a slippery, downward slope when vindictiveness replaces competitiveness and such behavior has no place in sport.

Akbar is a junior majoring in psychology and business.