By Sarvabhauma Dasa
Why are sports so popular? According to Vaishnava teachings, everything here, including the sporting propensity, is an imperfect or distorted reflection of the original, blissful activities of all-attractive Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, although in this material realm sports may be attractive, their charm is illusory. We can’t enjoy the Real Thing here. At best we can try to squeeze pleasure out of a perverted representation, like a mirage in the desert. When it comes to genuine, pure fun or sport, Lord Krishna is the unrivaled champion, the unabashed connoisseur, as we see in Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.18.19: “Krishna, who knows all sports and games, then called together the cowherd boys and spoke as follows: 'Hey cowherd boys! Let's play now! We'll divide ourselves into two even teams.'"