I’ve been thinking about this column since Sunday, after I saw a Facebook meme I strongly disagreed with.

The meme shows what appears to be University of Miami fans screaming and cheering their heads off with a caption that reads, “Imagine if everyone was this passionate about things that actually matter.”

My response was essentially sports matter, which then fueled a debate that sports are merely a distraction keeping us from discussing real issues.

Sorry, sports matter and will always matter.

The meme in question.

Sports matter because they often highlight, intersect or directly crash into things that are going on in the real world.

The most obvious example is Jackie Robinson and Major League Baseball, which was years ahead of the nation in the Civil Rights Movement.

I shouldn’t even have to mention the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team, whose upset win over the Soviet team sent them into the gold medal round as Americans were held hostage in Iran and dealt with other issues at home. Those college boys playing against the mighty Russian machine may have helped solidify this nation more than politicians or diplomacy ever could, for however brief a time.

Eight years before that the world watched in terror as Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.

Far from the international sports venues, as a sportswriter in Goldsboro, I watched as an Eastern Wayne basketball player played as a tribute to his brother who died in a vehicle crash. I watched as a crack cocaine charge against of its one players threatened to turn Goldsboro’s state basketball championship run into something less than a spirited celebration.

I told the detractors all they have to do is tune into The Sporting Life on ESPN radio, watch Outside the Lines or watch ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series to see the many ways sports intertwine with life off the field.

Coming back from a personal photo trip Wednesday evening, I listened to The Sporting Life as it told the story of the Carroll Academy girl’s basketball team and their struggles on the court and in life as the school is a state-run educational facility for troubled youth.

Simply watch this video on a Philadelphia inner-city polo team that became the first black group to win a title in what for centuries has been known as the sport of kings.

Not only did the youth learn a sport they would have never learned otherwise, they learned amazing things about themselves and the ethic of work.

At its core, sports should teach youngsters about gracefully accepting winning and losing, work ethics and teamwork. Sometimes it gets lost in overzealous coaches and parents and the children learn nothing.

More often than not, however, sports teach us to be a part of something and without them the world may actually be a worse place — Lance Martin