In 1889, Oscar Wilde observed that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”. His theory was that this concept “results not merely from life’s imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of life is to find expression, and that art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realize that energy.”
I believe that sports can be a stand in for art in this framework, as I believe very strongly that sports are a form of expression that human beings seek as an outlet for a number of emotional concepts. Over the past nine or so seasons that I have been writing for BSB, I have seen life imitate art many times over, but much more acutely these days.