I used to take sports way, way too seriously and then about 25 years ago happened on a video essay by Ian Ross discussing the concept of Bread and Circuses. I cannot find it unfortunately, but here is a good summary of the concept:
The idea that people can be pacified by food and entertainment when they should be rallying to their prescribed civic duties isn't a new one. In fact, the concept was first described in ancient times by the satirical Roman poet Juvenal, who penned the Latin term panem et circenses, which means "bread and circuses."
"Two things only the people anxiously desire -- bread and circuses," he wrote, lamenting the failure of citizens to take action as the democratic Roman Republic fell and the heavy-handed Roman Empire began.
Within a mere 100 years, Rome underwent massive governmental changes. What in 133 B.C.E. was a free republic that relied on a voting populace and an assembly system morphed into an embittered autocracy by the first century C.E. [source: Beard].
Thus, Juvenal's term, "bread and circuses" went viral, used by scores of people -- then and now -- to describe people who voluntarily trade their democratic freedoms in exchange for stable-yet-controlling government.
Back then, the Roman government kept the Roman people pacified by offering them free food and rousing entertainment in the Roman Colosseum. Now, "bread and circuses" applies to any civic or governmental entity -- or any situation, really -- in which the masses willingly accept short-term solutions to ease their discontent.
So, essentially sports is and has been used to distract us from what's really important in our lives. That's not to say that we shouldn't allow ourselves to be distracted, but we have to recognize it for the distraction that it is. As someone who takes the world far too seriously (and also suffers from depression) I struggle with thirsting to know everything I can about why things are the way they are. I appreciate the excitement of sport, the beauty of music and great stories (whether they be delivered in a book or by a television show or movie) if only to remember what it's like to feel something. That being said, those feelings are fleeting - perhaps by necessity - because I still try to care about the truly important things we all can get distracted from.