5 dumbest sports controversies of 2015

Here’s a look at the five sports controversies that made us all a little bit dumber in 2015. Let’s hope next year is better.

When looking back over the year in sports controversies, it’s hard to have faith in the future of humanity. Do you remember how we spent months and months arguing about the proper levels to which a football should be inflated in cold weather? People took sides and yelled and at the end of the day nobody was remotely satisfied. When you consider all the things that collective energy could have been channeled toward, things helpful and productive and not mind-meltingly inane, it makes you want to weep.

There’s nothing wrong with disagreement, and there’s nothing wrong with a healthy debate, but sports controversies tend to bring out the worst in people. Fans are so blindly devoted to their favorite teams and players, so adherent to their go-to talking points, that every molehill of a controversy erupts into an insufferable mountain. Compromise is pretty much out of the question; everyone operates at the extremes of the spectrum of opinion.

The polarized nature of such debates is bad enough when you’re dealing with an important issue, but it’s especially bad when you’re dealing with something undeniably stupid. The controversies on this list, and the scorching hot takes they represent, are nothing if not stupid. But people love to argue no matter how low the stakes, thus here we are.

So as you take a a little stroll down dumbest controversies of 2015 lane, consider making a New Year’s resolution to not get embroiled in such debates in 2016. This year was exhausting. There’s no need for it to be repeated.

Next: 5. Sports Illustrated “snubbing” American Pharoah