Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast
Jan 27, 2026 · 59 min · 22 segments
Almost every aspect of our life from the likes we get on social media to the professional metrics we receive have been in some ways gamified. Games are basically everywhere. What impact does this…
C. Thi NguyenGuest
Chris HayesHost
Before I tell you what it's about, I briefly tell you my weekend was watching a lot of football, particularly watching the Chicago Bears.
My two older kids and I got very into the Bears this year because they were good.
If you don't pay attention to the football, they have had this magical season in which they've come from behind improbably time and time again, and they almost did it again, including a last-second pass that was utterly improbable and sent everyone through the roof, going insane.
It ended in a gut-punch fashion when the Bears actually lost the game in overtime, and we were so-- the highs and the lows, I mean, just screaming with excitement and then just got completely devastated to the point of, like, near tears in the case of my kids.
And you have this moment, and you step back, and you're like, [chuckles] "Why have I produced a set of choices in which I have chosen to get my heart broken over a thing that I know, and my eleven-year-old and my fourteen-year-old know, and we all know does not matter in the world?" It just doesn't matter.
You could choose to not care, but you have invested in caring, and it is only through the volitional act of investing in caring that you can get the joy on the one hand, and then you also have to get the heartbreak.
But there's something very strange about the relationship that we have to sports in this instance, which is a smaller category of the overall category of games.
Before I tell you what it's about, I briefly tell you my weekend was watching a lot of football, particularly watching the Chicago Bears.
My two older kids and I got very into the Bears this year because they were good.
If you don't pay attention to the football, they have had this magical season in which they've come from behind improbably time and time again, and they almost did it again, including a last-second pass that was utterly improbable and sent everyone through the roof, going insane.
It ended in a gut-punch fashion when the Bears actually lost the game in overtime, and we were so-- the highs and the lows, I mean, just screaming with excitement and then just got completely devastated to the point of, like, near tears in the case of my kids.
And you have this moment, and you step back, and you're like, [chuckles] "Why have I produced a set of choices in which I have chosen to get my heart broken over a thing that I know, and my eleven-year-old and my fourteen-year-old know, and we all know does not matter in the world?" It just doesn't matter.
You could choose to not care, but you have invested in caring, and it is only through the volitional act of investing in caring that you can get the joy on the one hand, and then you also have to get the heartbreak.
But there's something very strange about the relationship that we have to sports in this instance, which is a smaller category of the overall category of games.
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3 of 6
Is This The Game?
Email shows philosophy saving a young life
Macros to Misery Spiral
His diet app became a personal trap
Ratings Broke My Spirit
Television ratings nearly destroyed Chris's passion completely
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