The last two victories by the Highlanders rugby team show just why sport is so popular.
We are tribal beings, competitive pack animals who seek common identity and want to belong.
Our sporting representatives help give us that.
And when they succeed, our clan champions bring smiles to our faces.
We treat the anticipation before big matches with not a little trepidation.
We ride the match itself with tension, and then we revel and celebrate in the right result.
We are transported from everyday worries and what is truly important in life to another field.
Sure, the contest is artificial. Sure, the outcome does not really matter.
Sure, life goes on whatever the referee decides or whatever pass goes astray.
But all that need not impinge on the simple enjoyment of the Highlanders' triumphs.
We know what makes the victories all the sweeter - the underdog status, the team of rejects from other franchises, the courageous forward pack of supposed no-names, the obvious enthusiasm of the players, the little South battling the far better resourced northerners and foreigners.
It is as if, as Israelites, the Highlanders are our David.
Skilful and brave, he outsmarts and outplays successive Goliaths, the Philistines' champion.
Although many in the community do not follow rugby, it is extraordinary the numbers who do - as is their enthusiasm, especially for winners, because we are a fickle lot.
The tale last week of an Otago family congregating in Sydney from the furthest corners of Australia was remarkable.
Forsyth Barr Stadium, in the middle of the university holidays, was full for the stirring Chiefs' encounter.
Television audiences are huge, and newspaper and online reports attract readers galore.
It is extraordinary, too, how we buy into not just the artificiality of sport but also the Super 15 franchises.
Traditional rivals Otago and Southland, along with North Otago, were thrust together in a competition designed to promote the sport, appeal to television audiences and make money.
Mercenaries en mass have been brought in because we lack sufficient local strength and because that is the way professional rugby works.
Yet, we can identify with the young men who are obviously putting their hearts into the contests, who have developed a sense of fun and camaraderie, and who play for each other and for the team.
We can, at the same time, respect and admire Jamie Joseph and his coaching team for what they have achieved.
Now, they are faced with doing it all again.
They are entering the lion's den in Wellington next Saturday and, while not written off, are definitely installed - as usual - as strong underdogs, at least according to the TAB.
There are also fearful parallels with the New Zealand cricket team at the World Cup match early this year.
Both they and the Highlanders play with verve and courage, both overachieve, both made the final despite long histories of falling short. Both are the sentimental favourites of the neutrals.
The Highlanders, however, will not be overawed on the final big stage.
They will bring their purpose, passion and intelligence and give their very best.
That is all anyone can ask, and if, when the final whistle blows, that is not quite enough, then so be it.
For they, like the Black Caps, are bringing joy - albeit the manufactured sporting variety - into what is too often a grim world.
