“The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat,” went the tagline for the long-running TV show The Wide World of Sports.

We’re all familiar with those rollercoaster emotions whether we follow professional football or dabble in sandlot softball.

But in recent weeks, a surprising new emotion keeps cropping up in the sports world: warmth for, and unity with, our fellow human beings. In our divisive and polarized world, that could not be more welcome.

Consider the visit to Boston of the Scottish national team earlier this month as part of the World Cup competition. Through some sort of ineffable serendipity, the kilted athletes, their gregarious fans and the stereotypically stuffy Bostonians embraced each other.

“What happened at Fenway Park on June 14 was something none of us will ever forget,” wrote Sam Kennedy, the president of the Boston Red Sox, in a letter to the leadership of Scotland’s team. “We knew the Tartan Army was coming. We did not fully understand what that meant until we saw it.”

Kennedy went on to describe how hundreds of Scotland supporters gathered at the foot of a statue of Scottish........

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