The Power of Sports

Sports.  I have learned in my life that there are three topics that bring out the passion of an individual almost immediately; politics, religion, and sports.  What about sports makes us care so much?  Why do we care about when a person hits a ball 400 feet or a man runs 85 yards towards a pre-determined line that has a quantitative value placed upon it?  Why do I get excited every 4 years to watch a man run 100m in less than 10s?  Why do I care that a man can  a distance of almost 20 feet while slamming an orange orb into a circular/conical apparatus made of iron and nylon?  I think I've narrowed this down to three areas: Community, Escapism, and Appreciation.  Let's talk about each of this in more detail.

Community-Last year, I had the experience of taking my family to a Pittsburgh Steeler game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA.  It was a perfect autumn night, a definite chill in the air, crisp and clean to say the least.  After a wonderful day in the "Steel City", it was time for the game.  We made our way to the stadium and the feeling was amazing.  There were literally thousands of people there who felt about the Steelers as our family did, we loved them.  They were "our team" and we lived and breathed with all that they did.  It was a fascinating venue in that during those 4+ hours, we engaged with, conversed with, high-fived with, cheered with, groaned with, and ultimately exited with literally dozens and dozens of people that we never met before in our lives, nor ever would see again in our lives and yet, we felt as if we knew them all along during the process.  How does this happen?

When we attach ourselves to a team, whether it the Steelers, Pirates, Lakers, etc., we are in fact, attaching ourselves to a group of "fellow believers" if you will.  We will drink the proverbial "Kool-Aid"  (BTW, this would be another great topic to get into at a later date) and defend this team, its players, and ultimately the organization at large, no matter what.  Our team/player does wrong?  Somehow, we justify it, because of..............., no matter how non-sensical it sounds.  All we need to do is look at a few examples: The Patriots (their fans think they are as innocent as the Sisters of the Holy Family Convent), ARod (But he has paid his debt to baseball by being suspended for a year), Kobe Bryant (She should have never gone up those backstairs to his room), University of Miami (come on, you know that EVERYONE else does the exact same thing), Ben Roethlisberger (You know, he never was 'charged' with anyone on this) and the list goes on and on.  Because the teams and players are "ours", we will go above and beyond to defend them, well beyond any reason whatsoever.  We are part of this together.

The bond is strong and it is very real.   People who don't appreciate sports, just don't, nor will they ever understand.  That's OK.  We prefer it that way, for we don't want any "wishy washy" people on our squad, do we?

Escapism-Our lives are very difficult.  Many of us work extremely hard to make "ends meet" and we need something to take our minds off the "troubles of this world".  Let's face it, the world has lots of problems and it is nice to escape those problems from time to time.  When we get together with friends and family, we can talk heavy for a while, but then it feels oppressive and ultimately, not very satisfying.  Then our attention turns towards sports and voila, time breezes by and an energy exists that just wasn't prevalent before.  We talk with vigor about last night's game and how the umpire was clearly "on the take" because he was squeezing our pitcher.  We state with absolutes of how our team will "crush" the opposing team next game they play.  Our minds race with the possibilities of what would happen if the team wins and also with what would happen if they did the opposite, "get cheated" out of a victory.

When we attend our High School games on Friday nights, put on our favorite college gear on weekends, or wear our favorite athletes number with pride during the week, we are stating that these teams, these players, allow us an opportunity to escape the reality of our lives for a few short hours and to join in on something that is "bigger" than what we are dealing with at that time.  When a player does something great, we shout with great enthusiasm, when a player gets hurt, we are genuinely locked into their well-being, not even caring about our own issues at that moment.  Sports allows us to draw from other aspects in this world that aren't directly affecting my circumstances, but rather, on the contrary, are entirely disassociated from them.  For that, we are grateful.

Appreciation-Who doesn't appreciate an athlete's body?  Their talent?  Their energy? Their skill?  Having played sports my entire life and knowing how hard I had to work to get as good (or bad) as I was, I can only appreciate more what these men and women must do to push their bodies to the physical limits they endure.  I remember the exhilaration that I felt when Michael Johnson ran with his gold shoes, that 200m sprint in Athens.  I remember as if it were yesterday when Michael Jordan dropped "double nickel" on the Knicks in his "comeback".  I still shudder when I think of the home run that Albert Pujols hit in Houston vs the Astros in the playoffs.  I wonder, did that ball ever come down?  I remember vividly how upset I felt when Steffi Graf won all four Grand Slams AND the gold medal in 1988 ( I was a huge Gabriella Sabatini fan at the time), but realized that I had seen something truly "special".  I remember all these things because I truly appreciate how great those feats were/are.  This has nothing to do with money or salary, but everything to do with physical attributes pushed to limits that virtually none of us can comprehend, and yet we get to partake in it by viewing it in action.  I look forward to seeing what the human body does in the future, not only in the sports I love, but in other sports that I don't have a "passion" for, but still appreciate those who are involved with.

What says you?

Welcome!

Welcome to a new blog where we will delve into a wide range of topics such as books, sports, religion, politics, burgers, education, movies, music, and whatever else comes down the line.  The topics selected will be done so to give insight, elicit conversation, and to make one think about something a little differently than maybe they have in the past.  The name of this blog comes from a great movie, Cool Hand Luke, that I would have never watched if not for two things: A Guns and Roses song called "Civil War" and my  father, who knows much and is always espousing the virtures of "the classics" in many things.  I love the quote and frankly, love the movie as well.  If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor, and watch it soon.  The quote though, "what we have here is, a failure to communicate" is one that I have recited many times walking down the hallways of the school I once taught at, Huntingdon Valley Christian Academy.  When I spoke those words, it was because someone; a student, a teacher, a parent, etc. failed to communicate something that was of importance, that would have made life just a little better, a little more enjoyable, if you will.  That is what I want this blog to do; explore things that makes life just a little better, a little more enjoyable because you have partaken in it.

Discussion and dialogue on this blog will be kept respectful at all times.  I reserve the right to delete any comments or users who may not be upholding the standard that is being set; treat others with the same respect and dignity as you would want them to treat you with.

Without further adieu, let's begin.  I look forward to a good time and a stretching of my thinking, and I hope yours is stretched as well.