A few years ago, I was in a Teams meeting with my Small Group from my former church, and the topic of sports came up. I made the comment that I had quit watching sports, I had no interest anymore.
One of my dear friends, Jim Dyer, made the comment, “Are you sure you
aren’t depressed? Losing interest in
sports is a sign of depression.”
Now, in defense of Jim, it was a logical road to travel, as I’ve
suffered most of my adult life from depression.
But no, in this case, I really didn’t see the corollary, I really didn’t
sense that depression was leading me away from sports.
A little while later, I woke up on a Monday morning to about 15 texts
on my cell phone. I probably don’t
typically have 15 texts in a month’s time, so I was taken aback, and as I read
through them, it was a chat between two of my high school friends. Apparently the Steelers had been playing the
night before, and apparently, it was a really good game, and apparently, the
Steelers almost pulled it out. I texted
them once I figured it all out, and said, “Did the Steelers play last
night?” Dale, my best friend from high
school, answered, “Yeah, it was a great game, they almost came back and won,
didn’t you watch it?” I said, “No, I
don’t watch sports anymore.”
His response, “Are you a commie or something?”
Yes, sadly, I’ve become a depressed commie in my old age….
I think it’s important to set some context for all of this. In my younger days, I ate, drank and slept
sports. I remember lying in my bed with
my transistor radio pressed against my ear, listening to Bob Prince and Nellie
King providing a picture of the Pirate game that night. I can still hear “the Great Roberto!”,
“Chicken on the Hill with Will!” and “That’s a can of corn!”. I would watch any possible sports on TV. Back
then, we didn’t have a non-stop barrage of sports on TV, so whether it was Wide
World of Sports, the Baseball Game of the Week on Saturdays, tennis, golf, even
bowling, I’d watch it.
Now, I can’t remember the last sports event I watched. I can still tell you who won the World Series
in 1967, that Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA in 1968, the starting infield for the
Chicago Cubs in 1969, and the starting rotation for the Baltimore Orioles in
1970. But I’m not sure who won the World
Series this year (Arizona?), I think Kansas City won the Super Bowl last
year? Since it’s so fresh, I know
Michigan won the National Title in college football (more on that later). OK, I’m pretty well tapped out.
So, what happened?
Let’s start with baseball, my favorite sport. There are several large market teams whose
payroll exceeds $200m, and then there are a few, like the Pirates, whose
payroll is below $100m. While money
can’t buy happiness, it can buy a World Series title. Once in a Blue Moon (and I'm not referring to that great A's pitcher, Blue Moon Odom), a low budget team advances to the World
Series, and maybe wins, which provides evidence to Major League Baseball that
the system isn’t broken, but it is. It’s
not really feasible to win unless you can spend at least a reasonable amount of
money, which many teams can’t afford. So
I quit watching baseball.
In regard to football and hockey, I struggle with the issue of brain
trauma that so many athletes and former athletes suffer from. When you read some of the tragic stories of
former athletes, legends that you loved to watch like Mike Webster, and what
they went through post-career, I struggle to enjoy watching the games. Plus, as the great writer Dejan Kovacevic
(more on him later) would say, the National Hockey League is a “Garage
League”. Hockey is one of the most
exciting games played, but the fine leadership in the NHL can’t seem to get out
of their own way and let the game thrive and flourish. It could be so much more, but it never will
be under the current regime.
Basketball? It’s hard to believe
a game that could or should be so exciting, is really boring all season until
the playoffs. There’s really no reason
to watch it, teams seem to sleep walk through the regular season until the real
season starts. It’s probably the sport
that I gave up the earliest, just no real interest anymore.
OK, how about college sports?
Where the game is still the game!
College sports have become truly about money and very little else. I was never an advocate of paying the
players, but really, we should stop the sham of “student athletes”, and just
pay the players to play, and if they want to attend school, they can. It’s really not fair to the players not to
share in the huge wealth of college sports.
The fact that Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher $75m not
to
coach speaks volumes on the topic.
The funny thing about all of this is that I still read about
sports. Again, this probably needs some
context. When I was growing up, I
dreamed of becoming a sports writer.
That never panned out, but I’ve always loved to read about sports, but
not just sports, the people who compete in sports. The best way I can describe it is the one
time when I was on the board of the Miami Valley Literacy Council in Dayton,
Ohio, Tom Archdeacon, who wrote about sports for the Dayton Daily News, was our
keynote speaker. His comment was,
“People call me a sports writer, but the way I view it, I write about people,
who just happen to play sports.” When I
was a fledgling sports writer, that’s what I loved, writing about people who
happened to play sports. Unfortunately,
you have to pay a lot of hard dues along the way to possibly get to that point,
and I wasn’t willing to do it.
I still subscribe to an online publication called, “DK Pittsburgh
Sports”. The main reason I’ve kept my
subscription is because of the writing of Dejan Kovacevic. I would read anything that he writes, doesn’t
matter if it were badminton, curling, bocce ball, I’d read it. He always has such an incredible insight into
any sports event, and he writes beautifully about the people who play the
game. While I’ve lost interest in
sports, I haven’t lost interest in great writing.
The other funny thing is that I’ve found some other really good writers
along the way. Taylor Haase covers the
Penguins, and she provides great analysis, statistics, insight, and also some
really good humor. I find myself looking
forward to her views on the snack offerings at hockey arenas almost as much as
her game summary of what went right, or wrong, for the Penguins that
night. Alex Stumpf covers the Pirates,
and the best compliment that I can give him is that he makes the Pirates
interesting and relevant. I really have
no idea how he does that because quite frankly, they’re neither, but I always
look forward to what he has to say about the Pirates. With all due respect to the rest of the
writing team, I’m sure they’re all good, I really don’t pay any attention to
anyone but the Pirates and Penguins anymore, the Penguins because I love
hockey, and the Pirates, because they were and always will be, my first love.
What Will I Miss?
This:
This was from way back in 2013 when the Pirates became relevant
again. They had missed the playoffs for
over 20 years, and finally, they were back.
Not for long, but they were back.
I was able to get Patrick and Sean on board with me for the ride, and
they raised the Jolly Roger. It was
great to share that journey, have my sons join me, live and die the Pirates,
even if it was brief. That was fun.
What reminded me of that moment was this:
Yes, that is what I’ll miss.
There’s a certain level of awe that we experience when we can share
those great sports moments with each other, especially if it’s family or close
friends. It’s powerful, it’s
magical. Yes, I’ll miss it, but for now,
I’m happy to live it vicariously, watching people like Adam and Addison
experience the elation of your team winning it all. As for me, I’ll live out my years as a depressed
commie….
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