Well, I'm not sure if it's age or reason finally kicking in (or maybe a combination of the two) but this loss didn't bother me that much. Of course, watching Kirby Puckett, I mean B.J. Upton jacking balls over the Monster was disconcerting but the series loss just didn't hurt. This, close upon the heels of the painful yet digestible loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl earlier this year by the Pats, brought me to the realization that maybe I just didn't care. Is this really me?
Interesting question as I ponder my lot in life and endeavor to bestow my values on my three beautiful and impressionable children. In Owen's final year of pre-school, he received the award for Best Sports Fan that was seen as fun to most but was somewhat troubling to me. Maybe it it's just semantics and they meant to grant Owen the honor of Best Little Athlete or Most Dedicated Athlete or Most Determined Little Guy but Best Sports Fan? Does that mean he's going to go to an SEC or ACC school and wear face paint and act like a crazed maniac at all football and basketball games or live in Red Sox replica gear and know the ERA of the all the Paw Sox and Portland minor league prospects?
I hope not and I'm pretty sure that he's a sportsman, meaning the little guy likes to play. Basically, he's been throwing balls since he made it our of the womb and has taken to just about every sport that he has ever undertaken. Funny story but he went to lacrosse camp a few weeks back, mixed it up with big and littel boys alike, and came out proclaiming, "Dad, that was awesome, my coach called me a machine two times." My beautiful girls do not find team sports all that interesting but have taken to various individual sports like skating, dancing and swimming. However, let's focus on the team sports aspects.
The key question here is should I invest any of my resources in professional sports? Of course, I've already influenced my children on this front and they are and will be Boston fans. However, is this a productive use of mine or my children's time or is the system too corrupt and irrelevant and we're just wasting our precious time? If I do invest, what does that say about me? Since my move from Boston to Charleston, SC four and a half years ago, it's been an interesting adjustment as my Boston-ness, (read: identity) had never previously been in question. Now as a stranger in a strange land, do I need to let everyone know that I am a better fan than you?
What makes me a real fan and if I am, does that matter? I'm not sure but I wanted to proclaim that I do not, and have never owned a replica jersey of a single player. Yet, I hold my own on Boston sports lore/trivia/history with anybody and I'm on top of the day-to-day activities of my Boston sports teams. I have never owned a season ticket for the Sox, Pats, Bruins, Celts or even BC Eagles. Circumstance has contributed to this situation but I have chosen not to make this part of my life. However, thanks to my dad, I could always sneak into games at Fenway and landed a sweet gig as a vendor at Fenway from age 14 to 18. I can unabashedly say that my favorite days were long homestands with the final Sunday day game, spending the morning watching BP while perusing the Boston Sunday Globe sports page and specifically the Peter Gammons baseball column. I got to see Wade Boggs, Carl Yastremszki, Jim Rice (finally a HOFer this year), Dennis Eckersley, Roger Clemens et al in their prime. Man that was fun. Sean Reid and I were midcourt balcony, second row at game 7 of the 84 Celts-Lakers and we met my buddies at the 4s after the game. I'm not sure they were telling the truth but one said he caught the ball that Bird threw in the air as the game ended and the fans poured on the court. He said he had it in his hands and then was laying on the parquet, unconscious. Tommy Ward said he had Jabbar's shorts down to his ankles but couldn't rip through the mesh...No wonder why Jabbar was throwing hay makers as he stormed off the court. Check out the video on youtube...holy mackerel, what a zoo!
Enough of my war stories and sports credentials because I'm kind of tired of it. I've gone out to watch a few Sox playoff games and my heart hasn't really been in it. Usually, I get turned off by at least a couple of knuckleheads and it pretty much ruins the fun. So, I'm relegated to laying low and watching it in the comfort of my home. I guess that should be ok. As I recall, one of my favorite sporting events was a solo viewing of the Pats-Raiders tuck game. Man, the snow was really coming down, I had the house to myself, a fire roaring and I enjoyed. Brady really did get better as the conditions deteriorated and that kick by Vinatieri was clutch. Bring on the snow!
So, as the Bruins vault into first place in their division and look like a serious Cup contender, the Cs dominate another year and look to be another NBA finalist at worst, the Pats strive to win the division despite losing their best offensive and defensive players (Brady, Harrison, Thomas) for the year and the BC Eagles in the ACC football championship game again (after winning a NCAA hockey championship) and headed to another bowl game win, things can't get much better. Every team I care about is on top or damn close. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
I probably should have spared the words and sent you to my old reliable, Bill Simmons. Maybe I should have fashioned myself after him or Peter Gammons and taken up journalism in college. Hey, I did work at the Boston Globe and upon reflection, I should have tried. Anyway, I am relegated to very infrequent blogs and emails and nothing more. Abbott may read this post but that will be about it.
In an email I constructed and queued up to Bill Simmons after the Sox 2004 Series win, I compared the 2004 Series post-victory letdown to something like postpartem depression. Once again, I probably overstepped my bounds comparing sports to really important things in life like child birth but damn, that's how I felt. Upon reflection of my reflection, it was a pretty ignorant statement. Not that I told anybody but I did think it.
That's all I have for now. Try and be a good sport and sportsman and let the sports fan stuff come naturally. I'm not sure I care what your sports fan credentials are. I am sure that I strive to be a good sprotstman and that I raise children with that goal in mind.
(Go) BC
p.s.
Definition: Sportsman (spôrts'mən, spōrts'-)
- A man who is active in sports.
- A person whose conduct and attitude exhibit sportsmanship.
