I just spent a long weekend in sin city, Viva Las Vegas. However, I wasn't there getting wasted or gambling away the small amount of money I do have. I was there to watch maybe my favorite sport in the world, basketball. I had tickets to the Mountain West tournament. This year I have followed college basketball more than I have in the past. Usually I will pay attention to my team (which is BYU by the way. true blue through and through) but other than that I will watch highlights if they are on sportscenter, and of course you are always gonna hear about Duke, North Carolina, the ACC and all the powerhouses back east. However, this year, a kid came along named Jimmer Fredette. We BYU fans have known about Jimmer for sometime, but the world didn't, that is, until this season.
I can't tell you how exciting it has been to be a BYU fan this year, especially when the eyes of the sports world have been on Jimmer and the Cougs for a good part of the basketball season. There is a sense of pride in every Cougar heart when you turn on sportscenter every night and Scott Van Pelt is going off about Jimmer dropping 40 points here and 43 point there. After years of lamenting how BYU never gets enough love from the media and the nation, this year we finally felt valid, we felt like we were the big show, not just that school that has good sports teams but never any champions, at least in recent memory. That all changed this year and I felt like I was part of the history, part of the madness, part of Jimmer-mania. It gave me something to look forward to and enjoy, especially at a time when everything else in life seemed to offer little hope.
I have often wondered what it is about sports that drives my dedication and attention. I have spent hours discussing this with many people, sport fans and non-sport fans a like. I don't think I have a definite answer but I may have reached an answer for myself and that answer is: it's an escape.
For the last year and a half I have been in a line of work in which I have to deal with a lot of heavy stuff. Until recently, I worked at a group home for troubled youth and some of the things I witnessed and heard no one should have to hear or see. I worked insane amounts of hours and was in school full time. Every day I would wake up, go to class then head straight to work. I would work until eleven every night. When I came home there was no one to talk to, everyone in my apartment would be asleep by the time I walked in the door. I would perform my same ritual every night. I would throw my stuff in the corner and turn on Sportscenter. I never watched the news or anything. I felt like I heard enough bad news everyday being at work. Sportscenter hardly ever had bad news, at least when you put everything in perspective.
With sports, most of the time the worst news you can hear is that your team lost that night. Sure, players get hurt, maybe some players get suspended (the whole Brandon Davies situation still kills me, but I hope the best for the kid), your team may even be terrible at the time, but there is always seems to be at least something to look forward to. There always is a sliver of hope.
Hope... I think that is what may appeal to me about sports, the chance that everyone has to be the champion, to achieve the dream, to triumph over the odds. When I had to deal with many hopeless situations with work, I began to see the world just as hopeless. There wasn't much to be joyful or hopeful about. The only thing that seemed to be a bright spot was sports. I felt like I could escape the world for the three hours on Saturday when the BYU football game was on. I could read about the upcoming jazz season instead of reading about another crisis on the front page of the news. Sports was my escape, my therapy for dealing with many terrible things that go on in the world.
So it may not be an answer for everyone, but sports is my escape. It is one of my passions. It is one of my favorite things to talk about. It isn't my reason for existence by any means, but it makes the world I see a little more bearable. There are still many other things I am passionate about: faith, music, ideas, the possibility of a fufilled future. Still, if I ever have the privilege of being a dad, one thing I look forward to the most is passing on my love for sports to my kids. I can't wait to teach my son how to dribble a basketball, or teach my daughter about football (her knowledge will intimidate most of the boys). I spent this last weekend in vegas with my dad, and it already is one of cherished memories, along with the many BYU games which I have gone to over the years with my old man. My old man instilled in me a deep love for BYU, and I hope to make him proud by passing that love on to my children. I hope to show my children all the good things in this world with sports just being one of the many.
So to those who love sports, who watch sportscenter around the clock, who rejoice with their team when they win and lament when their team loses, I understand your joy and suffering. Trust me, the first half of the BYU football season was torture for me (just goes to show that a two quaterback system never works, EVER! It's ok Bronco, at least you admitted to the mistake. You still have my confidence). And to those who don't, I hope you can at least appreciate what sports mean to people like me. So when the game comes on, let us escape the world for a couple hours while we get caught up in the possibilities of championships and greatness. And when we lose, please be understanding.
Here is to hope... and BYU making a deep run in the tournament.
Watching the Jimmer Show,
A Postcard from the lost (but hopeful BYU fan)
"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."-Michael Jordan
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