I stumble down the stairs around noon, remnants of breakfast still on the table, with Game 6 of the 1986 World Series on in the background.
“Was this a good game,” I ask my dad.
“More than just a good game,” he responds. “One of the best ever.”
He proceeds to give me the entire play-by-play of the Mets come-from-behind win over the Red Sox. As he goes into immense detail, I can picture Ray Knight running across home plate to score the winning run. Suddenly, my inclination to watch lessens, and my desire to witness the unimaginable dissipates.
Sports aren’t meant to be watched with the idea that you know what’s going to happen. Nor are they meant to be simulated on computers. Maybe Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby 99 out of 100 times when you run it virtually, but we watch sports for that other time. That idea that anything can happen on any given day. We watch old highlights and run scenarios in our heads to supplement the sports we’re accustomed to watching every day. But, not anymore.
In this world, we now check death rates like box scores and watch news briefings like post-game interviews. It’s the little things about sports that we now miss the most. I know people who hate the NFL Draft and all of the speculation that leads up to it, but you better believe that everyone deprived of sports was glued to their TV for just a few hours to watch a handful of young men’s dreams come true. We may no longer take these days for granted.
That’s because we’re naturally drawn to something bigger than us. That’s why we watch sports. We remove ourselves from our nine-to-five or our calculus test or any mundane aspect of our day because we want to feel something more. When Steph Curry pulls up from 30 feet out and somehow the ball finds the bottom of the basket, or Patrick Mahomes throws across his body on the money 40 yards down the field, we all feel a certain type of way.
Whether it’s the electricity running through your veins because you love them, the smoke blowing out of your ears because you’re sick of them, or your breath being taken away because of what just happened, you feel something. Just for a moment, or a few moments, you’re taken into a different place – the wide world of sports.
But, we can’t go there anymore. Our escape from the uneventful aspects of our day has been taken away from us. It’s been replaced by more of the things we try to run away from. The news: politics, death, budgets, agenda-setting, propaganda. At times, those things matter, but we’re being suffocated by them. Celebrities and athletes are no longer household names. Andrew Cuomo and Anthony Fauci have come to resemble Jordan and Pippen.
We’ve lost the sports we love and can only hope they will return. Any article you read or show you watch can only discuss the possibility of a day where the sports world will function again. Our escape has become contingent on nose swabs and antibodies. Our greatest love has become dependent on social distancing and masks.
To pass the time without sports we go on walks or drives. We wave across the street to our friends (at six-feet apart of course) and long for the day where life feels more meaningful. As humans, we try to find ways to replace the absences in our life. There are other ways to feel part of something bigger than us. So, why do we need sports if we can find other ways to fill that void? Maybe sports shouldn’t exist at all? But, they do.
They exist because of that longing for something more meaningful. We all want to feel like a champion. We all want to raise that trophy at the end of the day. And, we all have an internal will within us to be a part of something special. Sports are books without words, movies without a script. They have continued alongside civilization because of that feeling we’re chasing.
Sports, we miss you. And we await your return
For more from Per Sources or me click the links.
Stay safe and I love you all.