Meditation for October 6th, 2016
Sports
Sports is the opium of the masses. These events lets us escape the harsh realities of our lives. Some of us are rabid fans while some of us pay attention just to be able to join conversations. Some others refuse to enjoy sports at all, but those are people that prefer reality TV.
There are different kind of sport fans. There is the one who loves the sport, the one that loves a team and then the one that loves the team.
The Sport
It is a beautiful game. The players use the very pinnacle of strength and intellect to play the game and win. There is the violence, the off the field drama, the miracles. There is the very balance between science and religion. You can watch the whole game or you can enjoy just the highlights. Just the box score can expand the imagination.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter if one team wins as long as it is a good game. The blowouts are boring. You listen to fans of the teams be irrational in their ideas of how the teams can get better with amusement.
You can understand that a player is terrible by the stars on paper, but any player is capable of anything even the big play. Stars are great, but so are all the no-names. You can be critical of stars when team fans see no wrong.
You just want a good game.
A Team Fan
You love a team. You grew up with the team. Maybe it’s your local team or it’s your family’s team, but you won’t ever waver in your dedication.
You have to endure the terrible years. It doesn’t matter if it’s. Excuse of poor management, terrible coaching, or a lot of other teams just being better. Loss after loss after loss with no hope year after year, but you love the team. You want them to be better, but you won’t abandon them.
Then they get good. Then the fans show up. Not the ones who were by your side during the bad years, but the new ones who won’t be there the next time your team isn’t so good.
If a player isn’t working out, a fan of the team will want that player gone for a better player. Sometimes a team has to be bad a few years before a team can get better.
If your team isn’t in the post season, you might become a fan of the game or you stop paying attention until next pre-season.
A Fan Of The Team
This is slightly different than the previous type, this is the Fan of the team as it is right now. This means that it is the very players that this person is a fan of.
This also means that trades are very hard for these people. A favorite player going to another team makes that player either dead to them, a fucking turncoat, or a saint until played against the team.
This person has a hard time being told that stats don’t back up the feeling that the player is good. They watch each one of these players with emotions rather then any logic or rational thought.
This blinds a person from enjoying the game or the team itself.