WHY I LOVE SPORTS
Day 13 of reader essays
Why do we love sports? It's easy to identify, but difficult to articulate. Simply put, sports make us feel. Sports encapsulate every human emotion one can imagine. Jim McKay of ABC's Wild World of Sports barely scratched the surface: "The thrill of victory... The agony of defeat." What McKay left unscratched is the wide array of human emotions left in between. These inbetweens are what make us the most complex creatures on this planet. Sport is a rare facet of life putting all our emotions on display for the world to see. It renders us vulnerable.
It is truly bizarre our emotions can be tapped from a ball, a puck, our bodies, or even a car. Pure unadulterated joy of winning comes a dime a dozen. The same can be said about the anguish of losing. But what about the millions of other feelings we encounter in life?
Jealousy? Try this out for size. Kevin Durant, 11 months after leaving OKC at the altar, hoisted a Larry O'Brien and Finals MVP trophy while OKC fans sat with their collective lip out. Can you believe he left us for her? She's not even that pretty anyway.
Frustration? Russell Westbrook. Listen, we all love our patron saint. But, if we don't all remember this March 2017 doozy from Portland, it's because it was burned from our memory: 12 for 36 from the field. SIXTEEN 3-point attempts. Oh, yeah. He still dropped 45 in the loss.
Pride? Your high school team winning the state championship. Your son striking out but not crying this time. Learning what it means to be a girl dad.
Okay, I'm sure you get it. Sport is the universal language. It's the reason we are all bummed the Tokyo
Olympics look unlikely. What we wouldn't al l give for a 2 a.m China vs Taiwan mixed doubles ping pong bronze medal game right now.
Sports give humanity a glimpse of what makes us tick. It brings out the best (and sometimes the worst) out of us as players and fans. Sports aren't binary as Mr. McKay suggested. Sports and life are about the nuances. They are about the in betweens.
Adam Hinton