It's not this ridiculous post-game violence and burning cars that even in protest over real issues at the G20 didn't work for me - that's a minority of people that don't reflect on me.It's the fact that I care. That I feel a bit deflated and sad tonight because a bunch of overpaid men didn't score, and that I would be giddy with teenage excitement if they had won. I really did want that group of imported hockey players to win - those men who are loyal to my old hometown because they're paid to be so.
It's the fact that I devoted a significant amount of time over the past 2 months watching highlights, bits of games, full games at the theatre, reading online commentary, listening to meaningless radio banter, wasting social time in the parking lot on such a meaningless topic. If I'd devoted that same time and energy and focus to the piano, Beethoven's second movement of the Moonlight Sonata would be mine by now.
I did enjoy the ride, and did enjoy the camaraderie of sharing that ride with the rest of BC. But the game 7 loss just reinforces the futile waste of energy and passion invested in professional sports. Why wasn't I playing ultimate frisbee with my own energy and my friends tonight, instead of sitting watching someone else win or lose?
Even if they'd won I'd likely be writing this, just a few days later - rather like that empty feeling after an ambitious one-night stand; good or bad, you wake up and wonder why you didn't just stick with your buddies at that bar.
Posts
Like it or not, sports is a shared experience through which whole communities connect. The energy isn't a waste just because the team lost. Following the local sports teams in our sports obsessed city helps my husband make small talk with his customers. It is way more interesting to talk to people about the Cubs than the weather or the depressing state of the economy, and one really shouldn't talk to strangers about politics, however more interesting it might be to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that amped up young men can tend to do this sort of rioting. I remember it happening with some regularity on my college campus, although not at this scale. It looks crazy and it is embarrassing for a city, but it blows over and reasonable people are staying inside. They riot practically all the time over the Chicago Bulls...