Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are busy taking laps outside in preparation for the start of training camp next month, as it will take some work to work off all those fish crackers those two consume daily.
Levity aside, I’m writing with a heavy heart. One of my coworkers mentioned in an almost casual manner yesterday that she’d be off work for a while recovering… from breast cancer surgery. Of course, she’s a wife and mother to a young girl.
Prayerfully, they’ve caught it in time. Still, it puts everything into perspective.
It’s oft been argued that sports are, at best, immaterial in today’s tumultuous society. Strange though it may sound coming from one brought on board here to write about sports, there is a degree of truth to this philosophy.
The old joke about how, to a devoted fan, their team of choice’s performance isn’t a matter of life or death as it’s much more important than that comes to mind. I spent several years attending Oakland Raiders games, seeing firsthand what happens when people get too caught up in things.
And no, I’m not referring to the ones in silver and black face paint. They were actually enjoying themselves, often posing for good-hearted photos with fans of the other team similarly decked out on behalf of their team. It was the drunk-as-a-skunk profanity-popping screamers that were the problem, and they were the reason I stopped going long before the team left for Las Vegas.
Sports are supposed to provide a fun diversion from reality. It’s why many of us enjoyed the story of Turkish Olympics pistol shooter Yusuf Dikeç, who gave every impression of falling out of bed one morning, casually grabbing a pistol like most of us grab a morning cup of coffee, and winning a silver medal with utter nonchalance. There was so much noise and nonsense about the Paris Olympics. It was good to find a relatable moment.
Anyway, looking at sports in perspective, a glance at what’s currently going on.
College football is gearing up, with some games starting as early as August 24th. After a dizzying offseason of players changing teams with more frequency than a tweener changes outfits, conferences rising and falling, implementation of an expanded playoffs system, and the stubborn refusal to admit that college football has become even more than before an “in everything but name only” minor league for the NFL, it’ll be nice to see actual games played.
I’m especially looking forward to (okay, no, not really) Delaware State at Hawaii, although there can be no doubt that a poll of all Hornets would reveal they would have much preferred the game take place in December. In the “I’m sure there’s an excellent reason for this” department, the only game on the 24th involving a ranked team features #10 Florida State against Georgia Tech in … Tallahassee? No! Atlanta? No! Try Dublin, Ireland. I don’t know why either.
The NFL’s first week of preseason activity is in the books. Surprisingly, no one critical to their team’s plans was severely injured, which frankly is all you can ask from these games. Old fogies like me remember when the preseason was six weeks long as players played themselves back into shape after the offseason.
Today, with 24/7/365 training and chemical enhancements – sorry, medical advancements – players now need only three preseason games to acquire season-ending injuries. Sorry, but the human body, as is the case with the mind and spirit, requires rest no matter what size paycheck is attached.
Baseball features a wild chase for the wild card. This is especially true in the National League, where nine teams are vying for the three available slots. I’m hoping the San Francisco Giants make it, as they are my cancer-stricken coworker’s team of choice, and she could definitely use something diversionary right now.
Yes, sports can still provide needed relief from life’s hard times. Despite the woke and the weirdness, it’s good to take refreshment in pleasant diversions. Heading into this election, we need it more than ever.
