Wuddup people!? I know I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus and haven’t
written an article for quite some time but I’ve decided to try and get back in
the blogging groove. I told Petar that I was planning on writing a short piece
today to get back into the whole writing thing and his response was, “Sick. What
are you gonna write about?” I realized I didn’t actually have any topic in mind
so decide to do what I always do when I get stuck: I started watching TV with
my grandpa and just loafted. I wasn’t coming up with any good ideas so I decided
to just give up for the night and try again tomorrow. Naturally, 15 minutes ago
I witnessed a moment of absolute brilliance and realized it was the perfect
thing to write about. Here’s my take on the magic of sports.
First a backstory: My grandfather is probably the most
pessimistic man on the face of the planet. He’s not actually a negative person,
but when it comes to something he actually cares about, his philosophy is to
assume the worst. That way he’s always either pleasantly surprised or he can go
to bed saying that he knew it from the start. Growing up with this, my father
also picked up this “hater” mentality and you will RARELY find him “hoping for
the best.” This makes watching sports with these 2 absolutely brutal. If you
were to listen to my grandpa watch the #1 tennis player in the world, Novak
Djokovic, playing in the second round of a Grand Slam against some scrub with a
triple digit ranking, you would think that our Serbian sports hero was getting
slaughtered. When I come to the TV to see how things can be going so poorly,
the scoreline usually reads 6-2, 5-1 for Djokovic. When you ask the man what
the hell he was worried about, he says something ridiculous like, “yea, but he
missed TWOOOO backhands already. TWOOOO.” I’d like to think that both my father
and grandfather are academics and neither were around sports much while growing
up, so it’s hard for them to understand the ways of a true competitor. Another
side note relevant to my story is that both my dad and grandpa lived in New
York City for 8 years while my dad was a teenager. Because of this, they are
diehard fans of New York teams and claim that the Rangers, Giants and Knicks
should play every primetime game from now until the apocalypse.
Tonight we were watching the Rangers take on the Capitals.
With the series tied up 2-2, this was a HUGE game for both teams, and more
importantly, my dad and grandpa. The Rangers outshot the Caps something like
17-4 by the start of the second period but only had 1 goal to show for it. My
grandpa had already cussed out all 4 Ranger lines and was claiming that he
could outskate all of the players when the Caps made a charge and ended up
taking a 2-1 lead. We watched the Rangers put up countless decent shots on goal
only to have them stopped by the Caps goalie, Holtby (or as my dad calls him,
the little young Canadian f*ck from the Prairies). As the third period started
winding down to a close, with about 3 minutes left, my grandpa was already
deciding to get ready for bed and my dad was asking for the remote to change
the channel. “This games over”, “Why’d they even take the ice if they’re gonna
play like pussies”, “That’s what you get for taking stupid penalties. If I was
the coach, he’d be cut by the time he got to the locker room.” I snapped at
both of them and made my grandpa take a seat. “Have you guys been watching this
game? The Rangers are outshooting them and outplaying them all game! This thing
is not done yet” I told them. With just 30 seconds left the Caps got called for
a 4-minute high sticking penalty which gave the Rangers a man advantage. “AHHHH,
too late! Why didn’t you get the penalty when there was still time left” my
grandpa groaned. However, any true sports fan would have told you at that very
moment that the game was far from finished. New York had played too well all
game for this to not be a huge chance. The Rangers put the shot on net and as
the seconds ticked away, multiple Rangers were hacking at the puck to try and
squeeze it in. With 6 seconds left in the game, New York managed to chip the
puck right over the goalie’s pads and send the game to overtime. “THAT’S WHY WE
WATCH SPORTS!!!! THAT RIGHT THERE IS WHY WE DON’T CHANGE THE CHANNEL UNTIL THE
GAME IS FINISHED!!!!!” I ran around the house screaming like an idiot while
both my dad and grandpa laughed their asses off, though with a hint of
embarrassment. They knew they gave up on their team too early and made the
amateur mistake of declaring a game finished before the final whistle.
Once I stopped jumping around and finally took my seat I
realized that I had to write about that feeling. It was a great game to watch
and an extraordinary show of resilience by the New York Rangers, but that last
ditch effort represented so much more to me. Sport is the one area of life
where a person’s will can change the outcome and ensures that anything is
possible. You can’t “will” a chick into wanting to date you if she doesn’t like
you. You can’t “will” your way to a 90 on an exam if you didn’t study. In
pretty much no other aspect of life does determination have an immediate payoff,
which is what makes sports so magical. From the 5th string receiver David
Tyree making a once in a lifetime catch in the Superbowl to defeat the unbeaten
Patriots, to the Buffalo Bills coming back from 32 points down to defeat the
Houston Oilers, to the Rangers scoring on the Capitals with 6 seconds left to
take the game to overtime, the message is clear: in sports, it’s not over if you’re
still willing to fight for the win.
A while ago I finished The Hunger Games series (I don’t
wanna talk about it…) and my best friend asked me a couple questions about the books.
He wondered, “So I know they have the whole deathmatch thing, but do the
Districts have any sports? Like, do any sports exist in their society?” The
answer is no and it only took me a short while to decide why that must be. In a
society where people are oppressed and everyday life seems bereft of hope, the
introduction of sports would be far too dangerous for the ruling class. “On any
given Sunday…” It’s a common saying that means, no matter what the
circumstances, no matter how bleak things are looking, anyone can win on any
given day. Sports bring people together, they develop the crucial skills of
teamwork and leadership, and most importantly, they teach people that there is
always hope. In the world of Panem (the setting of The Hunger Games), the
introduction of sports would have showed the oppressed people that if their
will to overcome is strong enough, there is always hope. That is the power of
sports.
As I was writing the above paragraph I heard my father
screaming. I ran to see what had happened and sure enough, the New York Rangers
scored in the opening moments of overtime to take a 3-2 series lead over the
Washington Capitals. What a poetic finish to a fantastic game. I ran to tell my
grandfather and he simply laughed. That’s what it’s all about: as long as a
team is playing with the desire to win, the game isn’t over until the final
whistle blows. Living in a house full of pessimists can be draining and often
leads to shouting matches, but on days like today, no one can deny that when it
comes to sports, nothing is guaranteed and there is always hope. Any fan will
tell you that there’s something magical about sports and I would absolutely
agree. To those people that live their life without sports…I’m truly sorry.
Until next time,
Cabrock Jones
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