There is a stigma attached to having a blog in this time of social media and consequent inflated feelings of self importance. At a time when people think other people care about their day-to-day comings and goings through status updates and tweets, having a blog often becomes associated with the most bloated and inflated sense of self worth. Of all the opinions out there, you somehow think yours matters and is more interesting than the countless others?
For me it comes down to something completely different. Of course somewhere embedded in this project is the egotistical notion that I somehow have something unique and interesting to say in writing. But that was far from my primary motivation to start Warning Track Power.
What is it about sports? That question is why I started this. Other writers often respond with personal anecdotes which reflect their feelings about sports, and I cannot resist taking a moment to do the same here:
So, what is it about sports?...
...It's sticking it out at Coors Field when the Rockies fall behind by 3 to the Giants in extra innings, and being rewarded with the chance to scream, yell, and jump around after Ryan Spilborghs hits an inexplicable grand slam.
...It's the hockey game I don't remember anything about because I was too busy trying to impress a girl (now my fiance).
...It's the visual of a sea of arms thrust straight up in the air, all over the arena, as a three pointer is in flight.
...It's having an ice storm close the golf course when David Schaffner and I have a tee time, and deciding to set up a pitch-and-chip golf course in the yard at home anyway, despite the freezing and wet conditions, and probably having as much if not more fun than the round would have been.
...It's calling time-out (as the catcher) in an 8th grade CSYBA baseball game, trotting out to the mound and telling Ryan Presley "They definitely cannot hit your fastball," then watching a center-cut fastball ping out of the ballpark, having yet to land, and still laughing about it to this day (probably because we still won the game).
...It's calling time-out, solemnly jogging to the mound, and then telling the pitcher a joke.
...It's Mike Mason snapping his fingers and/or clapping from half-court (BALL!) anytime any member of our YMCA basketball team even sniffed a rebound, because let's be clear, you can afford to play defense 4-on-5 when he drops 26 points in the first half (running clock).
...It's watching any baseball team celebrate a walk-off victory.
...It's keeping my cell phone with gametracker on the music stand next to my sheet music as I practiced in the Gustavus Adolphus band room, and then stopping everything to stomp around and pump my fist when Tony Gwynn Jr. tripled off Trevor Hoffman to keep Rocktober 2007 alive (I probably hit refresh 50 times in those 3-4 minutes).
...It's the collective YEA that can be heard over everybody already cheering when a home run lands in the bleachers.
...It's admiring and following the careers of Rod Beck, Ryan Bowen, and Lonnie Baxter, and not caring a lick if you are one of two people who find them interesting/hilarious (in the case of Bowen, I know of four for sure...if you're reading this, you know who you are).
...It's the comfort of the sports page and the baseball box scores every morning.
For some (or most) people these anecdotes are meaningless. Others may have nodded their head vigorously because they have felt that way through their own experiences. They have felt the it of the question, What is it about sports? But really, how do we articulate it besides through our own collection of experiences?
Here are some ideas to factor into this conversation:
Part of it is certainly the connection with other people. So many of my relationships, whether my family, my fiance, or my other best friends, have the common ground of sports. We associate certain experiences with sports and even understand certain events through them.
Part of it is familiarity. If I look at myself and my (at times irrational) love of baseball, it comes down to the fact that it's what I've known since I was a little kid. I checked the box scores all through elementary school, which I still do. I took great joy in throwing baseballs, tennis balls, and racquetballs at every wall and surface of my house, and given the chance I'm sure I still would (and I'm not kidding. I'm 25...and I am absolutely not kidding). There is something comforting about turning on a baseball game now because it's what I've always done and what I've always known.
Part of it is diversion and escapism, whether from a true crisis or from day-to-day stress. It's the feeling of getting away from everything else to the comfort of playing or watching sports. It's that feeling that I can only kind of explain when something as trivial as a Colorado Rockies victory takes on enhanced meaning.
These are all part of what it is about sports, but anyone who is a fan knows that they do not tell the whole story. And really, it may not be possible to ever truly articulate the complete reason why we love sports, why we hang on every pitch/shot/snap and invest our time/energy/emotions into something that many find meaningless.
We know that we may not ever have the ultimate answer. We embrace the fact that we may never have the words to describe our feelings about sports, and we decide to talk about them anyway. We laugh about a memory or rejoice about our team's accomplishments. We argue about what our team needs to do to reach the next level. We comfort each other when our teams are in the basement. We wait for our next chance to live the answer.
I love talking to other fans. Isn't that really what a sports blog boils down to? A different forum to talk about sports and why we love them.
I will never tire of hearing somebody describe their best golf round or the basketball game when they scored 30 points. I will definitely never get tired of hearing people describe the time that their high school or college team won a championship, and the experience of celebrating in that kind of community. I love hearing people rant about the players they truly dislike for no good reason. I love sharing the anecdotes and experiences that make all of this matter.
No, I do not have any notion that this blog will supercede all others or that I am doing something extraordinarily different or world breaking.
I just like talking about sports.
What is it about sports? It's a question that might be impossible to truly answer, and yet so many people know the answer.
That's why I write a sports blog.
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