A sports and life realization

For years I wondered why in gods name did sports engulf a good portion of my life and how it works with the relationships I have with people.
There were certain things I knew.
I will have to marry a girl that's a sports fan and understands that watching football all day on Saturday and Sunday are completely normal. That Tuesday night and possibly Sunday morning are golf days with the fellas (also possibly any other day of the week). That March is for college basketball and it's completely acceptable to call-in sick. In fact if you don't at least one day, you are in fact not a fan. That fantasy football is an absolute part of everyday life. That any chance you have to attend a live sporting event is a must. That a $100 yearly subscription to Rivals is a must to be on the in. That when my teams lose, there's a couple hour process of trying to get over it. Sometimes this can be drawn out to days. That if one of the teams I bleed for (Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Rockies, Colorado Buffs) ever wins the whole thing, I will have to be in the city to take it all in. On a side note this thought bit me two years ago when the Sabres looked like they'd at least make the Stanley Cup. Booked my flight for the dates that would cover Game 4, 5 and 6. Well the Sabres lost to the Senators in the conference finals. That hurt financially, but I chalked it up as good sports Zen.
That going to a Michigan-OSU game, Georgia-Florida game, a game at Notre Dame, a game at Lambeau Field, Fenway Park and Wrigley are all accepted expenses. Even great vacations.
That's just to name a few sports things, that I found have to be done.

In my quest to find out why sports so enthralled me, I wondered if it's just my truest of true passions. I'm not sure how I'd react if I was taken from sports for a week, month or even longer. I was in sixth grade at this camp we all had to go to. It was essentially a week in the woods, doing team building stuff. That week remains vivid because the first O.J. Simpson trial came to a verdict and the Bills played on Monday Night Football. While all the other kids were trying to see who could kiss who and who liked who, I wanted to know the results of the Juice's trial and whether the Bills won. THe counselors wouldn't let me watch any television, listen to the radio or call home. I was pissed. Real pissed. Finally I faked an illness, was able to call my mom and get the lowdown. She wanted to know if I was OK. "Of course mom," I said, "I just want to know if O.J.'s innocent and if the Bills won." THe Bills did on a last second field goal and of course the Juice was innocent.

That's sort of sick. I have wondered if it's that I just like people who are passionate about something. Anything. I think that's part of it. I love passion. I love people who are passionate. I think sports and passion go hand in hand together. I think that's why I like who I like and am interested in the people I am. They don't always necessarily like sports (most do and in some cases are just as sick as I am about it) but they have that unquestioned passion that I do. If it's for a sports team, great. If it's for something else, that interests me.
But I found something that's quite interesting the other day. Since I'm on a reading kick the past couple of weeks, I've been plowing through all sorts of stuff. I found two things that don't exactly relate to each other, but I think they give a decent correspondence on some things.

The first comes from On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Early in the book, Kerouac's trying to explain why he does what he does.
He writes:
"I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

The other comes from a story about Jim Valvano's battle with cancer. It's by Gary Smith from SI. Valvano is coming to grips with the fact he'll die within the next couple months, and wonders why sports have engulfed him. Mainly whether sports is all about winning. Valvano finds this when reading a book from Brian Glanville, a British sportswriter.
"That is why athletics are important. They demonstrate the scope of human possibility, which is unlimited. The inconceivable is conceived, and then it is accomplished."
Valvano says of the passage "That's why we strive. That's the value of sports. All those games, they mean nothing — and they mean everything."

I think if you take passage A and passage B, it's a pretty gauge for why I like people and why I like sports and how I see them intertwined. It's not really about just liking something for the way it is, it's about being passionate about something with a purpose.
Oh, and if you haven't seen Jimmy V's speech at the 1993 ESPY's, it's worth a look. Talk about passion. It's still to this day one of the best speeches I've ever seen. I still shed a few every time I see it.
Jimmy V at the Espy's.

Now that we've discussed that, here's the happenings in the life....not much. Friday played drinking games, Saturday worked before watching football and Sunday watched football all day, then Game 7 of the ALCS. Sunday was in essence Manday. Me and the Geenis, had designated seets on the couch fired up some brats and drank beer. Watched the Bills game, the Colts game, took a two-hour break to play some actual football, then came home to watch the ALCS. I ate five brats and drank probably 12 beers. Not to be outdone, Gee polished off six brats and must have drank at least 17 beers. But it was spread out so at no point were either of us drunk. It was in fact a very good day.

Other sports items:
The Buffalo Bills may be for real. I'm not going to fully say it yet, because of the curse I seem to have with sports sometimes. The other week at state golf I followed two Steamboat kids around. But since I was writing for some other papers I usually only got to watch the Steamboat kids for a couple holes. The second day I watched each of them for three holes. The one kid went par, bogey, bogey, while the other kid went double-bogey, bogey, double-bogey. Considering they shot 73 and 75 respectively, my presence brought some bad luck. I'm not doing that to the Bills. But if Paul Posluszny ever comes across this let me apologize. I just purchased a throwback jersey of you Paul. I think it will look great, but don't blame me if you tear every ligament in you lower body in next week's game.

CU is looking like it might be bowl eligible. THey have to win two of these games to get to six wins. Missouri (loss) A&M (toss-up) Oklahoma State (probable loss), Iowa State (win) and Nebraska (toss-up).


World Series time. Going into the championship series I had the Dodgers winning in 7 and the Red Sox winning in 5. Both utterly wrong.
But here's the thoughts on the WOrld Series. I think the Rays win just because they only have a couple days off. the Phillies won't have played for more than a week when Game 1 rolls around. This is reminiscent of the Rockies last year. THey had the week, the Red Sox didn't. Not saying it changes the outcome, but it thwarted Da Rox momentum.
Plus I like the starting pitching of the Rays better. The lineups are a push, maybe with a slight edge to the Phils. I like the Phil's bullpen a little better, but with David Price looking like a young Randy Johnson coming out of the bullpen, that could be up for debate. Manager wise, I'll take Joe Maddon. He just seems cool. Real cool.

HEF of the Week:
SInce I don't do much, there's not a lot to mention. I guess we'll go to our live football game on Thursday. WE played for a couple hours. But since it started as just a 3-person game, it got somewhat boring after a while. But I did run about five 40-yard dashes. Turns out I don't have world class speed. I don't even have third-world country class speed. Geenis (who counts way to fast if you ask me) counted me running a 10.4-40 yard dash. That's beyond slow. That's cold honey running down the side of the bottle slow. In all honestly with Gee counting normal, I'm probably somewhere in the mid 7's. Ussain Bolt does not have to worry about Luke Graham catching him.