Sports Dissapointment

All right, so I have to admit it, I am a fan of the following teams (in an exponentially increasing curve):  St. Louis Cardinals Baseball, Minnesota Vikings Football, Red Sox Baseball, Syracuse Orange Basketball, George Mason Patriot Basketball, Clarkson University Hockey, and Washington Capitals Hockey.  What does this mean?  This means I typically root for the underdog.

At present, and I will admit it is in recent years, I am a very sizable (aka Huge!) Capitals fan.  So being down 3 to nil in the series tonight is hitting home hard.  With seasons of late that bespeak a certain “inevitability” and having been a part of the pre-ordained to be doomed “Surge”, I have seen irreversible momentum (not that it doesn’t take a monumental effort).  I wish we had it, and hope, for my own hearts sake as a continually burgeoning sports fan, that we have a new “miracle on ice”.  I would like to see the team that is as old as I am, break “the Curse”.  Sports and Hockey fans, see you tomorrow night for the start, I hope, of one of the greatest comebacks in hockey history.

Now for the deep thought.

I have often been, like millions and billions before me, locked in, emotionally, visually, and otherwise to the competition that is sports.  My passion is clearly now on the ice, but it happens time and time again (I was glued to the TV watching the NCAA Final Four when Syracuse finally overcame the “Keith Smart Curse” in 2003, as I was getting ready to go to Baghdad).  For me, I think sports and being a fan of them is really at the core of humanity.  We have struggles, we have real demons, each of us.  And to confront them, and physically struggle with them, that is what we dream, even have nightmares over.  To be able to viscerally project this struggle upon those athletes, warriors, and others, that take on very real demons, gives us that release we need, we ply for, to bring to bouts and resolve the climax that is in our hearts.  It is really very Aristotelian, a part of the path to stay on the “Golden Mean”.  The thing I struggle with is if this really ever resolves it for us, or is it in something else we need resolution.  It is in the times of despair, when the Caps are down and the end seems gloomy, that sports drive us nuts as fans, as it can’t be the end.  Sports helps in having yet another season, Olympic competition, and a story of redemption as much as it has in winning and defeat.  More thinking is needed here, but regardless, this is something that we can’t ignore.  After all, there is another game tomorrow night.