Banging my Head

Being a sports fan is supposed to be easy. It's entertainment. That is it. An option to challenge movies, theatre, the outdoors, art stuff and every single thing we do every day that makes us smile and saves us from staring at a wall. And yet, the past times of life have me pounding a keyboard at 1am, alone, because the Cincinnati Reds have dropped to 9-11. Last place, and sinking to the bottom like a dead body tied to a stone.

The balanced man folds his love of sport within the fabric of his life and grabs it when he can. Celebrate the wins, forget the losses. Enjoy the spectacle that is sport; soak in the competition and singular acts of athletic greatness, and remind yourself that you are privy to a peaceful world with the time and means to build cathedrals that house and showcase it all. We have a system that filters and funnels tuned specialists assigned to deliver on command, under a microscope. For us and them.

We are the spectators. No pressure. Our cheers are joined. Our jeers and curses are unchallenged. And yes, we paid. So I guess we deserve something and have a version of rights. That golden ticket was to see a show. A victory was never promised, or even implied.

There is no right way. I have always dived in face first, arms tied behind my back. High risk, high reward. The rarefied air of victory, that sweetness, has been worth the burden of defeat. I think. Times of loss challenge everything. Why do I care how men I don't know play a sport? Who cares? Why should this affect my mood?

It all comes down to quality of entertainment. Sports are the great unknown. You do not know how a game/match/contest is going to end. And that's that. You might think you do, but just when you know everything, somebody smacks a 3-run home run and you are the fool. Sports is the movie without a script, that makes it up as it goes along. And within the boundaries of rules and time constraints, drama and beauty manifest.

So what? I don't know. But I feel better about going to bed pissed about the Reds. And I can't wait until they play tomorrow. I hope they win.