More Than A Game

Sports as a reflection of our lives

DALL-E 3

On my About Page, I wrote about why I started this newsletter. Today, I want to expand on what I wrote.

Joy in the Journey

I love sports. The competition, fandom, work ethic, and inspirational stories—you can’t write the script of sports. It’s the best type of drama. It’s probably the one thing in our lives that has no bearing on our temporal or spiritual well-being, but still gives us those nervous butterflies. The moment when we feel a little leap in our stomach when turning on the TV or listening to the national anthem play, we wonder why we do it. Why do we invest so much of our time, energy, mood, debates, and money into a simple game?

For those who have had the privilege of watching their favorite team win a championship, I would bet most of them say it doesn’t change their lives in any meaningful way. Yes, there may be temporary happiness—running around the living room, or if you are lucky, cheering from the arena or stadium. But the next day, we go back to work and go about our normal lives, as LeBron James famously let his haters know. When I reflect on sports fandom, I realize that joy comes from the investment we make in the journey to get to a championship, not the championship itself.

I talked to a friend after his Boston Celtics won the NBA championship last year. He said he was happy, but that it was a little anticlimactic. Likely because the championship wasn’t ever really in doubt for his C’s, but also because of what I just mentioned—the real joy is in the journey.

Said Kobe Bryant:

“Those times when you get up early and you work hard; those times when you stay up late and you work hard; those times when you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway; that is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

Gathering Moments

It might be to relive some of our past glory days. It may be because we want to feel like we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves. For many of us, it was ingrained into our being ever since we can remember—the late nights, the disappointments, the anxiety-ridden hours, and the seldom peaks of joy.

Sports don’t feel like they have no bearing on us. In fact, we view sports as having everything to do with our well-being. They are a microcosm of our lives. We can see ourselves in the athletes—the pain, triumph, and everything in between.

Every big moment is a stepping stone in the journey. Every big play and fist pump represents an accomplishment along the path to the ultimate goal. That’s why we cheer and stomp around the living room as we watch pixels on a screen. It’s why we go to YouTube to relive some of our favorite calls—so we can remember the progress we’ve made along the way.

I used to write solely about my favorite team, the Portland Trail Blazers. When Dame Lillard’s steps graced Rip City, Portland had some of its best basketball memories. I wrote about some of my favorites here. Yes, it would have been great to win a championship with Dame, but we still gathered some great moments along the way. Those moments are the things I’ll remember—jumping around with family during his buzzer beaters, trying not to scream too loudly and waking up the baby.

The irrational texts we send, the laughs from reading sarcastic Tweets, and the high-fives with the stranger sitting behind you in the 300 level are all moments we gather as sports fans. The moments allow us to connect, comfort, and celebrate with one another, sometimes with people we would otherwise not have known.

Life Reflections

It reminds us of our own lives and our own journeys. It reminds us of the people who mean the most to us—our dads, grandparents, sisters, best friends, and even our biggest rivals. It reminds us of the moments that matter in our lives—the memories that have long faded and the memories that have yet to be made. It reminds us of our own journey.

In sports, the destination is always the goal. It’s not too dissimilar to the goal of your next promotion, college graduation, or raising a child to leave the nest. Once we get there though, we find that the joy was in the journey all along. Sports are a journey of improvement, self-mastery, and team building, just as our lives are.

This is why retirement and Hall of Fame speeches can be so memorable. It’s a time of reflection for athletes. They generally don’t talk about their achievements, but about the journey it took to get there—the hard work, sacrifice, teammates, and fans.

As much as we laughed, it’s why the Boston College basketball player said the thing he will miss the most about playing basketball wasn’t winning or scoring, but “going out to eat.”

I presume if he held it together, he would have finished the sentence with, “Going out to eat...with my teammates.” In the end, it was the process of being with the same people for hours on end and building lasting bonds.

Sven Goran Erickson, a soccer player and manager said before he passed:

“I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it. Bye.”

He realized sports and life are intertwined. He spoke of the things that made his sporting career great and how it impacted his life, not how wins and losses did.

In one of the best sporting speeches I’ve heard, Jim Valvano, as he was terminally ill with cancer said:

“And when people say to me, “How do you get through life?” Each day’s the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day…Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think, you should spend some time in thought. And number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears. Could be happiness or joy, but think about it—if you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

This quote sums up sports perfectly. They make us laugh, think, and cry. They give us full days. And if you add up enough of those full days along our journey, I’d say we lived a pretty good life.

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