Yesterday, Kyle Porter, proprietor of the wildly popular Pistols Firing wrote about his experiences watching Brandon Weeden and the real importance of sports. I've only met Kyle once, but I believe him to be passionate about providing a product we all like and a genuine dude. Today might have been his best work yet.
He's absolutely right about moments being the most important part of sports. Maybe I'm missing his main point, but allow me to ramble for a moment if you will. The game itself is never the whole point, it just takes wisdom and maybe some wrinkles to recognize it. What it's about is relationships.
A few Coors Lights ago I spent some time engaging in one of my favorite pass times. No, not keeping score. I mean giving twitter personality LandThieves grief for being a Yankee fan. He, of course, has a great reason for being a Yankees fan and it's nearly identical to my reason for devotion to a real team, the Cardinals. Because his Dad liked them he does too. I find it odd sports are so divisive when we really all like it for the same reasons.
Me? I've been fortunate in my life in that I've attended two World Series games and I'm only twenty seven. In 2006 I skipped class flew out of Tulsa early in the morning and saw the Cardinals beat Detroit. It was misty, the Cards won and I was miserable. My dad, born in Saint Louis, A Cardinals fan so devout he kept a score card for every game the 1968 Cardinals played by listening to the radio was going to meet me in Saint Louis with his brother and my cousin. It was going to be his first world series, and we were going to watch our Cards together.
The weather canceled his flight. I spent my time between pitches looking at three empty seats on my right. The other side? That guy was the car dealer who spent his whole night bragging about how he got his seats. How he got his seats? His car dealership put the Cardinals mascot, Fredbird, in the convertible he drove around the warning track in the pregame. I guess memories and moments are different for everyone. I'll never forget the guy who said with a straight face "I put Fredbird in his car"
For my Rangers fans friends stop now. To summarize...we like sports for the memories, bonding and relationships.
In 2011 I was back in Dallas working and fortunate to make decent money. I was sitting in my living room watching the Cards finish off the Brewers. I immediately jumped on Stubhub and grabbed two uperdeck tickets for $400 a piece because Oikos and economics are apparently both Greek to me. The minute after that was one of the best of my life. I called my dad and told him he had a second chance to go to the World Series. You can't see over a cell phone, but tears wouldn't have shocked me.
He and I went to game four of the 2011 World Series. We were joined by my sister, two cousins and two uncles. It was the best baseball game I've ever been to. We tailgated for hours before the game, talked laughed, drank and bonded....Dad and I then went to our seats to watch the Cardinals get emasculated. Not the point. I brought so much happiness to the old man who looks like me that he still talks about it.
I think that's the point. We bond around common laundry and events. The results aren't as important as who you're with when they happen and who you can share them with later. We'll bond over our wins...and the shared suffering of our losses because it draws us closer together and that's why those moments are so important.
He's absolutely right about moments being the most important part of sports. Maybe I'm missing his main point, but allow me to ramble for a moment if you will. The game itself is never the whole point, it just takes wisdom and maybe some wrinkles to recognize it. What it's about is relationships.
A few Coors Lights ago I spent some time engaging in one of my favorite pass times. No, not keeping score. I mean giving twitter personality LandThieves grief for being a Yankee fan. He, of course, has a great reason for being a Yankees fan and it's nearly identical to my reason for devotion to a real team, the Cardinals. Because his Dad liked them he does too. I find it odd sports are so divisive when we really all like it for the same reasons.
Me? I've been fortunate in my life in that I've attended two World Series games and I'm only twenty seven. In 2006 I skipped class flew out of Tulsa early in the morning and saw the Cardinals beat Detroit. It was misty, the Cards won and I was miserable. My dad, born in Saint Louis, A Cardinals fan so devout he kept a score card for every game the 1968 Cardinals played by listening to the radio was going to meet me in Saint Louis with his brother and my cousin. It was going to be his first world series, and we were going to watch our Cards together.
The weather canceled his flight. I spent my time between pitches looking at three empty seats on my right. The other side? That guy was the car dealer who spent his whole night bragging about how he got his seats. How he got his seats? His car dealership put the Cardinals mascot, Fredbird, in the convertible he drove around the warning track in the pregame. I guess memories and moments are different for everyone. I'll never forget the guy who said with a straight face "I put Fredbird in his car"
For my Rangers fans friends stop now. To summarize...we like sports for the memories, bonding and relationships.
In 2011 I was back in Dallas working and fortunate to make decent money. I was sitting in my living room watching the Cards finish off the Brewers. I immediately jumped on Stubhub and grabbed two uperdeck tickets for $400 a piece because Oikos and economics are apparently both Greek to me. The minute after that was one of the best of my life. I called my dad and told him he had a second chance to go to the World Series. You can't see over a cell phone, but tears wouldn't have shocked me.
He and I went to game four of the 2011 World Series. We were joined by my sister, two cousins and two uncles. It was the best baseball game I've ever been to. We tailgated for hours before the game, talked laughed, drank and bonded....Dad and I then went to our seats to watch the Cardinals get emasculated. Not the point. I brought so much happiness to the old man who looks like me that he still talks about it.
I think that's the point. We bond around common laundry and events. The results aren't as important as who you're with when they happen and who you can share them with later. We'll bond over our wins...and the shared suffering of our losses because it draws us closer together and that's why those moments are so important.
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