a reflection on sports fans

I'm not a die-hard sports fan. I actually laugh sometimes at people who subsume their egos to the activities of others, pretending that the actions of strangers in isolated contests of skill or strength actually should have weight in their lives.

A bystander, a spectator, seems particularly silly when shouting "We're #1" when they had no involvement other than as background hoise. I don't recall static ever winning a Grammy.

But, having been raised largely in Morgantown, West Virginia, the home of West Virginia University (not just a "passing through because I got a job at the university" type, I have roots and family here) I do care how the Mountaineers do. Not on the scale of my brother, Mark, the sports statistics nut who established and runs the website mountaineerstats.com or my brother David, who competes with Mark over who can have the coolest collection of WVYU athetics memorabilia, but I do like to see them do well.

Despite the predictions of bad weather, I am going to the WVU-Cincinnati game tomorrow (smart move for a guy recovering from a bad cold, eh?) and I am intrigued at the mathematics involved in who will win the Big East Conference title if Louisville, Ruthers and WVU all win out their remaining games.

All I can say is "good luck and I hope the games (particularly the one tomorrow) are exciting and worthy contests". The guys crying in their beer when their favourite team loses don't always realize that the players are human beings. Most of them are hoping for careers in their sport. They get hurt, they win, they lose, their success at the collegiate level will affect whether or not they get a shot at professional jobs int he sport. Take it easy on them, okay? If you want to get upset or angry about something meaningful, I can give you a list...all of the things on that list are more important on the global scale than who wins a football or basketball game.

But there is an impact to lives on the fortunes on the field, and it is to the athletes and their coaches. Not some drunk guy in section 17. Or sitting at home, watching his new TV he got instead of braces for his kid.

Remember, all of you, there is a real world out there. Diversions are nice, even necessary, but show some consideration for the guys actually doing the heavily lifting and be respectful of the players and coaches, even of the opposing team.