Some insight perhaps...

[TOzgood]

My brother and his old college roommate are best buds. His roommate lives in San Diego and is a life long SD fan. Every week, they would exchange emails in regards to the upcoming games or their prospective from the other side of the country. Here is what my brother, the Pats fan, wrote to his friend in an email tonight (he forwarded it to me)...calmed me just a little bit...

------

I haven't been able to speak logically about this weekend's football games yet. I've refused talk radio, newspapers, espn.com, and espn altogether. I saw a picture of Peyton Manning on Foxnews.com and seriously contemplated throwing my bottled water at the chalkboard directly in front of me. Every time I think I have a logical analysis, my brain refuses to cooperate with my mouth and something that sounds like goats attempting to communicate comes out. BAHHH!

What is it about sports that makes us care so much? Why didn't I sleep last night even though I was out until four o'clock each of the last two evenings? Why should I possibly be upset over the fact my favorite football team lost? Shouldn't I just move on? Shouldn't I be more concerned with Nancy Pelosi's evil plan to ruin America? Shouldn't I be losing sleep over more important things like why aren't my students passing my class and why aren't the same students taking their schooling seriously?

Richard Seymour is making $4.5 million this year. Mike Vrabel is making $6.8 million. Eric Warfield made $2 million this year and he was cut a long time ago. And don't get me started on Tom Brady who is making $15 million and dating probably the hottest girl in the world. I'm living at home, making $37,000 as an english teacher. Why do we care?

Sure, I know these players are the most competitive human beings on the face of the Earth. Winning and losing is basically their job. They care. And no one can convince me otherwise. They are upset that they lost.

But why should I be? Do they lose sleep when the 17-year old freshman failed for the year already? Do they care that Sallie Mae pretty much rapes me every month? The answer is no.

The bottom line, I guess, is that sports unify people. In times of national and global turmoil, sports bring people together for a common bond, something to make us forget about the bills, the ills of the world, and the bad day we had at the office. They create a diversion so much so that once a person is committed, they're in for life. Save for a few years out of the many we have as sports fans, only a handful result in the uber-happiness that is a championship for our teams. In that regard, I've been lucky.

That point doesn't answer, though, why I haven't spoken very many positive words today, or that I can't shake the feeling that something horrible happened to me last night. When I had a particularly bad experience at the dentist one day, I went home and laid in my bed and slept because it was the only way I knew to escape the pain of what just happened to me. What did I do today after work? I came home and slept on my couch because I didn't want to go on the internet to read articles on espn.com, I didn't want to watch Pardon the Interruption, and I didn't want to reconnect with my friend Eric who called me for the first time in a while. I wanted to sleep and forget what happened. I feel like the victim of an awful crime. I haven't diagnosed coherently what transpired towards the outcome of the game last night other than the fact I don't want to watch the Super Bowl.

Irrational? Yes. That's how I feel right now, though. I feel like an irrational sports fan and the gratification of being upset and angry will happen tonight when I morbidly root for Jack Bauer to kill the first terrorist that messes with him.

Sigh.

I think I'm going to go play with my new ipod.

(Yes, because I bought one today to divert myself from everything.)

 

[pheenix11]

Interesting thoughts.

After the game last night I sat there asking myself the same questions. Whether the Patriots won or lost it does absolutely nothing to change my life. They don't know me and don't care about me, so why should I care so much about them?

I had the same feeling last night and today as when I have broken up with a girlfriend in the past. That empty feeling that you forget about for a little while but then as soon as you remember it again, you gasp for air because remembering what happened makes your heart sink and takes your breath away all over again. That happens several times over and over again and lingers over you like a black cloud.

So I seriously asked myself why should I care? Its a game and in the end it really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.

And I realized that for 3 hours last night, my heart was pounding like I was on a stair master and I tetered between exhilaration and despair constantly for that entire time. It occurred to me that it is our need for competition, our need to be the best that drives us to get involved in sports so much. There is very little we can do in our daily lives that can match the intensity of a sporting event unless you are a cop or a soldier and in those cases the stakes are real.

I tried to explain to my wife how I felt and she still doesn't get it. I asked her what were the most exciting days in her life and she said graduating and getting married, nice things like that. And then I said to her, " well think of the joy those things brought you and then imagine the possibility that halfway during your graduation that they would run up on stage and take back your degree. Or imagine that halfway during our wedding I just ran out of the church". Most of the events in our lives are either all joy or all sorrow. There is nothing in real life that teters on the edge of both at the same exact time the way a sporting event does. Beyond the life and death circumstances that a cop, soldier or ER doctor faces, there are few things that the average person experiences that are similar to sports.

I guess that is what draws us in, and that is why we care.

The Red Sox losses always hurt because we were so close so many times and wondered what it would feel like to win.

The Pats have already won so we know how it feels but we always want one more. I think its because we know the Pats do things the right way, they are a true team, they are the "good guys" who never receive any credit from the talking heads on tv. I think we all want more SB wins just so we can shove it down their throats so that when they discuess they best teams of all time, they are forced to mention the Pats whether they like it or not. 3 SB wins puts the Pats in the discussion, but I think 1 more would clinch it. In a world where style often is praised more than substance, the Pats are on the right side. Every time they win, they are sticking it to the media and I just want to see them do it one more time.

 

[Tunescribe]

There is a deeper, more inherent reason for our connection to sports that has been explored by social anthropologists: It is a surrogate for tribal warfare. We now live in a civilized society, but deep down lurks the primal drive for conquest and possesion. We can't act out those impulses without being arrested and put in jail, so we have sports to live them out vicariously. That's why winning feels so cathartic and losing is so painful. They are substitutes for life and death on the field of battle.

 

[#56300ex]

hmmm.... nope - still pissed

 

[pheenix11]

There is a deeper, more inherent reason for our connection to sports that has been explored by social anthropologists: It is a surrogate for tribal warfare. We now live in a civilized society, but deep down lurks the primal drive for conquest and possesion. We can't act out those impulses without being arrested and put in jail, so we have sports to live them out vicariously. That's why winning feels so cathartic and losing is so painful. They are substitutes for life and death on the field of battle.

So I guess you could say we all got roasted over an open pit last night.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Very good thread..... It still does not make me feel any better but it was a good thread...

 

[frankiesfly]

My brother and his old college roommate are best buds. His roommate lives in San Diego and is a life long SD fan. Every week, they would exchange emails in regards to the upcoming games or their prospective from the other side of the country. Here is what my brother, the Pats fan, wrote to his friend in an email tonight (he forwarded it to me)...calmed me just a little bit...

------

I haven't been able to speak logically about this weekend's football games yet. I've refused talk radio, newspapers, espn.com, and espn altogether. I saw a picture of Peyton Manning on Foxnews.com and seriously contemplated throwing my bottled water at the chalkboard directly in front of me. Every time I think I have a logical analysis, my brain refuses to cooperate with my mouth and something that sounds like goats attempting to communicate comes out. BAHHH!

What is it about sports that makes us care so much? Why didn't I sleep last night even though I was out until four o'clock each of the last two evenings? Why should I possibly be upset over the fact my favorite football team lost? Shouldn't I just move on? Shouldn't I be more concerned with Nancy Pelosi's evil plan to ruin America? Shouldn't I be losing sleep over more important things like why aren't my students passing my class and why aren't the same students taking their schooling seriously?

Richard Seymour is making $4.5 million this year. Mike Vrabel is making $6.8 million. Eric Warfield made $2 million this year and he was cut a long time ago. And don't get me started on Tom Brady who is making $15 million and dating probably the hottest girl in the world. I'm living at home, making $37,000 as an english teacher. Why do we care?

Sure, I know these players are the most competitive human beings on the face of the Earth. Winning and losing is basically their job. They care. And no one can convince me otherwise. They are upset that they lost.

But why should I be? Do they lose sleep when the 17-year old freshman failed for the year already? Do they care that Sallie Mae pretty much rapes me every month? The answer is no.

The bottom line, I guess, is that sports unify people. In times of national and global turmoil, sports bring people together for a common bond, something to make us forget about the bills, the ills of the world, and the bad day we had at the office. They create a diversion so much so that once a person is committed, they're in for life. Save for a few years out of the many we have as sports fans, only a handful result in the uber-happiness that is a championship for our teams. In that regard, I've been lucky.

That point doesn't answer, though, why I haven't spoken very many positive words today, or that I can't shake the feeling that something horrible happened to me last night. When I had a particularly bad experience at the dentist one day, I went home and laid in my bed and slept because it was the only way I knew to escape the pain of what just happened to me. What did I do today after work? I came home and slept on my couch because I didn't want to go on the internet to read articles on espn.com, I didn't want to watch Pardon the Interruption, and I didn't want to reconnect with my friend Eric who called me for the first time in a while. I wanted to sleep and forget what happened. I feel like the victim of an awful crime. I haven't diagnosed coherently what transpired towards the outcome of the game last night other than the fact I don't want to watch the Super Bowl.

Irrational? Yes. That's how I feel right now, though. I feel like an irrational sports fan and the gratification of being upset and angry will happen tonight when I morbidly root for Jack Bauer to kill the first terrorist that messes with him.

Sigh.

I think I'm going to go play with my new ipod.

(Yes, because I bought one today to divert myself from everything.)

I slept good last night, because it was the first time i drank alcohol in over a year. It seemed to be the only solution for me. It was my wifes idea to take me out and get me drunk, and forget about the game. When we got home later that night she defenitley made me forget about the game, if you know what i mean, lol.

 

[frankiesfly]

dam i remember the game again.

 

[Fogbuster]

....

I haven't been able to speak logically about this weekend's football games yet. I've refused talk radio, newspapers, espn.com, and espn altogether. I saw a picture of Peyton Manning on Foxnews.com and seriously contemplated throwing my bottled water at the chalkboard directly in front of me. Every time I think I have a logical analysis, my brain refuses to cooperate with my mouth and something that sounds like goats attempting to communicate comes out. BAHHH!

What is it about sports that makes us care so much? Why didn't I sleep last night even though I was out until four o'clock each of the last two evenings? Why should I possibly be upset over the fact my favorite football team lost? Shouldn't I just move on? Shouldn't I be more concerned with Nancy Pelosi's evil plan to ruin America? Shouldn't I be losing sleep over more important things like why aren't my students passing my class and why aren't the same students taking their schooling seriously?

Richard Seymour is making $4.5 million this year. Mike Vrabel is making $6.8 million. Eric Warfield made $2 million this year and he was cut a long time ago. And don't get me started on Tom Brady who is making $15 million and dating probably the hottest girl in the world. I'm living at home, making $37,000 as an english teacher. Why do we care?

Sure, I know these players are the most competitive human beings on the face of the Earth. Winning and losing is basically their job. They care. And no one can convince me otherwise. They are upset that they lost.

But why should I be? Do they lose sleep when the 17-year old freshman failed for the year already? Do they care that Sallie Mae pretty much rapes me every month? The answer is no.

The bottom line, I guess, is that sports unify people. In times of national and global turmoil, sports bring people together for a common bond, something to make us forget about the bills, the ills of the world, and the bad day we had at the office. They create a diversion so much so that once a person is committed, they're in for life. Save for a few years out of the many we have as sports fans, only a handful result in the uber-happiness that is a championship for our teams. In that regard, I've been lucky.

That point doesn't answer, though, why I haven't spoken very many positive words today, or that I can't shake the feeling that something horrible happened to me last night. When I had a particularly bad experience at the dentist one day, I went home and laid in my bed and slept because it was the only way I knew to escape the pain of what just happened to me. What did I do today after work? I came home and slept on my couch because I didn't want to go on the internet to read articles on espn.com, I didn't want to watch Pardon the Interruption, and I didn't want to reconnect with my friend Eric who called me for the first time in a while. I wanted to sleep and forget what happened. I feel like the victim of an awful crime. I haven't diagnosed coherently what transpired towards the outcome of the game last night other than the fact I don't want to watch the Super Bowl.

Irrational? Yes. That's how I feel right now, though. I feel like an irrational sports fan and the gratification of being upset and angry will happen tonight when I morbidly root for Jack Bauer to kill the first terrorist that messes with him.

Sigh.

I think I'm going to go play with my new ipod.

(Yes, because I bought one today to divert myself from everything.)

Good points. By way of perspective, back in the early days of professional sports, these games were a welcome diversion from the daily grinds of living and working, a chance to get out of the fields, the factory or office or where ever one toiled, and get into the simple world of games, to *escape* from the daily grind.

The danger comes when these games become a new form of "daily grind". With the amounts of money these game industries command the forces that control the games have found ever more sophisticated ways of getting into our heads, to make their products more and more appealing so as to get us to buy into their ever more expensive costs. When so many people are still willing to fork over ever more of a percentage of their incomes to fund these games, the whole aura grows and grows, drawing us in more and more.

Your perspective on the relationship between the actual players and the fans -- none anymore, basically -- is right on the mark. Like most national politicians each single fan is just "one vote", and for the big time pro athlete each of us is just "one ticket", and all this leaves us feeling pretty insignificant.

Take it all with a grain of a salt. Enjoy it for what it is: a game. When outcomes can turn on an ankle or the flu or a soft spot on the field or any number of other tiny alterations of the game, it's still largely a game of chance, and should be taken as such.

Games are diversions from the more important things of life, like family, community, and so forth. For me it helps to keep that point of view.


//

 

[BJ_McWild]

"I tried to explain to my wife how I felt and she still doesn't get it. I asked her what were the most exciting days in her life and she said graduating and getting married, nice things like that. And then I said to her, " well think of the joy those things brought you and then imagine the possibility that halfway during your graduation that they would run up on stage and take back your degree. Or imagine that halfway during our wedding I just ran out of the church". Most of the events in our lives are either all joy or all sorrow. There is nothing in real life that teters on the edge of both at the same exact time the way a sporting event does. Beyond the life and death circumstances that a cop, soldier or ER doctor faces, there are few things that the average person experiences that are similar to sports."

This is the truest and most classic thing I've seen on this board.

You NAILED it. This is what it's all about.

 

[PatsWorldChamps]

hmmm.... nope - still pissed

d fu.c.king.itto

 

[PatsWorldChamps]

My brother and his old college roommate are best buds. His roommate lives in San Diego and is a life long SD fan. Every week, they would exchange emails in regards to the upcoming games or their prospective from the other side of the country. Here is what my brother, the Pats fan, wrote to his friend in an email tonight (he forwarded it to me)...calmed me just a little bit...

------

I haven't been able to speak logically about this weekend's football games yet. I've refused talk radio, newspapers, espn.com, and espn altogether. I saw a picture of Peyton Manning on Foxnews.com and seriously contemplated throwing my bottled water at the chalkboard directly in front of me. Every time I think I have a logical analysis, my brain refuses to cooperate with my mouth and something that sounds like goats attempting to communicate comes out. BAHHH!

What is it about sports that makes us care so much? Why didn't I sleep last night even though I was out until four o'clock each of the last two evenings? Why should I possibly be upset over the fact my favorite football team lost? Shouldn't I just move on? Shouldn't I be more concerned with Nancy Pelosi's evil plan to ruin America? Shouldn't I be losing sleep over more important things like why aren't my students passing my class and why aren't the same students taking their schooling seriously?

Richard Seymour is making $4.5 million this year. Mike Vrabel is making $6.8 million. Eric Warfield made $2 million this year and he was cut a long time ago. And don't get me started on Tom Brady who is making $15 million and dating probably the hottest girl in the world. I'm living at home, making $37,000 as an english teacher. Why do we care?

Sure, I know these players are the most competitive human beings on the face of the Earth. Winning and losing is basically their job. They care. And no one can convince me otherwise. They are upset that they lost.

But why should I be? Do they lose sleep when the 17-year old freshman failed for the year already? Do they care that Sallie Mae pretty much rapes me every month? The answer is no.

The bottom line, I guess, is that sports unify people. In times of national and global turmoil, sports bring people together for a common bond, something to make us forget about the bills, the ills of the world, and the bad day we had at the office. They create a diversion so much so that once a person is committed, they're in for life. Save for a few years out of the many we have as sports fans, only a handful result in the uber-happiness that is a championship for our teams. In that regard, I've been lucky.

That point doesn't answer, though, why I haven't spoken very many positive words today, or that I can't shake the feeling that something horrible happened to me last night. When I had a particularly bad experience at the dentist one day, I went home and laid in my bed and slept because it was the only way I knew to escape the pain of what just happened to me. What did I do today after work? I came home and slept on my couch because I didn't want to go on the internet to read articles on espn.com, I didn't want to watch Pardon the Interruption, and I didn't want to reconnect with my friend Eric who called me for the first time in a while. I wanted to sleep and forget what happened. I feel like the victim of an awful crime. I haven't diagnosed coherently what transpired towards the outcome of the game last night other than the fact I don't want to watch the Super Bowl.

Irrational? Yes. That's how I feel right now, though. I feel like an irrational sports fan and the gratification of being upset and angry will happen tonight when I morbidly root for Jack Bauer to kill the first terrorist that messes with him.

Sigh.

I think I'm going to go play with my new ipod.

(Yes, because I bought one today to divert myself from everything.)

you are pathetic.. sallie mae rapes you? sallie mae gives your pathetic ass a loan subsidized by successful humans? funny, me and all the other taxpayers support sallie mae's ass... so quit your bi.tching.. support yourself, and your ipod, and we wouldnt have to pay for your life..if you can only make 37K for a job, then you should have picked a better career, loser

 

[pheenix11]

you are pathetic.. sallie mae rapes you? sallie mae gives your pathetic ass a loan subsidized by successful humans? funny, me and all the other taxpayers support sallie mae's ass... so quit your bi.tching.. support yourself, and your ipod, and we wouldnt have to pay for your life..if you can only make 37K for a job, then you should have picked a better career, loser

Well I don't consider Sallie Mae as raping me, I'm thankful for the loan to be able to go back to school.

On the other hand, you aren't subsidizing crap, you are getting your tax dollars paid back with 6.8% interest so someone who cares can teach your fat ******ed kids to read.

Newsflash, teachers don't make much.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

The second Brady threw the pick I grabbed my car keys and went for a drive. I do my best thinking while driving. No radio. Just me and the road. I thought about all the good times this team has made possible for me, and how much fun and energy I devote in following them. And above all, how lucky I am to be a Patriots fan. I felt great by the time I came back and am ready to roll with the off-season.

For me part of the process of moving on is not watching the pundits gloat because they hate this organization. I have no intention of watching the SB. I'm done with ESPN on a permanant basis aside from their game broadcasts, college and pro. The only thing I care about from an NFL perspective right now is seeing the Patriots get better. I'll probably never watch Sunday's game again. There's no point in it.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

you are pathetic.. sallie mae rapes you? sallie mae gives your pathetic ass a loan subsidized by successful humans? funny, me and all the other taxpayers support sallie mae's ass... so quit your bi.tching.. support yourself, and your ipod, and we wouldnt have to pay for your life..if you can only make 37K for a job, then you should have picked a better career, loser

Take it to the political forum. I'm here to talk about football, not read bitterness some have about loan programs.

 

[frankiesfly]

"I tried to explain to my wife how I felt and she still doesn't get it. I asked her what were the most exciting days in her life and she said graduating and getting married, nice things like that. And then I said to her, " well think of the joy those things brought you and then imagine the possibility that halfway during your graduation that they would run up on stage and take back your degree. Or imagine that halfway during our wedding I just ran out of the church". Most of the events in our lives are either all joy or all sorrow. There is nothing in real life that teters on the edge of both at the same exact time the way a sporting event does. Beyond the life and death circumstances that a cop, soldier or ER doctor faces, there are few things that the average person experiences that are similar to sports."

This is the truest and most classic thing I've seen on this board.

You NAILED it. This is what it's all about.

I hear you clearly. sports is life...............for me at least.