(Not to mention the Tour de France is a load of bullshit, and spectators at the Pan-Am games are booing 14 year olds, but nobody cares about those sports anyway.)
Any in this current climate of the sports world, it's hard to avoid the talk about these unfortunate, sometimes hilarious transgressions (Ookie? I mean come on!). Some are disillusioned, others don't care, but what I went back to thinking about was why I watched in the first place.
I haven't watched sports ever since I was a child. It was never a large part of my life. My parents never put me into leagues, nor did they encourage me to become athletic. All the focus was put on academics. In fact, I can trace the start of my sports-mania to a certain date: February 24th, 2002.
I sat at home with family and friends watching Canada take gold in Men's Ice Hockey at the Olympics for the first time in fifty years.
Of course I didn't really know what it truly meant at the time I watched it, nor was I adept at following the game, but I was excited for sure. Following the game, I watched the newscasts, seeing people partying in the streets of Toronto and Vancouver after the game. For some reason this filled me with a sense of patriotism and pride, and must have set a spark off in me for some reason. Because after that day and game, I took the time out to start watching the Leafs play every night.
The more I watched, the more I got enamoured with it. I started playing the sport of ice hockey soon afterwards, and I started to understand the game on a deeper level. I could tell where the puck was gonna go, read plays as they happened, but I had not yet fully gotten into it the way I have now.
In May of 2004 I watched as the Leafs nibbled back from a 2-0 deficit against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 (an elimination game for the Leafs), and as Mats Sundin tied it up with a goal in the last 5 minutes, I literally lept out of my seat and screamed and ran around the house in a fit of crazed joy. Minutes later, Jeremy Roenick scored in overtime to eliminate the Leafs from the playoffs on home ice.
I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I sat silent, unwilling to believe what had just happened, an odd tingling going around my hands and face.
It was then that I realized how much I had emotionally invested in this team. I followed them almost like a pet, from the beginning of the season, watching them grow with every game. This loss was almost like watching that pet's life get cut short suddenly. I know some of you probably think I'm crazy, but there are some of you who might just understand.
I watch sports because I am a fan. And by that I mean, I am emotionally attached to the teams I follow. When the Jays are doing well, there's an extra little bounce in my step. When the Leafs are mediocre, I pretend like I don't care, but I still watch and still hope for the best. When the Bills lose in spectacular fashion once again, I'll become slightly more surly the rest of the day.
Hell I wasn't even old enough to remember "Wide Right", but it still pisses me off.
One of the reasons I watch sports, is my fandom.
However, recently in the past two years or so, I've been finding myself watching games when none of the teams I'm a fan of are playing.
I realized that this was because I had also grown attached to the atmosphere of sports. The drama of it.
Sports is as real as anything you watch on TV or live can get. You never know what's going to happen any given day at the ballpark, stadium, or arena. Perhaps the pitcher will throw a perfect game, or maybe you'll see a grand slam or a triple play.
I became enamoured with watching the pregame introductions and anthems whenever they showed them on CBC during the playoffs. It's here where the drama and atmosphere really get to you in your home. The charged atmosphere of the crowd, the annoucer introducing the players, the music, the visuals of a darkened arena with the screens bright, the players deep in thought, the crowd singing along, all of it, just gave me chills and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end (in a good way). It was dramatic and energizing.
It was way better than watching some more crap analysis by an obnoxious anchor.
I watched these Hockey Night in Canada, Monday Night Football, or Sunday Night Baseball games, almost on two different levels. One for the sport, and one for the atmosphere and drama.
This is why playoff sport is so compelling, and to a slightly lesser degree why primetime-national audience sport broadcasts are compelling. There's an extra level of drama attached. Something more to it. Every shot has extra tension, every pitch has extra meaning, and you can feel it.
(And don't even get me started on overtime. Just multiply everything I just said by a factor of a thousand.)
There's something oddly amazing about watching 20,000 people jump to their feet in an instant, cheering in joy. There's something amazing about entire cities or countries going bonkers. There's something compelling about seeing the joy in players who had worked so hard all their lives finally reach the pinnacle of their purpose in life when they win a championship, and there's something compelling about seeing the agony of defeat in the eyes and faces of the players who have lost when they were so close.
This is why I spend twenty bucks to get down to the Skydome to watch the Jays play in person. This is why I'd spend five hundred bucks to see the Leafs if I could.
The only thing better than watching it on TV, is being there.
I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at a Jays-Yankees game, when the dome was was basically full. The game went into extra innings, and Vernon Wells hit a walkoff homer to win the game. The roar was defeaning. I was cheering as loud as I ever had, the atmosphere was one of the best I had ever experienced in my life. I was high-fiving people I didn't know, hugging those around me.
There is nothing like being part of a crowd, fifty thousand strong, all with the same desire and purpose at that time.
It's thinking about these memories, and watching the clips on YouTube, that I realize why I watch and play sports.
Why I can tell you word for word Bob Cole's call of Joe Sakic scoring the last goal in the 2002 Men's Olympic Final.
Why I know the words to the American national anthem.
I watch because I'm a fan, and I watch because I love the atmosphere of sports and the drama of it.
And though I may have less time to watch or play sports in the future; whenever I do watch or play these games, it'll be for the same reason.
Some Links to relevant YouTube videos :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bJUYQWzLzRk - Joe Carter's Walkoff to win the 1993 World series.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=meLpuF9UMvk - Edmonton Oilers fans singing the National Anthem.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7y3P1n29-Nc - Alanis Morisette's rendition of the anthems during this year's Stanley Cup finals.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yQ3F6r7Q6oQ - The CBC's extremely well done end of playoff montage.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JDzM5y-5wTA- The Vancouver Canucks playoff introduction and anthems.
(I realize this isn't funny at all. I'll get back to that soon. But I'ma start adding some non-comedic stuff into the mix now as well. )
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