Sometimes we underestimate the power of sports. The documentary Kings Ransom just finished airing on ESPN. Its focus was Wayne Gretzky’s trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. The thing that stood out to me was how nonchalant Gretzky and others involved in the NHL were about the whole trade while fans were in a frenzy. To the athletes and others involved, sports are a job. It is the daily grind. Sure, some are passionate about what they do, but that it is true about any industry. The difference with sports is the passion felt by the outside observers.
What is it about sports that makes them so intriguing? Athletes are more than the role models parenting books make them out to be. Sports teams represent more than the players wearing the uniforms. People are naturally competitive. If we are unable to compete, we will designate others to stand in for us. We will cheer for them because we connect their success with ourselves. We make them out to be everything we want to be.
As stated before, athletes are not merely role models. They are heroes. Just as people are attracted to legendary figures such as Hercules, they are attracted to sports superstars. I could cite other notable heroes such as Achilles, Julius Caesar, George Washington, or Dwight D. Eisenhower from the American perspective. These are all historical people who we have bestowed mythical tales and heroic status. Athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Babe Ruth, and Joe Montana are exactly the same. While we may acknowledge at times they are ordinary people, when they step onto their playing field of choice, they become something else altogether.
Anytime a group of people put on a uniform, they instantly are representing more than those immediately surrounding them. A national army instantly represents its civilian population. A company’s employees speak on behalf of their company. A sports team is no different. The moment the athletes put on their uniforms, they represent not only their community, but all all of their fans around the world. When Michael Phelps dominated the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the United States was watching. We take pride in our teams. Whether the team represents our community, our alma mater, our family, or simply was our childhood favorite because of awesome uniforms, we have bonded with them. We win and lose with them. Ultimately, the team becomes a part of us.
We think it is only kids who get caught up in the heroics of sports, but that is merely a misconception. The next time you go out on the town, take a look around. Pay attention to how many people are wearing sports memorabilia. Perhaps more importantly, pay attention to the demographics of those wearing sports memorabilia. Kids love sports, but the next time you watch a game on television, look at the crowd. I believe you will find there are a lot more adults than children. Sports affect entire populations, not just children.
Sports are exhilarating because we connect with the athletes and teams participating. We imbue them with near mythical characteristics in hopes to make ourselves better. They are an escape from our daily lives. They are a part of our economies. They are a part of our childhood. They are a part of our schools. They are a part of our politics. In the end, there is one phrase that sums up everything I have said: sports are not just a game.
I realized a couple of days ago I am at the end of the last summer vacation of my life. I will graduate college in December and enter the working world. To get a day off, I will have to wait for a holiday, or use ever precious time off. Fortunately, I have spent this last week making the most of it.
Friday, August 14, was the last day of my summer internship. I had spent the last three summers working in IT for the same company. I changed teams after the first year, but only moved a couple cubicle rows down. In other words, I saw the same floor of coworkers every summer for three years. It was interesting as I was packing up to leave because it hit me that I will never work as a student employee again. Students are always treated a little differently than normal employees. In every job I have had, student employees have been at least mildly protected from some of the mind-numbing tasks every job entails. Instead, I have been allowed to pursue the job tasks that interested me the most. I have also been able to avoid some of the red tape and bureaucracy slowing down some of my other team members. When in doubt, the simple line, “I didn’t know. I am only an intern.” will go a long ways. The trick is using it in a way to benefit the team I worked with everyday. It is seen as taking the initiative to get a job done with other coworkers are being a bit stringent. I was taught this clever technique by one of my leaders my first summer who used to me to contact business associates for information while being unable to give it myself since I did not know any details in which they were interested. There is a possibility I return to the same company to begin my career, but it is still up in the air at this point. Coincidentally, “Broken” by Seether was the last song to play on Pandora before I shut my computer down for the last time. The lyrics can be found here.
My three summer internships meant a summer spent in a city separated from my hometown and college. It was a blast. My sister and her family lived nearby which resulted in lots of summer evenings grilling food and hanging out on their back deck. I had a few friends from high school in the area which I would meet up with on occasion. There was also tennis and videogames. Perhaps the best part of it all was getting out on my own. I am one of those people who gets claustrophobic when I am constantly around people. Moving to a city seems like it would be a problem, but it was easy to tuck away in my apartment. Rather than having to make efforts to get away from everything, the inverse became true. I was making efforts to get out and do some things. Having an evening with nothing to do and being completely free to decide without anyone nagging may be one of the greatest experiences of all time. I have always loved driving across towns late at night in the summer when I am returning home from being out with friends. Being able to roll the windows down, turn up the music, and just cruise is amazing. Having my own apartment in a city was a parallel sensation. Of course, “Good Riddance” by Green Day had to come on the radio as I was driving out of town to move my stuff back to college. As before, the lyrics can be found here.
Then I got a week off before classes started. In that time, I have played nine holes of golf in which I shot my lowest score yet. It was the consistent round I have been looking for all summer. I have played tennis a couple of times. I have gone disc golfing for the first time in years. I have played Rock Band for a handful of hours. I had to get a shower mat to put down on the hardwood floors in my current house to keep the drum set from sliding across the floor. There have been countless hours of playing Call of Duty 4 including a few of the most epic moments yet. This all after two years spent playing the game. According to the statistics in game, I have logged almost two full weeks of my life playing the game. It is one of the greatest of all time in my opinion. I have taken some time to edit some video from the game as well. An afternoon was spent on web development. I have watched the movies Marley and Me, King Arthur, Jaws, and Eddie Izzard’s Dress to Kill. Last night brought several friends around a bonfire in our backyard until the whee hours of the morning. Last, but not least, I have gotten to spend several hours in the evening hanging out with my girlfriend after she has gotten off work. She will be much busier during the semester so it is nice to spend some time now. Something about double majoring, working, and being a collegiate athlete takes up a lot of time during the school year apparently.
All told, it has been a great summer. I have been wanting to write this blog post for over a week now. Funny that I am getting to it on the very last night before classes start. I remember when high school was getting ready to end, I was ready to kick back and just enjoy the end of it. I probably could have done a little better in the activities I participated in, but I doubt I could have enjoyed them much more. While I had a great time, I was ready to move onto something new. I planned my college schedule to have an easy semester to wrap things up. To the point I have two classes, one of which may very well be one of the easiest classes I will take at UNI. The other is just going to be pretty darn cool. Then I will be doing my undergraduate research which should be fun. Finally, I will be sitting on a third class so I might actually know something about the topic, software engineering, since my degree’s emphasis is in it, and the professor who taught it when I took it knew nothing about the matter. Needless to say, I have four months of sports, videogames, football, computers, and friends. It will be a good time.