A Whirlwind of Emotions
In the realm that is Sports one of the components that has made these pastimes last is the emotional investment. Whether that be anger, sadness, thrill, or disappointment in your faction's outcome. With these emotions flowing throughout sports from the players to the fans, the birth of Jim Murray's depressing article, If You're Expecting One-Liners, and Mike Royko's more humorous article, A Very Solid Book, are given as they explore two sides of the spectator.
Murray's article does not start on a light note as he states, "I lost an old friend the other day. He was blue-eyed, impish, he cried a lot with me, laughed a lot with me, saw a great many things with me. I don't know why he left me. Boredom, perhaps". The character that he describes is not a person, but his own eyes. The loss of his vision had left him feeling as though a major part of his life was now closed off to himself. Now he would have to learn to live without the seeing his family or sports, an important aspect to his life. The way in which Murray reminisces about the triumphs of Rocky Marciano or baseball greats such as Roberto Clemente or Hank Aaron taps in the effect that sports had on him from a mental level. When he had lost this pillar of light he had accepted the fact that he was lucky enough to even see history in the making. This passion for sports has driven people to different routes like Royko's experience with a book review.
The experience that Royko displays in bis article is one of anger because he was asked to review a book by New York Mets first baseman, Keith Hernandez. Being a Cubs fan, Royko was overcome with anger since the Mets had upset them in the playoffs twenty years prior. The start of his review states, "I will begin my review by saying that this is a very solid book. The moment I opened the package and saw what it was about, I threw it against my office wall as hard as I could". This opens up his review to be extremely biased and humorous as his hatred overcomes his own self because the Cubs would be losers for another thirty years. This raw anger is different from what Murray was trying to portray as he was not angry at his circumstance, but both are able to capture these extreme attachments to sports on a fanatic level.
This strong emotional attachment is what defines many spectators as they themselves are not capable for the most part to compete at that level and will in turn support a team or person that can. That is precisely why there are people that become overtly emotional during the playoffs and will celebrate like there is no tomorrow or will sink into depression at the thought of losing in the championship. That emotional experience is one of the big draws for me as a former hockey player is when I watch NHL games or my old hockey club as I want to see the teams succeed and will even get really excited or angry at "bad calls". Without emotional investments in sports there are huge gaps that make them more meaningless than if you had your heart in it.
Murray's article does not start on a light note as he states, "I lost an old friend the other day. He was blue-eyed, impish, he cried a lot with me, laughed a lot with me, saw a great many things with me. I don't know why he left me. Boredom, perhaps". The character that he describes is not a person, but his own eyes. The loss of his vision had left him feeling as though a major part of his life was now closed off to himself. Now he would have to learn to live without the seeing his family or sports, an important aspect to his life. The way in which Murray reminisces about the triumphs of Rocky Marciano or baseball greats such as Roberto Clemente or Hank Aaron taps in the effect that sports had on him from a mental level. When he had lost this pillar of light he had accepted the fact that he was lucky enough to even see history in the making. This passion for sports has driven people to different routes like Royko's experience with a book review.
The experience that Royko displays in bis article is one of anger because he was asked to review a book by New York Mets first baseman, Keith Hernandez. Being a Cubs fan, Royko was overcome with anger since the Mets had upset them in the playoffs twenty years prior. The start of his review states, "I will begin my review by saying that this is a very solid book. The moment I opened the package and saw what it was about, I threw it against my office wall as hard as I could". This opens up his review to be extremely biased and humorous as his hatred overcomes his own self because the Cubs would be losers for another thirty years. This raw anger is different from what Murray was trying to portray as he was not angry at his circumstance, but both are able to capture these extreme attachments to sports on a fanatic level.
This strong emotional attachment is what defines many spectators as they themselves are not capable for the most part to compete at that level and will in turn support a team or person that can. That is precisely why there are people that become overtly emotional during the playoffs and will celebrate like there is no tomorrow or will sink into depression at the thought of losing in the championship. That emotional experience is one of the big draws for me as a former hockey player is when I watch NHL games or my old hockey club as I want to see the teams succeed and will even get really excited or angry at "bad calls". Without emotional investments in sports there are huge gaps that make them more meaningless than if you had your heart in it.
Comments
Post a Comment