Chasing Rainbows

Last week when President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, the overwhelming response was “For what?” Last night, when the Rockies lost, the response was “What happened?” Where did the magic of Rocktober go?

In sports, win or lose, life goes on. Strange isn’t it that fans get so attached to something they cannot control? In the end, a team won or lost, not you. Maybe we feel like our life will be different if the team wins. We might have a party to celebrate or have a party to enjoy the game, but are we really enjoying it?

My wife has asked me many times why I even watch sports. She says I do not enjoy them. She says I agonize over them. I hold players and teams to impossible standards that can’t possibly be met. After all, these are games played by imperfect human beings. A name on a jersey is not going to change that. It is a game, a competition, not life or death.

It does make you feel good when your team wins. But what makes sports fun? Why do we continue to play them and/or watch them? Is it all about winning? Are we wired to compete? And if so, are we really trying to recreate a feeling that cannot be recreated? When you look at a river, you see water flowing. While it looks the same, the water is different all the time. Sports are like that with each season flowing by.

In sports, maybe we are trying to recreate the moment? Imagine trying to recreate the 1980 Olympic men’s hockey team moment –“Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!” Hollywood did a pretty good job in the movie Miracle, but in the end they had to go back to the original call to give you the chills all over again.

Sports fans are always searching for that high, that adrenalin rush that is very rare. Your team wins the Super Bowl, The World Series, or the National Championship. In the end, it is like chasing rainbows that fade away with the setting sun. Maybe it just gives us hope of what is possible. Maybe sports remind us of our ability to capture time for a brief moment and remember when we won.