......and stand by my thoughts today, even though one of the first news articles I read this morning briefly made me feel like eating my words.
Our society is obsessed with sports to the point of absurdity. I am not above the nuttiness. A huge part of my life is spent coaching sports, thinking about sports, watching sports, and reading about sports...though I will proudly proclaim that the watching portion has become minimal, especially televised sports. I grew up playing basketball, am a long-time huge fan of the Minnesota Twins, have developed a passion for coaching - I don't see a time in my past or future when athletics won't be central to who I am.
Central to sports, of course, are the athletes. And the coaches; in retrospect I wish I'd have added "coaches" to my Tweet. I draw great inspiration from athletes and their coaches. The passion for what they do, the intense focus on achieving greatness, the unwavering philosophies towards methods they use, and the complete acceptance of "we before me". It's that selflessness which leads to so many feel good and inspiring stories like the one I Tweeted about last night (side note: The "Broncos" are a hockey team that was involved in a bus crash over the weekend, where 15 members of the team died, including the head coach and team captain). Not only did those professional athletes give up their own name in honor of an amateur team most had never seen, or maybe even heard of, they did this once they got on the ice -
- a scene repeated in hockey arenas at all levels across two countries last night. Think you'd ever see a group of Democrats and Republicans do this?
The article I linked in my opening sentence is a harsh reminder that humans are humans, that despite so many powerfully positive role models the world of sports is not immune to flagitious individuals. But what other institution of our popular culture so overwhelmingly provides us common folk with tales of selfless concern for others or inspiring examples of overcoming hardship? The world of politics? Please. We would all do well to completely ignore the selfish actions of the spineless lifeforms that pretend to represent our interests. The entertainment industry? Maybe, but so much of entertainment revolves around individual talents temporarily contributing to a whole (an actor working on a movie, a singer working with a band, etc.). The media? See my thoughts on politicians - and drop down a notch for the media. Religion? Don't get me started, 'cause you won't like what you hear.
Two opposing teams uniting as one to honor a tragedy. A professional quarterback playing catch with Special Olympians and refusing to leave the field until every one of them has caught a ball. Eighty hand-written thank you notes from a division I football team to a guest speaker who bravely shared her story about sexual abuse. The golfer who today aced a hole at the Master's golf tournament and followed it up by autographing the ball before handing it to a young boy in the crowd. These are the stories we don't hear often enough, yet these examples are less than three days old. Our role models are out there, their actions are making the world a better place. If you've been scanning the universe for inspiration or a reason to believe in the goodness of humanity I suggest you steer towards the world of sports.
Today's word was: flagitious - grossly wicked
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