All sports have different perspectives—inside, outside, left, right—the viewpoints are vast. Even in the bleachers. Yeah, that’s right, there. You are a part of the Arizona State tradition and their dynasty. Entirely.
Have you ever seen the Raider fans—obnoxiously spiked shoulder pads with a Riddler-like, two-sided face paint and a presence about them that just completes the NFL atmosphere? Yeah, they don’t kid around. I know even in my New York hometown, minor league baseball carries a similar presence. Heck, the Syracuse Chiefs have two mascots. The kicker: both of them can do The Thriller as if they were Michael Jackson’s backup dancers in the music video.
It’s nuts. We’re nuts. Sports just consume lives and encodes itself into our DNA—scientifically unexplainable. But mathematically, all I can say is Dan Uggla had a 33- game hit streak recently.
But that’s just it. Whether it be Uggla becoming good out of the blue, an Aaron Boone swing to the gut [it’ll never happen again] or any other odds and ends, there’s always something. What brings together the national fandom we call life is the dynamic of it all, a dynamic that comes with every swing, every punt and every “flying squirrel” [ Youtube it, it’s not an animal]. Anything can happen.
Sports aren’t static so there’s always something to complain about, always something to shove in someone’s face. It’s an indirect competitive interaction. Lament’s terms: We use players to satisfy our own competitive needs because competitive nature is encoded in our DNA too.
In the meantime, as vast as perspective can be in sports, I’ll tackle them from every angle. Club sports are the unsung glory of most universities, the ones shadowed by NCAA athletics. Can club sports be tackled harder than a Ray Lewis shoulder to the helmet? Done. What about relevant off the field happenings? Check.
So overall, how can you spend your 33.5 hours rather than a trip from New York to Arizona? Reading up on this blog and interacting. Feedback is welcome.
Contact Brendan at bcapria@asu.edu.
