Sports: Just Like Me, Always a Constant

I can't believe I just used my last name as a pun in my blog title, I'm either the most awesome person to walk this earth, or I have truly hit a new low in my blog.

Anyway, I'm sure Jenna the Intern got a kick out of that one (hopefully I can get another shout out in the weekly blogger email, hint hint). And this is the perfect segue to every one's favorite reoccurring character in my blog, Jenna the Intern! After a three month hiatus (Jenna left us for some unknown reason to travel to China) she has finally returned and all is right again in my blogosphere. Anyway, last week Jenna sent out one of her helpful blogging hints and suggested that we all try to relate our blog to something politically related with the election going on and all.

And I thought about it, and came up with......... zero ways to relate my sports blog to politics. I mean I guess Manny is sort of like a Joe Biden, both have been around for awhile and are somewhat controversial.


From left to right, Joe Biden and Manny Ramirez. Photos from flickr.com








John McCain and Curt Schilling also have something in common, both are old and should probably think about retiring.


. From left to right John McCain and Curt Schilling. Photos from Flickr.com








And I really truly wish I could have found someone to compare Sarah Palin to but I feel like it could have led to some sort of discrimination lawsuit so I resisted the temptation. Besides SNL makes fun of her enough for one lifetime.



Other than that, I really didn't see the political theme working with my blog because the sports world is in no way effected by race to the White House.

But then I had an epiphany, that's exactly how my blog relates to politics, because it doesn't at all! Nothing does. Sports are in their own little bubble that an economic recession cannot pop, a presidential election cannot burst, and a Heather Locklear D.U.I cannot even crash into and ruin. Sports remain uncomplicated and untangled in every day world problems which is why people love them so much. They are an escape from the mundane and the downright frightening. When CNN scares me about my future chances of getting a job or having money and MSNBC depresses me with the numbers of starving people in Somalia, I can always just change the channel and watch the Dodgers/Cubs or settle into a lazy Sunday with Cassel and the rest of the Pats.

And this is not saying that sports do not cause major swings in emotions like the bailout bill and O.J Simpson's guilty verdict, because within the sports world is it's own special drama and self inflicted pain but the wounds are always superficial. The Red Sox being eliminated in the playoffs is not going to cause you a life of misery, foreclosure on your house may. The Yankees signing A-Rod hurt for the remaining weeks of the off season, America electing and then re-electing Bush for 8 years may have effects that some of us may feel for the rest of our lives.

This is not to say that sports related drama is irrelevant and not as important as real life issues but that sports merely allow us to escape the real world for a few hours. I think the one time that sports have failed to comfort us was when 9/11 happened. Hailing from New Jersey and coming from a town that was delivered a huge blow because of 9/11, it was bad enough that every station showed the traumatizing images of 9/11 and that that radio stations stopped playing music, but the worst part was that there was no baseball. Sports came to a screeching halt along with everything else in America and for me this was very upsetting. I depended on sports to provide me with some much needed relief from what was going on and for the first time, I didn't have baseball to escape to.

9/11 Photo from Flickr.com

When America finally took baby steps towards recovery, the moment I knew we were going to be alright is when baseball returned. One of the most touching moments from that time was when Fenway's Faithful were singing "New York, New York" and put aside their hatred of the Evil Empire for a few minutes to pay tribute to something bigger than baseball.

2001 was the year that the Yankees faced off against the Diamondbacks in the World Series. Many people said that the Yankees should win because it would be nice for New York to have something to be happy about, but I disagreed and still do. The Yankees shouldn't have won for any reason besides being the best team, winning for any other reason is not what baseball is about, it's not what sports are about. You deserve to win for purely sports related reasons and that's why I love the world of sports. It remains un-effected from the rest of the world's issues. So, maybe I don't have a political angle to relate my blog to, but maybe that's ok.