Kids, don’t give your heart to sports.
It’s messy and unpredictable and stupid and just don’t do it!
I’m speaking from experience here. Less than 24 hours ago, for the 3rd year in a row, I watched the Dallas Cowboys lose on the final day of the regular season and at the same time waving goodbye to a playoff birth.
It hurt. It still hurts. I don’t want it to hurt. But it does.
In my sports fan life I cheer for the…
⋆ Toronto Blue Jays
⋆ Montreal Canadiens
⋆ Toronto Raptors
⋆ Dallas Cowboys
⋆ Toronto Argos
With the exception of the Argos, nobody has won anything of any importance in almost 20 years. In fact, it looks like this…
⋆ Toronto Blue Jays: World Series Champions, 1993
⋆ Montreal Canadiens: Stanley Cup Champions, 1993
⋆ Toronto Raptors: No NBA Championships since entering the league in 1995
⋆ Dallas Cowboys: Super Bowl Champions, 1995
I’ve spent some sad days watching sports and wondering what went wrong, or how things can get better, or when they’ll get better, or if they’ll get better.
I’ve hung my hat on Jose Theodore, Saku Koivu, Roy Halladay, Carlos Delgado, Vince Carter, Damon Stoudamire, Drew Bledsoe, Julius Jones, and many many many other athletes who have pulled those sweaters over their heads.
Not a single one of them brought a championship or a celebration or a parade for me.
I love sports. I won’t ever stop. And I love being a sports fan. The connection to something that I can’t control, to something bigger than me, and being part of a community of fans that stretches across borders and timelines and oceans… it’s amazing. It’s powerful. It brings the hope that a huge high and celebration is coming.
But those celebrations are years apart for a lot of fans. Trust me.
So instead we muddle through. We cheer for winning streaks. We cheer for wins over rivals. We agonize over losing streaks and injuries and overtime heart breakers.
And every year we tell ourselves that this could be the one. That things could start to turn around. That the breaks could go our way.
But they don’t.
Don’t give your heart to sports kids.
It always ends in tears.
