Sports are about so much more than what goes on
between the foul poles or the sidelines. Sports are about the way we feel. For
something as trivial as athletic performance, sports are deeply ingrained into
every fiber of our national culture, and our global community.
Sports are about going into a foreign city and
finding the only other person wearing a Cubs t-shirt. Sports are about hating
the opposing team for no other reason than rivalry. Sports are about the
friendships developed over a well-timed football kickoff.
Sports are about those moments when we jump out
of our seats, throwing our hands into the air with the joy of a win. Sports are
about those moments when we feel the pain of another season ending without a
championship.
Everywhere we go, sports have embedded
themselves into the way we think and the way we talk. We talk about political “races.”
We talk about “the long shot.” We talk about “slam dunks.” Sports have so
deeply infiltrated the way we think that we begin to transform all areas of our
lives into sporting events.
Sports bring us together. After September 11th,
the Yankees helped the city of New York heal. After the Boston Marathon
bombings, the Bruins’ Stanley Cup run kept “Boston Strong.” Sports are our
opportunity to forget about the crazy things happening in the world around us,
and instead focus on the world that we create.
Sports are about heroes; those men and women
who use athleticism to stand for so much more than just a game. Sports are
about villains; the athletes who put themselves before the integrity of the
game and choose to blemish it. Sports are about everyday people, attempting to
take the ordinary and to make it extraordinary.
Every day of the year, sports take place and
bring us something to talk about. Without sports, we would have emptier
closets, fewer TV channels, less to talk about. We wouldn’t have an outlet for
our emotions. With sports, we have an opportunity to think, to feel in ways
otherwise impossible.
“The Left Fielder” is a new blog dedicated to
exploring all of those thoughts and emotions that make sports so important to
who we are. The title comes from the notion that those things in the world that
surprise us most are from “out of left field.” This blog will attempt to find
the elements of the sports world that exemplify the complexity of life, and
embody the world in athletic form.
From baseball to basketball, football to
hockey, and so much more, this media outlet will explore the diversity of ideas
that we express through our appreciation of sports, and the ways we choose to
interact with them.
Follow us on twitter, @ZPLeftFielder.
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