Why Sports Matter

this is a bit of an unorganized ramble that I don't feel like straightening out right now, deal with it.....
yeah, I'm getting all melancholy on you ass



Well, the first question is "Do they actually matter?"

Who Knows?

One (probably a hippie) can probably look at any sport as an 'organized activity'. All I know is that as silly as it sounds, all sports play a HUGE part in mine, and my family's life.

My average day usually begins by waking up before my boys, watching whatever it is that I want on TV, and then immediately switching over to Sportscenter when I hear their footsteps coming downstairs. I know that they will insist on watching ESPN as soon as they get into the living room, no matter what my excuse may be for the contrary. It is to the point now where I won't even watch it without my boys being there. Hey, I'm all for whatever it takes for a Dad and his sons to spend time together every day...especially as they grow older. How that can be bad, I don't know. Anything that brings any family together must be a good thing. Unless it is ritual killings....

I can't even begin to tell you what it was like being part of a Red Sox family all of these years. One thing that we always did was to take family trips to Fenway Park every May for mine and my grandmother's birthday. Some of my fondest memories from growing up stem from those trips. One time that sticks out in particular was the time that I rode home with Grandma in her new turbo-charged LeBaron (she wanted a Ferrarri...seriously!). We cranked David Lee Roth and proceeded to beat Momma-Face home by over 15 minutes on a 60 mile trip....do the math. Hell, Grammy-Cod was buried with an autographed Red Sox baseball in one hand and a Coors in the other. Man, she was the best!!

My point is that no matter what happened, we, as a family, always had that one trip together every year to see the Red Sox. It didn't matter what anyone's differences/interests were, we always had that trip....and that can't be a bad thing. Let's see Dr. Phil prescribe that!

Now, as we all get older we find ourselves living different lives. We drift apart. Some of us stay close, some don't. It's no one's fault. It just happens. The unfortunate part is when the people who have previously been close, never talk to each other again.

That is where sports can come back into play.

I have had my share of forgotten friends. Everyone has. Do you remember Joe Blow from the 8th grade? How about Tom Schmuck from the Army? Jenny Nobody from prom night? (ok, bad example)

What I am saying is that sports can come into play when you get back into touch with John and Jane Doe. I could call any of my ex-friends after 15 years and the common denominator that we would have is that I could pick right back up with them if I mentioned the local sports team and then we could go from there.

I have also found that when it comes to the Cod family and we all go to "jr's" Little League game(s), it means that we are spending time together. That invariably leads to other things like going out for dinner afterwards or to breakfast before the game. That is also not including the random aunts, uncles, and grandparents that show up. That can't be a bad thing as well.

As trivial as they may seem to you, sports do matter.