Why I Love Sports

I love sports. It’s who I am. There’s no changing me. Not even Viagra can get rid of my sports.

I have my favourite teams and my loyalties. I have sports that I enjoy more than others. But in the end I’m a sports fan. Plain and simple.

Some people say it’s a guy thing. A competitive thing. And I think that they are partially correct. I do love the competition part of sports. It’s why I’ll even watch Olympic figure skating. There’s a winner and a loser and the opportunity to see something amazing happen. It’s also why I can sit and watch 2 teams that I don’t care about play an afternoon baseball game in the middle of the week. I don’t even cheer for a team, I’m impartial. But I want to see a good game. I want to see someone win. That’s what sports is about.

The other part of it for me comes with cheering for MY teams. The Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Raptors and Montreal Canadiens. I love these teams. I think about what I would do to make them better if I were coaching or managing. I watch every game that I can. I make plans based on game schedules. I get nervous before big games, excited after incredible wins and sad after crushing losses. I wear my heart on my sleeve for these teams. I love them.
That last part, the love, has become increasingly clear to both myself and my girlfriend throughout this year’s NHL play-offs. I have not yet missed a Canadiens game in these play-offs and I don’t plan on it. We have had date night at my apartment with pizza and chicken wings and game 7 versus the Penguins. She has let me wear my Habs cap indoors when she would otherwise protest. She has even joined me in wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge during the games. She knows that when they win, I win.

She has tried to keep me grounded. She has reminded me that I’m not part of the team. That it is not a we. But I can’t help it. I was drawn in a long time ago and can’t stop it now. Whether I’ve been living in Ottawa, Peterborough or Toronto I have been a Blue Jays, Raptors and Canadiens fan. I have shared the ups and downs of the franchises. I have smiled and frowned and laughed and cried.

And while those reactions may seem crazy to a rational and objective person, they seem perfectly reasonable to me. I cheer for these teams because it let’s me feel like I’m part of something that’s bigger than just myself.

Here’s another Canadiens play-off example for you. On Wednesday May 11, 2010 the Habs played the Penguins in Pittsburgh in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. That night we watched from my apartment as the Canadiens stunned the hockey world and won 5-2. At the same time my Twitter feed was blowing up with pro-Habs messages from fans from coast to coast. And in Montreal close to 22,000 fans sat in the Bell Centre to watch the game on HD screens. Every single one of those fans and I wanted to be joined together to cheer for our team. When our boys scored in the first minute, we cheered. When Pittsburgh scored 2 goals in the 2nd period, we swore. And when the game ended I kissed my girlfriend and cheered my loudest cheer of the season, so far.

It was the same in Philadelphia on Friday May 13, 2010. Every seat in the arena held a Flyers fan. And all of them were cheering as their team played in Boston and finished a comeback that will see them in the record books as only the 4th team in professional sports to come back from a 3 games to none deficit and win a 7 game play-off series.

It was the same in the early 90’s when more than 50,000 Blue Jays fans filled the then SkyDome to watch World Series games on the JumboTron.

No matter what city or sport or team you cheer for it remains the same. The feeling of your team winning is euphoric.

It’s why we become fans. There is nothing in the world that I have found to have the same effect. Not politics or religion or movies or music. There are too many choices in those areas. Only sports allows us to put our differences aside and become one team with those that we have nothing else in common with.

And that is why I love sports.

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.