When I was a little kid, I could tell you the World Series champions from 1960 to the present (which would have been 1988 or 1989). I could tell you all of the national champions in basketball, both college and pro, and I could tell you a lot about the major league baseball players, college basketball players, and NBA players.
I guess it was around the time I graduated from high school that I started to lose interest in those types of things. I paid attention, but only from a distance as I was busy making mistakes and learning from them in my early to late 20's. I still enjoyed attending any sporting event live, but watching the games on t.v. started to bore me. Still to this day, I think I would rather watch a movie at night than a sporting event. My son, on the other hand, wants to watch only sports and I am hoping that he will help bring back some of that love I had in my own youth.
Then I became the varsity basketball coach at Henryville, I was so busy trying to beat Borden, New Washington, Lanesville, etc. that I started to lose more and more interest in college sports. I had absolutely no time for pro sports. I could not stand how lazy I assumed they were playing until the playoffs. I could not stand all of the stories about off the field/court antics. I could not stand that these guys thought they were above the game and everyone else. I could not stand the mentality that had seeped into the thinking of the players which was influencing our kids.
To be fair, I am sure that is how pro athletes have always been (mind you, not all of them) but I have grown up (some men actually do that) and I have lost interest. However, I have friends who are really into pro sports and I just can't get into talking about this stuff with them. I don't know much about the players anymore and I guess I don't really care. With every new story about a sports hero gone bad, I get more and more agitated with what I see. I would rather talk about how my kids played well or things they need to work on. I guess it is the loss of innocence for me. The more I paid attention to what was going on, the less I cared about the players.
It seems that every single player that I enjoyed watching on the court and field had some hugely negative issue in their background. When I was 10, I didn't understand or cared about that, but when I was 25, I started to see the effects that could have on a kid who is 10. That's unfair to all athletes, and it is probably unfair to myself to feel that way and to have some of that joy removed.
Which gets me to the athletics that I really do enjoy watching; high school sports. I have written about this before, but you just can't beat a young man or woman competing for the thrill of competition. They are not playing for endorsements, they are not playing for professional legacy, they are not playing for fame. They are playing for the love of the game, for the name on the front of the jersey, and for their communities.
Give me a high school rivalry game any day over professional sports. Give me a high school state tournament over the NCAA tournament (the courts are soooo far away from the bleachers) or the NBA playoffs. Give me Bryce Very of Providence and Evan Embry of Henryville battling on the golf course over the PGA. And give me Jeff Schroeder with Henryville baseball over any coach in professional sports.
But, don't get me wrong. If someone wants to attend a professional event, I do enjoy live events. Especially if the tickets are free.
