Silver Covered Experience

After my last post, I feel like I should be owed 30 pieces of silver for betraying the university I attend. Without rehashing what was said, I rather concentrate on what I learned. This is a sports blog and I promise in a round about way it will relate to the subject.

First thing I learned was never ever reply to negative comments. The keyboard transforms to a shovel then a back-hoe for every comment you reply. I know now I need thicker skin. I’m working on it, but it’s exceptionally hard when family is brought into the mix.

More importantly, I found out what a passionate fan was. I think it is a little weird where the source came from and how many examples of this breed of fan I’ve met in the past. I didn’t truly understand what it was to be a passionate fan because I don’t belong in this brotherhood.

I’m a sports nut. I watch football any chance I get, no matter what team or what level of play. Back when I lived in Shreveport, I would go up to the local Dixie fields and just watch kids play baseball in its purest form. In a couple months, I will watch more Olympic sports than a healthy person should. I spend more time online reading sports than I do reading for school. I’m obsessed.

I’m not a passionate fan of any team though. I have my favorites. I’ll leave my preference in college alone, but I love the Saints, Hornets and for some reason the Brewers. I love them, but I’ve never lost sleep over them. I’ve never insulted someone for not liking them or their opinions about them. I can tell you all kinds of facts about them, and just about every player on their roster, but I’m not a fanatic.

That doesn’t mean I think it's wrong to be a fanatic. I’m jealous of fans that lose sleep over their team, riot after their teams win a championship or stay alive longer than someone should just to see their team make it to the promised land.

I’ve heard stories about dying life long Redsox fans using their last words to say, “I wish I would have seen the Sox break the curse.” I’ve read articles about fatalities during soccer riots. That’s passion, for good or ill. That's important.

One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been in journalism was that a good number of people think sports are not important ... irrelevant. People in journalism who like sports usually become sports writers and those who don’t just turn their nose when sports are mentioned and insult it. My response to this is usually passionate and irrational.

I bring this up because in the past week I’ve been on the other side of this debate. Just like every debate I’ve had with people who hate sports, neither side budged on the issue. Even though a good portion of the responses were personal attacks or had nothing to do with the original discussion, at its core the experience is one of the major reason I like sports ... the debate.

While I’m waiting for my bag of silver, I’ll leave the reader with this: debating sports is a time honored tradition. Whether if it's about the best or worst team, best or worst player or if a certain team is relevant or not, personal attacks shows nothing but arrogance and ignorance. Also anyone who has ever studied debate knows when a side resorts to insults it usually the sign they lost the argument. Don’t be that guy.

-Kevin Sims