The Sports Effect

I've been a sports fan my whole life. I played any and every sport that I could when I was younger, and have followed all of them inside and out. I have also observed the effect that sports can have on a person's well being. Anyone who considers themselves a fan of a particular team, and let me clarify, not a bandwagon jumper, fair weather fan, but one who lives and dies with their respective team, can recall with exact precision where they were, what they were wearing/eating/doing when the most important moments of their sporting lives occurred. I have seen how an entire city can be deflated for months because of only a few seconds of game time. I have also seen how that same city can be invigorated for years because of a similar amount of game time.

Now I'm saying this today because anymore, it actually means more to me when my teams win. I currently work the graveyard shift by myself for 8 hours everyday, and for the second week in a row, I have gone to work after watching my team win a big game. And I truly feel like I have an energy boost that will help me through my shift. That is an amazing effect. I do not enjoy working this shift. I do it because it is necessary. So when something happens that helps me get through my shift, it is a welcomed change.

After this win tonight, I decided to go back and look at other big sports moments and their effect on my own, or other peoples' state of being. When the Eagles won the NFC Championship, I was so excited, I did a backflip into a snow pile and tore my bicep. When they lost the subsequent Super Bowl, I drove around aimlessly for a few hours. It was the day that I finally realized, it was just a game. I was heart broken, but it was then that I adopted the age old adage, "The sun will rise again tomorrow." It has gotten me through both high and low times ever since. I have learned that no matter how good, or bad it gets with my teams, that I still have to live my life. I feel great when my team wins, and it gives me that little extra energy for a few hours, but after that, it's time to move on to the next thing. I feel horrible when my team loses, but after that run down feeling has run it's course, again, I have to move on to the next thing.

Next I look at my wife's life long football struggle with being a Saints fan. And it is not just hers, but hers is the experience I can reference. I love watching her watch a game(There is just something sexy about a woman who enjoys football, but that's a whole other conversation). When the Saints were powering through their season last year, it was great to see her enjoy them finally riding that winning wave. And for the first time in my life, I actually felt myself start rooting for a team other than my own. Her excitement was infectious, but it was welcomed. I cheered whole heartedly for the Saints in the Super Bowl, partly because I despise Peyton Manning, but mostly because I felt the joy that it brought her. And the effect on her when they won was even more impressive. She will always be a fan, but to her, that Super Bowl win, was the culmination of a lifetime of sticking with a losing team.

In 27 years, I have seen every professional Sports team in my city go to a championship game/series. I have seen one team win. 1 win in 6 attempts. Each game or series has had a distinctly different effect on my psyche, but they have all had an effect on my personal outlook as a fan. And I believe they have a personally specific and different effect on every fan in their in right. I will always be a sports fan. I will always follow my teams with reckless abandon, while they are playing. But I have finally learned how to use the emotion that comes with those games, to enhance other aspects of my life. And THAT is the Sports Effect.