Pause and Regroup

It appears that all college spring sports will be cancelled.  D-I spring athletes may get another year of eligibility.  It’s not clear what happens to D-III athletes or what the situation is with high school sports.

 

You really have to be the parent of a varsity athlete to comprehend what the above means; consider it the difference between sympathy and empathy.  So much practice, preparation, and, suddenly, Nature intervenes in a way that will not brook objection or appeal.  Tom Hanks may be wrong about the crying thing.

 

Ten years ago this month, Clare had a game where she hit two homeruns, one so hard the ball ripped at the edge of a seam.  The second homer tied the game in the top of the seventh, and we won in extra innings.  The next day, the Sun-Times printed its list of the hundred top softball players in the metro area, and there was Clare, named one of the best second basemen around.

 

You can’t imagine what a weekend like that can mean to a family, unless, that is, you’ve been there.  Athletes live to perform, to win glory, but not this year, not for college—and, I suspect, high school—players this season.  The temptation is to ignore the danger and try to play on, only to risk something far more precious than a game or a season.  So, we pause and regroup for as long as it takes Nature to tire in its attack on us.

 

I just hope that when the games start again, people will consider why we play and watch sports.  With me, it’s not about entertainment; that’s why HBO and Netflix exist.  No, what I want is the chance to bear witness to exceptional effort, to see a ball cross over a fence and, when it comes back after being retrieved, behold a gash from where the girl made contact.

 

That’s sports to me.