Posts Tagged ‘sports’
Guess Work
I am stuck in the middle. I try not to be that guy that won’t ever go see a doctor, yet I hesitate to go in for every little cough or bruise. The most difficult thing about trying to be moderate about seeking professional treatment, is that you never really know whether you are making the right decision. I spend a fair bit of mental energy questioning my logic about when to make a visit to the doctor.
If I have full range of motion, and there isn’t a lot of swelling or discoloration, what is my risk? A little ice, rest, a support brace, …healing should follow, yes? It is a waste of both my time and the clinic’s time for me to go in and have them tell me to go home and put ice on it. Whatever it is I did to my hand a few weeks ago, the healing is sure taking a looong time to happen.
People have asked me if I’ve seen a doctor. “No.”
Okay, I made that first decision with relative ease. The problem comes with each successive day that passes. I guess I don’t know at what point a nagging injury deserves to be seen by a professional. Especially when it doesn’t appear to get worse. The problem is that it also doesn’t seem to be getting better. I’m stuck in the middle!
What really bums me out is that I know that college and professional athletes would have been automatically diagnosed at the first instant they noticed a problem. They would be seen by a doctor, whether they wanted to or not. No guess work for them.
I’m stuck in the middle. I wanna be that athlete that gets immediate attention from a professional, and I don’t want to go in for every little cough or bruise.
An Eye for the Game
A sports peeve: One oft-used sports phrase is that an athlete is prized for his/her ability to “see the floor/field/ice”.
How can that NOT be a skill that every player who advances to college or professional team sports competition is exceptional at!? It’s a team sport, after all. How can they not already know where the play is going, where the teammates are moving from/to.
I can see how some players have specialized skills and can be a great defender, an outstanding shooter/scorer, a great ball handler, or be exceptionally fast, but why wouldn’t all players be able to see the play develop and have a sense where to go next?
Do professional coaches really have to deal with athletes that don’t see the play?
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There is an aspect of a hockey game, and to a similar degree, a soccer match, that is a very large part of “seeing the play.” It is an important thing for the players to grasp, and for fans to recognize. It can be described as action that doesn’t happen.
One way it is detectable is when a player chooses to retreat into his defensive zone. That option to retreat is in place of several options that a player doesn’t choose. Being able to see all the options that the smart player didn’t take, makes watching a game a lot more interesting.
There is also an aspect of this occurring in the offensive zone. There are a good number of times that a player won’t take a shot due to the risk of the puck getting knocked back out and play turning into an odd-man rush for the opposing team.
An uniformed spectator is not able to interpret the things that are not happening, which are mixed in with the obvious visible activity that is playing out.
I can see how fans might not have a highly tuned ability to see the play, but I don’t understand how any player at a high level of competition in team sports could ever lack that sports sense. Well, except for the guys that get hired just because they are good in fights.
As It Is
Regardless the best laid schemes of mice and men, each moment passes away into a void that holds the essence of everything that transpires. Even as we examine the collective memories of everyone who has them, from every possible angle, the reality of what was, is morphing in an uncontrollable mix with what is. Stopping is not really an option, since a moment exists in conjunction with immediate moments on either side of it, before and after. It is actually too hard to contemplate, even as we live it, each and every second.
If something is too hard to think about, we have a very simple solution. We don’t bother thinking about it. We talk about the weather, or the local sports team. In my town, the talk is all about the local NFL franchise, The Minnesota Vikings, and their current melodrama that came about as a result of the weather. We’ve got a two-for-one going on here!
At the day-job yesterday, I learned that some people feel embarrassed by the national and even international attention being paid to the collapsing roof on the team’s sports stadium. One individual reported feeling forlorn that the situation reflects badly on the people here. We have a domed stadium to be able to play despite the weather, yet the weather has the better of us anyway, ripping a few gaping holes in the fabric cover. The hosts of evening television talk shows are making jokes about the situation in their monologues.
Another aspect of the story is that the football team isn’t enjoying much success this year, far under-performing the expectations that existed at the start of the season. It provides plenty of fodder for tying together the theme of the failing team and the failing stadium roof. They are made for each other.
It is the 50th year of existence for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. As we celebrate the star players who performed their magic for us over the years, it also catches our attention that we have repeatedly failed to accomplish the ultimate goal of winning a championship Superbowl trophy. Yesterday, one of the local columnists wrote about the top 5 flops in team history.
It occurred to me that if a person were to closely identify with the team that represents their home state, and that team became known for their repeated failings, it could imprint that person’s self-image. It hits close to home for me. I was star-struck by the athletes on that team when I was young. My moods swung up and down with their successes and failures. I have never confidently believed in ultimately succeeding at anything. I have an underlying sense that whatever it is, I will most likely see things end up in a flop.
It developed over a period of time at a young age. It is a hard thing to eventually unlearn. Over time, I have gained new insight to why other folks seem to have an uncanny ability to believe they will succeed, regardless the odds. Either they are not from around here, or they never paid any attention to local sports growing up.
Golden Years
Take a look at the years the University of Minnesota Gophers enjoyed success in the Big Ten conference.
I wonder how much of a reflection that is of the players that coincidentally attend the institution at the same time.
If a player was just average, yet happened to make the team in his Sophomore year back in 1909, he’d be able to enjoy a pretty good college football experience. If a player was exceptionally great, but arrived at the U during the many decades when the Gophers have failed to challenge for a spot at the top of the conference, that greatness doesn’t appear to carry enough sway.
Cyndie and I were generously invited to join her parents for this year’s home opener against the University of South Dakota, but it turned out to be a stinker for the home team. They were out-smarted and out-played by a team from a smaller school in a lower division. Next week the Gophers host the Trojans of the University of Southern California, making us the BIG underdog. I wonder how it feels to be a player on the football team this year.
I don’t think the average player has a lot to look forward to, and if there are any exceptionally great players hiding on the team, I’m going to guess that their greatness won’t be enough to bring a championship to the program.
New Season
I lost a few more hours of my life to football again last night as the opening game of this year’s NFL season was played by my home team, the Minnesota Vikings, against the New Orleans Saints. It just served to reveal to me, more of the ways I am getting old.
When I was a kid, I was truly excited by all things NFL related. Now, far from it. In all fairness, my first gripe of the night is something that goes far beyond just an NFL issue. It seems all facets of industry that strive to sell entertainment to the masses have fallen into a ridiculous pattern of trying to out-dazzle anything that has come before. It used to be that a championship game was so huge that they demonstrated it by making the half-time show into a spectacle that could stand on its own, even without a football game. Then the half-time became so big they gave it extra time. Pretty soon the commercials of the championship game became as noteworthy as the half-time show. Football isn’t the only place this is happening, but the NFL could be the poster-child of superfluous excess heaping glitz and glamor that is ultimately tarnishing a product that once was able to stand on its own and sell itself.
Before last night’s kickoff, the warm-up act was a couple of full-production live music performances by artists who normally perform their acts as the main event. It’s distracting. It makes the music artists appear second-rate. I’m getting old.
Then the talking heads that are there for the actual football game announce that they have a special news report from their special reporter from “Sports Illustrated.” He proceeds to tell us that another quarterback (Tom Brady), from a team not playing tonight (the Patriots), was involved in a car crash today, but was not injured and practiced today. Oh, thanks for that!
Then at half-time, they tell us that they have breaking news to report… Same special reporter, same quarterback from that other team, agreed to a 4-year contract extension. Thank goodness they were able to break in with that morsel. Why am I not buying what they are selling anymore?
It is a new season, but I’m feeling older than ever.
Oh, can you tell from my ranting? My team got beat in their opening game. Yeah, they eventually did have a football game in there somewhere. The pre-game concert was a lot better than the football.
What Fun!
I am a wimpy sports fan. I don’t have a stomach for the failure. I don’t know how players endure a losing season. But boy, when they are winning!
Last night my Twins pulled one off against our rival, the Chicago White Sox, in the 10th inning with a walk-off home run by Thome. It was a come-from-behind victory that pulled me from the misery of a loss to the glee of victory with one gigantic swing. I can’t think of anything else, in the day-in/day-out of life, that does that for me the way that sports can. It certainly doesn’t happen in a day in the trenches at work.
Making it that much more joy-inspiring is the image of those players being so wildly excited, and the sound of the announcers emotional reaction as they attempt to holler over the noise erupting from the home field crowd. If you missed it, you deserve to see that swing on a replay somewhere.
For Twins fans, especially the ones with a weak stomach, it was sure some fun!
Simple Impact
There is a simple phrase that is on my mind today… “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.” Think a moment, about the power of negative feedback. It is by no means limited to our words.
It really struck home for me the other day during my morning soccer. I play in a group that includes a variety of ages and abilities, gathering three times a week for recreational pick-up games. We accomplish a wide range of successes and failures in our attempts to enact the artistry of the sport. Nobody that I know intentionally fails. But failure happens, and it’s tough enough for individuals to accept it about themselves –people usually judges themselves much more harshly than they ever would others. There is no constructive benefit from expressing consternation and distress over another player’s mistakes.
Yes, it’s personal experience speaking here. I will admit to being oversensitive, but regardless, yesterday I gained new insight about the power that such a negative gesture holds. For reasons that defy sensible logic, I felt an immense surge of inadequacy when, after my errant kick sailed uselessly out of play, my teammate dropped his shoulders, brought his chin to his chest, and rocked his head side to side in a gesture of the verbal, “no.” My reaction was visceral, immediate, and I’m sure appeared entirely out of proportion in relation to his involuntary behavior that my blunder had triggered. I apologized to him, loudly and directly (twice) as play continued without me. Then I asked for a sub and walked off the floor.
There is a side lesson that deserves to be recognized in explanation for what appears to be an inordinate level of upset over such a simple and obvious reaction from a teammate. It involves taking into account the time-weighted average dose of similar demonstrations of dissatisfaction that I have been experiencing from this same individual. The first time it happens, it is no big deal. A teammate becoming frustration is a pretty natural reaction. This same teammate is wonderfully vocal during play, directing and offering advice for our activity. I’m pretty sure his being vocal contributes to my feeling bad when I am unable to live up to the direction, but again, that isn’t anything out of the ordinary. But over and over, as my ability to fail continues to accompany my successes, his visible frustrations tend to accumulate in my head. It breaks my heart to let him down, it truly does. By yesterday’s session, I guess I reached a breaking point.
The real lesson for me however, involves how a negative response impacts everyone else around. Quite simply, the important fact that it does have impact and there is nothing positive about it. Here’s another way to look at it: consider what making that response positive would be like. What if my failure was met by a smile of recognition, noting that we all miss-hit the ball at times? What if I heard calls of assurance indicating that I’d get it right next time? What if he said, “Don’t let it get you down, John. Keep at it!”? Seriously. He doesn’t even need to mean what he says. It would make a world of difference in my disposition.
As it was, I composed myself on the side for a few minutes and then returned to the game with my attitude reset. In the ensuing play I was treated to a bit of karmic justice, as my friend finished the morning with several of his own failures, one after another. I didn’t exactly shower him with supportive chatter, but it wasn’t hard at all to not hang my head in disgust each time, either. It was simple. I know what kind of negative message that gesture sends.
C’est Incroyable!
I didn’t really anticipate that the Tour de France would be able to pick up the excitement where the World Cup of football is leaving off, but with the latter not even over yet, and the former just in its 3rd day, le Tour is grabbing all the attention today. Yesterday was some serious carnage for the superstar contenders for the overall ‘General Classification’ as pretty much all of them crashed on one of the rain slicked descents, a few of them more than one time. Some of those guys have suffered some very painful injuries. If they want to stay in the race, they are going to need to survive today’s Stage 3, which may be the most brutal of the non-mountain days, encompassing those dreaded cobble stones. If it is raining again, it will be wicked.
Word being reported in explanation for the large number of experienced riders hitting the pavement in the same spot is that there was oil mixed with that water on the road. It was a spectacle. If you didn’t see any of it, be sure to check out video feeds on versus.com. And whatever else you do, make sure at least one of your eyes is checking out today’s stage on either the television broadcast or the online feed. They often say that the Tour can’t be won in this first week, but it can definitely be lost. Whatever happens, the eventual GC winner will need to have some good luck today to allow them to be in the best position, and best health, to attack the rest of the group when they eventually reach the mountain stages.
Given all of that, which is truly more than enough for any sports fan, the first World Cup semi-final of 2010 is also happening today. The Netherlands vs. Uruguay at 1:30 CDT. If ever there was a day for me to call in sick…
Hockey Distraction
I’ve got a moment in the evening, while waiting for the laundry to finish, and after the Twins have wrapped up another victory, to compose a post about an insight I had at work during the day, but I am entirely distracted with NHL Hockey playoffs. There is an easy way to measure one’s appreciation for a sport by how interesting the competition is regardless the fact neither team represents any affiliation.
At the time of this writing, the Detroit vs. Phoenix game is in the 2nd period and it is chock full of the thrills and spills and end-to-end action of ice hockey. Make that, action of a Game 7, NHL playoff series hockey. What a couple of relentless power-play attacks by the Red Wings.
Oops, there’s the laundry. Gotta go pack for soccer in the morning. Hopefully, I will carry the momentum of this hockey energy into my ball games tomorrow. I just need to remember… no checking.
Wait, Don’t
Some things wait and some things don’t. I was contemplating writing about the subject of patience. You know the saying, “Wait for it, wait for iiiit”? It’s all about not jumping the gun. Not being so over-eager as to miss the better opportunity that presents itself in the next moment.
Don’t ask me about that question of how you know there is a better opportunity coming in the next moment. I have no idea. That is the mystery. That is why, when it happens… when you do wait and are rewarded with the prime opportunity, it is so magical.
The place I see this manifest most often is in the sports of indoor soccer and floorball that I play. If you rush your decision, the number of times you succeed in your objective is less than when you have the patience to delay your action. I watched this happen several times yesterday as players in front of me held the ball long enough for the defensive position to get impatient and shift, opening up a new opportunity to score which the shooters then took full advantage of. It was a beautiful. It’s the magic of the game!
However, on my way home from work, my focus on the art of waiting became distracted by Mother Nature. There is no waiting going on out there right now. Tree branches are filling with buds of new leaf growth. Dandelions are blossoming en masse. Shrubs are going gonzo with new growth, and any plan I had of doing some preliminary pruning to improve their shapes before the new growth happened is now well past the prime opportunity moment.
Another classic lesson on the duality of things in this life. Things aren’t so much either/or as they are both/and. Things wait, and things don’t.
Relative Something 