February 5, 2005
-
Topic: Super Bowl?
Probably the leading indicator of the changes going on in my life, is the fact that I have no plan to watch the Super Bowl tom. But…bigger than that, is the fact that I feel no emotions when watching sports on tv anymore, with the exception of soccer. So…I haven’t become anti-sport, I’ve just become numb to the very thing I grew up obsessing about.
And…I guess that last line explains it. I was growing up. I wasn’t in college yet. There was always the dream of being a pro-athlete while tossing a tennis ball over and over at the brick-side of my house, the white paint indicating the strike zone.
I used to worship the month of March. After following the college basketball season minimally, I’d suddenly be doing extensive research on all 64 teams. Of course…I always picked Kentucky to win it all, not a bad bet, as they’re always a Final Four threat, and always a top 3 seed. I’d sit in class obsessing over the hundreds of possible brackets. Which 5-12 upset to pick? This can’t be the year all 4 #1 seeds make it out of their brackets, or is that what everyone else thinks, and this really is the year?
Then…there’s obsessing over the games themselves. Players and schools. I’ve never heard of. Come on Marquette!!! Gonzaga!!! UNC Wilmington!!!
It’s not just March Madness I’ve lost interested in…it’s all of it. I don’t even go to the ESPN website anymore. I don’t keep up w/ my teams players. Why have I fallen off the sports bandwagon…am I losing touch w/ “reality,” with myself?
The first thing that happened, is I traveled. I realized, life goes on even when you can’t follow sports. I also realized, soccer to global sports what English is to a global language. I may not be able to have a conversation w/ someone about their fantasy football team, but I know enough to discuss the Premiership, Champion League. Even the Super 12 I know a bit about. That’s a rugby league with 12 teams, I think 5 are from New Zealand, 4 are from Australia, and 4 are from South Africa.
My loss of interest in American sports often makes me feel small. Sports is the almighty ice breaker for so many people. Then there’s tv, movies, etc. Oh yeah…I’ve also abandoned tv. I just don’t watch it anymore, except Friends, Seinfeld, and Family Guy dvd’s. I’m trying to rent movies. But on the whole…my knowledge of American pop-culture is bollocks. My knowledge of words like bollocks, however, reminds me that there’s a world out there where, “I fit in.”
Anyways…I’m thinking of going to New York in a few days. I’m looking at it more as a vacation than as a homecoming, even though I’ll get to catch up w/ some family and friends. I grew up in Long Island, but I never lived in New York City, and, to be honest, I don’t think I lived at all until recently, and I’m still trying to learn how to live properly. Gonna start researching some fun things to do there.
Comments (2)
First of all, bollocks. You are great! I have not heard that word in quite a while. It reminds me of some very good friends, that now have gone home, that taught me all the fun words that differed. I used to pronounce them in my awful rendition of an English accent, and they would laugh, all the while reassuring me that it was the best they had ever heard. I miss them, and I miss the easygoing, fun-loving life that was thier nature. What a different culture, that in many ways I yearn to be a part of.
Sports. I cannot say that I have ever been a sports child, but I grew up in a community, and high school, where the world turned for them. I was lost to the excitement and the perks that came along with being an athlete in my school. I used to, when I wanted so desperately to be like everyone else, pretend like I followed teams with my own predictions. They usually weren’t right, because in the end I knew nothing.
Growing up is all about finding new things that capture your interest, but most important it is about finding who you are and what is important to you. I can’t say that I know an immense amount about you, but I think that it is a safe assumption to say that you have had many life expriences for your age. You have seen things that many people will never get to experience, you have ideas that most people will never understand, and you have passions for things that are so often forgotten in the eyes of the rest of society. There is nothing wrong with growing up, as long as you remember how to think young. The more you hold on to youth, the longer your life will be.
You’re still trying to live properly. Is it properly according to your own standards? I hope so.
That is a first. Have fun in New York!