Tell me why I should continue to follow sports

Sports and faith are very similar in that if either was easy, there'd be no point.

 

DD brings it once again.

Sport is entertainment just like music, poetry, painting, dancing and many others. You can either take it or leave it, but being able to root for, or against, a team, country or player makes it so much more enjoyable.

 

And to cross thread...

It's obvious that DD is Bob Smizik or Alan Robinson.

 

You know what? This. I moved from Cleveland when I was 15. Three months before my 16th birthday, which is a REALLY shitty time to move your daughter away from everything she's ever known if anyone's taking notes. There was no live streaming back then, at least not that I knew of, and I only got to see the Browns when they played the Bengals. I remained a fan, but no one outside of my household gave a flying shit about the Browns once I moved to Kentucky. Everything was Kentucky basketball, year round. I couldn't have cared less about UK basketball, and so I started to disassociate at that point. I still liked sports, but I no longer loved them. Then I got into journalism and sports journalism and obviously being able to watch sports teams that I wasn't covering kind of became a thing of the past. Especially once I got into NASCAR coverage, which ruled out watching 95 percent of Browns games. But this year, I changed jobs. I work M-F now, and I decided that rather than spring for Sunday Ticket, I was going to find the Browns Backers group here in town and go watch games at a bar.

It has been the most fun I've had in years. People I'd never met were high-fiving. Every conversation started with "Where you from?" because in this city, almost everyone's from somewhere else, but in that bar, almost everyone's from one part of somewhere else. We talked high schools and communities and Cedar Point and The Flats and the Rib Burn-Off. And even when the games inevitably turn to shit, we're all there together. I don't know a single person's name in that bar (though the bartender knows mine, oops), but I feel like I'm a part of something when I'm there. It was more than 200 people the first week; slightly smaller since then. But it's been a blast, and it kind of reminds me of what I loved about sports when I was growing up.

For the Browns-Ravens Thursday night game, I went to a friend's event in Midtown. I went home afterward to watch the game, and it didn't even hold my attention until those final few seconds. It's just different for me, watching it alone. Sports in that context no longer matter. But in that bar, with those people? I remember what Browns football used to be to me, and it's like recapturing a little piece of myself.

 

Yup. IJAG for the win.

 

You brought it home. I've always considered the Browns an outlier for me ... I don't watch sports. I don't know when the Heisman's given out. I didn't know Miguel Cabrera was even going for the Triple Crown. I really only cared about whatever I had to care about for my jobs, but now I don't even have to care about sports for that. But I've always kept up with the Browns, even passively. So I consider myself NOT a sports fan.

But that passage about the soldier and the community and wanting to feel like you're a part of something made me rethink that. I'm more along the lines of the SVP quote than a full-on anti-sports person. And you made me see things differently.

 

IJAG, I really am happy you are having a good time connecting with all those people.

Now the obvious follow up question for those of us who have been to these types of events at bars, do you wear a Kosar, Cribbs or a Brown shirt?

 

Bit curious about that, too. You never said which shirt you settled on.

 

I get the communal aspect of following sports, but the emotional part of it is almost always a solitary pursuit for me.

 

NEVER buy player-specific gear. EVER.

I bought two Browns shirts.

 

Nice

I have always loved the way the road white with the brown and orange stripes looked.

 

Me too.

I WOULD, however, buy a Hanford Dixon jersey. Or Brian Brennan.