Thoughts

The last few days have brought up all sorts of questions, inspired by current events and random thoughts of the past. Instead of individually dedicated posts at this time, this is one of those “ask the people” sessions.


Who is 'The Fan', really?: Though watching 28 Weeks Later and In Plain Sight lead to another year of not watching the ESPYs (because of a personal aversion to award shows, regardless of the subject), the ESPN-driven show’s tagline was engrained to memory: “The Fan Gets What the Fan Wants”.

When reading that line, I couldn’t help but to think of what the World Wide Leader and every other sports media outlet envisions as the proverbial fan: some loudmouth know-it-all with a penchant for the use of the word “sucks”. Is that a fair description, despite how diverse fan bases truly are?

In fact, does there have to be an image of the fan at all?


As if I was there!: Yesterday morning, HBO showed the Arturo Gatti/Mickey Ward ‘thrillogy’ (Ha, new word!) in tribute to the recently slain retired prizefighter. Having seen all three fights various times over the years, the sheer brutality both men exhibited upon one another feels fresh while watching them.

For the vicious, but brilliant ninth round in the first fight, you could have easily bottled up the crowd reaction and opened it anew when watching the re-broadcast years seven years later.



Could you think of a game – whether a championship was on the line, a record was broken or some unfathomable comeback took place – where despite knowing what was going to happen, you still felt the emotions as if it was taking place live?


Overcomplicated?: A question for the baseball fans: do players, managers, coaches and analysts overcomplicate the game?

The ball can be hit and thrown in a milieu of directions; however, there are limits to where the players themselves can go. Though it was said for another sport, Kobe Bryant says that in basketball, everyone in the building knows what plays are coming, but it’s the actual execution that deems success. So, in a sport that requires far less physical movements in order to score, you’d think that there wouldn’t be as many conversations on the field as there actually is.

Well, actually, there’s got to be a reason that goes over this Scribe’s head.

Say What?!?!: Check this out.