Part 2 of 7: The Sports Fan

I am extraordinarily close to my mother. We are much alike, to the extent that we can often read each other's mind.

But three of my favorite activities were ones I shared exclusively with my father when I was growing up: fishing, card-playing, and being a sports fan. These activities turn out to have a common thread. They require a happy willingness to take whatever comes along, good and bad, knowing it will never be all one or the other.

My father taught me to sit still and enjoy the water and the breeze as I waited for a tug on the line. He taught me to count cards and analyze opponents' likely strategies when we played Euchre or Pinochle. And by moving the family to Ann Arbor when I was young he turned me into a Michigan fan.

We didn't have a television. I remember listening to games--baseball, basketball, football--on the radio. It's still my preference for baseball and basketball, but I've come to love watching football games on tv (or, better, in person). Dad would get mildly riled up sometimes as we listened, expressing disgust at a particularly bone-headed play or delight at a great score. Occasionally he would haul some of us over to a friend's house to watch a particularly big game. I learned then that it's poor form to root for a team from the state you were born in over the team from your current locale. Or so they told me.

I don't recall him ever expounding at length about sports in general or any philosophy of being a sports fan. But Dad is a bit of a fatalist at heart, and a classic gesture of his is a shrug combined with a short shake of the head and a sad little smile. Meh, that's the way it goes. Sometime you catch a fish, a flush, a winning game--sometimes you don't. Really, it's beside the point.

Yesterday's loss hurt, I'll not lie. To see the Wolverines lose The Game again is heartrending and maddening and yes, I want the coach's head on a platter. Again. But I love the game, the rivalry, the war. I love watching the players excel (when they do) and their grit when the game turns against them. I love knowing that there will be next year, that sooner or later there will be revenge (and a new coach).

I prefer winning to losing. But man, I do love the game.

So there you go, a second thing about me. McPan, I know you're a hockey fan (no better place to watch hockey than Yost, by the way). What are 7 things we should know about you?

Comments

[Chris]

Might be news on the coaching front in Ann Arbor at the 10:30 a.m. EST news conference. It is being held in a nicer facility, usually reserved for bigger news events.

I'm with you on the big three from Dad. I also picked up chess (though I play seldom). He used to psych me out by peeling and eating a whole grapefruit slowly (one segment at a time) while I was thrashing through the possibly less-catastrophic responses.

[E. McPan]

There's probably a much longer and more interesting list of things you *shouldn't* know about me!

[PatAncester]

How interesting to see myself through your eyes! I can't see you taking on the philosophical attitude that you attribute to me in regard to the outcome of certain sports contests: maybe in international cricket or table tennis matches, but in the major college football event of the year which took place in Ann Arbor last weekend. That is another matter. However I can't help but consider that even if my team lost, I do live in the State with the winning team, so I really can participate in a victory. I think. You see, I am more an optimist than a fatalist. There is a kind of grace in both winning and losing. So I can never really lose. Do you think that reasoning would stand up in a court of law? I am delighted that you learned wisdom about three of the most important human interests and activities: sports, fishing and cards. However we should schedule a few continuing education seminars over the near term. With this wisdom under your belt and in enshrined in your head you should have no difficulty with Admiralty and Constitutional Law. Make sure that you continue to pass on the traditions. This blog is a good attempt. Animo!

[PatAncester]

I'm thinking up a new strategy for my next chess game with Chris. Sunday we go to his house for a Family Hymn Sing. In his family they sing four part acappella. It was a great event when his eldest son's voice changed and they suddenly had a bass instead of another contralto. Friends who love to sing will be coming so it should be a wonderful time. Wish that you could add your voice to the occasion.