A Blessing

    We are really in the thick of it now, MLB Postseason, NBA Finals, NFL, and college football all in full swing as we continue to navigate this pandemic. There continue to pop ups of cases, MLB had their troubles early and now the NFL and NCAA are both having issues. Games are being cancelled, questions being asked about make up dates and about availability of players. I don't have the answers and though we're still 3+ weeks from seeing the Big Ten play I have a simple request for everyone. Enjoy it while you got it.

Things were moving right along in March, we had spring training, NCAA hoops was starting conference tournaments, football teams were about to start spring practice, NFL teams were looking toward the draft, NBA and NHL were winding down towards the postseason. Then in one night it all went away, it didn't go slowly it was poof gone. There were rumblings of no fans being allowed but a few stubborn organizations stuck with the normal routine. People were flocking to Arizona and Florida for spring training while at the same time the media were told you can't come in the locker room. Then one NBA player tested positive and the sports stopped. NCAA cancelled the winter sports championships, and then spring sports. NBA, NHL, NASCAR, and MLB all delayed everything. We were left wondering what to do with our free time. Give it two weeks we all thought, that's all it takes, 2 weeks of a spike in cases then you move on. Well we never moved on. 

We were all bored, sure you watched Tiger King and other documentaries but you couldn't have a Fantasy Tiger King team, or bet the over/under on husbands killed. We missed sports, we watched old sports, we talked about old games, old players, and lived in the past. We watched old sports movies, we did anything to remind ourselves of what the void that sports was leaving in our lives.

This brings me to now, we still aren't back to "normal" but as I stated above we have more sports than almost ever. On October 24th I'll get my favorite part of the sports year back, when Iowa starts playing college football again. This year though I'm going to take in this season differently. I'm not going agonize over every single outside zone run, or every 3rd down where they only rush four and drop into zone and give up a first down. Instead I'm going to relax and enjoy the game, the game that I've waited almost 2 months longer than normal for. The game that in a usual year we get 13 of and this year we only get 9 or 10. I'm hoping this year it brings me back to that kid who would just watch the game to watch the game, not put everything into that bucket on how my favorite team performed. We've all been there, we all invest in our favorites and when they come up short, we are short, we are mad, we let little things bother us, we just give up for a few days. Don't be that guy this year instead watch the game with joy of a 10 year old watching their heroes. Watch the game and when the results are done move on with your day. Live in the moment and don't let the moments fester. I think if we've learned anything in the last 7 months is that these games can be taken away from us at any time, so being able to watch 1 or 8 will be a blessing, and you can't predict when we'll get that feeling again.