Sports are a metaphor for life.
People often ask me why I obsess over sports so much. Some ask out of curiosity, others in a more condescending manner. For most of my life I never knew how to answer that question. I’d simply say it was how I was raised and it’s just a part of who I am. But during my time in college, I’ve thought a lot about my obsession.
Over the last four years I’ve come to realize that I love sports because they emulate life in so many ways.
Sports are all about achieving goals, pun slightly intended. We all go through life being told to set goals and work hard to accomplish them. Sports are no different.
The start of every competition is a chance to achieve greatness. Throughout each competition there are ups and downs. There are moments of jubilation and euphoria, moments of despair and heartbreak. Every competition is not always a good one, especially for people coming out on the losing end.
One may compete well early on, but not toward the end, and vice versa. At the end of every competition, athletes may be in good spirits or bad, but they’ll reflect on what happened and learn from their experiences to better themselves for the next competition.
One of the best things about athletics is the end of the competition, particularly when the winner is far from being decided. The clutch game-winning goal with a minute remaining, the ninth-inning home run, the shot at the buzzer, the photo finish; to me there is nothing more exciting than those moments.
Your heart racing, the cold sweats, the ability to make a large crowd of people either break out in joy or crumble into misery — those moments are truly special.
Of course, sports require teamwork. They’re all about people coming together for one common goal. Even in sports like golf, wrestling, swimming and track and field, teamwork is essential; one needs coaching and guidance to accomplish goals. Everybody is a part of a team at some point in his or her life.
I myself have been a part of a fantastic team at Pipe Dream for two years. It takes a lot of us to put together our beloved campus newspaper.
Staff writers, section editors, copy editors, designers, photographers, businessmen and women, web manager, tech manager, artists and the two head honchos — editor in chief and managing editor — making sure everything is straight and that everybody is doing what they’re supposed to.
It takes all of these people to put together our newspaper twice a week, and seeing the final product come together has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced. Thank you to everyone I’ve worked with: at Pipe Dream, in the athletics administration department and of course, the coaches and student-athletes — without you, my job would not exist.