Brad Cesmat
Sports doesn’t matter today.
There. I said it.
I believe that the world of fun and games should be a distraction from life. It should be an escape from the pressures of work, the bills piling up, putting food on the table, figuring out how to pay for the monthly medical insurance premium. But sports shouldn’t be a distraction from what took place Thursday night in Dallas.
A “distraction” is something that takes our minds off of something else. I don’t think that we as Americans should be taking out minds off of what is happening before all of our eyes.
Orlando, San Bernardino, and Newton are the first cities that pop into my head as I am writing. I know that there are others. Each time after these horrific events I say something on the show that goes like.. “this is a tough day to do sports, obviously there are things more important going on, but sports is distraction from the ills of society and pressures or daily life…blah, blah, blah…”
At some point, we are going to start to see our freedoms and sense of security taken away at the games that we love. Already at sporting events we have to go through security checks. Kids see mom and dad being wanded up and down before the kickoff. We can’t bring certain items onto planes. Last week, my wife had to go through secondary inspection at an airport because she had a suspicious looking item in her backpack. Ten minuets later it was determined that the four flat chocolate bars she purchased during a factory tour in Seattle where safe to go on the plane. My 11 year son was taken to secondary because he had forgotten to take a water bottle out of his backpack. He was thoroughly quizzed by the TSA inspector before being allowed to move on. Not fun! But that’s where we are.
To turn back the tides of chaos, we have to be more active in society and perhaps a little less ‘fanatic’ about the games. I have to do a better job of being more balanced in my own life when it comes to civic duties. One less game attended for a city council meeting or a neighborhood get together would be a good start.
We are in the middle of a polarizing election cycle. No matter what happens in November, I believe we are going to have unrest in our country. It seems as though that we can’t even have civil discussions among our friends and family about the two candidates. I’ve been “unfriended” by more than a few people on Facebook simply because they are toxic when it comes to the election and I’ve said to them, “please stop”.
I’ve been pounding the keyboard for the last few mins. without looking up. I’m just going to publish this, even if it comes across as a rant. I’m feeling at a loss about what happened in Dallas…
