We Are the Champions
Here's the God's honest truth. I am not a big sports person, never have been. When I was a kid I consistently sucked at every sport I tried, felt intimidated by jock-y guys, and thought people generally spent way too much energy worshipping athletes. As a budding artist, I took refuge in the one thing I could do well, and tried to protect my fragile psyche by avoiding what I sucked at. So I spent a lot of time indoors practicing & composing.
Like many artists, sports is usually just not on my radar, and I sometimes find it silly how much emotional investment fans put into it. Even the central premise of one team or player dominating the other is easy for me to see as Neanderthal, and is likely part of why I chose to put my energies into an activity that could potentially benefit EVERYONE, not just "us on this side."
But in recent years my attitude has softened a bit, and I've begun to take ownership of teams I have some connection with, esp. when they start rocking the house and get close to "winning it all." This would include the NY Giants, Carolina Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, & the UNC Tarheels earlier this year. I've even taken some ribbing and quizzical looks for this, from fellow artists who still maintain their sports detachment. It's all good. The thing I've maybe started to realize very slowly, is that greatness is greatness no matter what field, and I can learn things about being a good artist from the likes of Keyshaun Johnson and Roy Williams. I've also learned that to feel pride and take ownership of a team is not sheer vanity and mindlessness. This may seem obvious to some, but it's truly a new thing for me.
So on those occasions when a team I care about starts going for the gold, I now allow myself to get into it, and in the process start learning more minutiae about the innards of the game. As long as it's me doing it for my own reasons, and not because "I'm supposed to", it's cool. And that, BTW, was the reason I feigned interest as a kid -- cuz all the friends & relatives were really into it, and it was the south, y'know, you didn't question such things! Cuz if you do, yer a faggot. :-p
In my new, somewhat tenuous interest in sports, I generally love underdogs & hate dynasties. I hate Notre Dame. I hate UConn. I hate the Patriots. Which brings us of course to the Yankees, who I know I'm supposed to hate just like I'm supposed to hate the whole enterprise.
But this dynasty happens to belong to me. I love my city, and one of its crowning jewels is this team. And for roughly half of the 19 years I've lived here, I just Didn't. Give. A. Shit. Ironically, during their huge run of World Series wins in the late 90s, I Didn't. Give. A. Shit. Hardly knew it was going on. I literally stumbled into one of the Times Square celebrations one year, and had to think hard to remember what it was about. I only started giving a shit about the Yankees ... right about the time they started bombing.
Which is why this whole series, and of course last night, was so sweet. Why it felt so amazingly good to HAVE PERMISSION to congregate at "Gym" (my favorite gay sportsbar), and join all the pinstripe-loving, jock-y faggots feeling joy and ownership and belonging ... and screaming our fucking heads off.
There's one more thing. (i know, eyeballs are rolling...)
I only just now realized something about when my interest in the Yankees started to pique. It was the first year of their slump, 2001. The 2000 Series win I barely remember anything about. But by 2001 I was really invested. Why?
9/11. It was one month after 9/11. Mere weeks after that emotional first game at Yankee Stadium after the tragedy, and the first Letterman show, and all those other firsts that signaled maybe we were starting to dust ourselves off & get back to living. I remember thinking, I know the Yanks won of ton of these in the last several years, but please God, we could really use it right now, as a city, as a country. Of course it didn't quite work out that way...
In a sense, at least for me, last night was as much about reclaiming THAT as it was about the Yankees redeeming their reputation. So it's with great pride in more than just a sports dynasty that I say:
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. =)
Like many artists, sports is usually just not on my radar, and I sometimes find it silly how much emotional investment fans put into it. Even the central premise of one team or player dominating the other is easy for me to see as Neanderthal, and is likely part of why I chose to put my energies into an activity that could potentially benefit EVERYONE, not just "us on this side."
But in recent years my attitude has softened a bit, and I've begun to take ownership of teams I have some connection with, esp. when they start rocking the house and get close to "winning it all." This would include the NY Giants, Carolina Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, & the UNC Tarheels earlier this year. I've even taken some ribbing and quizzical looks for this, from fellow artists who still maintain their sports detachment. It's all good. The thing I've maybe started to realize very slowly, is that greatness is greatness no matter what field, and I can learn things about being a good artist from the likes of Keyshaun Johnson and Roy Williams. I've also learned that to feel pride and take ownership of a team is not sheer vanity and mindlessness. This may seem obvious to some, but it's truly a new thing for me.
So on those occasions when a team I care about starts going for the gold, I now allow myself to get into it, and in the process start learning more minutiae about the innards of the game. As long as it's me doing it for my own reasons, and not because "I'm supposed to", it's cool. And that, BTW, was the reason I feigned interest as a kid -- cuz all the friends & relatives were really into it, and it was the south, y'know, you didn't question such things! Cuz if you do, yer a faggot. :-p
In my new, somewhat tenuous interest in sports, I generally love underdogs & hate dynasties. I hate Notre Dame. I hate UConn. I hate the Patriots. Which brings us of course to the Yankees, who I know I'm supposed to hate just like I'm supposed to hate the whole enterprise.
But this dynasty happens to belong to me. I love my city, and one of its crowning jewels is this team. And for roughly half of the 19 years I've lived here, I just Didn't. Give. A. Shit. Ironically, during their huge run of World Series wins in the late 90s, I Didn't. Give. A. Shit. Hardly knew it was going on. I literally stumbled into one of the Times Square celebrations one year, and had to think hard to remember what it was about. I only started giving a shit about the Yankees ... right about the time they started bombing.
Which is why this whole series, and of course last night, was so sweet. Why it felt so amazingly good to HAVE PERMISSION to congregate at "Gym" (my favorite gay sportsbar), and join all the pinstripe-loving, jock-y faggots feeling joy and ownership and belonging ... and screaming our fucking heads off.
There's one more thing. (i know, eyeballs are rolling...)
I only just now realized something about when my interest in the Yankees started to pique. It was the first year of their slump, 2001. The 2000 Series win I barely remember anything about. But by 2001 I was really invested. Why?
9/11. It was one month after 9/11. Mere weeks after that emotional first game at Yankee Stadium after the tragedy, and the first Letterman show, and all those other firsts that signaled maybe we were starting to dust ourselves off & get back to living. I remember thinking, I know the Yanks won of ton of these in the last several years, but please God, we could really use it right now, as a city, as a country. Of course it didn't quite work out that way...
In a sense, at least for me, last night was as much about reclaiming THAT as it was about the Yankees redeeming their reputation. So it's with great pride in more than just a sports dynasty that I say:
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. =)