2009 NCAA Tournament: Though Not Exactly the Big East, Ohio is Well-Represented
March 16, 2009While We’re Waiting… Big Z’s Injuries, Dice-K Going DP, and the NBA Playoffs
March 17, 2009Every now and then we get a big story coming across the wire that re-centers us. When I lived up in Boston during college it was the murder of the “hockey dad” by the another parent. Then yesterday I read about a soccer player that was shot in the head, apparently, while attempting to score a tying goal. Now, I really am not meaning this to sound crass. It isn’t a joke. But did this crazy fan think that shooting the player would really stop the score and provide any satisfaction out of having the other team win the game?
Anyway, I hate to bring us all down, but I just thought I would share that with everyone. During a hugely busy sports weekend with the brackets coming out and the Cavs playing and the Indians gearing up in Arizona while the Browns sign players, it just made me stop for a second. I didn’t stop because I was going to turn off the TV and not watch the Cavs. I didn’t stop because I wasn’t going to fill out my brackets on Yahoo. Just stopped for a second to realize that sports are still a hobby for me. They are still fun for me. Even the nasty arguments we sometimes get in are fun for me.
But somehow, thankfully, it hasn’t become so important that I would imagine anyone around me would go to the lengths that occurred in Iraq this weekend. Sure, we may have thrown plastic bottles when a referee made a horrendous call, but nobody got hurt and nobody died. Even at our culture’s worst, like what happened between Ben Wallace’s Detroit Pistons and Ron Artest’s Pacers seems truly humane by comparison. And even that was widely considered the darkest moment in the NBA’s history if not American pro sports history.
Not much point to this article other than that. Just wanted to provide the same perspective that I had this weekend as I was trying to figure out if I should be excited by the Browns’ acquisitions or not while hoping the Buckeyes and Cavs would win.
7 Comments
the Iraq thing was the craziest thing I have read about in sports since the Pistons-Pacers brawl. Shooting the man in the head while he attempts to score? wow what has the world turned to?
And we thought Iraq in Saddam’s time was bad…
boy, thanks for bringing it down Craig… 🙂
seriously though, thanks for the perspective. Also in the midst of the weekend, our #2 WR struck and killed a 59 year-old “family man.”
If he wasn’t an NFL player we’d never know about it. Think of the hundreds (if not more) people that are killed daily in these kinds of accidents. makes you take things a little more serious.
I just read that apparently the same day there was another soccer-related shooting in Iraq. Seems an off-duty cop was so excited to see his team win, he pulled out his gun and started shooting. Accidently shot his team’s 18-year-old goalie in the head. It’s crazy and unbelievably sad.
We’re talking about Iraq. We’re talking about a part of the world that still stones women for showing more than their eyes in public. Does this really surprise you? If this happened north of the Mexican border, then I’d be shocked and outraged.
Figured you would use The Last Boyscout as an album cover.
DCBucks: with the new license to carry concealed weapons, it’s only a matter of time.