Here Goes Nothing

Entertainment is fueled by the unknown. The edge-of-your-seat excitement, gripping your knuckles white in anticipation of the unknown. Dynamic characters, heel turns, and the emergence of a hero when hope is all but lost. The things that encapsulate the emotion of any form of entertainment. While many find that entertainment through the tabloids, cinema, television, or comedy, my mainstay for entertainment has always been sports. 

Every undersized, undersold player to take the court, field, or ice invokes the strongest feelings from the sports fan within me. To see Wes Welker winding his way around wayward tacklers, Dusting Pedroia club home runs from the cleanup spot, and JJ Barea wreaking havoc in the lane over seven footers is magical. To imagine myself in their shoes only to have my dreams come tumbling back to earth in that next game of pickup basketball. Because of the common man’s athletic limitations, we are subjected to the next best thing; consuming any and all sports at a ridiculous rate.

Falling asleep in 2003, I was assured that Pedro would finish off the Yankees so that the Red Sox could advance to the Fall Classic. The gut-wrenching feeling to find out on the schoolbus about Aaron Boone’s home run was absolutely unforgettable. The same feeling a Jazz fan must have had after Michael Jordan nailed his real career finishing shot. The same feeling a dejected Browns fan must have felt during John Elway’s drive. 

By the time the Sox were down 0-3 in 2004, I hadn’t experienced the opposite end of the spectrum. As they wrote history, the World Series felt like all but a guarantee following the Sox epic comeback. While it was a less than dramatic 4-0 sweep, there was still plenty to worry about during each game when it came to seeing if The Curse would reclaim its possession over their ability of the Sox to perform in the clutch. 

With the 2004 title, the 2007 title, the Knicks return to respectability following the Amar’e signing and Carmelo trade, and the Eagles run of success under Andy Reid, I have found myself spoiled with many great teams and just as many disappointments. The first year I remember following the Eagles was the year before Donovan McNabb turned the franchise around. The Red Sox since Nomo threw his no hitter and the Knicks as recently as college. Allen Iverson will remain my favorite player of all time and the reason I wasn’t a fan of any one team until he fell off, but that is for another time.

While I hold a fairly small knowledge of the history of American sports and their earlier athletes, the fact remains that I did not grow up watching what the generation before mine did. In starting this all encompassing sports blog, I hope to, along with my close friends and schoolmates, provide my opinion and analysis on any and all topics regarding professional or collegiate athletics. To provide a narrative or explanation behind the entertainment. To quantify the result after the unknown. In today’s internet age, any person with an opinion can start a blog or tweet about a sporting event. I just hope you find mine worthwhile.