Dreams Don't Always Come True

When I was a rising freshman at SLA, the summer before that school year I went to a Phillies baseball camp. During that week of camp I had the opportunity to tour the Philadelphia Phillies baseball stadium. As the Phillies tour guides walked my group around the stadium, we were asked trivia questions about the Philadelphia Phillies organization. 

One question that was asked to the group of campers was, “ What was Michael Martinez's jersey number before he had number seven?”

As the rest of the group started to answer, I raised my hand and waited to be called on.

“Nineteen!” 

The entire group was surprised that I knew the answer to the question. As we continued the tour around Citizens Bank Park we ended up sitting down in the press box of the ballpark. The tour guide had another question for us.

“Who was the last Phillie to hit for the cycle?” 

Again the answers started coming from the mouths of other group members. “Chase Utley” one of them said and the tour guide said “no” and I raised my hand and said “ David Bell”. The tour guide said, “you're right”. Later in the day, I overheard one of the tour guides talking to another employee in the Phillies clubhouse and he said ‘this kid knew the answers to all of my questions”. I was able to hold Carlos Ruiz’s, who was the Phillies catcher at the time, bat because of answering the questions correctly. This made me feel important and special on that day. 

When I was in the eighth grade, I loved Evan Turner, who was the 76ers shooting guard and I still do today. I had a friend who loved LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The 76ers and the Miami Heat played a lot during that school year. The Heat won the first three games of the series against the Sixers and it did not look like the Sixers would ever have a chance to beat the Heat. On Easter sunday, the 76ers and the Miami Heat played for the last time that season. The 76ers won! The game winning shot was by sixth man Lou Williams. 

When that happened I told my friend, “ I told you so.” and he of course said the Miami Heat were still the better team but on that day the Miami Heat were defeated by the 76ers.   

I believe that the deeper role that sports plays in society is that it is a form of entertainment. Furthermore, I believe that people watch sports because they want to see the ability of these professional athletes. Most sports fans wish they could do the things that professional athletes do but they know they can not. Sports are games that were made for children and have become a profession. I believe that we start out with a love and passion for sports but as time goes on we lose sight of that passion and focus on the money and fame from that sport. Most sport fans have a dream of playing a particular sport professionally, but end up not being good enough or getting hurt and just becoming a fan. We all have the opportunity to become a professional athlete but not all of us have the right people around us to teach us or show us how to get to that level. Sports are also used by fans as a time to sit back and relax and watch a good show. The professional athletes are also our role models because when we were younger, we looked up to them. Everyone dreamed of having luxury. When we got older and we were not able to make a professional sports team, we would try to get a job in sports or become season ticket holders. Overall, we would all like to become a professional athlete but there is not enough space for everyone and you must be one of the best in that particular sport to be able to play on the team.               

Sports are everything to me and I love them. I love the different athletes, but what I really love is the sport itself. The fame is great, but I just love how passionate people can get over sports. Furthermore, I love that I could travel all around the world and people would know things about sports. Sports are a way for me to sit back and relax and get to know someone. Most people look at their phones to see who texted them, tweeted them, or posted something new on Facebook but when I look at my phone the first thing that I see is a news alert from ESPN and it is usually about something that has happened in the sports world that day. Most of the clothes that I wear are clothes made by sports brands. The different TV stations that I watch have to do with sports and the articles that I read have to do with sports. I can not even remember the last time, I went a day without sports. I believe that sports help me connect with people and help me to get to know them better. 

I believe that the general public is bias toward sports fans. This is true because the general public wants to be entertained and also wants to see other human beings do spectacular things. We all want the ability to run down a basketball court and dunk the ball with great force or be in a NFL huddle and be the starting quarterback calling out the play that could potentially win our team the game or score a winning goal in soccer and hockey and we as fans can not do that, so we cheer on other humans that can and we wear their jerseys and sneakers because we  wish we had the ability to do what they do. But at the end of the day we can not. Professional sports is a business. The business side of sports sometimes gets overlooked by the fans but this part is the most important part for the athletes. The athletes are paid millions of dollars but most of them do not know what to do with that much money and they usually run out of it within the first couple of years of their contracts. I believe that the owners of the different sports teams benefit the most from the money standpoint because of the way they use the athletes to fill the seats of their stadiums with fans.             

Sources: 

"III." An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce; Page 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.