It must be the fantasy of every 10-year-old boy growing up reading Sports Illustrated for Kids to someday have the opportunity to have their very own sports column. I, in any case, most certainly did, but eventually I grew up and graduated to the adult version of Sports Illustrated. (Frankly I think that it may be part of puberty: grow six inches, sprout facial hair, overload on Axe, and realize that Buzz Beamer and the rest of SI for Kids just won’t cut it anymore.)
Regardless, my favorite part of getting a new, grown-up version of SI every week was flipping to the very last page of the magazine to an opinion column called “Life of Reilly” by Rick Reilly. Reilly had a knack for combining charming wit with dripping sarcasm in order to create a column that was sometimes funny, sometimes critical, sometimes inspiring, and sometimes sad, but always thought-provoking.
The column was written in a way that made you realize that this sports opinion column was not simply about sports. What it was about was found in the title- life. What Reilly seems to be getting at is that sports have a funny way of representing culture, values, and attitudes held by society. The world of sports is often a microcosm that shows us the sign of the times.
Think about it for a second. Do you see connections between player and owner salaries and corporate greed? What about player attitudes about showing up to practice compared to student attitudes about showing up to class?
Many values in sports, good or bad, parallel the values in society, but often the things most worthy of our attention are the ways in which sports get it right when the rest of us don’t.
Many are now familiar with the story of the pair of softball players who aided an opposing player around the bases after she injured herself directly after hitting the game winning home-run. What an incredible lesson in sportsmanship this ought to be for some of us whose best display of sportsmanship is conveniently introducing last-second house rules to avoid losing a “friendly” game of ping-pong.
In the same way, it’s important to point out the injustices of American sport. One of my favorite Reilly columns told the story of Carnegie Mellon senior Nick End, who was denied the opportunity to run in the Div. III National Track and Field Championships by the NCAA because his coach accidently entered him in the 5,000 meters instead of the 10,000 meters.
Reilly contended that the NCAA was spending too much time splitting hairs in the rule book and not enough time caring about the athletes who justified their existence, albeit using more choice words than I chose to use.
All this to say that while I am no Rick Reilly, these are the types of stories I want to bring to the table every week.
All this to say that while I am no Rick Reilly, these are the types of stories I want to bring to the table every week.
Feel free to write in, let me know what you think, and offer any suggestions you may have. I hope I can write pieces that appeal to everyone from the non-sports fan to the ESPN addict, simply because sports has so much to say about life, be it good, bad, or sadly, if you happen to be a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, pretty ugly.
