When I showed up for the Jazz game on Saturday, the parking lot was unusually full and there were two police cars. I hoped that the elementary school was hosting a safety course, but actually there had been a brawl among the fans during the 10:00 game and the cops were interviewing witnesses.
During our game, play was stopped at one point when two sets of parents got into an argument loud enough to require a YMCA employee to step in.
Later that night, we watched the Eureka Hornets basketball team lose a one-point lead in the final seconds after a player missed four consecutive free throws. The disbelief of the frustrated fans was evident in the post-game lobby. From their tone, you'd have thought that the player had simply overlooked the importance of the shots, talking on his cell phone and cracking jokes with his girlfriend while lobbing one-handed tosses in the general vicinity of the basket.
Does anyone else find it hard to keep condemning thoughts quiet? To set them off into a mellow, padded corner of the mind and let them dissolve while we turn our attention to other things? To allow others to vent if they must, and use it as an opportunity to teach ourselves and our children how ugly the disease of anger looks, rather than feeding off of it like some kind of healing drug?
I'm a fan of many things, and not all of them are sports. Sometimes I'm rooting for a project at work or a relationship. To win and to lose with grace, even optimism, is my hopeful route towards lasting satisfaction.
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