With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, it can be easy to focus on the cynical sports landscape in front of us, rather than the things that make us love sports so much. Along with the rest of my fellow columnists here at The Sports Column, I’d like to share some of the things that I am thankful for in the sports world this year, along with a wish I have for the future.
*I am thankful for the first Orioles playoff appearance in the last 15 years. The last time the O’s made the playoffs, I was a scrawny 15 year old sophomore in high school. Today, I’m 31 years old with a wife and three children. I’m still skinny, but now I look at it as a good thing. The O’s brought magic back to Baltimore this spring and summer and I am thankful for the opportunity to talk Baltimore baseball with friends and family once again.
*I am thankful for the promise of more Orioles winning baseball to come. Unlike years past, when aging vets with big names arrived in B-More, only to disappoint and fade into early retirement, this year’s team was fresh, young, and hungry to bring a winning tradition back to town. With some very promising young talent in the farm system and potentially perennial all stars already rostered, the Orioles seem poised to begin a tradition of winning…as opposed the losing tradition we’ve become so accustomed to.
*I am thankful for a winning football team with a good quarterback. Despite what you may hear on the local radio shows, the Baltimore Ravens are actually a very good team. Not only that, they’ve been that way for awhile now. Maybe it’s simply that the fan base has become spoiled, but rather than complain about the lack of gaudy numbers, I think we should all be thankful for playoff football year in and year out, and a solid QB under center with Super Bowl potential.
*I am thankful that I am not a hockey fan. What the NHL commissioner and his owners are doing to the fans of hockey is shameful. For the second time in a handful of years, the NHL is staring down the barrel of a lost season and with every passing day, they lose more and more supporters. I feel terrible for those die hard hockey fans out there who want nothing more than to see their gladiators out on the ice again. I hope Commissioner Bettman comes to his senses one of these days.
*I am thankful that despite not winning a major this year, Tiger Woods is once again relevant on the PGA Tour. As a follower of Woods’ career since his amateur days, watching his decline over the past several years has been disheartening. But with a resurgence this year, Woods seems ready to challenge for the #1 player in the world position once again, and the rivalry of Woods and McIlroy seems like one that could produce magic over the next several years.Finally, my wish for the upcoming year and those that follow is that college sports will one day come back to the roots that made it so great. Finding that mix between academics and athletics has long since been lost and with conference realignments and television network deals dumping billions into the already muddy waters, this wish seems like a pipe dream right now. But maybe, just maybe, those who run these institutions of higher learning will one day remember what it meant to be a student athlete and the tradition of college athletics will be found again.
To everyone out there, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
