Scott Radley: What the world needs now is sports, sweet sports
Seven or eight or nine weeks or whatever it is into this seemingly endless self-distancing experiment, you could begin to build a case that sports in our society have been proven to be anything but essential.
We've survived without them. The world has gone on. Families have found things to do. Men and women have seen their weekend afternoons and weekday evenings freed up from watching games on TV to try other things. That will lead some to say this proves too much time and effort is spent watching them, arguing over them and paying for them. We'd be just fine if they went away.
Perhaps.
Before we shut the entire operation down and declare sports dead in the era of COVID-19, however, it's worth pointing out there's an equal and opposite argument that this unwanted break has actually done more to prove their immense value. An argument that frankly, holds more water than that offered by the dissenters.
We have a lot of things to worry about these days. Family members we can't visit, ailing loved ones, school that's being missed, jobs that are lost or diminished, bills we can't pay, and on and on and on. Not to mention the fear of catching this bloody virus. It's heavy stuff that burdens us. Real-life concerns that keep us awake in bed at night.
By comparison, sports seem pretty insignificant. Watching people we don't personally know in one uniform trying to win a contest against people we don't know in a different uniform really isn't that important.
Which is exactly the point.
As we're being crushed by the weight of today's world, a distraction is exactly what we need. Something that matters without really mattering. Something we care deeply about that ultimately won't affect the course of our life.
We can get emotionally invested in a contest and cheer for someone to win - which is a human instinct - and by doing so, take our minds off the important stuff for a while. Cleanse our mental palates for a couple hours. Release us from our concerns and give our supercharged psychological core a chance to cool down.
Yes, there are other things that might draw our attention. You could turn on CNN to get your American politics update but here's guessing you won't leave feeling refreshed. Netflix offers a million shows that can provide that shiny object that'll pull our attention away from our worries. Music and art can do that, too, as can various activities.
But one thing about many of those diversions. Art in all its forms tends to reflect the times. When things are rough, art often tells that story. That's not a knock, it's reality. Painters or singers or artisans or TV writers tell the truth of their times.
Games, on the other hand, are games. Sure the equipment and rules and athleticism has changed over the years but baseball was played through the Depression and wars and famine and after acts of terror and what happened on the field was essentially unconnected to what was happening off it. It happened with hockey and football and soccer and other sports, too. Goals weren't sadder in difficult eras. Home runs weren't gloomier or touchdowns less celebratory because the world was struggling.
Rather, they provided an absolute escape. Still will.
Doesn't mean you can't find your mental break in those arts. Or outside in the garden. Or pouring yourself into your work. But for the millions - probably billions - of people who have a certain itch scratched by competition, the release from the burdens of their reality that comes from turning on a game and losing yourself in it is real.
Is it a luxury item? Sure, compared to food or water or shelter. Yet, people in even the poorest places on earth who may not have those things, play sports. Why? Because in hardship, games bring light and fun and joy.
And who couldn't use a little more of that these days?
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com