I Love Sports Too

What's going on everybody? Hope everything is going well. I sat and watched the ESPY's last night and was really pleased with how the entire show was put together. After watching several other awards shows lately that shall go unnamed (cough cough BET), I was beginning to think the entire art of a quality awards show had been lost but the ESPY's restored my faith if even for that one night.
Justin Timberlake outdid himself as his jokes were current, relevant, sports related and most importantly, FUNNY! He didn't overdo jokes and once he saw the audience had accurately responded, he kept the show moving and flowing smoothly. Even his music routine was on point which normally spells a downfall for an awards show host.

I say all of this to return to my topic for this blog, I LOVE SPORTS!.

Sports helped form perhaps the best awards show of the year because of the childlike love that sports can bring out in all of us. From our youngest days, we are tossing baseballs, shooting basketballs, throwing footballs, kicking soccer balls, chasing hockey pucks, swinging at golf balls, swinging away at tennis balls or whatever our parents thinks we are destined to be the next Ruth, Jordan, Elway, Woods, Beckham, Gretzky or Williams Sister in. It is this faith from our parents that helps us not only love sports from a young age but create a bond with our parents that can only be broken by the parent that overdoes it and tries to live out their own broken dreams.
For those that don't get in sports, there are other options for gaining this connection with our parents or such a lifelong desire such as painting, writing, singing, or dancing (which many consider to be a sport within its own right). I take nothing away from those other professions but I just chose to speak on what I know and love with me being such an avid sports lover in my own right.
Lately the professional sports have been tarnished due to their own respective scandals such as steroids, gambling, marijuana, or the most hurtful element; the selfish athlete. But just as I address those topics and the bad apples that are souring the sports, Sports always seems to regain me as a fan due to the large base of athletes that still treat sports as just being a game and know that it is a blessing from God that they are in the positions they are currently in.
The heartwarming stories featured on SportsCenter about athletes surrendering their time for those that truly deserve it through the "Make A Wish Foundation" make me overlook the pending drug charges for another athlete. Kevin Garnett's extreme gratitude and emotion overflowing when he finally won a championship makes me forget about another athlete being pulled over for speeding on the expressway and being charged with a DUI. John Lester throwing a no hitter nearly a year after being diagnosed with cancer makes me forget about the numerous athletes mentioned in the Mitchell Report. Brett Favre's stellar performance against the Oakland Raiders following his father's death is illuminated due to the surrounding circumstances.

What I want to never forget is that at the end of the day is that the same athletes that we are quick to elevate as heroes and then devour as soon as they no longer fit the "image" we established for them are HUMAN BEINGS at the end of the day just like us and should be congratulated for their actions on the field and held in the exact same light as the rest of us want to be. If they are held to different standards simply because they are athletes, then do we truly love sports? Because that's not love to me.
God Bless...PromoDave signing Off For Now...