What are you Thankful for in the world of sports?

[1of10Charnatives]

To me sports greatest value to humanity lies in the way it offers a non destructive path to push each other to excel. For that alone as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I am thankful for sports. The entertainment and camaraderie are just the gravy on the turkey. Forgive me for waxing poetic, but here are a few more specific things I'm thankful for in the world of sports, feel free to add your own:

For the way the crowd at B of A comes to it's feet at a great play or the thunderous din as 60k plus lend their sonorous help to the defense on critical third downs before the snap.

For the fact I'll always be able to tell the next generation that I got to witness Michael Jordan prove that poetry can be visual.

For X-clown in all it's singular sudden unexpected beauty, and the feeling unlike any other when your team does something you know instantly you'll remember for the rest of your life. The guy I was standing next to when it happened is someone I despise as a person, but after that play I hugged him like a brother and we screamed like idiots, and if sports can bring the two of us together in that moment then maybe we should just make world leaders watch a few games together and see what happens.

For the 1992 East Regional Final, maybe the greatest game of college basketball ever played. Every single player whether they wore Duke or Kentucky blue that day left everything they had on the court, and by the time Christian Laettner's improbable buzzer beater fell through the net, two teams crafted an absolute masterpiece of hard fought competition.

For an undersized linebacker who carried himself with class and dignity and left us with much more than a statue outside the stadium, but an example of what you can achieve if you refuse to accept the limitations others impose on you and Keep Pounding every day to be the very best person you can be. Let no true Panthers fan ever forget the name of Sam Mills or what he stood for.

For the chance to see one Barry Sanders defy Newton's laws of momentum and inertia and do things carrying a football that mere mortals can only dream of.

For giving the ball to a kid after a touchdown, a great tradition, for a million mega watt smiles and arms out like an airplane gliding across the field during warm ups. For all the times he reminded us with his joy and energy to just relax and have fun and enjoy the game, thank you Cam Newton. 

For Jesse Owens going into Berlin in 1936 and showing the world that everything Hitler said about race was a lie.

For Agent 89's stiff arm. How did a 5'9" 185 lb receiver always completely punk db's and linebackers twice his size with it?

For the Miracle on Ice, and Al Michael's screaming into the microphone as the last seconds ticked off of one of sport's all time greatest upsets "Do you believe in miracles?" Younger generations will have a hard time grasping how unsure of itself and downtrodden the country was after the Iranian hostage crisis and the fear and uncertainty of the cold war at the time. Improbably, hockey of all things, made the country believe in itself again and gave us something to rally around. For all the poo we are inclined to give the young as we grow older, we should remember that it was a bunch of college kids who didn't know beating the Soviets was supposed to be impossible, so they just went out and did it.

[DeAngelo Beason]

Nothing.  Sports are a vile drug that I'm addicted to that are slowly killing me.

[jfra78]

It's bugging me that the newest member has the name AIntelligentMan. 

Nothing to do with the post, sorry

[1of10Charnatives]

1 minute ago, jfra78 said:

It's bugging me that the newest member has the name AIntelligentMan. 

Nothing to do with the post, sorry

Maybe his name is a clever in joke, because An Intelligent Man would just be mundane and nondescript?

[1of10Charnatives]

8 minutes ago, DeAngelo Beason said:

Nothing.  Sports are a vile drug that I'm addicted to that are slowly killing me.

 

[jfra78]

5 minutes ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

Maybe his name is a clever in joke, because An Intelligent Man would just be mundane and nondescript?

Probably

[PghPanther]

Sports can provide entertainment and meaning in life for some..........but I don't find inspiration in it........nor do I worship any of its participants.........in fact we are too sports obsessed in this country.

Sports in America today is becoming more of a distraction to keep people busy with "breads and circuses" while bigger issues will lead to the collapse of this country.

Finally, I'm not a tribal person.............and don't consider sports as a geographical representation of who or what I am............I watch to see a good game and really don't get flustered one way or the other if a given team wins or loses.

Why people like Alan Guth and Brian Cox aren't heroes or inspirations to the masses is a big reason why we are in social regress........

 

[1of10Charnatives]

22 minutes ago, PghPanther said:

Sports can provide entertainment and meaning in life for some..........but I don't find inspiration in it........nor do I worship any of its participants.........in fact we are too sports obsessed in this country.

Sports in America today is becoming more of a distraction to keep people busy with "breads and circuses" while bigger issues will lead to the collapse of this country.

Finally, I'm not a tribal person.............and don't consider sports as a geographical representation of who or what I am............I watch to see a good game and really don't get flustered one way or the other if a given team wins or loses.

Why people like Alan Guth and Brian Cox aren't heroes or inspirations to the masses is a big reason why we are in social regress........

 

I can respect this, and while I do obviously think sports has a place in our lives, I do agree we are too sports obsessed. I would like to see us stop building expensive stadiums for highly profitable private businesses with public money that clearly has more pressing needs. And even though I love what players like Jordan and Sanders are capable of, it's a crying shame that every school child who knows their names doesn't also know who Norman Borlaug is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

They say a billion people didn't starve to death because of dwarf wheat. That should be admired as much or more than anything an athlete does.

[Moo Daeng]

I'm thankful that at least App State doesn't suck. 

[1of10Charnatives]

1 minute ago, Moo Daeng said:

I'm thankful that at least App State doesn't suck. 

As a third generation ASU grad, I'm right there with you.

[Harbingers]

I am grateful that the panthers were part of the PI rule backfiring in the saints whiny face. 

[Jon Snow]

2 hours ago, Harbingers said:

I am grateful that the panthers were part of the PI rule backfiring in the saints whiny face. 

I have to admit I am still laughing about this.

[BurnHurnBurn]

Smitty.  

That is all.

[Anybodyhome]

I'm thankful for my DirecTV and the 500 fugging channels I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want.