Missing the Ritual of Sports

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  I live in a sports-free household, because my hubby does not like ANY sports. Not football, not baseball, not golf or tennis. He actually watched the Superbowl with me this year, which was a wonder. It’s not that he doesn’t understand the rules of football, he just doesn’t care anything about it, and I’ll admit I mainly like the social occasion/event aspect of things like the Superbowl. (And that was a great game, by the way, even for a non-football watcher!)

But I do like baseball--even though he thinks it’s the most boring thing ever invented--and I like keeping up with our local team (that's the Rangers, by the way, not the Astros! Sorry, Houston) in a vague sort of way. We don’t have any paid sports programming, so unless a game is on local TV I don’t see it, but sometimes I listen on the radio.

Texas Rangers vs San Francisco Giants

But this year, zip. Nada. ( I’ve suggested that we watch my favorite baseball movies, Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, as compensation, and got the expected eye-roll.)

What I really miss, however, is horse racing. The Triple Crown races have been a big part of my May and June since I was a child. This year, instead of the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in April, then the Preakness two weeks later and the Belmont three weeks after that, they’ve scrambled the schedule. The Belmont will come first, on June 20th, with no fans in the stands. The Derby will run September 5th, and finally the Preakness on October 3rd. It feels weird.  Everything is topsy-turvey.

REDS, have you missed sports at all, even as a sort of background for the rhythm of the year?

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes, we really missed seeing the MASTERS golf tournament. And we really, really, really missed the college basketball March madness because we have been huge fans of the UCONN women Huskies forever. And who knows what’s happening with professional tennis for the rest of the summer, I enjoy that too. We have a good friend who is 93 who hasn’t left the house since March. His favorite thing is watching all kinds of sports on TV--I feel so badly for him!

DEBS: Oh, Lucy, your poor friend! I doubt the games they are rebroadcasting are much substitute!

HALLIE EPHRON: I miss baseball. Red Sox! It’s the perfect sport to fall asleep to. My husband assures me that they WILL come to some agreement with the players and there will be a season. Too much $$ at stake. So I hope he’s right.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, great question. I guess...I do love to watch the Red Sox, especially in person at Fenway--it’s such a community, and everyone is happy and engaged (if they’re winning) and hilariously enraged when they are losing.  Do I miss baseball, though? I guess I miss it  more for Jonathan, really. He’s a huge fan, and I’m sad he can’t have the fun of watching the game. 

Yes, the horse races--which I’m not sure about from the standpoint of how happy about it the horses might be--are truly a spectacle, and Jonathan and I have fun betting with each other. I grew up on the Indy 500, and it was truly strange not to have it this year. But everything is strange.

Thinking about fan-less events make you realize how reliant the games are on excitement, and fan participation.  That is going to be so strange, like seeing an event with the sound off. 

And in my world, another casualty is sport reporters.  Nothing to report, except major league players haggling over money. Amazing. And I feel sad for young players just out of college, or just into the big leagues, who’d dreamed all their lives of what they thought this moment in time would be. 

And no matter what happens, I don’t think it will ever be the same.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Like Hallie, I’m missing the Red Sox, and laughing at “the perfect sport to fall asleep to.” There were many, many nights when Ross would listen to the game in the living room while I puttered on the computer, and I would turn around to ask him to clarify some play that had just been called (despite 30+ years of watching with him, I still don’t know all the ins and outs) and he would be snorked out on the sofa.

I’m also missing the anticipation of our local Double-A team, the Portland Sea Dogs. We’ve gone at least once each summer since the franchise came to Maine in 1994 (I remember trying to discreetly nurse the 5-month-old Sailor in the bleachers!) and often, many times more. Watching the national pastime on a sunny afternoon in a small ballpark is about as close to heaven as you can get. Debs, I’ll join you for a double feature of Bull Durham and Field of Dreams!

RHYS BOWEN: I’m a huge tennis fan and former player so I miss Wimbledon. Actually I will watch almost any sport—swimming, track even curling. Just not pool or darts! And I missed my Giants spring training this year too. Somehow watching reruns of old matches just doesn’t do it!

DEBS: Julia, you're on! Can we co-watch on Zoom, do you think?

I'm wondering if they will broadcast recorded crowd sounds for the spectator-less races, just for the horses. They're very aware of the reaction of the crowds and I imagine it's going to feel really strange to them.

READERS, are you missing sports, or happy just to curl up with a book!