Kavorka!
By Joe Torosian
“Tonight we make our move. Tomorrow we apologize.”—Tom Westman
Kick it!
I always cringed when I had to write a feature on an athlete or coach. Especially when the subject was 16-years-old. There was no problem writing about them or about what they did on the field. But I hated doing a feature-piece.
I never liked delving into their lives and trying to find out what made them tick. I also never liked doing a feature on somebody who already had been interviewed a thousand times.
About as close as I want to get is, “What was the call on the touchdown?”… “Did you guys work on that in the off-season?”
I never wanted to know about the family being close, eating pizza, and all the kids on the street hanging out from kindergarten through high school. It’s a yawning festival.
Stuff like that is boring, and 99% of the time, I just don’t care. I don’t care about the player’s background. Or their road to success. The detours along the way, and how much their family means to them.
It’s probably because 100% of us have a history, a road to success, detours along the way, and a family that means everything to us.
Try writing on a topic or subject you don’t care about. It’s brutal. It’s like trying to feign excitement for the NBA All-Star game.
Maybe that’s not you, but it’s always been me.
When I listen to a podcast, and they start hyping an interview with a superstar— “My boy, Johnson’s coming on in the next segment. He’s my guy!”—I turn off the podcast or change the station.
You listen to these things, and everyone is everyone’s boy, everyone is everyone’s guy—it’s gross.
One of my favorite players is Rams wide receiver, Robert Woods. I love everything about his game, and I think he should get MVP votes every year. But I’d rather listen to a Daniel Jeremiah break down a mock draft or a PFF nerd explain the salary cap to me again than Woods talk about himself or his teammates.
This forced emotional proximity bores me and makes me uncomfortable.
It’s like having your parents–when you were young–send you to a birthday party for a cousin you barely knew.
I don’t need new friends. I got my friends, I want to make my own friends, and I don’t like it when “friends” are thrust upon me. My emotional storage capacity–especially with sports–has limited space. It has no room for reading or hearing how an athlete, or coach, is playing for his great-great-grandfather who came to the United States through Ellis Island.
I just want to know how they’re going to play the game and the strategy they’re going to use to get the job done. This is why I read very few autobiographies about sports figures.
It’s likely a sign of my age. I’m not grumpy about it…I just don’t care. But it makes me curious, does anybody else feel this way? When the NFL Draft is broadcast this spring, count how many stories there are about athletes overcoming tragedy, heartbreak, and the odds.
Again, we all overcome tragedy, heartbreak, and the odds. My problem is I can’t read a defense, avoid the rush, and put the ball on a rope through a tight window in anticipation of where my receiver is supposed to be.
These guys can, and that’s what I want to know about.
So, I’ve just written close to 500-words on how I don’t want to hear all the personal stuff…But I have an exception.
I want to hear the first words out of a kid when he gets a college or professional offer. I do care about what he has to say when he celebrates an amazing victory with his teammates. Those moments are priceless, even–dare I say–transcendent.
I read Steven Urena’s column yesterday (The Urena Express) about that moment in a player’s life when the MLB calls. That moved me, and based on the response it got…It moved a lot of people. It was cool.
But it’s the exception, not the rule. I just want the game, the preparation for the game, the outcome of the game. Everything else…is quite ordinary.
It’s the competition and the game that is extraordinary.
The Dude abides…
1,177
1 Corinthians 14:8
Joe T. is the author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” … “Temple City & The Company of The Ages” … “The Dead Bug Tales” … “The Dark Norm” & “FaithViews for Storm Riders”…all five available through Amazon.com.
www.JoeTorosian.com
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b
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MeWe: Joe Torosian
Be sure to read:
The Saxon Top 25—Every Monday (College Bball)
The Urena Express—Every Wednesday (MLB)
