Sports

Sports have a way of calming our society. In times of stress, an avid sports fan can get lost in the baseball statistics in the agate of his morning paper. In times of tragedy, we can take solace in the National Anthem before ball games.

One of my fondest memories of our country reuniting after Sept. 11 was seeing an American flag the size of a football field before kickoff. As a high school kid, I remember watching Oklahoma City’s AAA team and before the game, they held a moment of silence for the victims of the OKC bombing.

I believe that sports are one of the things that make our country so great. Perhaps it’s watching two teams or individuals vying to see who is best. But I like to think it’s because of the hard work before the game. And in no other entertainment venue, do you hear the National Anthem. Can you imagine anything remotely Patriotic before a movie begins?

I never feel more American than I do before a baseball game, when gentlemen take their hats off and look at Old Glory. Even as a kid, I never wanted to be late for a game because I wanted to hear those beautiful words… “Oh say can you see…”

Sports are such a large part of our society that I believe we’d be lost without them.

This line of thinking came about after I read this article about basketball coaches traveling to Kuwait to put on a clinic. It's called Operation Hardwood, an eight team tournament made up of the top basketball players stationed in Kuwait. Each team will be comprised of 13 players and coached by the best.

My hat is off to these guys. For one, it takes guts. And two, they are showing support to the men and women in uniform. And these aren’t your run-of-the mill coaches either. Each has led a team to the Big Dance, and a couple have been to the Final Four. For you non-NCAA basketball watchers, this would be the equivalent of the H&R Block CEO going to Kuwait to give classes on taxes.

Reading about this event did my heart some good… I love sports… they’ve always been there when America needed them.