The Importance of Escape

As many, if not all of you are aware now, there has been a terrible tragedy at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.  As a current resident and grad assistant at NIU with a wife attending the law school, the last 36 hours have been very stressful.

Natural questions of why the guy did what he did, why he chose the classroom he chose, why those people died and why people like my wife, who was in a building less than a block away, remained pretty much completely safe have been through my head.

However, despite all of that, I can say that with pitchers and catchers reporting I had planned to wear my Cardinals jersey to school today (the teachers at my H.S. typically do a casual Friday thing), and between the fact that it brought up discussions with colleagues and students about sports, the fact that I have spent much of the last 36 hours either watching the news or frequenting websites like Viva El Birdos, Matthew Leach's blog and MLB Trade Rumors, and the optimism of a new baseball season just around the bend, I can say without hesitation that baseball has given me momentary escapes from the continuing coverage that wouldn't be possible in any other way.

I know I'm an unscathed bystander in this horrible tragedy.  I was not directly affected in that no one I know was hurt or killed.  However many other people I know who work in this town were affected directly.  I can't imagine how many of them have retreated to their favorite pastimes, whether it be one of the many Chicago sports teams, such as the Bears, Bulls, Cubs or White Sox, or for many of them the Green Bay Packers or their college teams, including even the teams of Northern Illinois University or the University of Illinois, where the shooter was apparently studying.  

That's the beautiful thing about sports.  Whether we root for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs, or the New York Yankees.  Whether we root for the Detroit Red Wings or the Indianapolis Colts.  Whether we root for the UCLA Men's Basketball team or the U of Florida football team.  We don't embrace these players and these teams because it's relevant to our everyday lives.  We embrace them because they AREN'T relevant to our everyday lives.  We embrace them because they help us escape our everyday lives.

So while we may all argue about whether Izturis warrants a roster spot or whether the Glaus for Rolen trade was good or bad for the Cardinals or even LBoros's recent posts about Jocketty's legacy, please join me in taking a step back and just appreciating the fact that we have sports to distract us and entertain us when we want to escape what is often a monotonous, stressful everyday life.