Bismarck, North Dakota - News

Sports are terrific, make no mistake about it.

Athletics has wonderful lessons to teach youngsters that simply can't be learned in any other arena.

For spectators, sports can offer a beautiful balance of relaxation and involvement that's beautiful to experience.

My job has allowed me to spend over three decades hanging around gymnasiums, arenas and athletic fields. The coaches and athletes work their tails off and I get to tell you about it. It's a great way to fly.

Still, I find myself wondering how so many can devote so much of their lives to what is supposed to be a pastime.

To sports participants fromPee Wees to Masters and all the stops in between, Isay "go for it."

But I wonder if we haven't jumped the track by a wide margin when it comes to watching, following and - yes -worshiping sports.

Afew examples:

Do you find the tailback on your son's Midget football team is more important to you than your pastor is?

Have you yelled insulting things at a coach or game official who just might be that anonymous guy who pulled you out of a snowdrift last winter?

Can you ever remember a time when you told your children to "go play" so you could watch the pregame show ... and the game ... and the postgame show?

During down time at work do you find yourself talking about people who talk about people who compete in sports?

Are you transfixed by sports talk celebrities who entertain you by saying things on the air that would probably get them punched in the mouth in another setting?

Can you rattle off your favorite team's pitching rotation before you can come up with the date of your wedding anniversary or your spouse's birthday?

Former New York Mets manager Wes Westrum once said ballparks were like churches. "Many attend. Few understand."

It would be nice to return to those days of yore when Wes was managing. Nowadays too many folks waste way too much time trying, desperately trying, to understand the inner game of baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, beach volleyball, jai-alai, you name it.

We've got leagues for every sport at every level and adherents who will go to watch.

Fine.

What's scary is the hours we devote to televised sports, TV sports talk and analysis, fantasy leagues and sports betting.

Let's not forget sports publications that run the gamut from fact sheets to voyeurism.

I confine most of my overinvestment in sports to radio. TVis a demanding mistress. She insists you sit, unmoving, and take in what she has to offer. With my beloved Twins or the ho-hum Vikings on the radio, I can devote as much attention as Ichose to the goings-on. There's little on TV that warrants three uninterrupted hours of devotion.

With that in mind, I've (sort of)listened to hundreds of games on the radio since Ilast sat through a full sports event on TV. The last televised baseball game I watched from the first pitch to the last was a playoff game between the Twins and Oakland A's in 2002. The last football game I stayed with from kickoff to ignominious end was the Vikings' semifinal loss to the Falcons in who knows what year.

It's breathtaking in its scope, all the way from small boys (the Little League World Series) to big girls (the WNBA). And, as a participant, I'm not blameless.

But remember, to steal a phrase or two from Solomon, it's all vanity. ... A chasing after the wind.

The late relief pitcher, Tug McGraw, might not rank up there with Solomon as a thinker, but he surely put things in the proper perspective with his Frozen SnowballTheory.

After blowing a save, McGraw was asked how he could live with himself. To the best of my memory, his response was "in a few billion years the earth will become a frozen snowball hurtling through space. And when that happens, nobody is going to care."

Steve Thomas is a Tribune sportswriter.

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