Sports in the midst of tragedy

Like most Americans, the past week has me thinking and feeling maybe a little deeper or a little longer than normal. Regardless of your political affiliations, I would imagine that President Obama's Tuscon Memorial Speech probably verbalized at least some of those thoughts and feelings. If you haven't watched it, I recommend getting some tissue out before you do.

As I've reflected on this tragedy, I've thought a lot about the role of athletics. After all, sports are a way to unite people, but also a way to choose sides, they are a way to distract ourselves but also a way to play out our emotions in the safety of a game. Sports play a huge role in our society; in happiness and grief, in remembrance but also in regaining normalcy. There are examples all over the world of people finding ways to play in the midst of war and conflict, athletes risking their lives to travel to games, soccer games played despite mines and bombs.

But in the grand scheme of things, how can teams and athletes focus on game in the shadow of death? And even should they be expected to? Do fans even care about a game in the wake of tragedy?

The answer is probably no to all of those, which is why the Arizona/Stanford men's game was delayed. For that day, American's just wanted to be in shock, to talk about the trauma, to share in our collective grief. It was a time to heal, not to move forward.

Ultimately though, I think the real value in sports is that it helps us move forward incrementally. Grief doesn't move on a continuum, its more like waves or peaks and valleys. So when we play or watch sports, we can leave our grief for awhile, not because its not important, but because its a process that involves both reflective time and outlets. Sports don't have to compare to real life and death, it just has to serve a purpose in our healing.

So in the midst of tragedy, athletes can heal by regaining a sense of control of their world through their game. We may not be able to prevent a crazy person from pulling out a glock on innocent people, but we can move our feet on defense or high five our teammate after they dive on the floor for a loose ball. We might not feel safe after a terrorist blows up a plane but we can shout out in exhilaration after a 3 point play or feel a part of something greater than ourselves in the pregame huddle. We might not be able to wrap our minds around death or the loss of innocent bystanders, but we can give all we have. And by playing our hearts out even in the midst of tragedy, maybe we give the fans something to feel good about. And if nothing else, while the world around us seems thrown off, we can lose ourselves in the game, if only for a few hours.