General

On Haiti, Sports and Perspective

Jan 14, 2010, 4:50 PM UTC

â†µI went to sleep last night trying to figure out how handle this situation in Haiti. I don’t mean that in any sort of emotional way, or how I’d cope or compartmentalize the horrors we’re seeing in pictures and video from the island nation following the unimaginable destruction caused by an earthquake. It’s terrible. We all know that. â†µ

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â†µâ†µI was trying to figure out how to handle the situation from a media standpoint. How do I address the situation on my show? Do I write a blog post about it? Do we, as sports fans, just press on with our daily lives, or do we pause to acknowledge and reflect. If sports are the ultimate escape, do we deserve that escape on a day where hundreds of thousands upon millions of people are either dead, injured or left with nothing? What do we do?â†µ

â†µâ†µI honestly have no clue. I watched as different people in our industry tried to put perspective on the situation. Jason Whitlock posted this on his Twitter feed: â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Have u pondered y we were born here and not Haiti? As Americans we have no concept of what poor really is. Haitian kids eat mud pies.â†µâ†µâ†µAnd the ancestors of some my neighbors were gassed in concentration camps. That doesn’t mean we can’t truly understand the concept. Besides, Haiti was one-of-if-not-the poorest nations in the world two days ago, and nobody in America stopped to care for one second. Our heart bleeds for the people down there -- my heart does bleed for them -- but it doesn’t change the fact that two days ago half this country couldn’t find Haiti on a map of Hispaniola.â†µ

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â†µThe folks at Free Darko are some of the most respected voices in our small, colloquial, internet world. I trust Shoals with, well, nearly everything he does. But yesterday, the FD Twitter feed posted this in reply to Bill Simmons lamenting the fact that Blake Griffin is out of the year by calling it 'a sad day' and characterizing the news for Clips fans as 'excessively cruel.'â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Someone tell @sportsguy33 to kindly redirect his agony over Blake Griffin toward the country of Haiti.â†µâ†µâ†µNo. No. He shouldn’t have to redirect any agony. He shouldn’t have to have any perspective on this. That’s why we love sports. Sports are the opposite of perspective. Sports let fans dress up in body paint and spiked armor to root for our favorite football team before putting on a three-piece suit for work the next day. Sports are the complete and ultimate distraction from life. And yes, I understand the irony of someone who writes and talks about sports for a living lecturing you, the reader, on sports being a distraction from life. â†µ

â†µâ†µA very wonderful and long-time listener to my show posted something last night that really resonated with me. â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Watching college bball and realized how trivial it is to watch sports when so many people are suffering in Haiti...my thoughts and prayersâ†µâ†µâ†µSports are trivial every day. There are poor, indigent, homeless people all over this country and the entire world every day. Next time you go to a sporting event at Madison Square Garden, count the number of homeless legs you literally step over to get from the train station to the arena. And it’s not just New York City, it’s everywhere. Kids eat mud pies in Appalachia, too. Do we really think those in China’s Sichuan province have recovered from the 2008 earthquake that left 87,000 people dead or missing? What about the Tsunami in 2006 that displaced nearly 75,000 people or the one in 2004 that killed 222,000? Do we really think everyone who suffered through Katrina has their lives back to normal, ready to cheer on the Saints this weekend?â†µ

â†µâ†µSports are our escape. The triviality of what we spend so much time focusing on in distraction from our daily lives –- from real life -– is inherent. And necessary.â†µ

â†µâ†µNow, not lost is the fact that, even in sports, life touches us. Sixers center Sam Dalembert was born in Haiti before moving to Canada as a toddler. Colts receiver Pierre Garcon said Wednesday he has ‘countless’ family members who live in Haiti. U.S. soccer player Jozy Altidore’s parents are from Haiti, and he, in this video, gives his thoughts on the severity of the situation.â†µ

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â†µâ†µSome of us will donate money or food or clothes. Some of us will watch every second of TV coverage until it makes us want to break down and cry. Some of us will join humanitarian efforts and go on collection drives and take in Haitian refugees and really try to make a difference. All of that is important and needed and honorable.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut it doesn’t mean it’s wrong for others to get upset when their favorite player gets hurt, or for you to cheer when your local team scores a game-winning goal. That’s why sports are there...to remind us that it’s okay to escape for a while. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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