It hurts to always have to be honest with the one that you love

I was listening to a song and a band that really got to me. It reminded me of the power of music. How a couple years ago, finding new music, music that speaks to me, was a passionate pursuit of mine. As of late, sports has been filling that purpose. But as I watched the confetti trickle down on the Florida Gators winning the NCAA title last night, and I saw the best player on the court, Noah, climb on the press table and encite the crowd, and without it speaking to me at all...I was thinking about why we like sports. Why we like music. Or movies for that matter.

There is something special in all of these. Something that draws us in. It might be different for everyone. This could be a daily reflection, it probably won't be, but I encourage anyone reading this to share a comment with what draws them in to anything.

Sports gives people a chance to live thier dreams. To achieve greatness. To rise above everyone else, and sometimes it isn't about God-given skill, or even the hard work that players put in. Sometimes it's about luck. In a game of inches, it's hard to say what makes the difference between the competitors. Sometimes it's about trying harder than you ever have before, and coming up short. Sometimes you push yourself beyond what you thought was possible. Overcoming what was considered impossible. Jason McElwain symbolized so much that night when he did what you though wasn't possible. And not only did he live his dream. He rose above and achieved greatness, if only for 4 minutes. The 4 minutes that changed his life.

Sports gives us so much. It gives us hope. It gives us a distraction from all the negative things going in our lives. Sports can be uplifting or crushing. Just look at the faces of the Gator fans and then look at the Bruins fans, quietly walking out of the RCA Dome, heads down. Sports gives us something to root for. But what are we rooting for. Laundry, as Jerry Seinfeld put it?
When they started the game last night, we knew one team had to win, and one team had to lose. Does it matter who it is? If you ask the people in the arena, of course they would say yes. But does it really? How will it affect their lives?

Sure they'll have the championship t-shirt, but what does it all mean. More than anything I guess it is about the people that you share these moments with. When I look back on the Illinois title game loss last year, I think it would have been fun to celebrate as fans. It would have been great to reward the players and coaches for such hard work. It would have been great to show that Illinois is for real, and you don't have to be in the ACC or live in North Carolina to play basketball. But would it really affect any thing in my life. Aside from a few more shirts or towels or whatever, my life would be the same. And I still have all the great memories of going to Hoop City and the Bud brewery and sharing the Metrolink with Louisville fans on the way to the game. And crowding 5 guys into 4 seats and believing in our team.

I wonder if the Chiefs ever win a Super Bowl, which I desperately hope that they do, each and every year, what will happen? Will I be looking to football just as much the following year? Will I be content with one championship. Last night the fans on SportsCenter were appalled that they were #2 on Dick Vitale's 2007 projections. Just moments after winning and bringing home their first title ever, the fans weren't satisfied. Should they have been?

For all the time spent reading about sports, making picks, filling out brackets, drafting fantasy teams, planning our lives around the schedule of the games...why? Why does it dominate our interest? For all of the negative aspects, labor disputes, contract hold-outs, poor officiating, overpaid athletes given free passes, steroids, cheating, lying, fighting, spitting, who knows what goes down in the dogpile...why? Why do we come back to it?

There's a lot of good in sports, and a lot of bad. Just like a lot of other things in life. For every song that connects someone and makes them think, and strikes an emotion, and just makes them sit and stare in awe and think that the song was so good they need to hear it again, there are people making music because they want to be famous, make money, and they never had anything to say in the first place.

Songs like the one I am listening to right now, that the more you listen to it, the more you want to listen to it again.

The band that started this whole thing in my head, Brand New.
The song, Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
Here are some lyrics:

I hope this songs starts a craze,
the kind of song that ignites the airwaves
The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are
with who ever they're there with
This is war
Every line is about who I don't write about anymore
Hope you come down with something they can't diagnose,
don't have the cure for
Holding on to your grudge
Oh it's so hard to have someone to love
Keeping quiet is hard
'Cause you can't keep a secret if it never was a secret to start
At least pretend you didn't wanna get caught

And these are the words you wish you wrote down
This is the way you wish your voice sounds,
handsome and smart
Oh, my tongue's the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart
And it's all from watching TV
and from speeding up my breathing
Wouldn't stop if I could
Oh it hurts to be this good
You're holding on to your grudge
Oh it hurts to always have to be honest with the one that you love
Oh so let it go

This is the craze only we can bestow
This is the price you pay for loss of control
This is the break in the ground
This is the closest of calls
This is the reason you're alone,
This is the rise and the fall!