Thursday, June 11, 2009

And now for something completely different.

The NBA Finals have come to Orlando for the first time since 1995 and only the second time ever. The city is dressed in blue and white and Orlando, a city I often criticize, has rallied around a cause in ways I've never seen. What slightly irks me is that this surge of pride for its home team, the swarm of #12 jerseys littered across town, is just happening now. Where is this city during the lean years? Where were they when they won 21 games in '04? Were they wondering if the team would draft Emeka Okafor with the #1 pick instead of Dwight Howard?

The Magic are the only Orlando team in any of the major professional sports and sometimes I feel as if this city doesn't realize they exist. Maybe Orlando just isn't a sports city, but neither is Green Bay, who also has only one professional team, yet their city shuts down every Sunday during the fall and winter for their beloved Packers. Granted, that team has a tradition we don't have yet, but traditions start somewhere and ours should start here and start now.

However, as I said recently to a friend, I'll take this fair weather fandom as long as my team is winning. And to my next point, it illustrates how much sports has this ability to galvanize a city, a community, a family. There's a scene in City Slickers when Helen Slater's character asks Daniel Stern's about why he loves baseball so much. He says that even when he was 18 and couldn't communicate with his father, they could still talk about baseball. I'm not 18 and I can talk to my dad about a lot of things, but 9 times out of 10, the first thing we talk about when we meet is sports. It's part of the fabric of a relationship between a father and a son, or between friends, or among a community.

In my most immediate circle of friends, I'm really the only sports fan and I think they often wonder why I care so much about it. This is why. When people who having nothing in common, when a city that seems to have no actual direction can come together to support and rally around their local team, then it becomes bigger than the game itself. It may be fleeting--in fact it often is--but it's better than nothing.

6 comments:

HereLiesCaitlin said...

You consider me a friend? :)

Jason said...

Sure, just don't tell anybody :P

VT said...

I am just reading this now - but it makes me want to read more! Where's the next post dude?

Jason said...

I know, I know. Been busy. Also been working on a couple of posts that I'm not finished and/or completely happy with.

You should give me a topic to write about and maybe that'll get the juices flowing.

VT said...

Ok, I will think about it today. Hmmmm topics - how about reality TV's influence on film. Has it changed narrative films? Has it made documentaries more popular or more accessible?

I wish you were my friend on Netflix, but I know you get all your movie renting needs from the library!

Or you could always start speculating about the Oscars... can't wait to see what 10 films get nominations for best picture.

Oh - I will be in Orlando at Christmas, dates TBD

Jason said...

I actually may join Netflix. I'm preparing myself for the inevitable, if perhaps delayed, purchase of a blu-ray player and if I do get one it'll be one with the capability to download streaming movies from Netflix. If I do, you'll be my first friend!