Nerves of Steel

I think it was around 9:50 p.m. last night that I had my first heart attack.

Not a real heart attack. More the metaphorical kind. The kind you have when one of your beloved sports teams is in danger of losing a championship game. Now, we've all heard the cliches before about how sports aren't life and death, and there are more important things in life than watching grown men play boys games, and all of that. Thing is, I agree to a large extent. Yeah, last night's Super Bowl victory by my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers won't change my life in any way. It won't help me get the job I want, or make reading about Canada's current GDP any more entertaining. It won't help me find a good beat story this week, and it certainly won't keep me from botching my questions the next time Leona Dombrowsky returns one of my calls.

Nope, the Steelers win doesn't impact my life in any tangible way. But what it DOES do is give me reason to feel good for a few days. It's that simple. I love the Steelers, and the Steelers won the Super Bowl; again. Two titles in four years. I feel blessed somehow. For a few days, I can feel like I have chosen something good; something successful, and worthy of acclaim. And this is the gist of what being a professional sports fan is about. Last night, a friend's wife was chastising me for being angry as the Cardinals closed the gap, and took the lead. She gave me all those great, tired old expressions about sports. But the Steelers didn't lose. They came back, in thrilling fashion, and pulled it off, and I was overjoyed. The thing is, I told my friend's wife in celebration, sports take us away from the mundane details of our lives. They give us a chance to feel a share in triumphs the likes of which we will never be a part of in our day-to-day lives. The Steelers win briefly takes me away from the stresses of my current schedule, and leaves me today feeling just a little bit more like something is actually right in the world.

We all need to feel like that from time to time. It keeps us sane.