The best thing about sports is that they are not necessarily a part of real life. While we devote real time and emotion almost every day–and real money on occasion–to our favorite teams, we generally have the sense to not let them affect our every day lives too much. We have highs and lows with the team, but they do not necessarily float or sink our days. Every so often, though, we need to bury ourselves in sport. We’ve seen countless articles about this as we’ve just passed the tenth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and aboard Flight 93.
This Saturday, my cousin Jessica passed away. She, like I am, was 24 years old. When she was a baby, she developed a brain tumor that was removed. Soon after, though, a tumor developed on her brain stem and that was, unfortunately, inoperable. At the age of three, she had a stroke. She never walked and could only say a handful of words. Regardless, she was a joyful person who had to–and did–fight hard for her entire life that was not supposed to span beyond five years. Taking that into consideration, I’ll take 24 years as an absolute victory. This is the second time a close relative of mine has died during baseball season (my grandfather, to whom I was insanely close, died in July of 2006) and I’m glad that I’ll have baseball to help distract me again.
The games remaining for the Yankees are going to be pretty stress free, since a playoff spot is all but locked up. While I could consider this a bad thing as a potential escapee, I’ll consider it a positive. It would be nice to have the games mean a little more so I could completely engross myself in them, but getting a chance to be relatively lighthearted during a somber time will be more than welcomed.
Watching baseball, writing about it, and digging up its stats this week will not make me forget that my cousin is no longer with us but doing those things will give me just a few hours of distraction and we can all use that every once in a while.
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6 Responses to Baseball as a coping mechanism
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TIQ IQ
Larry I know you and I have butted heads in the past but my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your cousin Jessica.
Actually this was Matt’s loss, but I’m sure he appreciates your sentiment.
My mistake Larry. I was reading his entry and yours at the same time like the TYA-addicted nut I am LOL.
Matt truce bro. Sorry for being a pain in the rear to you, too. I’m trying to cut down my posts and replies to a paragraph or two haha.
My condolences, Matt. You’re right about sports; I know a lot of people who say they got very involved in a particular pennant race because of something negative going on, and they always say, “Without that pennant, I never would have made it.” I find myself getting very involved in games that don’t even mean much in the standings. It’s just a great way to get involved in ways that are easier to control.
I also hope you keep up your writing. If you do, it will be read.
Jessica defied the odds for all those years and I’m sure was an inspiration to you and your family. My deepest condolences.
God Bless your cousin. I’ve lost my grandparents during the football season (Jan ’10 and Sept ’11) so I’ve turned to my Jets as a coping mechanism.
Glad they won yesterday, made my week a little better.
I know how you feel Matt.