When the year wound down last May and the opportunity to try my hand at writing a weekly column came up, I jumped on it. I never thought it would be easy, though I have to admit I never thought it would be this hard, either.
You have to keep in mind that just because you have a strong opinion on a matter does not mean people want to hear it. On the flip side, when you have a strong opinion and put it out for people to read, they will hear about it—whether they like it or not. To get a nasty message back from a dissenter is a rude awakening if you are not expecting it, hardly less so if you are.
On that note, I would like to make a counterintuitive claim: We all could really live without sports. Many people already do.
Even those of us who seem to pick up the paper only for the sports section go stretches of days—sometimes weeks—without thinking about our favorite teams during the offseason. Sports are purely entertainment, unnecessary for the advancement of society and almost negligible among the most important events in the history of civilization.
And yet, athletes are paid millions of dollars to play a game in front of throngs of spectators. Families attend church adorned in green and gold jerseys and cheese-shaped hats without accusation of blasphemy. Hundreds of quarreling countries set aside their differences to send delegates to the same place to shake hands and play together for two whole weeks. Deceased relatives put season ticket rights in their wills. Corporations cough up billions of dollars to have their names etched on the side of sporting arenas.
It is our passion for sports that allows all of these things to be commonplace, or for that matter, existent at all.
Without passion, no professional team would have fans buying seats to keep them afloat, no nation would find the need to be represented in an international contest and no child would ever aspire to be the best at playing a game. The word ""athlete"" itself would be meaningless because nobody would have the will to take part in athletics without the passion to play.
And I certainly would not be writing a weekly sports column if people were not passionate enough to read what I have to say.
For that reason, it did not faze me at all when I got called a hack for saying the hiring of Rich Rodriguez was a bad move by Michigan. I can understand when people bash me back for calling out their Muppet mascots.
People are passionate about their sports, and it is worth the abuse to bring out the best in every true fan that stands behind their team—even if they are sporting maize and blue.
That same passion also gives us all something to rally behind. The Green Bay Blizzard and Madison's own Wisconsin Wolfpack operate on little more than the pocketbooks of some hearty entrepreneurs and their proud, local fans.
Best of all, that passion gives us something that we all seem to have an earnest interest in and can talk about.
Did the refs blow it for the Cardinals by not calling for a replay on the last play of the Super Bowl? Are the Packers doing the right thing by staying quiet in free agency? Was C.C. Sabathia itching to play somewhere other than New York? Is it really worth it to amputate a finger to play one last year of college football?
My passion for sports led me to this opportunity to share with you my thoughts every week and your opportunity to let me know what you think. It has been a pleasure and a priceless experience as both a writer and a fan.
I am grateful for all of you who took the time to share it with me, from Parkside to Ann Arbor, Fairfax to East Lansing, and especially to those of you who pick up The Daily Cardinal every day here in Madison—our common passion has brought us together for the last time.
Thank you, and on, Wisconsin!
Still think Rich Rodriguez was the right call for Michigan? Send your farewell hate mail to avansistine@wisc.edu.
