A year considered by many as the greatest in sports: But was it real?

A year considered by many as the greatest in sports: But was it real?
                        
I’m sitting down to write this less than 48 hours after what some folks are calling the greatest Super Bowl ever played and the exclamation point on what was supposedly the greatest year in professional sports ever. I mean think about it. Cleveland ended the longest stretch between championships of any city with major professional sports teams when the Cavaliers had an incredible turnaround against the juggernaut Golden State Warriors. The Chicago Cubs somehow came back from being down 3-games-to-1 to win their first World Series since 1908 against the Indians. And then miraculously Tom Brady leads the New England Patriots back from the grave in the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. What a year, right? As I work through this, I’m continually reminded of the old adage about things that seem too good to be true. Cynical as I may be, particularly as it pertains to professional American sports, I just can’t seem to shake the feeling that every one of us is being manipulated. Was the last calendar year too good to be true in sports? It certainly seems that way. It wasn’t just that the Cavaliers, Cubs and Patriots won. It was the manner in which each championship happened. Every victory seemed finely crafted for the dramatic: the Irving 3-pointer, Game 7 going to extra innings, the unimpeded marches up and down the field by a team that had absolutely nothing going right just moments before. Heck, even college football’s championship went down to the wire. Oh, and for folks who believe politics is a sport, there was this little matter of a celebrity billionaire upsetting a career politician in November. I guess what I’m getting at is that as sports fans we thirst for championship games like we saw these last 12 months. It’s why today we remember things like The Frozen Tundra and Joe Carter leaping for joy in ‘93 and Wade Boggs celebrating on horseback in ’96. But when each and every one of these title bouts seems to be smothered in theatrics and fantastic finishes, that’s when I start to question if seeing is actually believing. Not that I have any proof that we’re being misled, mind you, but there is much to be gained in the way of ratings and revenue when sports are a spectacle. In my 37 years on this planet I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that for every time Norwood goes wide right, we can expect a blowout with William Perry punching in a score to make things interesting. For every Mitch Williams meltdown, there’s going to be Red Sox-Rockies World Series. That’s because at their core sports truly are a microcosm of life. They come with goods and bads, thrilling tidbits, and mundane moments. That is we should expect a championship game to be a dog every so often. But what we’ve seen this past year really does seem too good to be true, so there’s a part of me that’s just not buying it. I no longer believe what my eyes tell me, and that’s a real shame, both for me and the industry that’s shaped me to think this way. Perhaps I’m dead wrong, and everything that’s transpired since last summer truly has been genuine. In fact I hope I’m wrong. Sports should be real. They should be honest. They should be unaltered and pure. I know that’s not always the case, but boy, I really hope we’ve not hit the point where we’re manipulating the outcomes of our greatest pastimes for the almighty dollar.


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