EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.
COVID-19 cases are soaring.
Yet again.
Sports schedules are in flux.
Yes, again.
We know this kind of stress. We cringe about what more is coming. This is not the way we wanted to exit the year.
This might help. Thinking about what went well can ease your stress. Allow me to share with you some of my gratitude as a sports fan and coach for 2021:
– I am grateful I could return to attending games. That first one, a baseball game with my old college friends, felt like a blessing. Sports returned to packed stadiums and relative normality this year, and I still savor that.
– I am grateful for my sports fan experience to end all sports fan experiences. My son and I attended a Reds-Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and each of us snagged a foul ball. At his wedding reception a few months later, I toasted my daughter-in-law for turning him into a Cubs fan. She helped make father-and-son baseball(s) happen.
– I am grateful for every minute I spent talking to Scott Stanfield, the retired Minnesota police officer who left his high school basketball coaching job to escape the parental harassment over their kids’ playing time. He quietly returned to coaching, with a new strategy. He wanted to understand parents better and get them more involved. This way, they could see from each other’s perspective.
– I am grateful I could share Stanfield’s story not just in my column, but at the Ohio School Boards Association conference in Columbus, in my presentation about dealing with sports parents. One coach told the group that parents don’t realize the sleep he loses, worrying about getting his kids playing time. I love the dialogue.
– I am grateful to you Bengals fans who adopted me on Twitter, sharing your anxiousness and happiness whenever I asked. Bengals Fan of the Year Jim Foster was kind enough to play intermediary and later invited me to my first real tailgate, in Chicago on my birthday. There, I met a group of friendly and dedicated fans who are almost family. Anthony Brooks (aka Tony Da Tiger), in full makeup and getup, and his wife were chatting with tailgate pals Hannah Walsh and Brandon Bradshaw. Tony joked that the other couple needs to get married. Three months later, before Sunday’s game at Denver, Walsh and Bradshaw posted videos on Twitter of Brandon getting down on one knee and ... you can guess the rest.
“Engaged before 30 ✅,” Walsh (@Ninsterrr) tweeted. “My last day in my 20s was spent surrounded by some of our most favorite people (who have some how kept this secret from me for months!) I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole jungle to get to marry my best friend 🧡🖤@NastyNati740.”
– I am grateful I returned to Paul Brown Stadium for the first time in about 20 years and could meet up with Bengals superfan couple Jess (@thewhobae) and Captain (@BengalsCaptain) before the game. They are married, they are social-media regulars and they are cool. Jess is a nurse practitioner, same as my wife, and asked me to relay her support, and Captain was curious about what I do and wondered if he might be able to help. Very cool. I never had been to PBS as a fan. The 41-16 loss to that other Ohio team was hard to watch, another low in your season of Mood Swing Football, but no matter. Overall, I can appreciate what the Bengals’ return to relevance brings to you. First place team on Christmas? Ho-Ho Dey!
– I am grateful I could meet up with four childhood friends to play ball, the first time we shared a sandlot in a half century. We hit, fielded, tossed, ached, laughed, strained, caught, missed and reminisced. We dedicated the reunion to our friend who had died of cancer. We missed him.
– I am grateful our group also attended a Cubs-White Sox game, even if it came days after a Cubs fire sale. My Cubs were looking lifeless when a Sox fan stopped in the walkway and unknowingly blocking my view. I ever-so-politely asked him to move. He turned around, smiled and said, “I was protecting you from having to see that.” I laughed. He moved. Cubs lost. In extras. Still a great day.
– I am grateful my wife attended a Cubs game with me, which she does every couple of years or so. Sadly, this one was a clunker, a 9-1 drubbing by Kansas City and a franchise-record 13th straight home loss. We left early. Come to think of it, the team I supported lost every game I attended this year. Oh, well, I still am grateful.
– I am grateful I lived long enough to see the University of Cincinnati qualify for the college football playoffs because I never would have believed this during my newspaper days in the city. I will pull for a New Year’s Eve upset over heavily favored Alabama. How’s that for a 2021 ending?
– I am grateful to you UC and Xavier basketball fans for detailing your pain over an NCAA Tournament bracket without either of your teams, which just doesn’t happen. One fan’s pain got me thinking about this question: How much suffering is enough when you are a devoted fan?
– I am grateful my alma mater, Illinois, provided such a great escape for me amid COVID-19 restrictions with its exciting run to a No. 1 basketball seed. A shocking loss to Loyola crushed my spirit, so I hit a bucket of golf balls on the range. It was fun. I felt better. Why keep suffering?
– I am grateful I worked with golfers. Many will say what I always said. They want to lower their scores to enjoy themselves more. What if they have the order wrong?
– I am grateful I could see a new season of “Ted Lasso” after watching Season 1 multiple times. My wife is hooked, too. The series is not always predictable or light, but it is comfort food for a sports fan. Or anybody, really. Believe.
– I am grateful I could attend the National Sports Collectors Card Convention. I roamed exhibits, heard details about million-dollar deals, and chatted with experts about how to navigate a booming industry. Plus, I witnessed somebody trying to chew a piece of bubble gum from a newly opened pack of 1984 baseball cards. Yum.
– I am grateful I could attend the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum again. I am flattered I still vote for the Hall, and I try to be transparent about my selections, because I think fans deserve that. I understand that writing in Cincinnati means the conversation inevitably will center around one person. Peter. Edward. Rose.
– I am especially grateful for you, for sharing your time, your stories, your candor, your humor, your anger, your memories, your community, your struggles, your exhilaration and your perspectives. Being a sports fan is special. Sharing ways to enhance that is an honor.
Thank you.
Email Bass at [email protected] or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.
