Memories and Emotions....and a seat in the crowd

When I think of sports and the rich history that envelops them, the works of Klosterman and Wright do not usually come to mind, but after reading The Greatest Game I Ever Saw (Klosterman) and the poem Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio (Wright), I can see why these sports writers are so often referred to and connected with in relation to sports and the emotions that are brought out in people because of them.  In Three-Man Weave, Klosterman describes a junior-college basketball game that he saw when he was a young kid, and how it was one of the first experiences he had with a sporting event where the game had an awe-inspiring influence on him.  Seeing as the game pitted a team of only 5 under-privileged players against a fully-rostered, capable team, with the smaller team coming out on top, I can't blame him for feeling so highly about what he witnessed.  Klosterman also emphasized how he felt like one of the special few people who witnessed something miraculous, due to the fact that the small team fell to only three members by the 4th quarter, and still managed to come out on top.  He also felt this way because of the small crowd that came out to watch this game, with no media following during or after the game either.

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio is a short poem that depicts a crowd of people attending a high school football game and the emotions that arise as the sport begins.  The many different people watching this game all come from different backgrounds and ethnicity's, and have unified themselves in their love of football and watching the sport.  The poem describes how the fathers of the boys playing idolize their son's positions and how some people even view them as hero's, just as a child would worship his/her favorite professional athlete.  The point of this poem is to provoke the emotions brought about from sport, especially the ones that bring communities together to share in a ritual of pure sportmanship and game.

These two pieces of writing share many qualities, many of which revolve around how sport provokes memories and influence the emotions people have.  For instance, Klosterman reiterates time and time again that he remembers the juco (junior college) basketball game as one of the first games that he remembers attending and feeling like he was a part of something great.  He could feel the small team's (United Tribes TC) passion for the game, angst when it came down to the wire, and pride/ecstasy when they were able to pull off the victory with only three players on the court.  It is this kind of emotional roller coaster that draws people in to watching sport, I believe.  Humans are always trying to search for good forms of entertainment, especially when it is something that they can relate too.  Sports fans are the best kinds of entertainment seekers because they often play the sport that they watch as well, meaning they can feel a players mistake or success, because they have done the same before.  Even when a sports fan has never participated in a sport, it is that raw emotional atmosphere that pulls them in and allows them to relate just as well.  Usually when it comes to sports fans, they like to circulate around a city or complex that hosts a loved sports team.  It is almost like they are drawn to this hallowed ground to perform rituals of entertainment and pleasure, which in other words, is partaking in the crowd of the sporting event.  This action really makes the point that sports create communities and cultures within these areas, almost as if the city or town where the sports team is based acts as a hub for people to express themselves and come together to join in the thing that they love.  It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, attending a sporting event on common ground where other fans are all around you brings out emotions that few people know they have, and allows everyone to relate to the situations they witness, and in turn, forget about their lackluster lives and focus on something that they love.

Using these sources in an essay based around memory and sporting events would create flow and sustenance in the paper because of the way that they complement each other and feed into the thesis of how memory thrives off important sporting events in a person's life, and vice versa.  In relation to the poem by Wright, I can remember how my high school football games where the big events of the Autumn season, and how it was one of the first times that I could come together with a large mass of people and cheer for a sporting team that I was a part of and could relate too.  Many different people attended these events, but we didn't exploit these differences in those people, only grew closer due to our common interest and love of the team and sport.  Sports, such as football, are the few things in this world that are able to bring massive groups of people together, and I would take advantage of this fact in my essay by focusing on stories where fans come together to watch such events, creating memories and fueling emotions in the process.  Even if the media had no such influence on the hype of the event, such as was the case in Klosterman's tale, it would only be the excitement of the crowd and players that  would create the hype, thus resulting in a memorable game.  I would most likely reference a game such as this, then relate it to my own sporting life, describing my memories and emotions that have formed because of these life-fulfilling events.