ShineTime Sports

Game 7's usually come with anticipation and apprehension. But perhaps I wasn't ready for the seismic shift in the sports landscape if the Oilers came back down 3-0.

Here's a recap of my thoughts about the spectacle and my viewership of Game 7.

Do Sports Fans Enjoy Order Over Chaos? How the Sports World Avoided an Apocalypse in Game 7

What does it mean to come home? To return from a prolonged absence to a place where you grew up and where your loved ones care about you, miss you, and consider you one of their own - independent of where your new path has taken you.

Once in a while, we see this "hero's return" in sports....where an athlete who created his legend in one city returns for the first time and receives a spirited ovation unlike any other.

In this week's Shine Time Sports newsletter, I write about how baseball best captures this embrace between fans and the returning hero.

I'm Coming Home When Legends Return to Their Former Stadium

I'm intrigued by the concept of a "second favorite team".

Do you have a "second favorite team" and why?

Here are several reasons why you might have a "second favorite team"

- Growing up, your second team was featured in the national game of the week or on national television ….like TBS for the Braves or WGN for the Cubs
- Your favorite player from college went to a pro team
- You care about other family members’ teams
- If you moved to a new city and want to be part of their culture
- You have an American League team and a National League team

If you have a second favorite team, what's your reason?

More Perks, Less Responsibility The Benefits of Having a Second Favorite Team

This week's article is about the division within New York City - the only city with two teams for each sport. While most cities use their one team per sport as a way to unite a city, NYC has created its intra-borough rivalries - utilizing sports not as a civic unifier, but as a totem for choice, plethora, and abundance.

There's No Such Thing As a "New York Sports Fan" How Intra-City Rivalries Hurt Civic Unity

As the NFL season has come to a close, we'll remember this as the Taylor Swift season. A few ways she mimicked or influenced the NFL and sports landscaped include:

1) A shift in how sports programming is promoted
2) A muddled message about the growth of women's sports
3) A potential disruption in the integrity of competition

Please read my article about these observations and more, including a prediction that aged gracefully (note the confetti 😀 )and if you would like to read more articles, please subscribe!

Taylor Swift Turned Me Into the Worst Type of Fan How Swift Impacted Sports for Better and Worse

1. Playing the "disadvantage" at sea level
2. Playing for only one team
3. Playing for only one team that wasn't committed to winning
4. Putting Denver baseball on the map

These are some reasons Todd Helton's Hall of Fame candidacy is stronger than people think.

Please read to find more.

Todd Helton is More Impressive than We Know Why Mr. Rockie's Stats Don't Tell the Whole Story

Loudest Sports Moment #5

In college, I worked for a small Rhode Island radio station WBRU-FM. We received press credentials to the Bruins games and fortunately I was able to take part in their 2011 Stanley Cup run. Sitting on the farthest end of the press box (I was just 20 so I didn't have the best seat), I witnessed my first Game 7 and felt the tension of a Game 7 OT. The medley of joy, relief, and nirvana bellowed out from the crowd as Nathan Horton sent the B's into the second round.

Nathan Horton's Game 7 Winning Goal in OT Horton scored this goal in ot to knock of Montreal in the 2011 playoffs

"But despite war being tragic, catastrophic, and consequential, Americans still have this intrinsic love for war. In order to feed our insatiable American appetite for war, we need something that simulates war. Something that provides us warlike rituals without fatal repercussions. I’m not talking about reenactments by hobbyists or former personnel. We need new wars, enticing wars, wars where attrition, valor, and strength determine which side will ultimately triumph. We need football."

Here's an except from my latest article about my time living in Israel, parallels between the Israel-Hamas war and football, and a hope for a utopia where we one day the only wars we speak of are carried out on the football field.

War, What is it Good For? Football. If only war's best metaphor was enough

Loud Moment #6

Piggy backing off my previous post, Game 4 of the 1999 World Series solidified the Yankees late 90s dynasty. Final game of the century, Clemens' first title, chaotic scene overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI70rDsTUrA

1999 WS Gm4: Yankees win 25th World Championship 10/27/99: Mariano Rivera gets Keith Lockhart to fly out for the final out as the Yankees win their second straight World SeriesCheck out http://MLB.com/video...

"Unlike life’s burdensome topics, sports' most basic nature is “play.” In its playful function, sports becomes a secure vehicle to address fun memories and stay away from those memories which can be too disturbing. For men, talking about sports is this loophole, this “safe space” - a veiled masquerade towards expressing nostalgia. "

Here's an except from one of my favorite essays I've ever written. It's a sociological take on men's escape into sports and how the frivolity of reminiscing about former ballplayers brings men into this joyful sanctuary.

If you enjoy this essay, please subscribe my newsletter (top right corner) or share this post. If you do either, let me know and I'll respond by rattling off former players from your favorite team :)

Tony Soprano explains why men love naming random baseball players How Sports Became a Cheat Code for Male Nostalgia

Loud Moment #7

My dad took me to Game 4 of the 1999 World Series. Given that he could have given this hot ticket to a friend or sold it for hundreds (today it would be thousands), I look back and appreciate how he opted to take his 9 year old son.

Given the Yankees were up 3-1 in the bottom of the 8th, three outs away from the World Series crown, Jim Leyritz's bomb was the insurance and icing on the cake for which Yankee fans could accept certainty they were going to be Champs for the second straight year.

1999 WS Gm4: Leyritz clubs last '90s homer in eighth 10/27/99: Jim Leyritz clubs a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth in Game 4, the final home run of the 1990sCheck out http://MLB.com/video for more!Abo...