Both games were on TV, and both involved lots of ups and downs, thrills and spills, and much shouting at the screen. I watched from my downstairs, at least 1,000 miles from the action in either game.
I moved from Iowa City over 20 years ago and don't go back all that often. Yet Iowa basketball and football games are events I rarely miss, even scheduling around contests when necessary. All games are recorded automatically, just in case.
I know. It's weird.
I grew up an Iowa fan but don't give money to the program these days and haven't attended an in-person game in over a decade.
Yet the Iowa women's championship felt a bit like it was MY championship, which makes no logical sense but which makes total sense emotionally to, say, a Cubs fan who waited over 80 years for a World Series title or to a Rockies fan who has never experienced a world title.
I am an Iowa fan by choice, I guess, but also by familiarity. Fan is a short form of "fanatic," which sounds much more sinister than its cute, cuddly cousin. I'm also a fan of good writing, of the new Jack Reacher series on Prime (mostly envying our hero's combination of muscle and brains), and of obscure songs from the band 10CC.
None of these other than the writing has anything to do with my "real" life, yet I would be poorer in metaphysical ways without these enthusiasms. Being a fan of a sports team is a raw example of pathos: there is no logic involved but that emotional appeal is overwhelming.
I have more recently become a fan of Ukraine and its brave (and not-so-brave but struggling) citizens. It helps that they are relatively blameless in terms of the war and that Russia is so clearly blasting through all sorts of civilized expectations and "rules." It also helps that there is a David and Goliath narrative here, with a smaller nation with a smaller and less prepared military resisting a giant bully of a country and its war machine.
I would love to see a reenactment of the Bible story, perhaps with Putin as the nine-foot-tall Goliath (heavy Photoshop use will be needed there) going up against that Ukrainian grandmother who confronted a Russian soldier, demanding he place sunflower seeds in his pockets so he could contribute something worthwhile to Ukraine when he died and decomposed on Ukrainian soil. That woman certainly qualifies as a David character.
I have tried to NOT be a fan of war, though I find histories of past wars and battles fascinating, and who doesn't like a good WWII movie? I WANT to be a peacenik, but it's not happening. I don't want to see the war spread and don't want to see Russia humiliated to the point where nuclear war becomes an option (since all else is lost).
But I want Ukraine to get as many missiles and bullets and guns and equipment to kill and main as many Russian soldiers as is possible.
I once played a little basketball and football in high school, so I have a faint idea of what athletes might be doing or thinking, though I was never going to be elite. I once was in the military and learned a little about the chain of command and about the importance of loyalty to your fellow soldiers, but never came under fire.
If I am honest, I guess I am still a fan of war, so long as the war is "just." I am still rooting for David, whether he plays for the Hawks or stands up to tanks.
I want to be a fan of peace, but peace doesn't make for good TV.
Iowa's Caitlin Clark, on the other hand? She is always good TV.
And that Ukrainian grandmother is a star.
No comments:
Post a Comment