Do you believe in miracles?!

It's been too long since I last posted.

We've always turned to sports to try and anesthetize our momentary pain and loss. It's a national trait, and it's one that only makes sense. We have a strong sense of symbolic measures, and have a way of transforming them into a concrete meaning for each individual person. Times of trouble call for something amazing. They're always be a rider on a white horse at the last second, the calvary will arrive right before the fort falls, or Christian Bale will just blow up Skynet.

Or something.

Think about it. After Iran, after stagflation, the energy crisis, after Bonham kicked it, we turned to Lake Placid in 1980 for any glimmer of hope. Jesus Christ, did we find it. A bunch of college kids ended up beating the Soviet Union's team of glorious people's socialist ice hockey players in what is still considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. People remembered what it was like to believe in miracles again. Did ice hockey fix everything? Good God, no. We still had to put up with the Culture Club and Ratt, but people had something to hold on, to some kind of victory they could claim as their own.

The Patriots provided another moment after September 11th. Granted, the entire country outside of New England hates them now, and for good reason, but the Patriots was the team that most Americans were pulling for in Super Bowl XXXVI. The 2001 World Series was similar as well. The New York Yankees faced off against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and many people across the country became Yankees fans, just for one series (Except for those who had the common sense to back up the NL).

This years seems like sports was a mirror, parodying real life inside the fields.

Michigan, Detroit especially, has been given a blow it may never truly recover from. The lifeblood of the state, the automotive industry, has teetered and fallen and it remains to be seen if it will rise again. Thousands are unemployed, foreclosures are sky-high, and Kwame Kilpatrick is bringing more trouble down on Detroit (Seriously Kwame, just man up and go to prison). At a time when they needed it the most, Michigan was given the Detroit Lions and a close-but-no-cigar appearance by the Detroit Red Wings. When Michigan needed a good win, a good team, something symbolic to hold on to, they just couldn't quite reach it.

Arkansans have seen the same thing. Granted, our basketball and football teams were all freshmen with new coaches, but that only helped to mitigate the sting we felt this year. Sure, the Hogs beat LSU and got the boot in what was arguably the best game of the season, but the rest of the season was somewhere between paternal frustration, and outright anger. Almost losing to Western Illinois University?! The Kentucky game?! Chrissake. Basketball was marginally better, with our major upsets of Oklahoma and Texas. The rest of the season? What's that? I didn't hear what you said. Guess we should move on to baseball.

Baseball. The Diamond Hogs were our Red Wings this year. I am incredibly proud of our baseball team, most commentators didn't even think they could make it to the College World Series, let alone go as far as they did. We went against all odds, and LSU is an all-round better team. It just would have been nice to made an appearance in the finals. It was a good run, but man did we need a victory to claim as our own this year.

With memories of the Olympics fading fast, and a major break until the World Series, looks like we're just going to have to rely on summer blockbusters.

Oh, shoot.