For some, the excitement of football starting erases the summer doldrums of the lack of sports — except for maybe those who love golf. In fact, The PGA Tour purposely re-arranged their calendar so the Fed Ex Playoffs would end right at the start of the NFL season. Congrats to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for continuing his dominance and another Fed Ex Cup.
For others, however, who don’t love football and all that comes with it, passionate arguments between rival fans, the pre-occupation of football by spouses and how family schedules must be manipulated around games on TV or in person with the Jaguars, it can be a long fall.
I lost my mom early this year, and she loved sports and particularly football and her Jaguars. Maurice Jones Drew was her favorite Jaguar of all time. This will be my first football season without my mom, and I am going to miss her bouts of joy when the Jaguars win and her complaining when they lose. The ups and downs of football and sports in general are kind of like life at times. The game isn’t over until the clock strikes 0. There is always next week or next season when our team falls short or when we are in a difficult season of life.
For some, football or their sport and the team they root for IS LIFE. So much so, that they are willing to literally fight a rival competitor over a game. We have heard of soccer players being murdered over a game in which they had a role in a loss or rival fans rioting. Parents of players in youth sports get into arguments and fight in stands or on the sidelines. Earlier this year, people were shot at a youth hockey game.
These kinds of actions are hard to understand. How can a game drive people to a level that they are wanting to kill someone over it? What happened to the concept of “love thy neighbor” no matter who they are even if they are fans of opposing teams or possibly beliefs? Sportsmanship seems to be slipping from sports, and I would say in our day-to-day interactions with people as well. I have played competitive sports since I was probably 4 years old and well into my 50s, and I was a fierce competitor. In fact, I miss the release that playing a sport provided me on the field or court. But what I miss most is comradery.
Comradery is defined as a deep sense of friendship, trust and loyalty shared among members of the group. I loved being someone my team could count on and being part of a victory and suffering together over a loss. However, I also enjoyed the comradery of those I competed against. As passionate as my mom was with sports and competition, she also taught me the importance of respect for others, win or lose. I have tried to teach that concept to both my kids that played competitive sports and are now moving into adulthood.
Another thing about the timing of football starting, particularly here in Florida, is that hurricane season starts to kick into gear. Storms begin to kick up in the Atlantic and the Gulf and the spaghetti models on TV that cause angst, “please not in our backyard.” When storms are bearing down on us or have come through causing light destruction or sometimes even worse, it seems to bring our community together. Neighbor loving neighbor. Stranger helping strangers. Maybe, it is helping each other with our homes in preparation-boarding up, filling sandbags, securing outside furniture, etc. Or after the factassisting with downed trees and the scattering of debris across all our yards.
Hurricane season can be a scary time for a lot of people. I remember our last evacuation that we participated in for Hurricane Matthew where we went to a hotel off Belfort Road. We ended up running into several folks we hadn’t seen in a while that were at the same hotel. We stayed up together trying to stay positive about what the storm may or may not do. When we saw Matthew take the little jog to the North and pass us by, we were all hugging each other and celebrating like we had just won the Super Bowl. Strangers hugging strangers!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow carry the love and concern for our neighbors and our great community not just during football and hurricane season but all year round? Fulfilling the concept of comradery: a deep sense of friendship, trust and loyalty shared among a group of people. No matter what team we root for, school loyalty, where we are from or maybe think or act differently than us at times. One could hope!
Dr. Chris K. Kopp, PT, DPT, OCS, CMPT, Cert DN is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, Certified Manual Physical Therapist, and is Certified in Dry Needling, and Titleist Performance Institute Certified. He is Clinical Director at Premier Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Jacksonville. 904-996-6922. www.pptjax.com.
