Why I care, the Final Chapter

I have discovered and am now a completely devoted fan of a sport that consistently delivers everything that is primal about enjoying sports. Clarity of a victor…physical struggle, skill, hard work, rivalry, honesty…purity. Emotion. It makes me care and I’m down with that.

It makes me care like I care about the Red Sox, no Joke. This coming from a Life long fan that has been to 19 of the last 20 opening days (only missing one when my son was born). With the Sox, as a fan, I have been crushed and elated and pissed and proud and crushed. Make no mistake…it’s all good. You need to feel the “Crushed” or it is impossible to feel the “Elated”.

Imagine taking all the sporting contests in the world and shooting them all through the type of filter that they use to get salt out of ocean water (a very strong one) and after all the excess crap was filtered out what you had left was the purest elements of sport on the planet.

I have seen the product of such a process and it is Mixed Martial Arts.

and THAT is why I care.

Why I care Part IV

At the core of every sporting event is emotion.

The avalanche of this reality has had me subconsciously seeking a higher purity of sporting competition. I was on a quest for that elusive raw emotion that has been delivered so many times in the past yet can’t be forced into appearing on demand.

It’s the reason why we love rivalries…because they are highly effectively at conjuring up the potent, brilliantly raw emotion of sport.
Red Sox / Yankees is one of the best examples…every game gets better because the story-line continues to grow.

More blatantly…rivalries are so prolific in this arena because they are the result of mixing competition with history.

Why do I care Part III

Think of your favorite sports team…any sport.

Ok, good. So, think about a time when that team wasn’t playing well.
Examples: The New York Yankees in the 80’s, The Oakland Raiders the last 5 years, The 76 Tampa Bay Bucs…you get the idea.

Can you feel it? It’s so bad that you want to avoid Sports Center as to avoid any coverage of their poor play. Well…you would probably still watch it but you would turn away at the first mention of your ailing club.

The Embarrassment, Empty blackness, Thick Morose, complete and utter hopelessness…that may be a bit overboard.

Amazingly, most can remember having that feeling at some point…Now think of a time where that same team lost an extremely important game…maybe even after they were winning.

Ok, hold that feeling. Good.

The pain, it gets sharper…it lingers. Truly heartbreaking. Depressing. All true sports fans know of the pain of which I speak.

Now think of a time where your team was on top of the world. i.e. The 2004 Boston Red Sox, The Jordan era Chicago Bulls and The New England Patriots since 2000. Feels good, no?

Why do I care. Part II

Relatively speaking, this Sport is as Pure as it gets if you are looking for competition. In the age of Baseball Steroids, NFL convicts and NBA brats...MMA (in it's current form) is a true contest that taps into the core of every Mammal walking erect with opposable thumbs.

One on One. Are you confident in your own ability to engage with and subdue another human? There is no place to hide. There are no teammates to take the blame. You must stand alone and you must compete.

If there is an absence of purity...you may be entertained but you will not be moved with emotion. RE: Harlem Globetrotters. No emotion = No one really cares. That's what most guys on the couch with a beer really hate to admit, the reason why they love sports is because it's emotional.

Why do I care. Part I

For the cognizant portion of my 38 years on this planet...I have been a huge sports fan. More specifically; a fan of competition. I can watch and enjoy any sport at any level, as long as the competition is real. However, over the past 5 years my passion for watching and analyzing MMA has been unparalleled and unrivaled. I am an absolute 100% fight freak.

Why? Why do I care so much? Why do I, a Vice President of a Marketing company with a wife and 2 kids, endlessly surf the web for the latest news on MMA...even if it's that a 3rd rate fighter in a lower rung organization has a hang-nail...I need to know. Why? The answer is simple: Purity of competition.