Sports emulates life.
Sports, as one pro golfer aptly put it, is life with the volume turned up. We--even those of us rational beings who know better--idolize, chase, and strive to imitate superstars because they possess the elusive charisma, physical prowess, dexterity, nonchalance in the face of extreme duress, and an overpowering will to win. These qualities are in excess supply only in a given few individuals among us at one time. All are skills we would like to see in ourselves to validate our own frustrated, repressed lives. So we elevate the few who are chosen.
It is no wonder, then, why we--the fan public--will spend ridiculous amounts of coin to purchase a Kobe Bryant jersey or a New York Yankees cap or the latest LeBron James sneakers. America is repetively blitzed by the messages of having to buy in to belong. Identity comes with a price. We as a society abhor those who are on the outside looking in.
Here, we will go behind the scenes to examine the personalities which make us such a sports-crazed society. We will take hard looks at the mentality it takes to succeed in the cutthroat business of having more on the scoreboard than the other guy. On occasion I will drop in anecdotes from my own personal life.
Each victory and defeat teaches us something. About ourselves and others. Some lessons are of admiration and some are in ways we would rather not look in the mirror and acknowledge.
Sports reveal character in ways that other walks of life don't. Nowhere else are you put on display for the highest highs and the humiliating, heart-wrenching lows. In few other vocations is a grueling preparation process necessary for success, but not a guarantee.
By no means is this venture going to be limited to just sports. You will see for yourself in these chronicles the evidence that as much as I love sport and competition, it pales in comparison to the challenges of real life.
Sports with Mark is a sports bar setting, a steak house of laughs and entertainment for my guests. It's not a shiny and squeaky-clean ESPN studio. It's a bachelor pad. It's funny, loud, obnoxious, profane, opinonated, but never boring. It's not for the thin-skinned and weak-kneed. It is profound and it is philandering. It is simplistic and yet complex to the point of madness. It's serious and yet serene. It is organized chaos. Doesn't make sense? It's not supposed to. Thus, the charm and magic of my humble abode.
My goal, then, is to impart some of what I have learned, picked up and absorbed in my years of playing, watching and following sports (and other things) and share them with you. This what I am and what I love to do, so without further ado, it's time to get busy.
MARK BRYANT
February 25, 2008
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