I'm a Philadelphia sports fan, and, I can assure you, there are better things to be.
I suppose I should have appreciated the NBA title the 76ers won in 1983, but I was arrogant and assumed it would be a regular occurrence.
I was also 11 months old at the time.
As I write this, the Flyers are in the Eastern Conference Finals against Tampa Bay. As I usually do when one of my teams gets close, I start to think about just how I'm supposed to react if it happens. What am I supposed to do, what am I supposed to feel when they win? Relieved? Ecstatic?
You ask these kind of questions when you focus on one thing as your goal for most of your life.
On a related and marginally more relevant note, I will be graduating from Penn this Monday -- and no, I'm really not sure how I'm supposed to react.
Maybe it's just because I don't have a job. Maybe it's because I still haven't figured exactly what I want to do with my life. Either way, I don't have a clue what to think about ending college, so I did what I always do when confused -- relate the situation to sports.
When teams win a title, rarely are the final seconds of the last game the most dramatic part. Usually there's some earlier moment that was the dramatic culmination of effort which left the final moments stripped of anything but waiting.
For me, the time that I can look back on in college and know I accomplished something special was my year as senior sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. From November 2002 to November 2003, Greg Muller, Zach Silver and I had to put out the sports section every single day. During that time, I had more fun times than I would have room to recount in 10 columns and made many great friends.
However, working 50-60 hours a week in a windowless office, constantly under deadline and occasionally with people you'd rather not see is a crucible, one that pushed everyone on the editorial board to the limit -- and sometimes beyond.
And the fact that I, with the rest of DPOSTM -- Daily Pennsylvanian's Only Staff That Matters, (i.e. Sports) -- got that paper every single night (I'm honestly still not sure how the Homecoming supplement got done) is something that I will be justifiably proud of for the rest of my life. For that, I'd like to thank the recent staff of DPOSTM.
Since I am a Philadelphia sports fan, the thought has crossed my mind more than once that this life might be one spent without the home team ever bringing home a title. And frankly, it would be a shame, but I wouldn't love sports any less if it were to happen that way.
The moments that make sports worth watching happen along the way, not at the end. Keith Primeau's goal in the fifth overtime and Freddie "cranberry and vodka" Mitchell catching a fourth-and-26 pass are my two favorite plays as a sports fan. Neither resulted in titles, but I'd probably be willing to give up a limb (who uses their left arm that much anyway?) to ensure that both went as they did.
The times that make up the journey are simply infinitely more important than anything -- even graduating from college or winning a championship.
So as you walk up on stage (do we walk up on stage? I'm honestly not sure how that works), remember that this is the end, but not the culmination of your collegiate career. Think back to when that was, and that should be the experience that makes finishing your career meaningful. Or maybe I'm just arrogantly universalizing my own experience -- that's very possible, in which case ignore me at your leisure.
But as a final warning, as any Philadelphia fan could tell you, don't get too cocky about graduating and your plans thereafter until you actually have the diploma. Joe Carter or Ronde Barber could always get in your way and make you wait 'til next year.
