Samhain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Wolf Moon<\/p>\n
Oh, my.\u00a0 The day after the Viking’s thrashing in the desert, the mauling in the sand, the collapse in the sun brings…not much.\u00a0 Favre admitted they got outplayed and that he, in particular, succumbed to old ways, win it himself by throwing, throwing, throwing, avoiding the question of open receivers and the running game.<\/p>\n
A fan’s emotional response to their team’s victories or losses has been studied and found to have a link to mood in the days and weeks after a game or season are over.\u00a0 No surprise there, I guess.\u00a0 Still, it’s funny, isn’t it?\u00a0 If I go to the Guthrie and see a weak play, I don’t feel bad about myself.\u00a0 I think they may not have rehearsed enough or cast poorly.\u00a0 If I go the Chamber Orchestra and there’s a few squeaks and chirps, flats and sharps, I don’t drive home wondering how that could be and how, in a visceral way, it reflects on me and the whole Twin Cities, Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Now I’m not saying I feel bad about myself because the Viking’s lost, but I feel a slight down note today, a mild OMG.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 It may be that the theater and music fit well into my upper middle class, educated lifestyle, entertainments that have an intellectual side honed over decades.\u00a0 I have a critical reaction to them, a reasoned and analytical response, more like a newspaper movie critic than a fan.<\/p>\n
Neither baseball nor basketball engage me, hook me, the way football does.\u00a0 It’s surprising basketball doesn’t hook me because it certainly did when I lived in Indiana.\u00a0 When the Alexandria Tigers played well, especially in the sectionals, I felt great.\u00a0 When they lost, I felt bad.<\/p>\n
Now, football.\u00a0 As I watch a game, my body often moves empathically, curving around a defensive player, lowering a shoulder to get past an offensive linemen.\u00a0 There is a distinct emotional connection, an emotional connection not related to how I analyze the game, but to the men, these giants and superstar athletes.\u00a0 When they hurt, so do I.\u00a0 When they jump up and down, so do I.<\/p>\n
Maybe that’s it.\u00a0 The boy who ran the bases in a pick-up baseball game or who played flag football with fervor comes to the fore, the line between watcher and the watched blurs, crosses over the line.\u00a0\u00a0 He does not analyze the game, or the play or the theater.\u00a0 He merely feels dejected if he loses or happy if he wins.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Why is not a question he wishes to answer, knows how to answer.\u00a0 He feels.\u00a0 That’s it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samhain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Wolf Moon Oh, my.\u00a0 The day after the Viking’s thrashing in the desert, the mauling in the sand, the collapse in the sun brings…not much.\u00a0 Favre admitted they got outplayed and that he, in particular, succumbed to old ways, win it himself by throwing, throwing, throwing, avoiding the question of open receivers and … Continue reading Thrashing in the Desert<\/span>