Friday, December 11, 2009

My Escape from Cynicism

Western society these days seems to run on two things: petroleum and cynicism. Before everyone stops reading and thinks that I have been replaced by a Thomas Friedman clone - I am not going to talk about American foreign or energy policy. The last ten years of American (Canadian, too, I suppose) sports are my concern. More precisely, how the cynicism of today's society, usually reserved for American foreign and energy policy, has infected the greatest bastion of hope, elation and small miracles.

As a fair warning to the readers, I am going to link to a story that, sadly, deals with Tiger Woods' recent public relations problem. Once again, some stupid journalism provides easy fodder for my blog.

I really hope sports fans don't remember the 2000-2009 period for this ridiculous runaway tabloid story. If I want to remember something unfortunate from this sporting era, how about the NHL deciding to unceremoniously fall on its sword, again, or the Detroit Lions receiving their karmic dues for destroying the career of possibly the best running back to ever play the game. Here is a short list of undeniably amazing sports stories from 2000-2009:

- 2004 AL Pennant series
- Michael Phelps @ 2008 Olympic Games
- 2006 Rose Bowl game
- Pat Tillman
- 2006 World Cup Final
- Lance Armstrong
- This:



-This:



Note: I may hate the hockey shootout, but remember, we're talking about cynicism in sports, not hypocrisy.

I will be among the first to say that humanity didn't start the 21st century very well. It comes as no surprise that the news and opinions are laced with cynicism. What a shame that a sports fan has allowed his cynicism to cloud his view of all the truly great experiences we've shared these last ten years.

Besides, every good sports cynic knows that the baseball steroid saga is the best story of the decade.