Sports games

                                                TD Banknorth Garden, Boston MA.  Home of the Boston Celtics

This is Sheryl.  One of my all time favorite places to be is at a professional sports game.  My dad’s side of the family has always been avid Celtics fans, so I grew up in an environment where the Celtics were pretty much a religion of their own.  Having been watching games on TV since before I could speak, they became my all-time favorite team.  With the preseason starting this week and the regular season opening three weeks from tomorrow, I’ve been getting pretty excited about basketball season which reminds me of how pleasurable being at the games are.  Sporting events, regardless of the sport, can be extremely pleasurable for people of all ages.

Let’s start with the youngest.  Without fail, every sports game I’ve ever been to there has been a number of young children at the game.  Some people bring babies and toddlers who are too young to realize whether or not they are enjoying what’s going on, but generally the kids I’ve seen around the age of five or older have been able to determine that they do enjoy where they are.  They get so excited about everything about being there – the atmosphere, being so close to the players, even the overly priced snacks their parents will inevitably buy them.  A lot of times they are completely decked out in over-sized jerseys and face paint, and they love it.

Perhaps the most interesting age range at these games is teenagers.  There are always groups of them around.  Usually it’s a bunch of friends enjoying the game together.  One of the most entertaining combinations is the group made up of both guys and girls when it’s clear that the guys are very into the game and the girls are only coming along to either spend time with the guy, try to impress the guy, or simply just try to look cute in the jersey of a player they know nothing about.  These girls really piss me off most of the time, but even they are enjoying themselves despite not giving a damn about the game at hand.

Then you get into the adults.  It seems as though most of them are like my father, and have been fans for most of their lives.  There are always some of them talking about players from say, the Larry Bird and Bill Russell days (or the equivalent depending on the sport and team).  These are the people I think its most interesting to be sitting near because their commentary is generally very entertaining.

Overall I find everything about sporting events to be extremely pleasurable – being able to watch the game live instead of on TV, the atmosphere of all the fans who are so excited to be there, the huge wave of green (or whatever other color) you see when you walk into the arena because everyone is wearing the team colors, the music, the announcers, and of course the players themselves.  Even if the team you’re supporting loses, the game is generally going to be a pleasurable time.