The Game

Whose game are you playing?

We all want to play the game.

We want the high stakes, we want to feel alive.

If you followed the Jays the last month, you probably got that.

Although they didn’t win the World Series, they gave us the most entertaining run you could imagine.

As a lifelong sports fan, the Jays run felt like a strange completion for me.

I’ve spent pretty much my entire life obsessing over sports.

There’s a lot to love about sports.

It’s live, raw and entertaining.

You have the most athletic, charismatic characters living out their dreams in front of raucous fan bases.

There is an element of aliveness, unity and simplicity that we get to bond over in community.

And despite all of this, I couldn’t help but feel an emptiness, even in the greatest of moments during this run.

I had the privilege of watching the Springer Dinger with my best friend live in the dome. We had been waiting for that type of sports moment our entire lives, and we finally got it.

Once the ball left the park, we screamed, jumped and hugged the people around us in our section. It was pure jubilation… but deep down, I couldn’t ignore this empty feeling.

In that moment, I realized this is not it.

I thought to myself, I’ve paid all this money, invested all this time, just to watch some one else have their epic moment?

This isn’t to take anything away from the Jays.

This Jays team was full of guys that played with heart, delivered in the clutch and believed in each other.

It was refreshing to root for such a loveable team.

They should be celebrated, and deserved all our attention. They earned it.

But for me, this was a wake up call.

I am in my game and I am not fully playing it.

For two weeks, I was more excited by the Jays game than my own life.

And for me, that didn’t feel healthy.

I realized that much of my relationship with sports has been based off reaction. Using this form of entertainment to escape uncomfortable feelings and avoid responsibility.

Sports, like any other form of entertainment can be seductive.

I’m not saying sports is negative, but I am saying, the way our society consumes it and the way I have for most of my life is not healthy.

We live in an entertainment-based society where most people are not fully in charge of their lives.

The whole entertainment and sports industry preys off this, offering us larger-than-life characters to invest in, hoping to feel what they are feeling.

It can be fun and bring people together, but if you’re not careful, it can consume you and will take precious time away from you playing your game.

My best friend who I watched the springer dinger with is a Rabbi and is writing a piece on the spirituality and sports.

He shed light on this idea of why we are so drawn to these players and teams.

They are fully going for their lives. They are in the arena. In the battlefield and doing whatever it takes to win. They are living out their childhood dreams and we want to experience this vicariously.

Toronto is a sports mad city. It seems all our teams collapse under the immense pressure we put on them because we want it so badly.

I honestly think this is a by product of a very corporate city, where people are not playing their games.

They are playing society’s game and relying on these sports teams to fill whatever is left unfulfilled in their soul.

I know this may sound scathing, but I know this is true because I lived it for years.

Sports used to be my point of connection with friends and was one of my main outlets for relating and joy. And to be honest, it felt a little sad.

Thankfully I found my game, and when I did, I was able to drop sports like nothing.

When I committed to playing my game and dropping lazy entertainment (TV, Sports, Drinking) the rewards I experienced had incomparable depth.

With sports, there is no guarantee that you will get the reciprocal energy that you put into it. (ask any Leafs fan)

And the truth is that is the case with many games in society.

You can play society’s game your whole life and sacrifice your World Series for someone else’s.

To me that is sad and that’s what I awakened to over this run.

I saw a city of people desperately seeking to play a game that is only within themselves.

And the funny thing is these Jays fully modelled how to play the game.

Sliding head first into home plate, full steam ahead like Vladdy.

Hitting a 3 run homer on one leg like Bo Bichette.

Loving going to work everyday to play with your best friends like Ernie Clement.

After watching this, I came to the realization I’ve always known deep down inside.

No amount of watching sports will change my life or give me the satisfaction that I can get out of producing on my own.

Sure, there is inspiration to tap into. To play with focus, joy, determination and courage. To live like a champion.

I am taking these lessons with me.

But I am cutting down on my sports consumption.

I am all in on my game and I am ready to play ball!