In Pursuit of Sport Fantasies

People travel for all sorts of reasons, myself more than anyone. I travel to experience history first hand. I love to look upon landscape or buildings where historical figures have traversed or gazed upon. I love to experience a part of history as I walk through important hallways of power or fields of hard work. I love walking into restaurants that tourists are not familiar with and speak horribly the local language while hoping everyone takes me as a local. I just want to come across as inconspicuously as possible. However, beyond the history and culture, I’m also a fan of world sports and have even created a list of sporting events that are on a wish list.

This year, I’m actually living one of those fantasies – to attend a top league European soccer match. I’ll be in Germany later this year and I will see Kaiserslautern on their home pitch. The Bundesliga is one of the top soccer leagues in the world and to see two of its historic teams in action is an amazing opportunity. I’d like also to see a baseball game in Japan. If there is one country, outside of the United States, who has set new standards and represents the best of the sport, it is Japan. To see a game at the Tokyo Dome or the Nagoya Dome would be as amazing an opportunity as seeing the most sacred temple or the most beautiful mountain. I don’t understand the sport but how great would it be to see a cricket match in India as the national team played Pakistan or Australia? Or, what would it be like to watch a rugby match in France or Ireland? Or a footy match in Melbourne, watching the Essendon Bombers? I have some friends from the region so I’ve adopted the team.

The passion of sport can bring out the best in people as it typifies the best of character – perseverance, sacrifice and joy. As it portrays so much of what makes a people great, it is as important as a castle, a natural wonder, a hall of government or a concert venue. Now, my wife and others I know are not as enamored with the notion of going to exotic locales just to sit in a stadium, wedged between a sea of fans and trying to follow the action. My wife prefers the quieter and more serene environs of a museum or a park. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll hit those places eventually. However, the sport can capture the mood of a place, the temperament of a people.

If it is true that the purpose of the travel is to experience a place from within, consider this. One of the great thing about sports in general is that, within a stadium, ballpark or arena, caste and distinction disappear and in the joy of victory or the agony of defeat (yes, I stole that line) people experience it together. So, imagine being in a foreign port of call and attending a match. To those around me, I’m not an American but simply one of the fans. We will celebrate or bemoan our fate together, regardless of nationality.

I’m as proud of who I am as the next person but it is quite an experience to forget about yourself for a bit and see life through someone else’s eyes. That is what sports can do.