admin Immediately after the Denver Nuggets won the 2023 NBA Championship, the first ever for the franchise, their star point guard, Jamal Murray broke down, crying. I was watching at home, without much invested in the game, but I started crying, too, simply in response to his open display of emotion. I watch a lot of sports, but don’t follow basketball closely, so it was news to me when, after the game, the interviewer said to him, “Two years ago, you were barely able to walk, but you vowed to come back…” I found out later, he’d torn his ACL, but, here, she was cut off by a roaring crowd, as Murrary broke down again, his eyes red—though this time he was smiling as his teammates patted him on the back and celebrated around him. It was like the ending of an inspirational movie.
It also felt like it was part of something bigger.
Not everyone is willing, or able, to be vulnerable in their day-to-day life. We can put up walls that allow us to function, but prevent us from accessing our own emotions. We might need an excuse to slow down and step outside of the usual workday to get to a place where we feel comfortable enough to let the emotions wash through, and, eventually, to cry. (I think it’s often what we’re looking for with yoga and edibles and other forms of “self-care.”)
We, of course, cry for different reasons. We cry at weddings because we’re happy (mostly). We cry at funerals because we’re sad (mostly). And, from the peewee to the college to the professional level, people cry (all the time) at sporting events. Sports might seem less serious than those other two things, but fandom can often last longer than a marriage, and people pass their love of a team down through the generations. When you add it all up, and count all the weddings and funerals against all the games I’ve watched, I’ve likely shed more tears at sporting events than anything else.
I don’t think I’m alone.
I know plenty of people whose main connection to a parent, or other family member, is their shared love of a team. It’s a space where people can show unbridled enthusiasm and sadness, often a few minutes apart. A sports event is the rare occurrence where you’re not judged for crying, whether it’s for a beer league in the park, a minor league baseball field, or the Olympics. It’s a space where people are given permission to show emotion. When, in the film A League Of Their Own, Tom Hanks said “There’s no crying in baseball!,” he was wrong. Strangers become familiar to one another, often through their shared emotion. Sports bring people together and they foster vulnerability.
