As sports fans, we can get caught up in the importance of playing a game. Whether LeBron James hits a buzzer-beater or whether Tony Romo throws a game-sealing interception.
As sports fans, we can get caught up in the importance of playing a game. Whether LeBron James hits a buzzer-beater or whether Tony Romo throws a game-sealing interception.
However, when something like the typhoon in the Philippines happens, sports suddenly don’t seem so important and take a back seat to tragedy.
Friday, it was refreshing to see dozens of kids — linked through the sport of soccer — out at Waikoloa Highlands Center rallying for a common cause.
It speaks volumes for the people guiding the youth, who are instilling these values and teaching the kids that the world extends far beyond the boundaries of their local soccer field.
It also teaches the lesson of social responsibility within sports.
And while it is easy to put too much significance in these games, they also play an irreplaceable role in helping us heal after tragedy.
Next weekend, Manny Pacquiao, a Philippines native and boxing legend, will fight with a heavy heart against Brandon Rios.
“I really feel very bad over what happened in the Visayas region where more than 10,000 people are believed to have lost their lives,” Pacquiao said in a “statement to his people” posted on his website. “I really want to visit the area and personally do what I can to help our countrymen who have suffered so much in this terrible tragedy. But I’m in deep training for a crucial fight so I regret I cannot go.”
Pacquiao, a national sports hero in the Philippines and a high-ranking government official in the country, has been torn about the decision to continue his training. Even his trainer, Freddie Roach, admitted that it is an obvious distraction and that the fighter’s heart is with the victims.
The countryside of his home country has turned to fields of debris and desperation, but the best thing Pacquiao can do for his country right now is only what he is capable of — putting on a good show against Rios in Macau.
The healing power of sports is real, indeed. It’s something that can bring together a group of people regardless of race, age, gender, political views or status. It can make everlasting memories and moments that will be immortalized in history.
I dare you: Try to watch the video of iconic Boston Bruins anthem singer Rene Rancourt holding up the microphone to a sold-out TD Garden crowd — just two days after the Boston Marathon bombing — and seeing the crowd of almost 18,000 sing the national anthem in unison, without getting chills.
Or after Hurricane Katrina in 2006, when the New Orleans Saints entered the Superdome — which less than a year earlier was being used as a shelter — for their first home game since the chaos.
The list of sports events becoming a rallying cry in times of tragedy goes on.
So when Pacquiao takes the ring next weekend, it won’t change anything that has happened. However, for those affected by the typhoon, for at least a few hours, sport will be a welcome distraction.