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I never used to be a sports guy. When people around me would begin talking about sports, my eyes would glaze over and my mind would wander. The most I could ever contribute to any sports conversation would have been, “Go (insert local sports team here).” After a year on the Emerald staff, I find myself slinging around player stats and names with the best of them. Through sports photography, I have begun to find out a little of what sports means to the athletes, the fans and to the world.
Sports is a world without gray. The winning and losing, the right and the wrong are all clearly defined. Even if there is something that falls in between the two, there is a referee or umpire to make the call. While the official may be only human, and get the call wrong, the call is still made and absolute. In that sense, there is an absolution that doesn’t exist in the outside world.
Sports is competition and camaraderie. After the intense Cal vs. UO game, where Cal. trounced the Ducks 45-24, The Duck players and the Cal players meet to goof off and pose for the throng of press that was on the field. The idea that a group of people who not an hour before were bitter enemies could then come together as friends is something that I have not found elsewhere.
Sports is the in-between moments. The emotions laid bare on the face of every player between plays has a certain quality of truth. All the training and time they have put in to their sport can be accessed there by everyone who cares to notice. It is in this that the fans can, in their own small way, shoulder the burden of defeat and the jubilation of victory.
That to me, is sports.