The ice skating rink in the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art. (M.V. Jantzen on Flickr)
From Scott Leibowitz. Find Scott on Twitter @Lebodome. Email him at [email protected].
Life moves in cycles. When things are going your way for chunks of time, you better damn well expect that the next metro escalator will be broken or be stuck talking to a bland Capitol Hill employee at a holiday party. High and lows, boredom and excitement, I am convinced that the day-to-day nature of our lives moves in a circle. I take this model to what’s going on in the sports world. Sometimes your team goes through long periods of loss or mediocrity, only to then shoot up to the winner’s circle (unless you are the Pittsburgh Pirates).
I consider a great holiday season a decent movie to watch and plenty of Chinese food, but for everyone out there, here is a small guide to bringing a little extra happiness to the sports fan in your lives.
The cycle also applies to excitement. Let’s just clump October/November together as it was nothing more than a standard football time (‘cept the St. Louis Cardinals World Series win, that was great). However, in the last two weeks we have easily seen some of the more exciting news in some time ranging from the NBA orchestrating team trades, the undefeated Green Bay Packers rolling and a huge brawl in an otherwise great day of college hoop upsets.
Overall, December has been quite the month and with the beginning of the NBA season looming, the cycle must be on a high note (January will be meh, besides the Super Bowl, of course).
December is also that other time of year when all of a sudden things get brighter, people are happier, and work productivity hits a wall. I am not a Grinch but also have never really experienced the true joy of the holiday season (my holiday is about an amazing war victory over Greeks). I consider a great holiday season a decent movie to watch and plenty of Chinese food, but for everyone out there, here is a small guide to bringing a little extra happiness to the sports fan in your lives.
Extra Happiness For Your Sports Fans
Show Some Love. Give em a big hug. Everyone needs more hugs. Everyone
Create Memories. Coming from a guy with enough baseball hats to field a little league team, the average sports fan has plenty of team-affiliated apparel to keep them happy. If you want to be the unique person, the gift of game-day tickets is going that extra mile because things are just things. But experiences last forever and you never know what you may see.
Inside Scoop vs. Never Miss a Game. In the 21st Century, much of the everyday life of the sports fan goes through their laptop or some other internet driven device (PS3, XBOX, etc.). For these types of people I’d recommend two things. First, a subscription to ESPN Insider, which gives you access to every writer and stat guy ESPN has to offer. Second, a subscription to either MLB (baseball), NFL or NBA so your favorite fan never misses a game. Either of these are for more devoted fans but shows that your actually know your fan.
Enjoy the Winter. By enjoy the winter I mean get outside with your warm coat, a hat and go ice skating! There are a handful of places to skate in the district. Sure, most of us aren’t too graceful on the ice, but it’s easy going and always a fun time. Throw in some pre-skate eggnog if you are nervous.
For people you don’t really care for, every sports league has fantastic websites full of great little items that I am sure the sports fan in your life would appreciate. For everyone else, cookies and scarfs I hear make nice gifts. Look next week for the sports schedule breakdown of the holiday season.
Thought of the Day
A Marion Barry movie? Hell Yea.
