3 Weeks

Today I’m leaving to go work at a camp for 3 weeks without connection to the outside world.  Blame me for the lack of blog posts in the next 3 weeks.  I’m looking forward to this time as it will be a good experience but there’s another aspect to this as well.  I’m looking forward to escaping for a while.  I’m not going to try to poetically craft a couple nice metaphors over a few paragraphs that describe why we all need escapes from reality.  Instead, I’ll just bluntly say that life can provide a lot of crap and we don’t get away from that crap often enough.  I have a great life but still can feel bogged down by certain situations.  It’s inevitable considering that we’re all human.  But since this is a sports blog, let me say that maybe we need an escape from sports too.

I’m not one to quit on my teams.  For being a 19-year-old, I’ve suffered through some really bad seasons.  The Mariners haven’t been to the playoffs since I entered my teens and the Huskies haven’t been to a bowl game since I went into high school.  Still, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t watch or listen to a Husky football game and I’ve only missed 5 Mariners games this year. 

This season has been rough on everyone but I’m not about to quit.  I like baseball and like knowing about my team too much.  Will the Mariners make the playoffs?  No way.  But that’s not going to stop me from watching them.  With that being said, I’m not sure this is a good thing.  I’m a happy person but sometimes these teams affect my moods.  The Huskies more so than the M’s.  So this break from reality, and from sports, provides me with a good excuse to not watch the Mariners lose another 15 games.  There are downsides, but at least I’m not missing watching a first place team play.  I’ve seen this version of the Mariners a few too many times in the past 8 years, I’m not feeling that bad about missing 3 weeks of this team.

With these pleasant breaks come realizations about who and what you care about most.  Needless to say, I care about my family and friends most and I’ll miss talking to a few certain people more than anything while being away.  But after that I’ll miss a few things in the sports world a lot.  I’m missing out on game 7 of one of the most interesting NBA Finals I’ve seen.  I’ll miss the speculation on Cliff Lee being traded and his last few starts as a Mariner.  I’ll miss the World Cup, which only comes around 4 years (I’m a little bitter about this).  I’ll miss King Felix and my cousin Tyler getting his first few games as a district all-star.  And I’ll definitely miss grabbing a Pepsi in the early evening and sitting down on the couch to watch the Mariners.

It’s only 3 weeks but that’s a pretty long time in the sports world.  It’s funny how the first post I wrote on this blog was about sports giving us a break from reality and now I’m talking about taking a break from sports.  So, go Mariners (if they win every game while I’m gone they would be 4 games over .500 when I return, that’s pathetic), go USA and all the African soccer teams, go Lakers (yes, I like the Lakers. Sue me.) and thank you for being awesome Cliff Lee. 

Also, thank you readers.  It’s almost been half a year on this blog and it’s exceeded my expectations.  One started as an idea because I missed writing, has turned into something I look forward to everyday.  See you in 3 weeks!

Andrew