For my Recreation and Sports class sophomore year, we had the opportunity to come up with a “This I Believe” essay. The first part of the assignment was to visit the this I believe website which you can find here. I read three essays and listed the web links below and then I picked one that I wanted to expand on. After answering seven questions about my picked essay, I wrote my own essay.
We Came for Baseball- https://thisibelieve.org/essay/4156/
Grinding it Out- https://thisibelieve.org/essay/148940/
The Comfort of Baseball- https://thisibelieve.org/essay/98877/
The Comfort of Baseball
a) I chose this essay because it describes very well why I play baseball and why I love baseball. “We find order in a chaotic universe” is a quote from this essay that struck me as true in my life. Baseball is a constant in my life that I know won’t be impacted by other things going on in my chaotic and busy life.
b) The piece was effective by describing what every baseball player loves about baseball. It described there being no clock, you have to get the guys out to win and if you can’t you’ll lose. There’s no running out the clock in baseball. The author described how one player at a time does their best to help the team win, which made the essay effective.
c) The author communicated their beliefs by comparing baseball to an orchestrated ballet. The author showed how one player at a time works to help the team win. The author communicated their beliefs by discussing their childhood and family members. The author also mentioned the names of baseball players like Willie Mays.
d) The essay affected me by making me reminisce about my childhood and playing baseball growing up. It made me think about sitting in the dugout and watching games, listening to all the noises, and spitting sunflower seeds. This essay made me think about why I play baseball in the first place, to have a break from my busy life where I don’t have to worry about anything except having fun.
e) The author’s childhood influenced their beliefs about the comfort of baseball. The author’s aunt’s transistor radio and the baseball announcers on it influenced her beliefs. Players like Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichel, and Jesus Alou influenced her beliefs. The women in the author’s life influenced her beliefs.
f) The first two paragraphs describe why baseball is comfortable and most enjoyable. After that, each paragraph is a memory of the authors about baseball being comfortable. The tone is warm and happy with positive memories like warm summer nights going to bed and listening to baseball games.
g) The essay made me feel like I was back in middle school having the time of my life playing baseball. It made me feel happy with the memories of not having a care in the world except for what happened in my baseball game that day. The essay made me feel a little sad that I can’t go back to my childhood where I felt comfortable playing baseball. Currently, I struggle with wanting to continue playing baseball while during my childhood I didn’t want to do anything else.
I believe that competition brings out the true emotions of human beings. Whether you’re the one competing or someone watching, you want something to happen one way and you will show emotion based on the result.
Blair Walsh’s missed field goal to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL playoffs will haunt me for the rest of my life as a Minnesota Vikings fan. I have never cried over competition before but that brought me the closest I’ve ever been. To be so close to doing something nobody thought would happen, and then at the very end messing something up that was so simple to lose the competition, it’s gut-wrenching. The pure emotion I had after that event was the most non-physical pain I’ve ever felt in my life. This competition helped show what I was truly feeling at the moment, something that doesn’t get shown often.
Just watch any competitive sporting event now when the competition is over. There are two groups of fans showing raw emotion, the ones who feel joyful because their team won, and the ones who feel distraught because their team lost. Competition can bring out the best in people, but sadly it can also bring out the worst. Some people can’t handle both sides but some people can. It can be a dangerous game showing raw emotion as a competitor, but as a fan, the true emotions flow.
Competition brings out the true emotion of people because everyone wants to be the best at what they do. Champions show true happiness because they understand that they are better than everyone at what they do. Anyone but a champion shows sadness and sometimes drive because they understand that they are not the best but they want to be. A terrific example would be Alabama football and Clemson football. In 2015 Alabama defeats Clemson in the national championship and you see the happiness of their players but on the other hand, you see the sadness of the Clemson players. So next year, in 2016, Clemson makes it back to the national championship, and who do they play, Alabama. This time the Clemson players feel the true happiness and the Alabama players feel the sadness. When two opposing teams meet to lay their whole season on the line, to see if all the hard work put in through the whole season will pay off, true emotions are bound to show.
During the 2016 Iowa football season, I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. My family and I decided to go to the Michigan vs. Iowa game the week after Iowa had gotten destroyed by Penn State, and the Michigan team they were about to play had already smashed Penn State. Going into the game I felt confident in my team because they were at home and because I’m biased. I never thought about the pure elation I was going to feel when Iowa takes down the undefeated third-ranked team in the country. I was feeling that pure elation when I ran on the field after the game into a sea of black. At the moment I couldn’t remember a time I had felt more joyful.
This I believe: Competition brings out people’s true emotions because things change in an instant. Competition does what most things cannot do, it shows what people are truly feeling at a certain moment. One moment you are elated because something went your way and the next you are livid because something did not go your way.
