It is true that the modern way of living has made us lazier. Television and internet provide us with numerous possibilities, and we can watch our favorite movies and TV shows without having to move of the couch. We have lost the will to leave the house and hang out with our friends, as with our Smartphones we can constantly keep in touch with them, chatting, and at the same time watch a movie on our little screens. In this torrent era, nobody really goes to the cinema. For some people, the excuse is the expense, the price of the ticket, and then almost obligatory popcorn and soda, that can be quite expensive, but for others, it has simply lost its magic.
But what about sports? Do people even play any just for fun? Today, you are rarely going to see a group of friends shooting hoops in the street on a warm spring Sunday afternoon, but rather find them in their lazy bags, with joysticks in their hands, playing sports on their new Sony Playstation. There are less and less kids improvising with old pipes and thick sticks, pretending to hold a baseball bat, playing on the invisible field on a lawn behind someone’s house.
That is why people have forgotten what it is like to actually see the live game. They work hard all day, every day, to earn money so that they can buy plasma TV, with HD, 3D, and with what not, just to have the best possible picture to see the game they have been waiting for for months. They turn the speakers on, play the sound really loud, place them in different corners of the room so that they would feel like they are right there on the field.
But why go through all of that, when you can get the ticket and experience the excitement yourself? If you find a group of friends, true fans, and hear that your team is playing, you should not even think about it, but choose the stadium over couch any time. From the moment you arrive to the parking lot, seeing all those people rushing to the entrance, the experience starts. You can see the excitement in people’s eyes, both young and old. You will see groups of friends sticking together, with their faces painted, wearing their team’s jersey’s, singing and cheering; you will see parents carrying their young ones on their shoulders, letting them experience the energy that radiates from exciting mass, teaching them how to love one team from an early age.
Before the game, you check out the Dodgers stadium seating chart and look for a perfect place. Once you manage to get the tickets and see your favorite team play live, all you will think about is “why am I not one of the MVP’s?” That way you could sit basically at the center of attention, where you can feel the nervousness of players, shaking with them, waiting for the moment when the ball is rushing right to the pitcher. You can almost feel the wind from the swing of the bat.
But any place on the stadium is a perfect one. You sit with with all the others who are cheering for the same team as you are, and even though the most important thing is to be with your friends, and share this moment with them, it is the complete experience of the stadium that fills you up with warmth and positive energy. All the people screaming, waving their hands, jumping from their chairs whenever the team scores, but also, whenever the point is lost, the long sigh followed with a few moments of silence is the most amazing thing you will ever experience. Even though a sad moment, it is then that you can feel the sadness in all the others. And there is also that moment after, when they jump off their seats anyway, for an unconditional support. That is the moment you can feel the love true fans have for their favorite team.
No matter how the game ends, whether your team wins or looses, you will be going home with a full hearth. The energy that you felt around you could not even be felt on the field itself, and the feeling that you bring home with you cannot be compared to the one people had while watching the game at home, no matter how big the screen was. Once you go live, you will never be able to go back.