By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
I am constantly amazed at reader reaction to some of the things that come up in my space every week.
Sometimes I write things and git my teeth, knowing that I am about to set you off on rants—but those rants never come.
Sometimes I write the most docile things, and those are the things you bring up when you see me out and about.
Well, the conversation about the hockey handshakes and the end of a playoff series got you talking last week.
The most common comment about how cool the hockey handshakes was “you need to write a column on the best traditions in sports.”
Let’s do that!
First, the ground rules.
The order that I put these in is not in any order of importance, nor will it culminate in the best tradition. In other words, don’t make anything of what order these are in.
Also, I only have so much space, so this a not a list of all the cool traditions in sports. I have no doubt that you will come up with other traditions that aren’t mentioned here, and you will remind me of them…and I am quite fine with that.
Super Bowl parties
There is no single event on the sports calendar that draws more attention from more people around the country than the championship game of the National Football League. People will watch this football game when they wouldn’t watch football at any other time. Sure, maybe they don’t actually watch for the game, but that doesn’t matter for our purposes today. They know where they are going, who they are going with, and what dish they are bringing.
The Masters
We know this golf tournament, this golf course, and its history by heart, and we love it on several levels. Name another golf course that has a section that has a nickname like “Amen Corner”. Sunday afternoon’s back 9 is must-watch TV. And for many of us, The Master’s is a signal to us that spring is here, and the snow and cold of winter are behind us. We see the flowers in bloom and the birds singing in Georgia, and we have hope that better
times are ahead.
The 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field.
Harry Caray gets full and complete credit for this one. This tradition actually started on the south side of town, when Harry would sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by cueing organist Nancy Foust to start things off.
When Harry moved north, he brought the ‘stretch’ with him, and it has flourished there. The TV network doesn’t break for commercials at the end of the top of the 7th inning to show it. And even after Caray died, his rendition on the video board at Wrigley is still the fan favorite.
The Army-Navy football game.
This is always the last regular-season football game of the year, and it deserves that distinction. From the Cadets and Midshipmen marching into the stadium in their sharpest attire, to the postgame protocols, this game oozes with tradition. It’s a game of honor and rivalry—two things we don’t think of going together.
Spotlight introductions at Chicago Bulls home games
Turning out the house lights and turning on the spotlights to introduce the Bulls starting five was a novel concept back in the 1980s. No one did that then, and most of the media complained about it because they couldn’t see what they were doing while it was going on.
Now, everyone does it, and they all have their own hype video to play on the giant video board before they introduce the players and coaches. I got the opportunity to take my son to the United Center back in April, and it was my first Bulls game at the UC. The spotlight
introductions most definitely did not disappoint.
College bands
Imagine a college football game where no bands were playing. We don’t have to because we know it—COVID in 2020—and we hated it. The pregame march into the stadium and traditional “concert”, the halftime show, the postgame ‘concert’ and the songs in between plays and possessions just make a college football Saturday special. Even if your team is bad, if your band is good, you have a reason to go to the game.
And one last one
One of the things I have come to appreciate about being a “rugby dad” is learning the many traditions that this sport brings with it. The best one is the one that happens after the match—the ‘social’. When the match is over and the two teams have finished huddling, they get together and share a meal. The home team provides food in a carry-in meal style for both teams and their coaches. The players go through the food line, get their food and
then sit on the grass and eat. When they are done, they hold a little ceremony to announce who they believe was the player of the match for the other team and present that player with some lovely parting gift like a t-shirt or something simple.
As much as we want to say we are a progressive culture, the truth is we want things we can count on—things we know will be there for us.
We love tradition.
