Sports have always been our fuzzy, warm blanket. It is a place to hug it out and cuddle in the comfort of our home, with a third-wheel in that 60-inch high-definition beauty.
We could scream in joy or cry in defeat. No matter. It is a wonderful catharsis from the realities of the outside world.
We still cry and scream ... at the realities of sports.
The NCAA is a cesspool. The USOC is a cesspool. The NFL is watching former greats wither and die with the pain of CTE. MLB is scrambling for cover because cheapskate teams like the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly using revenue-sharing to stick money in their pockets and not put a competitive team on the field of play.
These dark stories each have a different path, but the usual suspects come into play: Power, money and corruption.
It has left its scars on men like Scott Blackmun, who resigned as chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee on Wednesday. Blackmun did much good in stabilizing a shaky organization since taking over in 2010, but nobody gets a pass involving children and sex abuse. And so, he had to go after reports indicated he didn't intervene in Larry Nassar gymnastics sex-abuse scandal, even though he knew of the situation as far back as 2015.
Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, is in a tough spot too. He is a charge of a sport in which players' minds can turn to mush. The evidence continues to snowball, and sends the NFL into a downward spiral of a marketing crisis.
"I want to make sure that helmets are crafted the right way and the game is much safer as we continue to evolve," said Michael Vick, who rose to fame as a scrambling quarterback. "Hopefully my son will be a baseball player."
There you go. Downward spiral of a marketing crisis.
The NCAA preps for March Madness, now redefined by FBI involvement into a scandal that covers just about everybody -- players, their families, sports agents, shoe companies, AAU summer camps, head coaches, assistant coaches and one little, lying Rick Pitino.
So what to do?
This is the proverbial cleanup on aisles seven, nine, 10 and 11. No amount of scrubbing can wash out the stain.
But try we must. We've reached the end of innocence, and it would be terribly naïve to think that we can go back to the day of 'root-root-root' for the home team with a bottle of beer and a $1 hot dog in your hand.
We've all got some blood splatter on our hands, even if it is nothing more than ignoring the news of the day.
But give us something, please.
It's not too much to ask to protect children from pedophiles. Apparently, nobody got the memo from Penn State.
It's not too much to ask to minimize the risk in contact sports by minimizing exposure at a young age. Pop Warner will survive if everyone puts away the helmets and shoulder pads and goes to flag-football-only leagues before the middle-school level.
It's not too much to ask for MLB teams to invest in their product and give us reason to care, instead of acting like grifters every time they want a new stadium.
Apathy is the worst word anyone can hear in sports. But it's understandable why fans are turning away from the turnstiles and clicking off their remotes.
The nonstop nonsense wears on everybody.
Every sports entity needs to get that memo about fan apathy, and repeat and recite every day.
We get enough depressing noise in the 24-7 news cycles.
Give us back our escape plan. Give us something to talk about, and make it good.
Sports on 03/03/2018