Bleacher Report: A Field Of Roses

Has anyone thought of a way to measure the impact or to harness the energy in the Bleacher Report?

Over the three months I have been an active Bleacher Report writer (for several months I occasionally visited to read articles that popped up when I googled and did research), B/R writers have come and gone, praised and provoked,  complained and competed, complemented and complimented, and meddled and mentored. The list can go on and on.

I am writing today to implore you to see your  experiences in a new way.

Let me remind you of at least three ways of thinking about sports and life: Greek, Hebraic, and Transcendence.

This article focuses on some aspects of the Greek thought system in athletics.

In a simplistic way, I will define the Greek thought system as one that depends on the senses of man—seeing, feeling, smelling, touching and tasting. It is a system that certainly has been the inspiration of the sports world. It is a system which focuses on and perfects abstract things. 

In other words, it is concerned with appearance, and talk, not function and walk.

I am suggesting that if we were to sample the population of NFL, NBA or MLB athletes, many have the appearance of health, prosperity and psychological well-being.  Take a good look, a close-up glance, or a microscopic look, and you may see flaws deep within the character or social context of an athlete.

By the way, what I conjecture about the athlete also applies to some (really all) B/R writers and the general community.

If we are fair, we examine ourselves, before we examine others.

Now, back to my argument.

Let’s go back in history and dig deep to understand what is in our cultural DNA. As a mathematician would do, let’s start by defining our terms.

“Athlete” is an ancient Greek word that means “one who competes for a prize.” It is related to two other Greek words, athlos meaning “contest” and athlon meaning “prize.”

The Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology shares this insightful comment:

“Our first glimpse of organized Greek athletics is in the 23^rd book of Homer’s Illiad, where Achilles organizes funeral games for his friend Patroklos who was killed during the Trojan War.

“In each of the eight events contested on the plain of Troy, material prizes are offered to each competitor, including tripods, cauldrons, valuable metal, oxen, and women.”

Did the archival record say “women”? Now check this out—One thing is certain in transferring cultural factors to modern times, many athletes have overtly or covertly desired the prize of “women.”

An elevation of the types of prizes is connected to the prestige of the ancient sports games. It seems that the more prestigious the games or competition, the more abstract the prize. For example, what was then considered an upgrade of prizes in the old days, might easily be a slap in the face for modern sports stars.

There was a time the athletic prizes included shields, woolen cloaks, and olive oil.

Olive oil? Are you  kidding? What NFL, NBA or MLB star do you know would tug, sweat, and compete for a mere bottle of olive oil.

It seems that the historical context of the start of some of the earlier athletic competition was designed to celebrate fallen soldiers, or, maybe, to uplift the spirits of the people who respect those who died in battle.

The engagement in athletics, in that case and in that era, was honorable and connected to celebrating those who fought in a “real” war, rather than the “war” on a playing field, which is, I believe, a simulation of the “wars” and “competitions" in life.

The 86 roses pictured with this article are to celebrate the diversity and gifts of the many B/R writers, editors and leaders. The beauty of the arrangement is connected to the beauty of each and every rose.

I perceive B/R as a field of roses. On July 28, 2009, early in the morning when the dew glistened on the petals of a rose as the sunlight shines, I wrote these words to uplift and exhort our community:

"As each rose makes the arrangement so beautiful and visually rich, so then each member of the B/R family adds buds of creativity that bloom and blossom, giving a fragrance in the B/R atmosphere.

"The beauty of one rose does not compete with that of another, rather it adds more radiance to the sum total of the B/R experience."

So the beauty of the B/R community is the beauty of cohesion, cooperation, compassion, and, I might add, a "healthy" competition.  As we compete, if for some reason one stumbles or falls, we turn around, pick him up, brush him off, and show concern. Then, we regain our composure, and run the race, together, toward excellence and even greatness in reporting and writing on sports.

Remember, we are writing about an endeavor which has a historical beginning of celebrating the sacrifices others have made as we stand on the foundation they have laid. 

Finally, we measure the impact of B/R by acknowledging our own growth, and we harness the energy by functioning as a synergy.

We as a collective and cooperative community are moving toward a goal of excellence not only in appearance, but in how we function. As such, our contribution will transcend our community and overflow into the community of all mankind.

A salute to B/R and enjoy the view of your roses!