Come to Think of it: Fort Hood Tragedy Places Sports Into Perspective

The tragic shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas on Thursday and the shootings in Orlando, Florida on Friday make me realize that there is a sort of irony in sports.

That is, while events like these remind us just how unimportant sports are as compared to real life situations, it is also the time when sports are needed most of all. 

We often use sports as an escape from the real world. Not to remove focus from grieving families, but to take our minds off of the depressing world around us, and allow us to find some joy in an otherwise crazy world.

Gunmen who rampage and kill innocent victims may make us wonder what this world is coming to. Meanwhile, sports, at least in its purest form, serve as a vehicle to appreciate the hope that exists amid the despair of a world gone mad.

It certainly won't help bring the victims back to life. Nor will it stop the grieving from occurring. But at least it offers a consistent reminder to all of us that life does go on and that better days lie ahead.

All forms of entertainment help, at least temporarily, to serve as a sort of bandage covering the wounds of real life. And as sports fans, we know all too well that even the sting of your favorite team losing a game can never begin to compare to the pain resulting from the loss of a loved one. 

It even puts the bad things about sports into perspective. Steroid users may be cheating baseball and its fans, but appear a lot more tolerable when viewed under the cloudy lens of the real world and in the midst of horrific tragedy.

When the New York Yankees won the World Series, many rejoiced, while others bemoaned the perceived inequality in the game of baseball.

But in the game of life, those  issues drown in the shallow waters of sport, while real inequities rise to the surface for all to see.

Yes, sports can be a microcosm of life, and often deliver subtle hints of the real world around us. And in the end, there is always another game tomorrow, another chance to redeem ourselves. Just as in life itself.

It's important to remember that, especially in times of great loss. If sports can teach us something so simple and yet at the same time so profound, so be it. It is what it is, as they say. Nothing more, nothing less.

For when all is said and done, it will be the final picture that matters, not the individual pieces to the puzzle. Those pieces may be stained by the blood of innocent men and women right now, but they will eventually be cleansed by something that is far greater than those that strive to defeat us.

The dichotomy between sports and life may not be such a contradiction after all. For sports is truly a coping mechanism, come to think of it.