Moms Love Sports, Too!

I’m a mom and I like sports. I like watching it. I like playing it. So, over Mother’s Day weekend, I watched the Kentucky Derby. I played golf, without my kids. I watched the Sixers beat the Heat in game four of the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals to tie the series at 2-2. I also spent time with my mom. We went to church and then brunch. I embraced it all with deep gratitude.  

Since I tend to be a bit cynical about the “Hallmark holidays”, I consciously adjust my focus on days like these. I realize I’m fortunate to be a mom of two incredible kids and have my own mother to celebrate. I also realize this is not always a happy time for some people. Embracing gratitude can sometimes be out of reach.

Herein lies the reason I love sports so much: sports is the great equalizer. Sports are an escape. Sports bring people together without pressure or stress. Sports allow us to gather around the TV and root for a horse we’ve never heard of, but we like his name or it reminds us of something meaningful in our lives.

This past weekend, the Kentucky Derby was one for the record books. With a wide-open field of thoroughbreds, I was pulling for Cyberknife. The owner of Cyberknife named his horse after the radiation treatment that helped him overcome prostate cancer… the same radiation treatment that has saved my daughter’s life after a stroke from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in her brain.

When the fastest race in Kentucky Derby history was over, we celebrated the victory of a horse that even the broadcast team knew almost nothing about. We laughed as Rich Strike displayed his feistiness well after the race was over. We smiled with young jockey, Sonny Leon, as he celebrated with his wife and baby daughter. Despite 80-1 odds, the unlikeliest of winners, won. No matter how you felt about the weekend, it was hard not to get caught up in the thrill of it all.

It’s a game. It’s fun. It’s not heavy stuff, or at least it shouldn’t be. So, whether it’s pickleball or Parcheesi, basketball or bocce, racing or rummy, a sporting event or game will always be there for you. It may be hard to find gratitude in challenging times, but it’s easy to find a distraction in sports and for that, we can all be grateful.

With gratitude,

A Mom Who Loves Sports