Breaking The Rule

Whatever happened to the phrase “I don’t know?”

It’s lost. Gone.

We always have to know.

Is that what sports is nowadays? The art of knowing the answer to “Who’s going to win the Eastern Conference” or “Pick your final four” or even “Who’s labor situation is worse right now: The NBA or NFL?”

We’re constantly surrounded by analysts making predictions, fans opining why their team will win, etc.

It’s part of the culture. I love it, for the most part. Heck, I’m the one getting hand cramps because I fill out so many brackets on ESPN’s website for the fleeting hope of winning big.

But take a look at our Final Four this year: Butler, VCU, Kentucky and UConn.

I’m okay with glancing at that lineup and simply saying “I don’t know.”

Look at the NFL labor dispute. The players have made some concessions, but the owners need more of a cut of the $9 billion pie, so it’s going to court.

To the whole shebang, I say: I don’t know.

Can the Atlanta Braves overcome a stupidly stacked starting rotation in the city of brotherly love and sneak back into the playoffs?

I don’t know.

We seem to live in a culture where, if you don’t have a ready answer to every question that comes our way, you’re deemed uneducated and your opinion counts far less than another. Apparently, it’s better to be dead wrong than to be honest and abstain from hazarding a guess when all we have is conjecture and few facts.

What good comes from this other than an inflated sense of ego and superiority over other, lesser sports fans?

That, I do know. And it’s not good.

So let’s be real with ourselves; take a look at your NCAA bracket and remind yourself that sometimes, we really have no clue.

Hey, it’s okay to guess! That’s part of the fun.

But let’s be okay with being wrong, too.

Posted by Caleb Rule on Apr 2 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.