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Normally, I start these posts with a light-hearted reference to my fictitious coworkers Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken, who never do any actual work but are quite fond of watching sports while eating fish crackers as they plop themselves on the couch. Today, I’m not so light-hearted. The devastation in Southern California and the unforgivable local and state government mixture of incompetence and malfeasance, greatly contributing to thousands of homes and businesses needlessly burning, weighs heavy on my heart. Many friends and associates live in Southern California, and some have been directly affected. My dear brother in Christ Oden Fong’s sister’s house has burned, and I fear this will not be the only such loss discovered once the smoke figuratively and literally clears. 

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Sports figures and sports have not escaped the firestorm’s wrath. Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s home is no more, as is the childhood home, in which his aged mother still resided, of Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. The Lakers and Los Angeles Kings have had one home game each postponed this week, and the NFL has moved the Los Angeles Rams — Minnesota Vikings playoff game scheduled for Monday, January 13, from the Rams’ home stadium to the Arizona Cardinals’ home in Glendale.

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Despite all this, sports do go on. We know who half of the college football championship will be, with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish having eked out a last-minute win over the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl on Thursday, January 9. Their opponent will be either the Ohio State Buckeyes or the University of Texas Longhorns, scheduled to do battle later on today (Friday, January 10). The ”experts“ are handing this game and the championship to Ohio State on a silver platter. While they may be right, one is wise to remember that the Buckeyes were favored by more than 20 points over the University of Michigan Wolverines in their most recent regular-season matchup. How’d that go?

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A workplace observation with which to conclude this report. I work at a sporting goods store, spending a fair amount of time in all departments, including golf, despite my experience in the latter consisting of occasionally getting the ball through the windmill and out the dragon’s mouth. Just don’t ask me about fishing. I’ve only been once, and the only thing I caught was a second-degree sunburn.

Anyway, being one of those oddball humans who actually enjoy interacting with others, at least part of the time, I find myself often engaging in conversation with moms and their daughters who are genuinely excited that the WNBA Golden State Valkyries start to play this year — especially the kids. They are mercifully unaware of how the league reeks with bitter players and owners alike who deeply resent how their relevancy rests solely on Caitlin Clark’s shoulders. Since part of my day job description does not include promoting my work here, tempting though it may be, I smile and hold my peace a lot. My prayer is that as the years progress, the surly whiners who are either unwilling, or unable, or both, to accept how it is their unpleasantness and not their skin pigmentation that leads sports fans to keep them at arm’s length will fade away, to be replaced by those with a genuine love for the game and an equal understanding that it is character, not race, that divides.

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