Rewind or let it play?
There's a small but constant debate over things like cameras and camcorders, over whether it's better to record an event or just let it live in your memory as a single moment. I'm always a little torn about it. While it's fun and more real to just live life without replay, it's just as fun to be able to be able to relive a moment, even at the risk of wearing out its appeal.
I think about the early hours of today as I praised the invention of the DVR for letting me rewind and watch Vince Young's mind-blowing (and I can't put enough emphasis on this next part) 4th down, 20-seconds-in-the-game TD run over and over again. It was amazing to be able to watch it, focusing on a different part of the field each time, watching it again when the game was over and see the sick-with-anxiety Texas fans right before the ball was snapped on that play, knowing how it all ended. I may or may not have given my DVR a goodnight kiss for letting me do that.
But I compare it with the great sports moments that I did not have recorded: I can't rewind watching the '93 NCAA title game on a tiny black and white TV at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, gathered around the pool table with most of the rest of the club-goers while the hardcore band the Supersuckers drowned out the sound, leaving us to wonder why there was a technical foul. I can't rewind slipping out of work at a record store in '94 to sneak a peek at the TV in the shoe store next door just in time to see the NBA championship trophy being presented to the Rockets.
Of course, there's a way to have both: do something besides sit on your couch at home (ahem) when watching the game, but record it for later. But the point here is that our memories often skew the past, which can lead to some nasty anguish when dealing with bad memories, but what about these good ones? Why not just let them sit and stew and become those old-fogey moments that you can never imagine anything better than? Why over-analyze to the point where the memory gets erased in favor of accuracy and fair judgment? Sure, you may be over-romanticizing the moment, but if it feels good, do it.
This entire notion is romanticized anyway. It's not like any amount of theory would have kept me from hitting that rewind button last night. I couldn't get enough. But sometimes I wonder if I over think the sweetness out of my memory.
Enh, who cares. I just wanted to mention that AMAZING GAME LAST NIGHT!! WOOOOO!!!
5 comments:
Speaking of the game...Christian and I were wondering last night who people from Texas A&M and Oklahoma were rooting for, and my UT-alum office mate and several other people said that they were rooting for Texas. Apparently, before the annual A&M/UT game, A&M fans wear shirts that have a longhorn with its horns broken off, but yesterday, some of them had shirts which had the same image, but with the horns taped back on and "ONE DAY ONLY" written across the bottom. Kind of sweet in a college-rivalry way.
That's awesome. I think if GA Tech was playing in the Rose Bowl against someone distasteful, I'd cheer for them. But not Florida. Never Florida...
And I just walked past a bunch of guys talking about the Texas game, and I made some comment about "good game" and one of them high fived me out of nowhere. These were grown men in suits. Total strangers. This is why college ball is better. :)
Ah, but Megarita, five years ago when the Ravens won the Super Bowl, the same thing was happening all over downtown Baltimore. Business people, bike messengers, homeless people...all high fiving each other. It put the charm back in Charm City. With college football, you're celebrating with (for the most part) students and alumni from that particular school. It's not nearly as diverse an experience as when an NFL victory brings together an entire city.
'Course, I feel entirely the opposite way when it comes to basketball, so what do I know.
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that last night I went to bed with USC up by 12. It was a great game, but I figured it was over at that point. Plus that game had the worst ever announcers (they spoke like they were covering golf or a nature documentary or something other than an exciting football game) and they were making me tired. And I'd taken a lot of cold medicine.
Didn't Keith Jackson retire (I believe it was the 1998 Fiesta Bowl)? And why doesn't he stay retired? He's pretty bad - but fun to imitate.
Something else I noticed about watching last night, which actually relates to the first part of this post, is that there seemed to be a few bad calls made, but I wonder if that is just a perception because it's so easy to see every single aspect of the game nowadays - especially with HD and 9 million camera angles. I don't think the Texas guy hitting his knee on the ground was a major deal though - they probably would have scored anyway - maybe. Anyway, just something I thought during the 10 hours of the game last night (why do college games have to be so freaking long!?).
How about that Reggie Bush basketball game pass/lateral thing? Pretty bad move.
When I got to college, I was told by the upperclassmen that you always rooted for the conference, even when the conference team (*cough* UNC *cough*) was one you'd normally despise. Not that it's always easy to do... Maybe other conferences have other traditions, though.
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