Sometimes I want to smack people who want to tell you that sports is just entertainment. It’s not, and it never has been. It has always been a reflection of the cultures from which the sport was sprung and in which it was played—often an idealized reflection of what a society tells itself that it is.
This isn’t about politics. It’s about humanity, and the story of Mo Gaba, the Baltimore-area ‘superfan’ who just lost his lifelong battle with cancer, is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the strength of the human condition that can be revealed through the communal reach of sports.