Angels prove game is not life

It was a season in which baseball followers across the country became Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fans.

Even the die-hard Wrigleyville frequenter in me found myself rooting for the team in search of the storybook ending that might have given some closure from the unimaginable circumstances it faced during the last six months.

After pitching six scoreless innings against the Red Sox in April, Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others were killed in a hit-and-run car accident caused by a suspected drunk driver. The driver will face second-degree murder charges at a trial date set for next April.

The Angels, forced to play almost an entire season without their fallen teammate, looked to complete a sports story for the ages in honor of Adenhart.

Coming to the new Yankee Stadium for the American League Championship Series was the only thing that stood in the Angels’ way.

Facing elimination on Sunday night, hundreds of thousands across the country hoped an Angel in the Outfield would force a Game Seven and cap the Angels’ pennant aspirations.

Down to their last out and facing arguably the greatest closer of all time in New York’s Mariano Rivera, Angels’ outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. struck out, ending the dream of a title run.

As the sports world has seen on numerous occasions in the past couple years with the tragic deaths of athletes such as former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman and former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, the image of sports is mistakenly made out to be a life-and-death matter.

Sports are undoubtedly a huge part of society and, in today’s rough economic times, play an invaluable role in city and state’s revenue sources. Last year, a city like Detroit hosting the Final Four brought hope and diversion to a place in dire need of something to counter the trying times.

And there are the feel-good stories like the Adenhart situation, where a team bonds over someone in order to accomplish something outside the game.

But this isn’t always the case.

As the sporting industry has become a billion-dollar business, it has also altered society for the worse.

The fist fight I witnessed just rows above me three years ago at a Colts-Bengals Monday Night Football game in 2006 sticks out in my mind as the epitome of the negative effect sports has had on society.

The game’s outcome is prioritized before people and personal issues.

Just last week, a USC football fan thought the prominence of the Trojans’ rivalry with Notre Dame required him to send a note to Irish coach Charlie Weis mocking his daughter’s autistic condition.

Here in America, we have been spoiled with things like sports.

The social amenities available to us are so common we often forget about the more pressing issues. We are more concerned with how many games remain in the divisional race and Tiger’s potential spot on Sunday’s leaderboard at Augusta.

These side effects of sports are what the mass media, a massive budget and the business side of the industry have brought on. As is true with your typical sporting contest, the industry has its ups and downs.

But there is also something more important than the game, something the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim portrayed in a season all about a fallen teammate and not a bat and ball.