Why this lifelong fan is changing how he watches sports | Mark Katrick
Mark Katrick
Guest columnist
July 3, 2026, 6:02 a.m. ET
In professional sports, July features a confluence of noteworthy events. For example, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have recently concluded their series for the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy and the Stanley Cup Finals, respectively
Soon, Major League Baseball will be reaching its midpoint with the All-Star Break. And by the end of the month, all of the National Football League franchises will have opened up their training camps for the 2026 season
During the first decade of the 2000s, I was working for the Muskingum County Board of Developmental Disabilities as a habilitation specialist. I’d take a lunch break by rolling down the driver’s side window of my car, trying to “shoo” the bees out and listening to sports talk from Cleveland. Things were a lot simpler back in those days
Mostly, the hosts were engaged in friendly, spirited back-and-forth dialogue with fans like me, believing that this would be the year for another parade in what is affectionately known as “The Land.” It would take nearly another decade for the Cavs to capture this long-awaited prize, with ticker tape showering down on East Ninth Street on June 22, 2016. It had been 68 years since the previous one of these was held, on Oct. 15, 1948
These days, I’m tuning in less and less. Like many others, I’ve grown weary of waiting for the Browns and Guardians to deliver. But it’s mostly because the distractions of idle chatter have succumbed to the detractions of “idol” chatter. Which players will be signing the next multimillion-dollar contracts with ABC (anyone but Cleveland)? Rather than having a healthy debate about who is the MVP or the GOAT (greatest of all time), statistical probabilities and point spreads dominate the conversations.
What has piqued my fandom can be found more in the spiritual realm and less in the material world: taking deep cleansing breaths and staying in the moment, inning by inning, quarter by quarter and period by period, then watching and rewatching those highlight reels that take your breath away
What great excitement pulsed through my blood when Cleveland finally made it to the World Series again in 1995. Whether it was on the national telecasts or the local broadcasts with the play-by-play duo of Tom Hamilton and Herb Score, I was living the dream with a team that had built its reputation with comeback wins. There was no quit in them. The last thing my sainted parents, who took me to countless games, would want, is for me is give up
There would be two more appearances to come in 1997 and 2016, both lost by the thinnest of margins – in extra innings of the seventh games. It still felt like Mom and Dad were there, just like in the good old days at Municipal Stadium, reminding me that “There’s always next year!”
Though I may turn off the TV and SiriusXM satellite radio when games get out of hand, I never totally tune out on my home teams. More importantly, our Heavenly Parent will continue to maintain a rooting interest in every athlete, no matter what sport she plays or what uniform he puts on. Each and every one will receive equal portions of the Holy Spirit’s energy and focus, to do their very best with the gifts and talents they’ve been given
Mark Katrick is a pastor and spiritual guide
