Imagine a World Without Sports
A satirical short story on a planet lacking famous athletes
A fictional story and a big what if things were very, very different in our world.
Michael is one of the most popular students at his university.
He has an insane daily schedule.
He wakes up at 4 a.m., studies for his midterms, eats breakfast, and goes to marching band practice swiftly at 6:30 a.m.
It’s 9 a.m. now, which means it is lecture time.
He focuses on his classes, finishes his homework during lunch, peruses world history books at the library, and takes a short break for some delightful coffee.
At 3 p.m., he goes to his entrepreneurship club. To finish off his day, he decides to volunteer at the food bank.
He later catches the 9 p.m. train while he studies some more before he reaches home and crashes on his couch at 10:30 p.m.
Ten years later, Michael gets a coveted job at the United Nations headquarters.
Michael Jordan
US policy analyst
Diplomat in Training.
Jimmy stares at the clock.
It’s 3 p.m. Just 15 minutes to go. School is about to end. Yet another day in the third grade comes to a close.
The bell rings.
Jimmy and his friends scream at the top of their lungs. They sprint out the door. They catch the bus and go home.
Jimmy does his homework, completes his chores, watches cartoons, and goes to sleep.
One day goes by.
Then another.
And another.
The same cycle repeats.
Twenty years later, Jimmy becomes a successful banker.
Jimmy Anderson
Financial analyst
Roger is a doctor.
Serena is an engineer.
Rafael is a lawyer.
Novak is a successful businessman.
Roger spends his entire life in Switzerland. Serena spends her entire life in the United States.
Rafael spends his entire life in Spain, and you guessed it, Novak spends his entire life in Serbia.
Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal never cross paths in their entire lives.
Well I am glad none of this turned out to be true.
Michael Jordan won 6 NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and became the first true global sports superstar.
Jimmy Anderson, an English cricketer, holds the record for the most Test wickets for a fast bowler in cricket history and is still toiling in the heat at the age of 41.
Djokovic, Serena Williams, Nadal, and Federer have won 89 Grand Slams among each other to reach the top echelons in the tennis world.
We can have our endless debates — Who was the greatest of all time in the NBA? Michael Jordan? LeBron James? Or was it Kobe Bryant?
Is Jimmy Anderson the best English cricketer of all-time?
We can have our mindless fan wars. Kohli vs Rohit vs Dhoni.
We can have our arguing, fighting, and grappling.
We can have our podcasts, pre-match analysis, post-match analysis, stories and tributes, the numbers game, and statistical predictions.
But for once, just once, imagine if this all went away on a whim.
Imagine a world without sports.
Just imagine and think — can we just take a step back for once, reflect, and be grateful for what we have?
What does sports mean to you?
How would life have been different without it?
Thank you for reading my story.
Please put your opinions in the comment section.
© Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, LLC 2023. Originally published on 02/24/2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).
Originally published at https://brokencricketdreams.com on February 25, 2024.
