As Thanksgiving approaches, Ideastream sports commentator Terry Pluto spent some time reflecting about why sports holds a special place in people’s lives.
Pluto is a sports columnist for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, but he doesn't see himself as working in the sports department.
"I work almost in the diversion department,” Pluto said. “Sports is a diversion from real life.”
While sports is entertainment, it's also a source of connection and comfort, he said. And that's been evident when he's had meaningful conversations with people in waiting rooms at hospitals and doctor’s offices.
“You know, you might be talking to the person next to you. ‘Oh, yeah, mom's having cancer surgery,’ and ‘Oh, we, you know, we're worried about this heart problem,’ and that. But after about 10 minutes, you're kind of done with that," he said. "And then a lot of times people will figure out, especially if they hear (my) last name, they say, ‘Oh, you're the sports guy. Are the Browns ever gonna get a quarterback?’ It takes you into this area of something else to talk about that lifts the burden of the things that are really hard to talk about in our personal lives.”
He had even more examples.
“Sometimes I'll get to know some people and then they may mention, ‘Boy, you know, I've been going through this chemo and this.’ You never would have known. They were too worried about the Browns not having a good offensive line. It's a diversion from real life. And I'm glad to be in the diversion department," he said.
Sports not only offers some comfort in difficult times, it also bridges divides and bring people together, he said.
“It goes right across political lines, racial lines, economic lines. I mean, it's a whole lot of fun when you know the Guardians are on a playoff run or the Browns actually do something,” he said.
It’s also fun to connect not only with the teams, but with the personalities, the individual sports heroes.
“Like, if you say to Browns fans, 'Nick Chubb,' you know, it's pretty hard to find a Browns fan that didn't like the former Browns running back, or right now with the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell, or Jose Ramirez with the Guardians. It's interesting to me how that again brings more people together than divides them,” Pluto said.
Pluto noted that there is a game to watch, in some sport, every day. And in Northeast Ohio, there are three pro teams to cheer for.
“One of the benefits of being where we live in Northeast Ohio is we're in what I would call kind of a big, small city. In other words, Cleveland is the smallest market with teams in Major League Baseball, the NBA and NFL,” he said.
Much of the enjoyment of sports, Pluto explained, comes from family traditions and the memories that are passed down.
“For example, my father would take me to Tribe games and we'd be walking down to the stadium and he put me up on his shoulders. You see the blue lake area, you go into that old stadium, and you come out the ramps and the grass looks so green," he said. "Then somebody may say, ‘Yeah, but I'm a little younger, but I remember when we first went to Progressive Field. It was Jacobs Field back then, and I never thought a ballpark could look so nice."
What impresses him in in Cleveland is the fans' connection to the Browns.
“I mean, one of the reasons, for example, the Browns have such a powerful hold on the fan base is because it's been passed down from generation to generation," he said. "They went to the Muni Lot, or after church we would go to grandma's house, and she'd make pierogies, and we'd watch the games.”
