Thank you, David Ayres, for reminding us why sports still matter
There are times when sports make you wonder why you watch at all.
Enjoying the Olympics means waving away the corruption in which they are awash. The NCAA tournament is an exercise in cognitive dissonance, balancing the pleasurable drama of the games with the ill will of the exploitative cartel that runs them. Social media is a cesspool, the mildest rebuke to any beloved team or player, right or wrong, greeted with meaningless manufactured outrage. The “stick to sports” crowd screams at every perceived injustice, only to nod approvingly when the president turns the Daytona 500 into a campaign rally. Professional teams curry loyalty, only to lift the veil and reveal their real goal is only to win on the balance sheet.
Steroids, the blind eye so often turned toward domestic abuse, concussion denial, sexual predators masquerading as coaches and doctors, the list goes on. What’s the point?
Thank you, David Ayres, for reminding us why we watch. For reminding us why sports still matter and remain worthwhile, warts and all.
It’s stories like Ayres’ and people like Ayres, the 42-year-old Zamboni driver turned emergency goalie who found himself in net for the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, that keep us coming back.
Even at their worst, sports compel us to think about courage, teamwork, the limits of human performance and triumph over adversity. All the lessons kids get from playing on a team are just as valid for the adults who observe. We live and die with the wins and losses, but we feed on the stories that give those wins and losses meaning, the narrative arcs of athletes and their teams alike.
At their best, the sporting world gives us someone like Ayres, the everyman thrust into a moment of great peril, far above his station, only to rise to the moment and emerge unexpectedly victorious.
This was one of the (many) themes underlying the meaning of the Miracle on Ice, 40 years to the day earlier, and it takes something that momentous to top Toronto Maple Leafs fan, literally pulled from the stands, vs. Toronto Maple Leafs.
Fanfare for the common … fan?
It didn’t hurt that the Hurricanes, even after losing a workhorse defenseman, played what was probably the best regular-season game in franchise history, or that Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe essentially quit coaching in the third period to teach his team a lesson. Still. Ayres had no expectation of success in these or any other circumstances, yet outlived his wildest dreams in a matter of hours, a Leafs fan turned Leafs destroyer, taking a victory lap in front of fans applauding a man who defeated their own team.
When Ayres came into the game, it was fair to ask whether, in the center of the hockey universe, where just about every 20-something thinks he’d be playing in the NHL if the breaks had gone his way, there wasn’t a better emergency goalie candidate than a 42-year-old maintenance man.
As it turned out, there was not.
So as Ayres enjoys his lap of international fame, starting his Monday on the Today Show before being feted as the guest of considerable honor Tuesday as the Hurricanes host the Dallas Stars, the circumstances that created his opportunity may have been less than ideal, but they opened the door for a reaffirming moment so desperately needed.
For a few hours or a few days or maybe even a few weeks, Ayres’ unexpected moment in the spotlight has washed away all the muck and grime and reminded us why we watch.
And why we still care. Despite everything. Despite ourselves.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 1:14 PM.
