Another high school season is almost upon us.
It's a major cliché, but hey cliché's are called that for a reason, they're true: it seems like just yesterday the 2011 prep football season was kicking off.
And much like 2011 and the ones that preceded it, the 2012 season will be over before we realize it.
That is, seemingly, one of the basic tendencies about sports, they are just fleeting moments.
When I first started in this business, a coworker had a comic strip on his computer depicting a news reporter, weather reporter and a sports reporter. The cell with the news reporter had a caption saying the news is reported after it happens, the weather reporter cell said the weather is reported before it happens and the sports cell said that it was the only one that was reported as it happened.
However, that is partially true. Sure we're interested in and witness sports as they happen, but we also look back on it (that's why the first-week college football rankings are always so skewed, looking from last year) and look forward (where will Dwight Howard go, please tell us about the 2015 Georgia recruiting class!).
With our minds split between the present, past and future, no wonder a season seems over before it starts.
Having that much insight into the players, teams and sports we love is what makes following them so great, but it is also one of the harsher aspect of the subject of our fanaticism.
Sports moments happen so flippin' quickly.
Sports talking heads spent so long discussing whether or not the Bulldogs' 2012 "dream team" would come together, that it was all we focused on for months. With all that time devoted to the "dream team" discussion, it only took a New York minute for it to be over thanks to Isaiah Crowell's excellent decision making skills.
Same thing with the Braves - the playoff hunt was enthralling, gripping and, at times, intense. However, it was also fleeting. Before Braves fans knew it, Atlanta was out of the postseason discussion, then they were on to the 2012 season and focused on another moment.
While moments and events fly by for fans, I wonder what the players go through.
I remember my prep career, and how every season felt like a lifetime. Now four years are a blip in my lifetime. You practice all week for just one game. In sports, it seems like, time is stretched out to the point where it erodes quickly.
This year, the Olympics take place. That is the ultimate time deceit. We have to wait four years for the Games to commence and then in just two weeks, they're over.
Athletes train their entire lives, or at least their previous 18 years or so, training for that one moment and it's gone.
Heck, the song made famous by CBS' Final Four coverage, "One shining moment" pretty much says it all. You get one moment, and last I looked at my watch the moment hand isn't very big.
This was especially true this weekend for a former Heritage High School standout baseball player Tyler Austin.
Austin has spent most of his life playing baseball at all levels, including the minor league level.
Recently the Yankees' AA farmhand was selected to participate in the 2012 MLB Future's Game. All the work, all the time was paying off. Just before Austin was set to participate in the USA vs. the World game in front of a worldwide stage, time ran out.
He was hit by a pitch and the Yankees decided he should skip the game.
Once again, an athlete's time in the sun (although there are bound to be more) was just a fleeting moment.
But, not all is lost if you really think on why sports are as popular as they are now a days, because of moments. However, moments are now called highlights. There's an entire network that exploits the expediency of sports' highs and lows.
That's why we love it. We watch to see the next moment.
While championships are over as quickly as they come, a star rookie seems to be a hall of famer in no time and a star's moment is dimmed within an instant, it's the thought of seeing another moment play out is what's worth it.
So sure, while sports are full of fleeting moments, at least they are full of them.
