Maura Dooley: Super Bowl week always a reminder to me that sports can be more than ‘just a game’

It’s just a game.

That’s a phrase we hear often as sports fans, and at times it’s probably a necessary reminder. The passion and excitement we feel for our favorite teams can sometimes manifest itself in negative ways and cause us to forget that the athletes involved are people just like us. Other times, that same passion and excitement can create a sense of community, foster bonds, and help create lasting memories. It’s those times when it is more than just a game to us spectators, in a very meaningful way.

I shared one of those special moments with my family on a recent Super Bowl Sunday, and with the big game on the horizon, I thought it was a fitting time to share it.

Three years ago, my mother was in the final weeks of her second battle with breast cancer. It had returned in 2015 and was already in her heart and lungs before the doctors realized anything was wrong. We were told she probably didn’t have long. She was as tough as they come, however, and made it two more years after that diagnosis.

I know I am completely biased but I can also verify from many outside opinions that she was a very special person. She was a nurse who loved caring for others, and us taking care of her was very much outside of her comfort zone. Even when she was bedridden, she had to figure out a way to help others. She was a gifted seamstress, so she sewed little girls dresses to send to Haiti and fleece blankets for nursing homes and police stations.

I was in awe of how she could still feel so driven to be productive and give back when she was so sick. I remember her telling me she felt lazy and I would jokingly respond that she had a pretty good excuse. I was constantly trying to convince her that it was alright to just relax and not worry about anyone else but it just wasn’t in her nature.

After the holidays that year, she was finally forced to slow down as her condition rapidly declined. She succumbed to the disease in January 2017 at just 58 years old. While we were devastated to lose her, we we found some comfort in knowing that her suffering was finally over.

Losing a family member to terminal illness can lead to a lot of conflicting feelings because you are sad but also relieved, and that relief can leave you with inexplicable feelings of guilt. It leaves you emotionally exhausted, and that’s where my family was in February 2017. The Super Bowl was about a week after my mother’s passing, and it was a welcome distraction from the somber week we had prior. My dad’s family is from Massachusetts so we are Patriots fans (I know, I know, everyone hates them). Watching the Patriots and Falcons square off felt like the first normal thing we had all gotten to do in a long time, so we were excited.

Then the Patriots went down 28-3 in the first half. We were heartbroken. Not because they were losing – that would have been fine – but because the game wasn’t even entertaining enough to provide the distraction we so desperately needed.

We sat there watching the second half in silence, and we started to see some signs of life. It was enough to at least make it interesting, and then Julian Edelman made one of the craziest catches in NFL history. The next thing we know, the game ends up in overtime. We still couldn’t believe that it could actually happen, but somehow the Patriots pulled off the comeback.

We were stunned and excited and happy… for the first time in a long time. My dad looked at me and jokingly said, “Your mother must have called in a favor from heaven.” We don’t think that’s what really happened, obviously, but it was the lighthearted, fun moment that we needed. I will forever be grateful for that memory that we have simply because we are fans of a team.

Since then I have caught my father re-watching that game countless times, and I would venture to say that it has just as much to do with the special moment we all shared as it does the fact that it was an amazing comeback.

I know that my team is very unpopular but that doesn’t really matter in this story. My point is that I am very grateful for the many positive things that sports can bring into our lives and for the common ground that it provides for all of us who are fans.

Sometimes, it really can be more than just a game in the very best way possible.

Maura Dooley is producer of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Bob, Dave and Moore. Follow her on Twitter here.

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