You might be surprised at both the number and the quality of sports stories that come with no score attached.
Stories that contain neither victory’s thrill nor defeat’s agony. Stories not set among the yowling crowd consumed by owning the moment but rather much smaller numbers of those who attempt to map the future.
Their work was big news around Atlanta in 2016, their stories quite high among those that dominated the year.
And if they made the sports fan step outside the relatively trivial comfort of game day, well, deal with it. Reality tends to be as important as it is unavoidable.
For instance:
North Carolina’s governor embraces something called House Bill 2, weakening certain anti-discrimination protections. And the NBA, NCAA and ACC almost pulled hamstrings by suddenly yanking big events from the state.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s governor vetoes a similarly controversial “religious liberty” bill; and the stage remains set for the coming of the BCS semifinal this season and the championship game next season, as well as the 2019 Super Bowl. The sports marketplace spoke without a stutter.
As new stadiums for the Braves and Falcons took form in two counties, the dialogue between franchises and fans tilted from present to future tense. (Although, seeking something more immediate, Cobb County voters turned out the commission chairman responsible for bringing the Braves north without public discussion, Tim Lee).
It seemed everyone was trafficking in promises.
Hang with us, asked the Braves, as they reseeded the farm, fired one manager and replaced him with good solider Brian Snitker. Progress can be slow. The winning percentage in 2015: .413580. In 2016: .432236. It will get much better soon, vowed all the Johns in charge.
Buy our personal seat licenses, the Falcons asked. Trust the process. And look at that shiny new building casting a shadow over the Georgia Dome.
Give us another run at LeBron James, the Hawks requested. We’ll go tall and local this time, they said, bringing in the human version of the Bank of America Plaza — Dwight Howard.
The seduction of change reached out to the collegians, too. Kirby Smart was brought home to take Georgia’s football program over that last hill (but first he must beat Vanderbilt). At Georgia Tech, a new basketball coach (Josh Pastner) and new athletic director (Todd Stansbury) were added to the payroll.
One day, some day, it is the hope that all these investments will be translated into numbers. Yes, actual scores, ones that speak more kindly of the home teams.
In the meantime, here are some of the stories that resonated most in 2016, as we tried our best to make sense of incomplete, unfinished themes.
Top sports stories of 2016
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