Celebrating sports celebrations

The crowd stretched so far down the street it didn't seem to end. Everyone sweating through their red and white shirts was yelling as if they had won the lottery. Strangers were high-fiving and hugging like best friends, simply because their team won … a hockey game?\nThis picture might stir memories of pushing (or getting pushed) through the crowds at Kirkwood Avenue or Showalter Fountain during the Hoosiers' Final Four run, but I also remember watching this scene five years ago, when my hometown Red Wings paraded through the streets of Detroit with the Stanley Cup -- the trophy of the NHL Championship -- on television.\nAt the time I thought I had missed my chance to share in the jubilee, the last sports championship I would see in my life. Then the Hoosiers made their remarkable run on the hardcourt, and I darted around campus in my candy-striped pants, got a picture with fellow Michigan-native Dane Fife and rubbed shoulders with Jared Jeffries. (Actually, I think it was his hip and my shoulder, but you get the point.) \nSports celebrations might be the purest joy left in sports. There's no ticket prices or expensive merchandise. An interesting costume and loud voice certainly help. But all you need is pride and gratefulness that you support one particular team at one extraordinary time. \nThere will be sports celebrations across the country and the world in the next few weeks, for the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals and the World Cup. None of them will be exactly alike. None of them will be like Bloomington in March. But all of them will be unforgettable.\nSo, in the coming days, when my Detroit Red Wings clinch their third Stanley Cup in six years by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes, I will have three things: a full tank of gas (it's a long ride to Detroit), a camera and thankfulness that I can go celebrate again, as if it's my very first time.