Power of Believing

Where would people in the world be without believing? Before you stop reading don’t worry this post isn’t about my religious views, its more than that. A couple years ago I bought a  90s Disney movie on VHS from a flea market because I’d heard it was good. Being a Disney movie I didn’t expect much from it I figured it would be just a feel good movie that I probably wouldn’t watch more than a couple times.
 The movie was the 1994 live action baseball movie, Angels in the Outfield I could write this whole post about what this movie is about but I’ll just give you the condensed summary I found online: “Foster kid Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) loves the Anaheim Angels, even though they're the worst team in the major leagues. His estranged dad promises to reunite the family if the Angels make it to the World Series, so Roger decides to ask for some divine help and prays that his favorite team will turn things around. Soon, a real angel named Al (Christopher Lloyd) shows up in response to Roger's prayers, and Anaheim's hopeless coach (Danny Glover) is shocked to see his team on a winning streak.” I’ve watched this possibly 15 times since I first bought it and it didn’t hit me till recently what the true message of this movie is.

 Believing in something it doesn’t even have to be god, can get you through almost anything. There's multiple ways to define the word “Belief”or believe  but they all basically mean that you accept something to be true with or without evidence and your not easily swayed of that opinion. The movie showed that while Roger and JP his foster brother had very few things in their life they believed the Anaheim Angels a not so good team could win the championship even before the angels appeared to help deep down they believed that they could win against all odds. Believing in the Angels helped Roger get through missing his dad and it made him feel a part of something when they all stood behind his belief of angels even though no one but him could see them.  This movie made me realize that believing in things such as sports teams, family, school, government, friends, jobs, etc. is one of the most important things a person should have in their life.

Sports teams particularly baseball are the most common things people believe in because while everything around them is bad or changing, the teams while they might not be good they will be there and you know that their are other people out there watching who just like you love them. How many people were so frustrated with the Curse of the Bambino but still believed that the Red Sox would one day break that cure and one day be world series champions again? Believing this seems so little but to those people who follow the Red Sox religiously it was probably one of probably the happiest days of their lives. Personally I believe in the Washington Capitals hockey team even though they totally suck during playoffs and have never won a cup. I believe that one day they will win the cup because I believe in them that much.

The most important thing someone can believe is believing in themselves. Without believing that you can do something it makes things hard. In high school I had a hard time believing I was even going to graduate high school let alone go to college. I believed I had limited options and because of that I didn't even think about anything I wanted to do and be after high school because I didn't believe I could do it. I'm sure I had people who believed in me but if you don't believe in yourself it doesn't even matter. I spent too much time believing in all my friends and helping motivate them. Now as adult I realize that not having the belief that I could do everything I wanted to do in high school was a mistake. Most people can accomplish anything they want if they believe in themselves.
There's a certain power when you believe in something your passionate about that makes it seem like anything is possible and anything not good in your life is pushed to the side when you think about it. Believing in something is more than believing in a god it's a state of mind that really can only bring happiness and hopefulness in your life that no one can take away from you.

Not to be forgotten

Note: This was written about 6 months ago and was a draft on my other blog.

Nostalgia(nos·tal·gia)-pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again.

This definition is how I feel most of the time. Sometimes you can recreate the experience but somethings after a period of time cease to exist.

Last March I went to my first hockey game. Hockey was totally new to me I was still learning about teams,leagues and players. Growing up in Maine the two hockey teams i'd ever heard about was the Boston Bruins and the Portland Pirates. The experience of going to my first hockey game is something I will never forget.
March 20th 2015. Portland Pirates vs Hershey Bears. I had just gotten into hockey a couple months before so when I found out my college had discounted tickets for $10 I jumped at the chance to go. My best friend didn't know anything about hockey or care about it for that matter but I convinced her to go. She had a piece of shit car so we had my aunt chauffeur us to the game. I have to admit I went to the game to cheer for the visiting team.

As soon as I bought tickets I looked up when the pirates were play the Washington Capitals affiliate Hershey Bears. They were my favorite team and still are. The the tickets were for any game and pretty much any seats we wanted. We were lucky and had some other Hershey fans around us. The atmosphere was great being surrounded by fellow hockey fans and people who had never been to a game before either. The experience as a fun was great I ended up tweeting about the game twitter and bantered back and forth with the Portland Pirates twitter account along with catching a thrown t shirt.

Looking back I wish I had been paying more attention to the Pirates that night. The Hershey bears won with Andre Burakovsky getting his first AHL goal and the game winning overtime goal. I was ecstatic seeing someone I watched play with the Capitals on TV in person not to mention he was one of my favorite players at the time. I followed along with the Portland pirates the rest of the season and wanted to go again this season but it never happened. A first game experience is something that you don't forget and I know I won't. Even though I'm no longer friends with the person I went to the game with I can't erase the memory of how much fun we had together. Those moments aren't what I remember most about hockey games. The moments I remember are moment I heard someone hit the board for the first time or the moment of happiness I witnessed a team get when they won in overtime.

The overwhelming feeling of sadness hit me when I heard that the Pirates were leaving Maine. 23 years of history is gone.I will never see them play in Portland again. Once they move to Springfield Massachusetts they won't be the Pirates anymore. The Pirates will no longer exist. It's like when someone passes away you're constantly reminded of them but know that they are gone and never coming back.

When I see stickers and t shirts from the Portland Pirates I will remember that they were once my states professional hockey team. The players will never be forgotten,the mascot will never be forgotten and the history of the team will never be forgotten. I'm glad that my first hockey game was a Portland Pirates game.

Being nostalgic reminds you that things in your life hasn't always been bad and that feeling of sadness can easily be replaced by making new memories with new people at new places while doing new things. I'd rather live my life with happy memories overshadowing the sad ones.