The Other Side of Now

The weeks and months ahead will not be easy, but this too shall pass

There is an other side of now. 

The highly-infectious virus SARS-CoV-2 and its lethal disease CoVID-19 have altered the course of history. What is unfolding before our eyes is a slow-motion tragedy on a global scale. It is affecting every single person on the planet regardless of race, religion, class, creed, age or lifestyle. 

Things will never be the same. 

And yet, on the other side of our present tense lies a new world, ready to be discovered. We don’t know the when or the where. We don’t know the distance between here and there. We don’t yet know how heavy the burden or how high the toll, but that post-pandemic world is there: a better world, just over the horizon. 

What fuels our faith?

History. 

Throughout humanity’s short-lived reign, we have been continually challenged to survive. Sometimes Mother Nature unleashes Hell, and sometimes we design our own doom. But always we survive. Rebuild. Bounce back. 

For instance:

435 BC–The Plague of Athens tilted the balance of power in the Peloponnesian War, bringing the cradle of democracy to its knees. And yet, Athens not only survived this plague, it survived the millennia of pestilence, war, famine, and misrule to come. Today, Athens isn’t a memory–it’s a living, breathing metropolis. 

1347–Nearly two-thousand years later, The Black Death wiped-out Europe. Empires would rise and fall in its wake, leading to religious, political and economic upheaval, but also freedoms unheard of in the previous 500,000 years of homo sapiens. 

1918–The racially-named Spanish Flu Pandemic claimed 50 million lives around the world. It took hold in a time when virology and epidemiology were in their infancy. The story of this pandemic plays out exactly like todays, only far deadlier. Only two years later, the world had healed and the 1920s were roaring. 

1929–The Great Depression shattered a burgeoning global economy. Hundreds of millions of people around the world were left penniless and reeling. In a time when people were grateful for a few teaspoons of corn meal, they still found kindness and humor. America, once defined by our maverick attitude and ruthless industry, redefined ourselves according to compassion and community. And we, as one nation, pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps–together. 

It’s been nearly a century since F.D.R. and his New Deal rebuilt America following the Great Depression. While the world has seen its share of tragedies since then, both natural and man-made, it’s safe to say America’s unity of spirit has waned. Now, for perhaps the first time in history, our species stares into the darkness as one. 

The weeks and months ahead will not be easy, but this too shall pass. 

Make no mistake, the path ahead of us is not a smooth one. The toll will be paid step-by-step. And yet, we will move forward. We will move forward as we have done through every calamity that has ever befallen us. This is not a rosy-eyed hope. It is, simply, the arc of history. History tells us, time and again, we will survive. Civilizations will be resurrected, societies rebuilt, communities healed. 

Of course, building this better tomorrow will require a unified, Herculean effort: from government to business to religion, from scientists to artists, engineers to therapists, gardeners to grocery clerks–we must all do our part to fashion a new world. 

Faith and religion especially will be critical in our dawning resurrection. Faith, that innate, ephemeral, quirk of human psychology that awakens in us a potent cocktail of acceptance and grace, will and perseverance. And religion–faith’s ontological twin–that organizing force that shapes our shared beliefs, stories, rituals, and identities into something tangible, a practical manifestation of faith. 

Together, faith and religion deliver hope–not as an idea, but as an active force in the world. 

Throughout history we find examples of the inexorable pattern of reinvention. Where the pattern arises, we find that faith is foundational to humanity. In darkness, faith provides light. In tumult, religion provides stability. Hope, kindness, community–these are the alchemical compounds of faith, the brick and mortar with which we rebuild. 

So where do sports and, more specifically, a religion of sports, fit into this communal effort? 

Look no further than a few more recent tragedies:

2001–As New York and America at large grieved the 9/11 World Trade Center Attacks, the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series to advance to the World Series. Although they ultimately lost the title to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Yankees were–for a few weeks at least–symbols of “Yankee pride” and a source of national inspiration. That year’s NFL season would also see the rise of a dynasty when the sad-sack New England Patriots and back-up quarterback Tom Brady won the ultimate David vs. Goliath Super Bowl showdown against the unstoppable St. Louis Rams. As Patriots owner Robert Kraft said at the Lombardi Trophy ceremony, “Today, we are all Patriots.” The feats of these two teams, the Yankees and the Patriots, were the symbols America needed to find the courage to heal. 

2005–Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest natural disasters in American history, flooding a city and displacing hundreds of thousands of people across the Gulf Coast. As the region rebuilt itself, so too did the struggling New Orleans Saints: hiring head coach Sean Payton and cast-off quarterback Drew Brees. The duo would go on to win a Super Bowl (2009) and become one of the greatest coach-quarterback tandems in NFL history. It was a rebirth that mirrored the resurrection of a ravaged American city. 

2013–The Boston Marathon Bombing and the violent manhunt that followed shocked the world and turned a beloved sporting event into a horrifying tragedy. That year’s winner, Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa, donated his first-place medal to the city of Boston in a gesture of peace, goodwill and solidarity. It was the reminder we needed that sports are bigger than wins and losses. 

2021–What does the future hold? The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed a year, throwing off a date marked on calendars for a generation. Athletes, brands, businesses, and entire national identities will have to adjust to this unprecedented delay. Olympians who were expected to perform the swan song to legendary careers will have to pray another year of training won’t break their bodies. What’s more, the global solidarity that the Games at their best represent will have to wait in the face of this 21st century pandemic. Whatever the future holds, the greatest sporting tradition in human history will be waiting. 

Sports are vital not because they are distractions, but because of what they represent: our dreams. Through games and stories, we remind ourselves what we’re capable of: the good and, yes, even the bad. 

As a company, our ethos remains: sports are not like religion, sports are religion. What does this mean in effect? That sports are community. Sports are wisdom. Sports are the embodiment of grace and acceptance, and of the will to overcome impossible odds. Sports are a catalyst for common purpose and singular focus. Sports are about glimpsing our highest human potential. They are transformative and healing. 

Most of all, sports are humanity. 

These are the stories that we, as a team, have exalted throughout our short lifespan. At times, we followed elite athletes as they pushed themselves to historic heights–feats worthy of ancient mythology. 

We’ve also chronicled the amateur, the student, and the disabled athlete as they’ve used sport to resolve conflict, rediscover purpose, or express the power of the human spirit–to show the world that they are alive. 

Beyond the athlete on the field, we’ve explored the zealotry of fandom in the bleachers and the rivalries that unify disparate tribes. 

We have witnessed first-hand the transformative power of sport in all corners of the globe–the heraldry, purpose, and shared visions of glory that populate our collective unconscious. These are just a few of the countless ways that sports transcend barriers of race, religion, class, creed, age and lifestyle. 

Our mission remains to show the world why sports matter. But more than a branding tool, this is a calling: to craft a vision for the future with the help of a global tribe of sports evangelists. Together, we can remind the world of our collective potential. Together, we can show the way through tragedy and darkness to triumph and light. 

As we take our first steps toward the other side of now, we will continue to challenge ourselves to grow and evolve, engage new storytellers, unearth fresh stories, develop collaborative partnerships and, above all, be of service to the new tomorrow just over the horizon. 

Religion of Sports, like any other enterprise, will never be the same. There is no returning to a pre-pandemic world–but we also have faith that the world tomorrow will exist. 

It’s up to us what that world will look like.