In an increasingly dark world, high school sports remain a source of light

This week begins my 11th year as a high school public address announcer, and I couldn't be more excited about it.

Between now and mid-October, I'll probably announce more than 50 different events, from volleyball and soccer matches to football games and marching band performances.

I even get to do several Division I college soccer matches for Cleveland State University, something to which I'm really looking forward.

My enthusiasm for PA announcing stems partly from the fact that it's fun, and partly from the way in which sports provide a wonderful-yet-temporary escape from everything that's wrong with the world.

These days, there is no shortage of things that seem to be going haywire. In the U.S., we're divided now as badly as we were in the late 1960s, and perhaps nearly as much as were during the Civil War.

I take great comfort in the undeniably wholesome nature of high school athletics. In my experience, the kids who participate tend to be smart, friendly, motivated and brimming with potential. They are fun to watch and even more fun to interact with.

Even if you don't really like sports, it's easy to admire the sustained effort and dedication of these athletes. The things they learn and apply are highly cliched (teamwork, sacrifice, hard work, etc.) yet still very real.

They give me hope.

I've been around prep sports for more than 40 years as an athlete, coach, journalist, league administrator and now as an announcer. I get just as excited for the opening kickoff of a football game now as I did back in the Stone Age when I was playing.

For those next few hours, I don't give the presidential election or any divisive social issues even a single thought. I am absorbed in the game.

Is this naive? Pollyanna-ish? Unrealistic? A case of the privileged white man sticking his head in the sand because he can?

The answer is probably "yes" on all counts. But I don't care.

I would rather watch a well-played high school volleyball match than two candidates yelling at each other on a stage any day.

You'll forgive me if I lack the energy to be outraged by whatever it is you believe I should be outraged about

Social media is, on balance, a good thing, in my opinion.

It's also a place that many people and organizations use to try and get you to do something, whether it's buying a product, contributing to a cause, or adopting a particular political philosophy.

Heavy on that last one. Really heavy.

I have said this before and I mean it: You have every right to use your social media platforms to espouse your political views, and I don't care which platform it is. Some people feel Facebook is supposed to be about sharing pictures of your family and your pets, but who's to say what it's really "supposed" to be about?

If you want to post daily on Facebook (or anywhere else) about your views on politics, have at it. More power to you.

Please understand, however, that most people aren't likely to respond how you might want them to respond.

Many are already firmly entrenched in their politics, and little you have to say, no matter how brilliant or persuasive it may seem, is likely to move them. Most people (including you) are going to believe what they want to believe. That's just how it is.

Then there are others like me. I may or may not agree with you, but it doesn't matter. I'm simply not going to get wound up by something you bring up on social media. I'm just not.

That's no reflection on you at all. In fact, it's more a reflection on me. It does not represent any sort of moral superiority on my part, but rather a core laziness, I suppose.

I am tired much of the time. It's a "good" tired in that it stems from the fact that I get to devote all of my energies to supporting my family and engaging in leisure-time activities I enjoy. But it still means that, at the literal end of the day, I'm spent.

I have almost no spare mental or emotional capacity to devote to getting angry over whatever person, thing, or situation is annoying you. The result is that I will glance at your post and then almost immediately keep scrolling.

I apologize for this. I know you put a lot of time, effort and even passion into saying whatever you want to say. But...please forgive me for saying this...I sort of don't care.

That's bad, isn't it?

I'm not going to lie, though. I simply don't care. No matter how many times you tell me to "wake up" or stop being "a sheep" or whatever, I'm just going to move on.

Again, I'm so sorry about that. There are other things to which I've decided to devote my energies, and your candidate or cause happens not to be on the list. That's doesn't mean he/she/it is unimportant in a larger sense.

They're just unimportant to me personally.

Or at least, they're not sufficiently important for me to get mad about.

Which I suppose is kind of the same thing.