Let me start by telling you in no uncertain terms… We are sport. All of us, in some way, are sport. So, what is the value of sport? It cannot be expressed simply in the form of any currency.
Sport is play. It starts early. After all, play is the work children do. From our earliest days we strive to crawl, to walk, then to run. We rejoice when we run with one another. Then share a catch, a kick, a race. We are all athletes, sometimes before we even know it.
Sport is tribal. From the first game of shirts and skins, the first game sharing the same colors… We instinctively join together with our family, our neighborhood, our school.. We paint our faces, tattoo emblems, dye our hair, pledge allegiance forever. It is our nature to join together to support teams of all sorts. Ultimately we follow the flags of our nations.
Sport sharpens us. The games we play are rooted in history. Ancient armies practiced combat competing with one another. The disciplines of war evolved to the peacetime pursuits of pentathlon, biathlon and javelin throw. Women were once discouraged from taking part in sport out of fear of damaging their ability to bear children. Now we see female athletes reaching new heights after childbirth. The most driven executive will spend hours training for a Spartan run or an ultra-marathon.
Amateur sports found its roots in the leisure of the affluent and academia. It took a New Yorker who became enamored with the outdoors and fitness to encourage wider participation. President Theodore Roosevelt had the vision that created order and organization out of the passion and spectacle of college athletics.
Sports grows and blooms, as flowers in spring, as a field of corn in summer rain, as a mighty redwood through the years. When doors have been opened, some sooner, some later, sport flourishes with the richness of new opportunity, the freshness of new dreams. Sport is for everyone, anytime, anywhere.
The value of sport? It is priceless when we revel in the great moments of our heroes or our own individual achievements. It is the payback of our investments in our own fitness, in our children, our community, the schools and teams we are loyal to. We almost always get back more than we put in.
Sport is Oregon. The State of Oregon is a state of sport. From the chilly surf of the north coast to the world class ski and snowboard runs of the cascades. The glory of the Columbia River gorge, the world’s epicenter of windsurfing and kite boarding. The high desert of Central Oregon challenges and thrills cyclists and climbers. The passion inside our cathedrals of sport.. The Moda Center… Historic Hayward Field… Reser Stadium… Matthew Knight Arena.. it nurtures and inspires.
Oregon’s athletes are many.. notable and not so notable. They are born here.. live here.. train here and win here.
A Heisman Trophy finalist.. record-setting high school competitors.. national champions in softball.. track and field.. and, yes, Olympians.
The tradition of Oregon Olympians is rich and diverse. Swimmers and skiers.. rowers and fencers.. runners and throwers… lugers and bobsled pushers. They live among us, their excellence enriches the lifeblood of our daily existence. Masters athletes defy the calendar as they continue to push themselves, even in their own twilight. Every day Oregonians put on their raingear, caps, sunscreen and shoes. They run, swim, bike, kick a ball, throw a Frisbee to the dog, play with the kids in the street. Every single one of us, an athlete. We play, we coach, we cheer.
We are sport.
The great state of Oregon is a sumptuous playing field, a home for athletes of all ability. Oregon is a place to be born into sport, grow with it, thrive with it, become a champion, then bring along the next generation. We play in it’s waters, run it’s rugged paths, schuss the snows, ride it’s lonely roads. Tonight, we gather as one to celebrate the greatness of others. But we play out our own greatness every day. Never forget that what makes us different binds us, athletes all. Sport.. great and small.. is the essence of Oregon.
So, let us go forth and play and coach and cheer. For there are more games to play, more athletes to cheer and our own dreams, our own well-being to be lived out in this wonderful state of sport.