The Pure Pleasure of the Concession Stand Feast. Without the Sports.

By Tim Clark — HEAD ABOVE WATER

I used to be a sports fan, mostly football and basketball, but I would dabble in baseball, soccer and volleyball. It was more than just something to do. It was an act of solidarity, a self-realized sacrifice of individuality to be part of a bigger whole. We would buy tickets, pay for parking, stand in line, and buy food, expensive food, from irritable counter help who didn’t view us as family at all. In fact, nobody really cared. We would lay out all of this money, time and energy to hang out with a bunch of similarly dressed people who were either apathetic or openly hostile.

It was the same when our sons participated in youth sports. Parents were more interested in securing additional playing time for their children than they were in the promotion of good sportsmanship or team building. And the most popular place was the concession stand. Cracker Jacks, Gatorade, soft drinks and potato chips, depending on the sport it might be big bowls of tortilla chips covered in steaming, melted, processed cheese food, the breakfast of champions.

Middle school and high school signaled the birth of active, rabid social promotion. AAU, club and travel squads were the farm teams fueling the dreams of high school dynasties. And the food became more advanced, hot…