Mark Crump

I wouldn’t consider myself a gigantic sports fan. However, I’ve probably watched 3/4 of this year’s Sox games and taken in five or six Pawsox games. I didn’t watch the Bruins much until the playoffs, but I usually caught a Pats game at my folk’s on Sunday.

The reason I turn to the sports page first thing in the morning has nothing to do with my love of sports; it has everything to do with my hatred of everything else in the news. The sports section softens the blow.

When I read the sports pages, the worst I’ll read is that Lackey gave up 5 runs in the first. Or that Wakefield was denied his 200th win, again. Or that Patriots gave up 40 in the first quarter. In other words, stuff that doesn’t matter to me much.

Sure, I get excited when my local teams win. I have a “that’s too bad” moment when they lose.

When I start my day on the main page of Boston.com, I see the stock market tumbling, a double homicide in one town, a kid killed up north, a riot or two, more combat deaths. Stuff that I have little control over but still affects me in some way. In this economy, the stock market and jobs reports have a direct impact on my life, but something I am powerless to do anything about.

So, I read the sports pages. It’s better than the alternative.