The Art of the Subplot

This column appears in the March 16th issue of The DePauw.

Like any great movie, a significant sporting story has some kind of interesting subplot. In the cinematic world, this often takes form in the way of a complicated relationship or family matter that may determine the course of action of the entire film.

In the sporting world, this is what makes any new sports story interesting. In the last few weeks, interesting subplots have been popping up everywhere.

Take, for example, Marion Jones. Last week, she signed a contract to play in the WNBA with the Tulsa Shock. Yes, the same Marion Jones who won three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. And, yes, the same Marion Jones who lost those medals after admitting to the use of performance enhancing drugs seven years later.

What is more interesting here? The fact that Jones signed with a WNBA team, or the fact that she was in prison a year ago? Her starting WNBA salary (the league minimum, about $35,000) or her new multi-sport athletic aspirations?

But Jones’ story is hardly in the minority when it comes to the subplot. In the last week alone, we have learned that David Beckham will likely miss the World Cup, Nomar Garciaparra retired from baseball, and that Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras played in a charity tennis match to help raise money for the earthquake victims in Haiti.

All of these stories are interesting in themselves.

But, every single one of these stories also has an interesting subplot, and in some cases, the subplot is even more interesting than the story itself.

When Nomar decided to retire from baseball, he didn’t just call a press conference and let everyone know he was done. He signed a one-day contract with the Boston Red Sox, the team he is most recognized as being a member of, and retired as a member of the team he made his debut with.

When Agassi and Sampras got together to raise money for charity, the match descended into a pathetic, immature verbal cat fight. (If you haven’t seen a video of this yet, you are missing out.)

And in my favorite sporting story of the week, at least in terms of the all-mighty subplot, David Beckham tore his Achilles tendon playing for AC Milan, and is now likely to miss the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Think about this one for a minute – there is so much more to this than just the injury. Beckham was aiming to play in his 4^th world cup for England, which would have been a record. Beckham was also playing on loan for another team – how do the LA Galaxy feel about this injury? Beckham is essentially being paid as the player to make soccer in the United States relevant; how will this injury impact that?

It goes even further.

Beckham is reaching the age where any major injury could be career threatening. Will he ever play professional soccer again? And, perhaps most importantly, who will have the best hair in South Africa this summer now that Beckham won’t be playing?

When you think about it, this is why we enjoy sports; this is why sport is entertainment. There is so much more than what is going on out on the actual field or court. What athletes and players did last week or last year has relevance to the enjoyment we get from watching sporting events. Without the element of sub plot, there would be no underdog stories (and thus the movie Rudy would pretty much suck), no comeback stories (We Are Marshall would just be Matthew McConaughey’s face on screen for two hours), and no true sporting hero inspiration. (Would anyone even try in sports if Rocky Balboa didn’t exist? Exactly.)

So as we get ready to go on Spring Break and fill out March Madness brackets, remember: just as Blood Diamond has a Leo DiCaprio love-story woven in, every sports story has a subplot. It’s just up to us to find it.

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