OPEN COURT: Like a scene from a movie

I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret. It’s not as fun as it should be to attend most professional sporting events.

This doesn’t go for college games. Just about every collegiate sporting event I’ve attended has been a fantastic amount of fun. The energy is palpable and the games move at a relatively crisp pace — especially since college football finally implemented some much-needed time-saving rules.

But pro sports is best observed from the comfort of your living room, or with the company of friends in an energetic locale.

Most of the tickets are overpriced, as are the concessions. Parking is a nightmare. Television timeouts destroy any sense of flow — especially for NFL games. And roughly 60 percent of the time, you’re stuck next to one of “those fans” — you know who I’m talking about. That fan who gets a little too into the action and believes the athletes can actually hear his less-than-insightful commentary.

So why do we keep shelling out big bucks to go to these games and endure these annoyances?

Because you never know when a day like July 23, 2009 might come along.

Imagine being one of the 23,036 people at U.S. Cellular Field on the south side of Chicago that day. You know you’re probably going to get a decent ballgame, with your long-time ace Mark Buehrle on the mound. Plus, he works at a remarkably brisk pace, which should keep the game from dragging into the 210-minute range (which is too long to do anything, let alone sit in a ballpark).

Buehrle needed only 116 pitches and 123 minutes to put away the Tampa Bay Rays and complete the 18th perfect game in baseball history. Witnessing a performance like that in person more than makes up for any hassle you might put up with at the ballpark.

Not to take anything away from Buehrle’s stunning achievement, but the moment that every fan will remember from that day is the Dewayne Wise catch.

The reason we follow sports is to bear witness to those occasional moments of brilliance that we never see coming. We put up with endless hours of nonsense (Vick, Favre, T.O., A-Rod) for those transcendent 10-second highlights.

It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it, but trust me, it is.

Wise — a seldom-used untility player who entered the game for defensive purposes — made one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen, given the circumstances. I mean, it’s rare enough to see a centerfielder scale the wall on a dead sprint and steal a home run, only to nearly bobble it away, only to recover at the last second and secure the out. But to see it happen in the ninth inning of a possible perfect game?

The great Bill Simmons made the obvious “For Love of the Game” parallel, given that this scene actually happened in this decent Kevin Costner baseball movie. In the film, it seemed kind of far-fetched. A game-saving catch to preserve a perfect game? Only in Hollywood, right?

Well, Hollywood and Chicago, apparently.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747