Sport is . . .

In my part-time work at a resort golf course I take my lunch in the employees’ dining room. The television is always on and the channel chosen, by someone, is almost invariably on a sporting contest—golf, basketball, soccer, football, etc., and most of the diners are also watching the athletes. As I do my work on the golf course I watch the efforts of typically 150-180 golfers per day. I also see, off the course, the exertions of surfers riding the waves. I see bicyclers by the dozens, kite flyers, Frisbee throwers and skate boarders.

I, myself, have engaged, taught, coached, and spectated in innumerable hours of time on the field, court, course, mat, stream and trail.

So, what is going on with all of us thus engaged?

Here is something I found in my college notes that may give some philosophical insight to all this sweat, cheering, cheating, pain, exuberance, ‘thrill of victory and agony of defeat.’

“It is competition; composure; memory; anticipation. It is play for many and work for a few. It is what no one has to do and almost everyone wants to do. It represents, on the one hand, challenges willingly accepted—and, on the other, gambits willingly declined. Its colors are as bright as a cardinal’s feathers; as soft as mid-night on a mountain trail. It is as loud as Yankee Stadium at the climax of a World Series—and as quiet as snow. It is the jingoism of inebriated onlookers and the jaundiced reports of journalists. It is exercise and rest. It is man exuberant and man content. It is the dreams of youth still alive within us. It is an awakening that brings a family together –on a boat or beach, skiing weekend or camping trip It is as tangible as a baseball bat and as intangible as a frosty morning at the top of the mountain before the downhill run; as exciting as a photo-finish in a stadium with thousands of onlookers, and as serene as waiting on a board on a still sea for the next big wave.”

It’s point? Notwithstanding the reality that sport is ‘the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles,’ sport is the faithful (without Faith) image of the struggle of humanity toward perfection –spirit and body together striving to accomplish the age-old aspiration of mankind—Citius, Altius, Fortius,‘faster, higher, stronger.’ Or, for most of us, as Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, has said, “The most important thing is not to win, but to take part.”

Still, 'Let's win one for the Gipper!"

Let the games begin.