What are your favorite sports to watch and play?
I am not a competitive person. However, growing up, my parents required me to participate in a sport. I wasn’t graceful enough for land sports, instead; I lived in the water. Sometimes I wondered if I would transform into a mermaid, but mermaids cannot survive in chlorine. I was a competitive swimmer from the ages of 5 to 18 years old. However, I wasn’t a sprinter; I am too tiny for that! But I could swim forever and my coaches would take advantage of that fact. By the time I reached high school, I no longer wanted to compete. I just wanted to practice. My coaches would tease me. Every time a meet was coming up they would ask me what event I wanted to sign up for, and I would say that one where I don’t leave my bed. I appreciate them allowing me to just come and swim. As an adult, that is what the master teams are, people just swimming. I don’t have time for that yet. But if there is any chance for me to participate in a sport, it will probably have to have a connection to being a mermaid.
For watching sports, I’m pretty basic. I enjoy watching football, college or professional. I can enjoy the NBA either on television or in person. And until recently, I could only enjoy watching a baseball game live and the beautiful outdoors. Now that I have grown to appreciate the sport, I can watch baseball on TV. I don’t mind watching hockey on the TV but I’d much rather watch it in person. There’s something about hearing them slam into the walls and yell at each other that just doesn’t translate well to television.
There are two sports I can’t watch on TV but absolutely love watching in person, golf and polo. Polo is about the atmosphere and seeing people. It’s about the food and the party that goes on and the 15 seconds of the horse race. And on the opposite end of the spectrum is golf. Golf is way too slow to watch on television and I get jealous of everybody being outdoors in a beautiful location. So that is why I cannot wait for the Honda classic this year. I know they renamed it, but there’s a 95% chance I’ll never call it the new name.
I don’t enjoy playing tennis or watching it. All I can remember from my lessons as a child is my tennis instructor telling me that if God intended me to fly, he would have given me wings. I remember questioning the man and wondering why he would hit the ball so high over my head and one jump to reach it and we got yelled at. Part of me thinks he hated children.
I don’t mind playing pool, but I have to be with a group of friends that I like. However, most of my memories playing pool are of a dear friend who committed suicide. It’s hard to enjoy it since it brings back memories of him. I won’t watch people play it on television. I think I can just leave pool in my twenties.
Some people consider bowling a sport, while others don’t. And I don’t. It has nothing to do with the fact that I absolutely suck at it. I can have bumpers along the lanes and somehow I will still get a gutter ball. Although I am very good at Wii sports bowling.
But if I had the choice, I would rather watch sports live. There’s just something about being caught up in the energy of being at an arena or stadium. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I live in Florida and I’m blessed to watch most sports outdoors since the weather here is perfect.