Jim,
Glad we worked out the golf script. Your writing is better than a lot of printed stuff, so don't mistake print for quality. You're the sensei (in Japanese, the master), so I want to read your text and hear your voice and then, through the edits, you'll hear mine: two bells ringing at different tones that, hopefully, become harmony.

So, having been a fairly good tennis player in high school and college centuries ago, I still admire tennis, but the game is too fast for TV, the players are so fit and the racquets are so high-tech (I recently had my 1986 racquet restrung and the staff at Dick’s Sporting Good treated me like I’d found the racquet in a dinosaur bone pit. I still have my last wooden racket from 1982 and dare anyone to play me with a comparable “stick.â€ The sweet spot is still dime-sized, no matter what monetary inflation is now.

Turning to your question, I like all sports for the simple reason that a lot of people are playing them. I tend to get more involved and inquisitive if I have to; for example, my son was a very competitive swimming in his teens, making it all the way to the NC state files at NC State University. So naturally, I learned the terminology and checked all the local records and became a “swimâ€ dad. 

When my son beat the biggest fish in the Charlotte pond, not once but twice, and the poor loser’s mother went ballistic, I debated jumping the pool to celebrate, or tossing the mother in to shut her up, or just giving my son a high-five, and chose the latter and swore never to get so wrapped up in any sport (but tossing the mother was a close second).

I finally, at 56, treat triumph and disaster the same (thank you Mr. Kipling; I have an early 1900s edition of his works on my desk). I like statistics and adherence to the rules. I do not like the relentless sports coverage of players’ personal lives (no thank you, ESPN).

In Japan, I enjoyed watching sumo and kendo (sword play). I also saw my first live hockey game with the Canadians playing the Japanese, watched my first live pro soccer match with the J-League, went to many baseball games, and even saw rugby and Australian Rules Football (that’s a crazy sport)…so I guess I like all sports, particularly seeing them live.

If I had to choose, while I still love tennis (if the racquets were wooden again so the rallies were longer and the chess match was better), golf is my favorite. It’s calmer and the possibilities change with every shot. The best player doesn’t always win, good shots get bad breaks and vice versa, and miracles happen. The best amateur player I’ve ever seen is my brother-in-law Dan, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and congenital heart disease (his father died at 57-58). 

I just lost a $1 bet to him on the Ryder Cup and hope that, having thrashed me on the golf course for years and now picking my pocket, his spirits are lifted. That would be a win-win for both of us.

So, to sum up, sports are a complete distraction and for the most part sort of foolish—ball in hoop, ball across goal line, ball in small cup, ball over the net and within the lines, swim faster, jump higher, run faster, get new equipment, set records…all net nothing, just games.