Heart of an Athlete

I love sports. Go ahead and say it, "You're a lesbian, of course you love sports!" It's not quite as simple as that. I have loved sports for as long as I can remember. In my youth, I had grand plans of being a world champion kick ball player. Between my ghost runners and myself, we were a pretty aggressive team. When I got in Middle School, as soon as I was able I joined the cross country team. It was the first fall sport I could participate in that interested me. Volleyball held no appeal...and today the only appeal of that sport to me is women's beach volleyball. I'll leave you to figure that out on your own. Cross Country was not what I had envisioned. Somehow I thought that since I was young and passionate...I would be great. Sadly, I was a bit chubby, and not even slightly in shape. Dreams of being the best cross country runner quickly died. Later that year I have basketball a try. To date, it's still one of my favorite sports to watch. I didn't last long, as I wasn't as tall or fast as any of the other girls on the team. I did stick around to be a fabulous team manager though. I finished the rest of my middle school days on stage. Who knew that theatre would be a bigger and brighter passion for me.

High school came along, and I actually made the varsity girls basketball team my junior year. However, other passions took priority over basketball, so once again sports took a back burner to other pursuits. I spent all of my college days on a stage in one way or another, but I still loved sports.

After college I got talked into playing rugby. Rugby to this day is a sport that I love blindly and with complete passion. I think I was ok at rugby, but I can't be sure. In our minds we all think we are world class players, at least for a little while. Injury came along and kept me from sports ever since. I have had 4 surgeries in the span of 3 years. Every time I think about getting back into some sort of athletic pursuit...injury shows up.

Upon returning to Colorado, a friend foolishly thought that asking me to play softball was a good idea. Lesbians are all great at softball, right? Allow me to introduce my ability to defy all convention. I am terrible at softball, running around the bases is a daunting and exhausting task for me. Also, there seems to be an orange bag at first base now that holds some importance....who knew?

As I get older, I accept the fact that maybe participation in sports isn't for me. It doesn't keep me from having a few dreams that I'd like to see come to true...dreams that I will keep to myself for now. Just know that I am great for being to person to attend live sports with. I will cheer and root for whichever team you tell me to. After the sporting event I will talk about becoming the best and brightest fan...and it will last a few fleeting minutes until something else comes along. I have yet to figure out of this means that I don't have the heart to be an athlete or if it means that I have severe ADD.

EDIT: Within hours of writing this post, my knee reminded me of it's power, or lack there of...again. Once again I can't straighten my leg or put any weight on it.

Spirit of the Games

For as long as I can remember, I have loved sports. I have tried to play a number of them, but my body prefers warming the bench. I have accepted that I will never be a world class athlete, but that doesn't stop me from watching all kinds of sports. Over the yearsI have come to dislike professional sports, as it becomes less and less about the sport, and more about the contracts, endorsements and other drama. There is one area of athletic contest that seems to not be polluted by consumerism, is the Olympics. Don't get me wrong, I know there is unbelieveable amounts of money thrown and sonsorships and advertising, but the athletes seem to be in it for the pure joy of competing. And I have been getting more and more excited about the upcoming summer games in China...until recently.

I have high hopes that the fighting, bickering, and finger pointing will come to an end. Threats of some countries not sending their athletes....it makes me a bit sad. On August 8, I want to be able to sit down and watch the opening cermomonies and enjoy all the the Olympics are to me...