Sports

I watch, listen, and follow on the internet a variety of sports: baseball, football, hockey, basketball sometimes, occasionally golf, soccer, especially the Women’s World Cup, horseracing when it’s the Triple Crown, the Tour de France, and these days, the Cricket World Cup, as well.

Does that make me a loser?  

Probably, sure.  But, so what?

Sports can be reasonably entertaining, and a good counterpoint to reading War and Peace, which is another of the ways I’m spending time during my vacation.  Is paying attention to the exploits of the Indian national team on the cricket pitch really any different than following the action of the Russian Army at the Battle of Austerlitz?  

Probably, sure, but so what? 

My interest is largely academic; I don’t really care who wins or loses the events that I follow.  It’s not that I don’t have preferences; it’s just that, I realize that, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter whether India prevails over Australia in cricket, or even of the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs in baseball.  

I can’t even remember who won the Superbowl that year before last—although I can recite the baseball World Series winners from 1960 to 1971; is that pathetic, or what?

Probably, sure, but so what?

I blame the culture I’ve grown up in for my condition; had I been born in 19^th century Russia, I wouldn’t care about baseball at all.  Is that because it hadn’t been invented yet?

Probably, sure, but so what?

I might, if I lived at that time, be pretty into horseracing.  The princes and counts in Petersburg all seemed relatively caught up in the outcomes of races between this horse versus that one.  Could it be that gambling played a part?

Probably, sure, but so what?

In the end, I think it’s a lot better to root for regional sports teams on the playing field than national armies on the battlefield.

Probably, sure, but so what?