Adventure 400: Park City, Utah/Post E

Go Zags!

I've been committed to competitive sports for most of my life. I've experienced the jubilation of victory and the heart ripping pain of defeat. And yet I return. I think sports (and competition in all forms) holds its fascination for human beings because it's the pure truth. When all is said and all is done; when the time runs out, all one has to do is to look at the big board. The team with the biggest number wins. It's not like the equivocation of politics; it's not like the rationalization of relationships; it's not like the deceit of misdirection. For many, sports is life. For me, it's always been about being willing to lay it all out there-win or lose- in order to commit to something fully. So many people sit this dance out and water that wall flower there, or wish about what might have been, much like J. Alfred Prufrock. So, do not dismay; do not sit it out. Instead: 
            Let us go then, you and I,
            When the evening is spread out against the sky
            Like a patient etherized upon a table;
            Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
            The muttering retreats in one-night cheap hotels
            And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells;
            Streets that follow like a tedious argument
            Of insidious intent
            To lead you to an overwhelming question....
            Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
            Let us go and make our visit.

The poem goes on to discuss the notion of living or pretending to live. Athletes live, regardless of exhilarating triumph or dejecting defeat; no matter, life is good, especially today.

 On some the sun sets in sadness.

 On others it sets on gladness. I've always been amazed at how much difference there is between the two, and moreover, at how small the difference really is.