A Sporting Chance

Today, whilst eating my lunch, I was watching the documentary "Fog of War" on the History Channel. "Fog of War" is a fantastic documentary exploring the life of Robert McNamara, former Secy of Defense during Vietnam. He is a fascinating figure to me, as a man who played a substantial role not only in the destruction of lives through war, but also in saving lives through his work in the area of auto safety. What a sad dichotomy. I highly recommend it to any of you who have never seen it.

Anyways, during the commercial, however, I changed the channel and found the sport of Curling on NBC. Naturally, I was thrilled (I mean, who wouldn't be?) After all, I still regret not going to watch the curling competition at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. I had almost bought tickets, but decided not to (it was one of the few events that I could conceivably afford tickets to as a poor student).

I think that Curling should be my new favorite sport. Not as a matter of sheer enjoyment, but as a matter of practicality. Why? Because I'm in my late-20s, and it is really the only sport I can think of where a 20-something like me could still conceivably, one day, just up and decide to be an Olympian.

That is not to take anything away from these curlers. They are clearly very skilled at what they do, and it's a complex sport. But from an athletic standpoint, it doesn't seem to me to be a sport (like gymnastics or figure skating) that one needs to start by the age of 5 to excel at. Less obviously, I'm probably too old to dedicate my life to the Steeple-Chase or the Biathlon and have a legitimate shot.

But with curling....it seems that I could wake up tomorrow morning with the Olympic fire burning inside of me, and dedicate the rest of my life to the sport of curling, and conceivably compete for my beloved US of A in the Games of the Winter Olympiad.