Every time John and I attend a game of the Stanford Women's Volleyball Team I have the same series of thoughts:
My god, they're tall.
I've never been that energetic in my life.
They have perfect thighs.
All of them are young enough to be my daughter.
They are superb athletes.
They attend Stanford. They are not only superb athletes, they are insanely smart.
I could never get into Stanford.
I will never be athletic.
I would love to have been a different person than I am.
My butt has gone to sleep from sitting for three hours on this horrible bleacher.
They whipped Arizona's collective ass today, maintaining their 43-game streak of never losing at a home game. They're also undefeated in the Pac 10. I am hugely entertained by watching them play. At least Arizona gave them some bad moments and won a game; most of the rest of the Pac 10 has been beaten without winning even one game. My only comfort is that the back row of most teams features at least one girl my height or under. The thing I like most about watching college teams play is how much they smile and laugh with each other. They really love that sport. They are nice people down there on the court. It's not professional; they can afford to be human.
Watching athletes doing something I could imagine doing myself interests me more than just watching any old athlete compete. I've played volleyball, I've been on a gymnastics team, I've taken ice skating lessons, so I like to watch those particular things. I go to the games, or watch competitions on tv, and think about what their lives must have been like as kids. Meetings and practices every week. Working out. Playing other sports. Learning to be tough, to walk away from mistakes, to push themselves physically, to not let a defeat bother them. I would have hated the extracurricular activities. All I ever wanted to do was get away from other kids after school, to be left alone with my books and my records and my imagination. I hated physical exertion. I cried easily if I got hurt. I was wounded to my soul if I made mistakes, or lost a game, or someone said the wrong thing. I also found most sports deathly boring. I would never have been one of those smiling young women on the court.
But sometimes I wish I could have been. Go Stanford!
