I just finished reading "Rules of the Game," a collection of sports-related essays from Harper's magazine. The essay topics run the gamut from Kaiser Wilhelm's sailing party to the Mitchell Report. I could give you any number of reasons for picking up this book (including the fact that Mark Twain -- yes, that Mark Twain -- wrote one of the essays), but this blog post is about one essay in particular.
The essay is called "Obsessed with Sport" and was written in July 1976 by Joseph Epstein, the former editor of The American Scholar, "the magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society." Yes, this may be the last time the words "Phi Beta Kappa" appear in this blog without being preceded by "He's not exactly a candidate for." But what Mr. Epstein has to say about sports is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it, because it says succinctly why so many people invest so much of themselves in sports of all sorts.
"On the court, down on the field, sport is fraud-free and fakeproof. With a full count, two men on, his team down by one run in the last of the eighth, a batter (as well as a pitcher) is beyond the aid of public relations. At match point in Forest Hills a player's press clippings are of no help. Last year's earnings will not sink a twelve-foot putt on the eighteenth at Augusta. Alan Page, galloping up along a quarterback's blind side, figures to be neglectful of that quarterback's image as a swinger. In all these situations, and hundreds of others, a man either comes through or he doesn't. He is alone out there, naked but for his ability, which counts for everything. Something there is that is elemental about this, and something greatly satisfying."
It isn't very hard for Mr. Epstein to make these same points about NASCAR (or soccer or just about anything else). When the race comes down to a green-white-checkered finish, it doesn't matter how many championships you've won, how many tracks you own or how many commercials feature your face. Either you get the job done or you don't.
It's that simple.
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