03-03-2021, 03:33 PM
There are two separate questions...
The first is the importance of participation in sports (or more broadly physical activity) for physical and mental health, which I strongly believe in. Since the pandemic started, I have been working out in my garage with fitness classes via zoom and on most nights I take a long walk around the neighborhood. Prior to the pandemic I used to run obstacle course races (like the Spartan race) and had run in the San Francisco marathon. I miss that, and I look forward to being able to do it again. I also have tried to keep my kids physically active any way I can, and look forward to when they can resume competition (even if it is at a recreational level).
The second is the importance of spectator sports. As a long time season ticket holder for Stanford football, I have to admit that I missed this last season a lot less than I might have thought I would. Although I miss going to games in the abstract (and miss the sense of normalcy that a return to spectating would imply), I didn't for a second wish that Stanford/Santa Clara would allow spectators to it, and if they had, I wouldn't have gone. I didn't mind at all that Stanford decided not to go to a bowl game, for instance. And while I watched a fair number of basketball games back in January, I've been watching fewer of late. Part of that is that the men's basketball team is tanking, but even the women, who are as good as ever, aren't must watch television.
I know plenty of people who have essentially no relationship with spectator sports for their own entertainment. I don't know that I would ever go that far, but I could easily see my interest in watching sports, even Stanford sports, wane, even after the pandemic subsides.
BC
The first is the importance of participation in sports (or more broadly physical activity) for physical and mental health, which I strongly believe in. Since the pandemic started, I have been working out in my garage with fitness classes via zoom and on most nights I take a long walk around the neighborhood. Prior to the pandemic I used to run obstacle course races (like the Spartan race) and had run in the San Francisco marathon. I miss that, and I look forward to being able to do it again. I also have tried to keep my kids physically active any way I can, and look forward to when they can resume competition (even if it is at a recreational level).
The second is the importance of spectator sports. As a long time season ticket holder for Stanford football, I have to admit that I missed this last season a lot less than I might have thought I would. Although I miss going to games in the abstract (and miss the sense of normalcy that a return to spectating would imply), I didn't for a second wish that Stanford/Santa Clara would allow spectators to it, and if they had, I wouldn't have gone. I didn't mind at all that Stanford decided not to go to a bowl game, for instance. And while I watched a fair number of basketball games back in January, I've been watching fewer of late. Part of that is that the men's basketball team is tanking, but even the women, who are as good as ever, aren't must watch television.
I know plenty of people who have essentially no relationship with spectator sports for their own entertainment. I don't know that I would ever go that far, but I could easily see my interest in watching sports, even Stanford sports, wane, even after the pandemic subsides.
BC