Why I Read Sports Stories: Because they are STORIES

Some readers may be surprised to hear that I am a big fan of certain sports, in particular NBA basketball, and most especially my hometown team, the Golden State Warriors. During the ten-plus years that I have been enthusiastically following the Warriors, I have somehow also gone from tepid interest in the sports played at my own and my daughter's former schools to becoming somewhat more interested in sports in general. One indication of this development is that although for decades I had no interest in the sports section of the newspaper, and would immediately put it in recycling (after my husband had read it), I gradually became more interested in reading the Sporting Green of the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as other sources of sports news. I followed tennis a bit since my husband played tennis and was a huge fan of professional tennis. I always watched at least some of the Olympics. I was pleased as women's sports developed and became more prominent on the scene. I became increasingly interested in stories about several sports, although my main sports focus was and still is the Warriors. Readers will not be surprised to hear that I especially like sports news that covers not only the scores and descriptions of the games/competitions, but the human angles, the stories behind the stories. And that leads me to my main point here: good sports writing has all the pleasures of fiction or memoir, in that there are intriguing characters, plots, and settings; there is suspense; there are wonderful turns of phrases and descriptive passages; there are various compelling writing styles. Good sports writing informs and entertains us, and makes us care. Of course many, perhaps most of the stories are about the competitions themselves, not only who won, but by how much, and in what ways, and with what surprises. But there are also stories about the developments experienced by an athlete or team throughout a season, and throughout the years (changes in ownership, owners who are willing to spend a lot and those who are not, moves to different cities, dynasties). There are profiles of individual athletes, including their family backgrounds (Whose parent was also a player? Who recently got married or divorced? Who has adorable small children who occasionally pop up at press events?). Also their lives (Who sails a boat to work every day? Who is a basketball superstar who has also won golf tournaments? Who does a lot of philanthropy? Who is featured in many commercials? Who crashed his car?), their reputations (the leader, the role model, the quiet one, the rebel, the one who plays dirty), their quirks. And there are stories about the relationships among the players as well as the coaches, referees, and other relevant personnel (Who gets along with whom? Who is competitive with whom? Who feels the coach is not being fair to him? Who thinks the referees are out to get him?). Some stories come out of left field (so to speak!), such as the recent one about a Japanese baseball superstar whose translator has, it turns out, been stealing millions from him to pay his gambling debts. And of course there is much speculation about the future (Who will be kept on the team? Who will be sent back to the minor leagues? Who will be traded? Who will be a a starter? Who will retire? Which team has a good chance to win it all next year, and which must be content with rebuilding?) I find so many of these stories to be compelling. I also appreciate the high quality writing of (in addition to sports reporters) excellent sports columnists, who provide a combination of news and commentary. For example, we who read the San Francisco Chronicle are fortunate to have excellent longtime sports columnists, especially Ann Killion and Scott Ostler. So, in conclusion: Sports stories are STORIES, like other forms of stories, and that is why, although I am far from athletic myself, I am a regular, even passionate, reader and fan of those stories.