Sports

I joined a city softball league with some people in Erin’s program (along with some free agent strangers) this past month. It’s been fun getting out and competing again, playing a version of the game that I love. However, it’s caused a problem. After years of not playing baseball (or softball) at all, I fooled myself into thinking I’d “replaced” it with other athletic activities. I assumed the personal challenge of disc golf, for example, would fill the gap left when I stopped playing baseball after high school. I was incredibly wrong. ...

Competition is a slippery idea. In both professional and casual interactions, people often walk a fine line when showing a desire to compete. It can be fun and humorous to have a friendly intensity, but there’s always a tipping point where it becomes uncomfortable for those involved. Competition is one of the most natural things in the world, but needing to play out the act of competition in society muddies the waters. ...

The NFL playoffs are long over, but I still wanted to quickly document my experience using an antenna to watch a fair chunk of it in my San Francisco apartment. I bought an $11 “HD” antenna from Amazon after consulting with my dad. It’s good to see that it’s affordable, and made it an easy purchase. I scanned for channels a few times to find the ideal location for the antenna in my apartment1 and started experiencing my childhood again. ...

This weekend, I played my first competitive round of disc golf. On a whim, I signed up for a league round where everyone pays 5 dollars. What I hadn’t realized when I signed up is that it was a course I’d never played before, so I didn’t have the benefit of being comfortable with either of the factors involved. However, I had been craving a way to force some assessment of my current skills, and also generally some athletic competition that I haven’t had for quite a while. This round gave me plenty of both, and really hooked me. ...

After moving to San Francisco this year, I was lucky enough to fulfill a childhood dream by getting season tickets for Giants baseball. There were no expectations for the team. I just wanted to follow baseball closely again, have a team to root for, after being mostly on the fringe after college. ...

I watch my shot glide to the basket on hole 18. It’s a short hole to finish the course, but treacherous. The basket is perched in front of a large boulder, and anywhere off a straight line to the basket is a precipitous drop-off. My shot lands a little short, to the left, but on the flattest line down to the basket. It’s my typical safe shot. I hop off the tee pad and collect my things. As I begin walking down the path, a little tuft of fuzz catches my eye. It’s quite still overall, but the bits of fur at the end wiggle in the light breeze. They’re mostly black, with a clear white stripe down the middle. ...

I’ve wanted to try disc golf for a couple of years. I discovered it through the fantastic YouTube channel JomezPro, and have been into the sport since. However, I never took the time to buy and mess around with discs, or check with my friends for people to play with. While in Washington, I discovered that a few friends of mine have started playing. That was enough to encourage me to give it a go while back in Minnesota. It’s already been a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to working on it even more once I’m back in California.

With a vaccine in my veins and a cautious reopening of Oracle Park in San Francisco, I was able to attend my first baseball game of 2021, and my first MLB game in nearly 2 years. It was an absolute privilege and joy to do something that has always meant so much to me over the years. I’m incredibly lucky to live just a short walk from this absolutely fantastic stadium. ...

With no sports yet available in the United States, I’ve fallen back in love with the Marble League, a genuinely interesting, engaging, and exciting set of “athletic” events for – you guessed it – marbles. ...

I’ve watched the Super Bowl every year for as long as I can remember, and this year was no different. However, this year gave me a slightly different perspective. First, the Patriots were not playing and that was exciting; it’s nice to see an entirely different set of teams competing. Second, I had a conversation with my roommate the day prior that required to contextualize the Super Bowl and its cultural impact. ...