'A Super Bowl for women'

I have a love/like relationship with sports.  When you grow up in a household where there are four boys, you do sports.  My Dad was a Little League manager for 18 years in North Baldwin.  Two of my brothers played sports on a collegiate level.  My youngest brother is jogging at age 50.  I was the one without athletic talent. 

But growing up we not only did sports, we watched sports.  Pirate games at Forbes Field.  Steeler games at decrepit Pitt Stadium.  Hornets hockey at the then-new Civic Arena.  (I can remember when the Hornets let fans skate on the ice after some games.  Yup, we even did a little ice skaing.) In the summer, Federation League semi-pro baseball games all over the area.  In the winter, high school basketball. 

So sports are in our blood.  My brother Fred is enamored by all things University of Miami.  My brother Len, NASCAR.  My brother Martie, the Pirates.  (The Pirates???!)  As I’ve aged, I’ve lost interest in some (anything college, the PGA) and grown more enthusiastic about others (Steelers and pro football, Penguins and the NHL, especially playoff hockey).   

Sports used to be a surefire conversation-starter when priests got together.  But not today.  Most priests I know have little use for sports.  (Even golf.  I can remember in seminary golf being labeled “the sacerdotal game” because of the affinity of some priests to hit the links three or four times during the week—but never on Sunday!). 

I can get very passionate about some sporting events.  So I have no credibility when other people who hate sports (read: women) have the same passion for so-called “reality shows.”  You know their names:  Bachelorette, American Idol, The Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars.   Now my idea of a reality show is the Steelers trying to come back from a 21-3 deficit in Super Bowl 45.  But who am I to criticize others (read: women) who spend as much time analyzing the rumbas, quickstep and freestyle dances as I do the faceoff statistics of Sidney Crosby?   A friend called DWTS the “Super Bowl for women.”  Sounds good to me.

Congratulations to Hines Ward and Kym Johnson for their delightful win, and to Steeler Nation for coming through once again for the Black and Gold (dancers).