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Show Sports writer gets to 'Hart of the Matter' : , By G.B.HART 1 J - As a new sports writer joining The Clipper's sports team of John ! ' I Cannon and Tom Haraldsen, I would like to introduce myself and a new column in which I will attempt to get to the heart of sports ' T I isauet, loroe serious and others not so serious. I call it, "The Hart of 'V- ; rrrxnaTrtstoformelast25yen,jdstshgrrtrv I've been alive - a month or two longer anyway. Even my earliest recollections are sports related. I remember sitting on the sidelines at age three, decked out in the only Christmas gift that had survived to see the summer months, my plastic helmet and shoulder pads, wishing my uncle's little league football coach would put me in the game. Since that time I have spent most of my life playing or watching wat-ching one sport or another. ' .' To give you an insight into my philosophy on sports, 1 11 get ' ' 1 straight to the heart of the matter (pun intended): What is it about . sports that can cause millions of people, fans and athletes alike, to I temporarily go bananas at the mere mention of a sports event? I For example, at one extreme you have the soccer "hooligans' itaponsiNe far riots in England and Europe. And at the other end of V .. -tfte spectrum you have the avid sports fan who slyly sneaks out of a ' Sunday church meeting, inspite of his or her conscience, to secretly check up on his or her favorite team. What is it about sports that causes such eccentric behavior? I'm sure most "non" sports fans, whose favorite programs have been interrupted because of a special sports presentation or whose husbands or wives are obsessed with jogging, "aerobicizing" or glued to three different simultaneous sports events, can identify with I my bewilderment. -' , ; But the question remains, why do we have such an obsession with ? . ' I sports and sport heroes? Throughout history we have honored great 1 '. I military and government leaders for their cunning at winning wars and preserving peac. Now we honor war heroes of a different nature line fearless combatants that expertly orchestrate teams instead of armies toward world championships of the sports variety. Perhaps sports offer one of the few remaining physical challenges that space age men or women can still use to push their bodies and mental capabilities to their ultimate limits. It's ironic, but ages ago our ancestors had to physically exert themselves to be able to eat or find shelter. Life was difficult and short Now in the 20th century, if we don't learn to exert ourselves physically, obesity, heart disease and other by-products of a sedentary seden-tary lifestyle threaten to make life difficult and short Finally, it is entirely possible that the fascination simply lies in the easy escape sports offer from the daily stress of modem life. To the typical sports fanatic like myself, the answer to the question is really not too important For me, the most important thing is that sports exist; otherwise I'd probably be out of a job. I hope you will join me as I look at sports and try to get to the "Hart" of the matter. |