I’m not going to lie to y’all – I’m not a huge fan of professional golf. It takes ages, winners and losers are often determined long before the game is finished, and how seriously can you take a sport where guys like Angel Cabrera can become champions?
Angel enjoys a performance-reducing drug.
I always groan when golf is the sport du jour on the gym TV screens…yet I don’t mind playing a bit of mini-golf or even hitting a few balls at a driving range. Just recently I found myself taking a couple of swings at a golf course here in Johannesburg, and with a cloudless blue sky and incredible highveld vistas I suddenly understood why so many people love to play.
Which brings me to that essential distinction: sports we love to watch vs. sports we love to play.
I’m a fairly committed middle-distance runner, always training for the next 10K or half-marathon. A colleague recently asked whether I was interested in joining her harriers club, and as I analyzed what turned me off about the prospect I realized that what makes running my favorite activity is that it’s completely solitary. Every run comes down to me versus my personal goals, and having to make conversation or keep up with a group is the last thing I want.
On the flip side, one of my favorite sports to watch – but not play – is football (or soccer for my fellow North American natives). Weirdly, what I love most about it is the team dynamic! I find it fascinating that a player can be a superstar on one team yet become shockingly bad when he moves to the next, or the way the addition of a new player can transform the cohesion of a side. And let’s not forget those on-pitch moments that are practically soap operatic with thrown-up palms and angry pointing!
How do your preferences shake out when it comes to playing versus watching? Are there any sports you love to do but can’t bear to sit through on TV? Tell me which sports you love and loathe and why, and one lucky commenter will win a copy of THE STRIKER’S CHANCE, my Carina Press debut about a sexy soccer superstar who joins a failing team and meets his match in – and loses his heart to – the ambitious publicist assigned to revamp his image.
BUT WAIT! As part of the Bunker-Play Blog Hop you also have the chance to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway including some awesome swag from author Lily Malone whose latest, Fairway to Heaven, is available now! Follow the links below for the giveaway and to visit the other amazing bloggers, and be sure to check back here on January 15th to see whether THE STRIKER’S CHANCE will be winging its way to an eReader near you!
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Hi Rebecca,
Nice post! I LOVE your cover, he’s gorgeous 🙂 I’m an Aussie and a rugby league tragic. I’ve watched since I was a kid and I love it. But I have to admit to watching any sport at all. I’m useless at them but I do love them!
I like your take on team dynamics. That’s so important, I agree. The chemistry between some players is a joy to watch (the recent Australian rugby league team was like that), especially when they just seem to know where the next bloke will be and pass ‘blind’.
I’ll have to add your story to be growing TBR pile 🙂 It sounds great.
Cate xo
I used to love fencing (the sport, not the other kind) but I find it as interesting to watch as paint drying. Your book on soccer looks fab, it piqued my interest because you don’t see many soccer stars in romance. Maybe I’ll win a copy, yay!
Sigh – love the cover 🙂 Nice post!
Hi Rebecca 🙂
I live with three guys so anything that involves a ball or a stick is either being watched on TV or attended in person, or played in person, or spoken about or argued about, it’s nonstop 🙂 I love all sport and can get through them all very nicely…provided I had my kindle discreetly tucked in my arm 🙂
I already have a copy of The Striker’s Chance and I loved it!!
Love the cover!…Sports, yikkes! I`m not really into sports per se, but have grown up playing and loving tennis *grin* People laugh when I say that. Tennis is also a sport, they say *laugh* I know that of course, but tennis always felt different, with the intense silence around the court as everyone waited for the next serve or break point.
Growing up with male cousins, you get exposed to every sport out there. I knew all the rules and for a couple of years was well versed in rugby, cricket and soccer plays. When I hit varsity I was in revolt! *laughs* Still am *grin* What I did however stayed on top of was the soccer-hunks *wink* During the World Cup in SA, I was in ‘crazy fan’ distance of David Beckham. The man didn`t play in that England vs Germany match but man did he look good in his suit on the sidelines!LOL
So tennis it is! …wait let me go dust off my racket…I might hit the courts this weekend after this post!
My favourite sport to watch (but which I’d never in a million years be able to take part in) is Formula One motor racing. The team effort that goes into a winning car, and the drivers’ skills, are just amazing. If only I had a little of that for every day use!
Rebecca, I’ve read your book and thoroughly enjoyed it so don’t put my name in the giveaway. I also enjoy playing golf but tend to hit towards the rough too much. My putting skills are the highlight. Probably because my dad took my brother and I to play putt-putt almost every weekend as a kid. To watch, I love athletics, swimming and gymnastics – basically Olympics sports.
Great post! I’m a bit of a soccer fanatic myself – the armchair version that is! Never liked kicking a ball around on a field but let my national team play in a match and I’m wearing their shirts, singing their songs and move over anybody who’s not supporting my side!
As to Formula 1. I am Mrs Schumi according to my hubby so while I love driving fast cars and … well any car really to see how fast it goes I also adore watching F1 racing on TV. The cars, the speed, the men, the grit and the determination! Wow! What a thrill!
Lol, does Zumba count as sport? 🙂 I love doing Zumba but please, don’t put me in a class. I get self-conscious, and then klutz me comes to the fore and I’m sure to bounce into someone or the other.
Love watching tennis (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray – uhm, yes, eye candy, but awesome on a court, too) and football – I grew up in a house where the men were obsessed with Liverpool FC and I started the Cold War when I found myself supporting Arsenal FC. Then I had the superb luck of marrying a man who hates football…so no more watching for me coz all I’d hear is groans if I park down to watch a game. I get away with Euro and World Cup games, but that’s about it. 🙂
Hi Becs, hope I’m not too late to win!
To be honest, I absolutely hate sport. Being an Indian I can manage to watch cricket, but cannot and will not play it. The thought of that ball flying my way is enough to send me running off the field! I did watch the first soccer match during the world cup in SA but then quickly lost interest b’cos I had no idea what was going on 🙂
It’s interesting you put sport into a romance – I would never have thought of that! Well done!!
Gorgeous cover! I love anything fast – from the comfort of the sofa in front of the TV. Counting the days to the Winter Olympics 🙂