The Tuesday Discussion: Other Sports?

January 24, 2023

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This we we asked our writers what other sports they enjoy watching, participating in, or following.

Here are their responses...

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Tamar Chalker - I am from Connecticut and grew up there in the 90s, so UConn basketball is the other main sports team(s) that I follow. I love playing basketball as well, but I’m about as tall as Muggsy Bogues, so there’s that. When the Olympics are going, I’ll watch just about whatever is on - winter or summer. Having played field hockey through college, I usually try to catch as much field hockey as I can. I enjoy playing golf, but I’ve never had any desire to watch it.

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Lincoln Mitchell - Recently I have enjoyed watching the 9ers in the playoffs. In general, my love for baseball is an aberration as I am not a big fan of other sports. I just came across my old tennis racket and thought it might be fun to do that. Growing up I was too short to be a good basketball player and not that into playing football. As a middle aged dude, I like to ride my bike, but mostly for errands.

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James Vlietstra - By games attended, baseball is by far my favorite at probably 300. Followed by NASCAR (25-30), and I believe NBA, NHL, NFL all at one. Although recent changes to NASCAR, I probably only watched two races this year. When the Knicks and Rangers are good I watch 6-8 games a year. The last couple of years I have been playing in some pretty competitive fantasy football leagues so I have been following football more than ever.

With kids and sports and work I can’t say I don’t miss an occasional Yankees game, but that’s the sport that I follow most intently, all year round.

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Paul Semendinger - Baseball is my sport true and true. I spend a lot of time following the Yankees in many ways (of course) and still playing the game I love. The sport I care about next is football. I don't have a deep passion for football although I enjoy the playoff games and rooting for specific players. I am a marathoner (I hope to run two marathons this year) but I don't really follow marathoning as a sport, keeping track of the winners of the big races and such. I used to love boxing, but that sport has been taken away from the fans with limited access so I don't see many fights at all. (It matters little, my favorite fighter, Rocky Balboa, retired... except when I watch the early Rocky movies.) There was a time when I enjoyed watching tennis. I was a big fan of Ivan Lendl. But that was a long time ago. Maybe I'll watch tennis more one day.

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Cary Greene - Though baseball is easily my favorite competitive sport and the primary one that I follow, with my favorite teams being the Yankees, Pirates and A's, I also love College hoops and follow Syracuse Basketball very closely as well. To a much lesser extent, I like the NFL, being a lifelong Steelers fan and I'm always easily interested in an occasional college football game, a key MMA fight or professional Boxing match, or other events like World Cup soccer or the Olympics.

I've always balanced my free time with my life's passion - which is fly-fishing in saltwater and surf casting (with custom wood "plugs," Tins and lures). I love combing beaches at dawn or at night and compared to my love of fishing, other sports have had to take a back seat to my fishing plans. Though fishing can be competitive, I'm more attracted to the coastal lifestyle that being on, in and around the water is associated with. For me, nothing compares to a fun day (or night) on the water and it opens up new frontiers like beach camping, destination fishing, and meeting new fishing friends of course!

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Mike Whiteman - I really enjoy running (maybe not as much as Paul), including training and road races. I'm currently nursing a torn meniscus and am looking forward to moving freely again when the weather gets warm.

I used to be a pretty serious (though not particularly skilled) golfer, but toned that back significantly when my children were younger. I'll now get out for a round a few times a summer with friends, and that's a real treat.

The most fun I've had in some time was when I played in an age 38-plus baseball team this past fall. It was the first time I had played "hardball" in over thirty years. Looking forward to hopefully improving on my .222 batting average next season!

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Tim Kabel - Sadly, I am a New York Jets fan. Therefore, I don’t think it’s fair to say that I enjoy football season. I put my time in and hope that things will improve.

Other than that, I don’t really watch a lot of sports. When when I was younger, I used to watch boxing. That was in the era of Sugar Ray, Leonard, Larry Holmes, marvelous Marvin, Hagler, and George Foreman. It was a different world back then.