Competitive pressures begin in the off season. The determined and committed athlete will devote themselves to build, improve and prepare both body and mind for the next challenge. Old injuries are overcome and past disappointments are pushed away. Age, our consummate enemy, is kept at bay another year. All off season pressures endured by an athlete are self imposed.

The preseason period imposes new strains upon the athletic psyche. The personal stresses of practices are now from both within and without; the athlete is surrounded by those who would best him, the hungry rivals eager to... Continue Reading...

I do not often reach for my trusty Oxford English Dictionary of Etymology while taking in a golf telecast, but the CBS commentary at this year’s British Open drove me to it.

The announcers were making their usual fawning references to Tiger Woods, a peerless athlete, and the pressures that he faces every week in competition. The stated... Continue Reading...

Every autumn, an announcement is published in the community newspaper and a photocopied version is pinned up on the local high school bulletin boards. “Durham Eclipse Girls Under 18 Rep basketball team tryouts, Monday, October 1 at 6 pm, other dates to be announced. Eastdale CVI Oshawa. All players welcome.”

This terse invitation... Continue Reading...

Friendly discussions do exist, I suppose. Perhaps in Quaker meeting halls or at yoga classes you might find a discussion where the words are measured, polite and neat. When a conversation is truly amiable, the emotion of the moment never extends past the issue at hand to the persons who are exchanging the words. In these kinds of dialogues, winning... Continue Reading...

It is written that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In seven stupendous days, He formed the plants, the animals, the seas, and the skies. And as proof of both His divine power and His inestimable sense of humour, God created public relations, the world’s true oldest profession.

Advertising and self-promotion... Continue Reading...

The flags are first to the field, their acres of silk woven with every colour ever known to the world, both ancient and modern. The traditional styling of the French tricolors and the vibrancy of Ghana’s Black Star generate the same anticipatory cheer when they are set against the unsullied green pitch. A small phalanx of officials follows. Their... Continue Reading...