I’m a fan, as in fanatic

So, OK, I admit it: I’m a sports fan! Some might even say “fanatic!” If there’s a ball bouncing, rolling or flying, I’m likely to watch it and maybe get vocally involved. Marilyn is constantly telling me, “Don’t yell at the TV!” Golf, baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, soccer: I’ll watch them all. I also love to watch track and field, cross-country races and downhill skiing competitions. There are a couple of sports I don’t care about. I’m not a fan of boxing, pro wrestling (I like amateur wrestling), car racing, hockey. But notice there’s no ball involved. I’m not a big fan of bowling, either, even though there’s a ball in it. So what is a “fanatic”? My online dictionary says this: “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.” There are three interesting adjectives in that definition - excessive, intense and uncritical. And I guess that’s what I am. The teams I love can do no wrong whether they win or lose. I hung with the Packers and the Badgers through some pretty lean years. Maybe “loyal” should have been in the definition, too. And I’m not alone, right? Thirty years of awful teams, and Lambeau was still sold out. I agree with whoever it was who once joked that God put a “G” on the Packers helmets to let the world know he was rooting for Green Bay. I’m like the hundreds of thousands of Packer fans who own many pieces of Packer paraphernalia and think it’s perfectly all right to wear our Green and Gold to church on game days. After all, we’re fans, right? I bought a new hat for last week’s game at Lambeau. So, OK, I’m a sports fan. But you know what? I’m also a huge fan of “Dancing with the Stars” — and not just when Donald Driver, Emmet Smith and Jerry Rice were dancing and winning the mirror ball trophy. And I’m also an avid fan of “So you Think You Can Dance.” There’s no ball bouncing, so why do I like them so much? Because there are some remarkable “athletes” on those shows. Have you ever watched some of those people? Hip hop, clunking, animation, breakdancing, ballroom, contemporary, jazz, Latin. Wow! About 30 years ago, I was asked to review a Dodge County Community Concerts program — a ballet troupe. Me? I had never seen a ballet in person before. I knew nothing about ballet. I didn’t know a plié from a jeté, a pas de doux from a pique. But after resisting for a while, I agreed to do it. I went to my first ballet, armed with a notebook, a pen and an open mind. I was blown away! I never wrote a note during the performance, and when I got home and sat down to write the review, I studied the program notes and sort of replayed the whole production in my head. I was visualizing the grace and strength of the dancers, both male and female who had danced the show. What I eventually wrote was not a very knowledgeable review of the dance, but a paean to the dancers, a fervent expression of my joy at having witnessed such a wonderful display of athleticism. I remember comparing the male dancers to Michael Jordan. Their body control, their leaping ability, their liquid gracefulness reminded me of Michael’s twisting acrobatic drives to the basket and his amazing “hang time” on a jump shot. I also compared them to some of the great high jumpers in history, athletes who used a variety of techniques — the straddle, the scissors jump, the Western roll, and the Fosbury flop — all of which demand extreme body control. I didn’t know much about ballet, so I wrote about what I knew. I still don’t know very much about ballet, but I love to watch how the ballet dancers who compete on “SYTYCD” can incorporate their great finesse into all of the other styles of dance they’re called on to do. And I’m always impressed by the athletes who compete on “DWTS” and how well they can transform their athleticism into the grace and beauty of ballroom dancing. I’ve decided I’m more than just a “sports fanatic!”