Times article here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2018528412_guest26hansen.html
Some choice cuts:
To those who feel that professional sports do not add the same cultural value as other performing arts, I would simply ask:
• Are the countless hours Ray Allen spent perfecting his jump shot somehow less admirable than those Yo-Yo Ma spent practicing the cello?
• Were Shawn Kemp's highflying acrobatics any less graceful than an Alessandra Ferri pirouette?
• Was Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard game-clinching run in an NFL playoff game any less moving or inspiring than a Pavarotti aria?
Professional sports touch the soul and bind communities in unique and powerful ways. They make us hug strangers, cheer in unison, and high-five fellow fans. They provide parents an opportunity to bond with their children, friends an excuse to get together for a beer and the common ground for people decades apart in age to strike up a conversation that may otherwise never occur.
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Well put Chris. Let's just hope that the City and County electeds manage not to snatch defeat away from the jaws of victory by heeding the witless hackery of sour burnouts like Ron Judd. Out with the old, in with the new.