Watching Andre Agassi play in what might be his last U.S. Open is a little sad to me. Nowhere near the sadness that so many are feeling in the New Orleans area right now, and it hardly feels acceptable to be talking about sports right now, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we all have different aversions in life…those things or activities that give us the calming sense of normality…for me it's sports.
I've been watching Agassi play tennis since the year after I graduated from high school. I've followed his career as he dealt with the various problems we all deal with—relational, personal, motivational, and others. I've seen him rise above it all and play well. I've seen him have little interest in the game and I've seen him take long breaks. Now he's married with children and he seems to enjoy and appreciate the game more than ever.
I'll probably never meet him (although I am a sports writer, so you never know), but oddly he's been part of my life for a long time. And it was hard to really appreciate him until he was on the verge of retiring. It's odd don't you think? We seldom appreciate what we have until we realize we are about to lose it.
