TO EACH HIS OWN

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I just gave up with a sigh. As was said to me today, “to each his own.”  Here’s the story:

This past Saturday the following was posted on a community discussion forum: “Well, I enjoy the Olympics, However, this is worse then [sic] Football season, at least there is a break in football, but 17 days of this is too much.

If there are any good movies, etc. out there I will be going to see some. Wives, any other suggestions?”  

There was a bit of further discussion, and several agreed with her.  My initial reaction was to send a post asking if she depended on the NBC stations as her sole source of entertainment, but I thought better of it. After all, “to each his own.”

Then I did post this: “For those of you who, like us, do want to see some of the Olympic games, here's a link from the Boston Globe. It will save you from going crazy trying to find out what's on. Click on Television Schedule, and you will have the day's lineup on everything that will be shown - not just the more popular sports that can, after a while, get tedious to watch. Of local interest, Whitewater is on today at 11 a.m. on NBC. (Note: this is the Boston Globe, so their Channel 7 is our 36)”

Yesterday, after googling about for information on handball, I posted this: “I gotta tell you – the NBC coverage of these Olympic Games is wonderful. I may be getting butt fatigue, sitting down between doing things like laundry and other household chores, but we've watched some really un-boring things today: water polo, handball, equestrian cross country, and women's kayaking. Frank was surprised at the handball – it ain't how they play it in Brooklyn! There isn't even a team from our country. We learned more about the game by going to the London Olympics site itself. If you click Sports on the menu it will direct you to any of them. Click on one and you'll find a schedule – London time – of events and a lot about the sport and the countries who participate in it, as well as the heats and finals won. What do we know about handball, track cycling, artistic or rhythmic gymnastics, or, say, trampoline? I'm willing to learn.”

Here’s the part, the reply, that made me just sigh: “Lee: To each their own. For me, I'd rather watch the paint dry. Maybe tomorrow they'll play marbles or pitch pennies. If all else fails, they can give us a few more shots of how bored the queen is. That seems to be the highlight of the games.”

This is not like watching paint dry!

I do admit that I am only marginally interested in watching some sports for hours on end. In this category I’d include basketball, swimming and diving, and, beach volleyball. But I love regular volleyball! And I love seeing some of the sports with which I’ve got only a passing knowledge, like trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics, or the fencing because I took that in college. And then there’s that handball: the kind we played against a wall with a Spalding “Pinky” was what we New Yorkers called handball.

I just cannot believe that people would liken the games to watching paint dry, would even prefer it to watching paint dry. I’m “getting a visual” of this person sitting in an easy chair watching paint dry, with Musac piped in, of course. Yes, to each his own.

Well, minor rant over – except to say that I can find it within myself to think it a bit sad that these people don’t know that they are missing, and then I think the hell heck with them...

                                                             …and to each his own.