SPORTS VERSUS CULTURE
Can a culture addict find true love in sports?
By Elizabeth MacGregor Elizabeth MacGregor is a regular contributor to SideOne, following a successful career in education. She’s a culture addict but never a culture snob.
a focus in my life since I was very young, seeing the Beach Boys live at 13 years old, going backstage to meet the Guess Who at 16, and enjoying Swan Lake, performed by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, more than once. Sports, that all-consuming passion of my brothers,
I am a culture addict, buying tickets to the ballet,
had never been mine. I could not bear to watch male
opera, theatre, and symphony, and as many
members of my family crashing into other bodies on
interesting rock concerts as my budget can cover.
the football field. I never understood the intensity
The Stratford Festival is a sure thing on every
with which my father would yell at the television
summer calendar. I have had a local theatre
when Les Canadiens would lose a hockey game,
subscription for so long that I finally upgraded from
while his young children would be trying to sleep in
cheap seats to acceptable ones. The Arts have been
the next room.
SIDEONE NOVEMBER 2020
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