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• Wednesday, August 13, 2008 01:51 AM

  You're not a jerk...

  ...you're a professional; there is a difference.

  As a professional in another (TOTALLY non-athletic) field-- one in which others engage to one degree or another nearly every day-- I understand your frustration.

  BUT... everyone who ever made the cut for the team (or got the lead in the play, or garnered an excellent review for his/her musical solo, etc.) feels a part of his/her community, and watches the Olympics/Wimbledon/Tonys/Oscars/Grammys with a bit more investment than the average citizen.

  I know these people are still "amateurs" to you (and they absolutely are, no question), but I think it's important that you acknowledge that their personal connection makes them part of your community, and that connection inspires a HUGE part of the support and enthusiasm you and other professional athletes receive.

  This is not a small thing.

  There's a wonderful line from a little-seen (yet award-winning) Showtime movie starring Forest Whitaker, Kathy Baker, and Jeff Goldblum ("Lush Life"). Whitaker and Goldblum are close friends and hard-scrabble, working musicians, though it's obvious that Whitaker is the genius of the two. In a to-the-camera "interview," Goldblum's character acknowledges this fact, but makes a point of reminding us that "There is a place in this world for those of us who are merely... excellent."

  Jennifer Sey, you are/were an athletic genius. Relax and allow that, if it weren't for the "merely" talented/gifted/excellent, there would be no well from which the geniuses could spring.

  P.S. It's under "wraps," not "raps." (Gee... guess what MY professional snobbery is...)

  —Aunt Jenny Read Aunt Jenny's other letters
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