This is why I have trouble really enjoying any sports. You take something that is basically a tribal activity -- who can swim across the lake fastest this year? Who can throw the log the farthest? Something that happens in a group of 100 or so people and pump it up to regional, national, international levels, and suddenly the people who are unnaturally gifted and unnaturally addicted are the only ones who are really capable of doing it.

Fine then. Lance Armstrong is the one one really capable of riding a bike. Even Floyd Landis needs drugs to keep up. I'll just sit here on my couch and get fat.

Or, wait, I'll tell you you're full of it instead. I choose to be involved in my life and turn off the messages that I'm not really a musician because I only play guitar for a couple hours a week, or that I'm not really an athlete because my only victories have been on the mat at state, not international.

You can have your addiction. I'll take my life.

"Damn, Beat Me To It!"

I know this makes me a beast and a jerk, but I can't stand it -- no, I loathe it -- no, it makes me want to slit my wrists, then drown myself in a pot of oil, then reach out one greasy hand just before I drown and light a match and throw it back into the pot and burn myself to death -- when other Salon letter writers have the gall to think that they are in the same letter writing league as me. There you are, SLOWLY getting around to pointing out how goofy it is that Salon gives out its little red stars to the handful of people who loved this article, when I, due to the grueling seconds of hard work I put into composing my letter while being yelled at by my cats to type faster, faster, faster! (okay, meowed at, and really, they just wanted snack), demonstrated my superiority to you lesser letter writers by coming in first with that observation.

Oh God, it's unbearable!

...is that it seems to be saying:

-Participating in sports (and having the audacity to talk about it) should only be reserved for a select few.

-You can only be an athlete if you have been been abused and have sacrificed your childhood in pursuit of a dream.

-Sport isn't about camaraderie or the sheer joy of physical activity. It is about winning at all costs.

At at time in our history when so many of us are not physically active enough, this is a terrible and damaging message.

There's a lot about this article that I feel conflicted about. For one, it's hard for me to get snooty and defensive when Ms. Sey comes right out and says she's being horrible and condescending. She admits it, gang; at least she's got that self awareness.

There's also the fact that she's, ya know, wrong. There are hundreds at least--and thousands probably--of people who have been swimmers and gymnasts and fencers and runners and basketball players and whatnot, who stopped competing in High School or College or even a low-level Professional league, when it became clear that while they had the dedication and the desire, they simply didn't have the talent. All the morning and afternoon workouts in the world weren't going to turn me into Steve Lunquist, no matter how much I tried, no matter how many 5:30am practices before school, 4-6pm practices after school, stroke clinics, start clinics, turn clinics, and other stuff I did. I could--and did--swim 10,000-12,000 yards a day, every day, but I was never going to break a minute in the 100 yard breaststroke. And facing that fact was simply heartbreaking.

So you're wrong, honey, which makes your condescension all the more infuriating, even though you did admit it up front. How do you know at what level the little girl's mother competed? In High School, they don't compete in the 400 meter freestyle; it's the 50, 100, 200, and 500 yard races. Further, assuming the girl remembered correctly, if her mother did swim the 400m freestyle "in High School," she was swimming in AAU competitions, the competitions from which future Olympians are taken, the competitions in which people like Mark Spitz and Pablo Morales and (yes) Michael Phelps got her start. So for all you know, Jennifer, that girl's mother may indeed have been competing--and losing spectacularly and depressingly--to the Dana Torres' of the swim world.

The point here is, you don't know. I don't know. Only the other person knows. So consider that you may have a gap of knowledge in the matter, climb down off your high horse, and try to enjoy the camaraderie that these people are trying to share with you. Because you simply don't know if they dedicated their life to a sport like that, and assuming that they didn't just because they don't complain about broken femurs (or dislocated knees, or blown neck disks, or whatever) is more than horrible and condescending; it's arrogant and absurd.

Wow, former athletes are bitter! I swam 5 hours a day from the age of 9 until 19, competed nationally, etc. Am I good enough to watch the Olympics? Would you sneer at my daughters if they innocently refer to my "street cred" ?

Only those with MFAs should be allowed to write books and for Salon.com, but everyone should be allowed to read and think critically about their work.

At its heart it is about how we treat our children. As a mother, I find the lack of compassion for Ms. Sey on this thread is disturbing.

Re-read the article, put yourself in Ms. Sey's shoes. Imagine what it would be like to have parents who were so oblivious to you as an individual that they were incapable of recognizing that you were suffering and needed their help. To her parents she was a thing, an elite, medal winning gymnast, not a person. But that is how we treat children: as things. Ms. Sey's parents and coaches exploited her for their needs. We see this not just in athletics: academics, music, too. Parents rationalize - oh, this is what my son/daughter wants - when it is what the parents want.

When society as a whole accepts that it is okay for children to be treated as things, there only to fulfill adult needs, it is any wonder that some people cross a line and do horrible tings to children.

Everyone recognizes that when women are treated as things, there only to fulfill male needs, they suffer. Why can't we see that this is true for our children?