This isn't very profound. Don't top soccer players make millions precisely because millions of people have kicked a ball around at some time and fantasized that they were stars entertaining the whole world.

I can still remember goals I scored when I was ten years old, tackles I missed when I was nine years old, and a perfect crossfield pass I made that was misread by the recipient who let it bounce off his toe into touch when I was eleven years old. I still get angry when I think about it.

Does the author understand this?

What a world class athlete, whether Olympian or professional, does to get to and stay at that level is unimaginable for the sometime athlete or former high school athlete. It is also true for dancers.

However, the effort, the deprivations all sound so much like child abuse. This may explain the anger directed at fans. When the glory is over what is left?

Jennifer,

It's too bad that you are not an "elite" human being. You have problems, and I mean more than most!

What value to Salon's readers was derived by running this article? The author clearly got something out of it: she will be called all sorts of names by angry readers, thereby fulfilling her masochistic needs, but is that what Salon wants for itself?

Runners, swimmers, hockey players, basketball players, etc. - those are athletes.

Gymnasts are circus freaks.

The Jennifer Sey lady needs to stop fooling herself.

"The true elites I've talked to over the years don't have this attitude."

Isn't that ever true. And it's not just true for sports, but just about any field. When I studied British history at Oxford, I got to meet some of the real elites. All of them were more encouraging than you could possibly imagine. And the one who was most enthusiastic about my admittedly limited skills was none other than Niall Ferguson, who's about as close to the top of the heap in modern history writing as anyone!

The author, honestly speaking, has the bitter attitude of the "almost-made-it" crowd. She's not an elite.

So, it appears you wrote this article (and your book, I suppose) so that the world would sympathize with you, tell you how right you are, and how you really are better than the moms who tried gymnastics on the level of a hobby, without devoting their entire lives and bodies to it. Instead, I'm going to say that what you did was totally and completely for yourself. Enjoy it, feel proud of your hard work, gaze adoringly at your medals and trophies, but to condescend to others with different priorities is just, well, being a jerk, and you should get no sympathy. It's not like you made the world a better place or anything. There are a lot of people who make enormous sacrifices for the greater good. You may be one of them. But not because you worked so hard on the uneven bars that you broke your femur. That was all for you.

Dear Ms. Sey,

It infuriates me that you are (presumably) getting paid to be a writer by Salon - when clearly you're writing is amateurish and your use of grammar 9th grade as best.

Perhaps if you got off your high pummel horse and took a freshman English Composition course at a local community college, I might not act like such a horrible condescending jerk toward you for your plebian prose.

Let's be clear, though: you have no MFA in English. You are a jock. Know your place in the echelon of intellect, and please do not ever equate yourself with true, professional writers. You have no idea how many hundreds of hours we dedicate to our craft.

----------------

By the way, did you ever win any gold medals at the Olympics?

Not even one?

So in other words:Are we to understand that you have as many Olympic gold medals as the armchair peon watching the games on TV?

Hmmm...you sure are one elite athlete, boy howdy!

yes, you are annoying.

without fans there would be no market for sports.

I'm studying to be a high school chemistry teacher, and during my spare time I substitute and tutor. And let me tell you, reading your article has been so liberating for me. I now feel free to let loose and tell the world what I really think of my students.

Whenever my kids express an interest in research, or begin blathering on about their science fair projects, I just want to scream. They have NO IDEA what real research is! I just think of all the hours and hours I spent slaving away at my laboratory bench, all the sweat and blood that went into producing good data, the pressure from other grad students and my research supervisor... THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS! These kids just sit there with their smug little smiles and talk about their titrations as if it's never been done before! They find the kPa of aspirin and they think they did "science."

No they didn't.

I know it sounds like I'm a bit of a jerk, but really, THEY DIDN'T DO SCIENCE! I can't tell you how difficult it is for me to smile and nod and tell them they've done a good job when clearly, they've done nothing at all extraordinary. The worst part is they're just so arrogant about it all. Thinking they did science! Bah! It's in insult to everyone -like me- who actually HAS DONE science!

In fact, I think I might be doing more harm than good, by encouraging them. They'll probably just grow into adults who think they once did science. They might even develop an appreciation for science, reading popular science magazines, keeping informed on issues in science and technology, enjoying the odd trip to a planetarium. Worse off, they might pass this on to their kids, and then some other poor teacher will have the unenviable task of dealing with the ARROGANT OFFSPRING.

It's enough to make me sick.

K. Lange, Montreal