I am ______.  I like _______.  But then things change.  These days I feel fluid rather than solid.  My world is moving rather than staying put.

Five years ago golf, basketball and hockey were a big part of my life.  Now they’re not.  Golf was the only one I played so I’m mostly talking about watching on TV.  I had heroes.  Sometimes my well-being rose and fell with the fortunes of these athletes.  Not a good idea.

***

Here’s Brooke Henderson from Canada.  I used to know when she teed off.  I knew her1 stats.  I went to tournaments and followed her from hole to hole.

The Masters was my favourite tournament.  The magnificent emerald green fairways, the history, the drama of the back nine on Sunday …

Gone

***

Do you realize that the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship in 2019?  We were led by Kawhi Leonard, one of the best all-round players in history.  When he gave an interview, I hung on every word.  Here he is:

I remember watching the final game of the NBA finals on the big screen, with hundreds of us loving the Raptors.  And then … “We win!”  Oh joy!  High fives and hugs all around.  I was swept up in the flow of basketball, in the crowd cheering after every home team basket, in the tension of down-to-the-wire.  And now?

Gone

***

Mitch Marner plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL.  He skates like the wind, passes the puck so softly … as an artist.  He was my most recent Leafs hero:

My love affair with the Leafs began in the mid-1950s.  I lived in Toronto.  Saturday night was Hockey Night in Canada on TV  – black-and-white TV.

The Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in 1967.  I was at the parade, and loved the speeches from Frank Mahovlich, Tim Horton …  I was a fanatic young boy.  But in 2023 …

Gone

***

It’s fine to say goodbye

And lovely to say hello