Like families, competitors can bring out the worst as well as the best in each other. Like romance, competition has many faces, some of them ugly. In addition to showing me my grace and graciousness, the mirror of sports has reflected back to me my jealousy, pettiness, and arrogance.

The act of sport remains a human act, unrelated to gender.

Competition can damage self-esteem, create anxiety, and lead to cheating and hurt feelings. But so can romantic love.

Too often girls accept that of course the boys will get better lighting and seating at their sports events, of course the football team will get more attention, privileges, and space in the yearbook. We need to teach girls to look around and notice when they're being treated like second-class citizens, and then to insist on equal treatment.

Competition is about passion for perfection, and passion for other people who join in this impossible quest.

Like families, competitors can bring out the worst as well as the best in each other. Like romance, competition has many faces, some of them ugly. In addition to showing me my grace and graciousness, the mirror of sports has reflected back to me my jealousy, pettiness, and arrogance.

For every man with a baseball story - a memory of a moment at the plate or in the field - there is a woman with a couldn't-play-baseball story.