I still can't find where I put February's Silent Sports magazine, but from looking at March's issue, I gather someone wrote to complain that the magazine covers too many competitive silent sports.
Those of you who read this blog know I fit on the side of the "non-competitive" end of the silent sports continuum. For me, the purpose of getting out there is not about the training, or equipment, or beating a time. (What is it about? I wonder) Two years ago, I wrote about an incident in the U.P. where I was passed by someone on cross country skiis who was too busy looking at his watch to respond to my friendly "hi". That guy, I thought, might has well get an Arctic Cat. We both had skis on, but we were doing different sports.
But I want to defend Silent Sports from the accusation. My experience is that the magazine is willing to publish articles about non-competitive silent sports. But this kind of writing is much harder to do! Competition, or focus on equipment, or even focus on place, is to silent sports like bread is to a sandwich, it is what you "hang" the real stuff onto. "The real stuff", whatever that is, isn't about the competition, or equipment, or even the place. But that is what we write about, to give a glimpse of the real stuff.
I wrote a year ago that I had a near mystical experience of timelessness at a boat landing. Could one write an article for Silent Sports magazine about boat landings?
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