Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Why I love Annika

It's true, I haven't been paying a lot of attention to women's golf lately. I think I have been slightly deflated since Annika Sorenstam announced her retirement earlier this year. I couldn't even bring myself to watch the championships last week when I realized she was not going to make it to weekend play.

I have always admired that she balances so well her public life and her private life. That she has never needed to reveal details of her personal life in order to promote and be an excellent representative of her sport. Such balance is especially difficult in women's sports when the media are constantly trying to bring out the "other side" of female athletes in ways that can be exploitative and not frequently seen in the coverage of male athletes.

So when I get the LPGA's entertainment report that mentions its "Quick 18" (18 questions) with Annika Sorenstam in which we can learn more about her likes and dislikes and personal life, I get a little annoyed.

But I have to admit that I enjoyed it. They're all pretty much innocuous questions. And I realized that me and Annika--we have a lot in common. OK not the neat freak thing. But the relationship to dessert and calories for example. We don't count them and we eat dessert when we feel like it. It's unfortunate that she doesn't like celery but it's not a staple of my diet so I think we can work around that and even though she doesn't like clothes shopping, we both love Whole Foods. And Annika is coming out with a wine, a syrah. I don't like syrah--but maybe she'll do a nice pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon next.

And though I probably won't be buying the new Annika fragrance when it comes out in the spring (unless it smells like freshly cut grass and an ocean breeze--which I think would be appropriate), I'm still going to miss seeing Annika in tournaments.

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