Ah, gym class.

The girl driving down the court for the reverse layup. The girl smoking clove cigarettes behind the bleachers.

You might have been one or the other, or a combination of both. We have a love/hate relationship with sports, after all. We love to run, we hate to run, we love the game, we’d rather be reading a book.

But thank god we have the option. Here at TueNight HQ we’ve been talking a lot about Title IX — the landmark civil rights law that allowed for (among other things) girls to get a fair shake in athletics. Enacted in 1972, it’s about as old as we are. And many of us — and our children, nieces, sisters — have directly benefitted from it.

So this week we’re looking at the subject of Sport, a word that connotes frivolity and leisure as much as it does competition. We like to think we’re good sports.

• Bethanne Patrick gives us two books that offer what it takes to win in Front to Backlist.
• We have two stories about running: One from Jody Jones who can’t give it up; one from Amy Barr who can’t get it started.
• Susan Linney gets you dressed up with 5 pieces of non-workout-looking workout wear.
• Diane Otter remembers her most heroic sports moment (in 4th grade).
• We bring back one of our favorite sports stories — Shelly Rabuse shares her escapades as a late-blooming roller girl.
• And the TueNight contributors proudly share their greatest sports #FAILS.

Lace up, my friends.

Love,

Margit