Written by Zach Kleiman | 31 July 2011

Thursday I went to UCLA to watch tennis.  Mardy Fish was playing Gilles Muller at the Farmers Classic.  I was with my friend Judah.  We wolfed down our hot dogs at the condiments' table and took luke-warm beers to our seats.  We settled in and watched two points and I thought to myself, “Why am I here? What the hell am I watching tennis for?”  Don’t get me wrong, I like tennis, I like it a lot; but watching it with a friend whom I could have been playing with made me realize I like playing tennis way more than watching it.  
The idea of playing versus watching immediately reminded me of work.  The days I play at work, bouncing ideas back and forth with my co-workers, those are the very good days.  The days I just watch are the long days.  Those days I stare at the clock.  Match time: 8 hours.  Oh brother! 
This wasn’t a great revelation – that engaging and taking part in something makes it more interesting; more interesting makes time fly – but when I saw it in terms of watching tennis versus playing it I thought: I’d be a fool just to watch at work ever again.   
Well, sitting in the stadium just watching, our minds quickly began to wander.  Judah told me he had had a fight with his girlfriend the night before.  “Maybe fighting is like playing a relationship,” I said.  “You can fight back or you can go: fine, whatever.  And that’s just watching.”  When someone starts a fight with me I’ve noticed they really don’t like it if I don’t fight back.  Maybe that’s what my relationships need, more fights!  But I’ll try to think of it as playing and not fighting.  I just don’t want to do any more watching.  
Friday I went back to UCLA without Judah and watched three matches.  I just watched and it was great.  Oh well.  Love the one you’re with, I guess.

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