Its not all books, antiques and China.

I have an illness. I seem to have contracted it when I was about 6 years old.

Symptoms -

Hours, days, weeks, months, years spent investing my body, mind and spirit participating in the disease and nurturing it.

Hours, days, weeks, months, years spent watching he enablers of my disease fight mighty battles for supremacy, and glory.

Countless minor and a few major injuries.

Sleepless nights.

A great deal of money has been spent on my disease.

A great deal of time that could have been spent learning to speak Ancient Greek has been spent on my disease.

What is this insidious disease?

I suffer from "severe sports obsession syndrome" SSOS. I started playing sports when I took my first swing in tee-ball little league. Over the course of my boyhood, teenage years, college years and adult life I have played organized sports - Baseball, Football, Hockey, Track and Field and Wrestling - and casual pickup sports - skiing, golf, basketball.

I am a New York Yankees, New York Giants, New Jersey Devils, New Jersey Nets and Arsenal (English soccer) fan.

I have learned to appreciate Irish Hurling, World Rugby and Boxing.

I watch cheese rolling and lumberjack competitions on ESPN45 at midnight.

I am a sportsjunkie. The Greeks and Romans believed that a fully realized human being was one whose body, through sport, was as well rounded and healthy as one's mind.

How this fits in to me sitting in Giants Stadium when it is -30 degrees out chewing on a $7.00 hot dog, I am not sure of. But there it is. It is my disease and I embrace it. Do you suffer as well?