The Sport of Writing

I have always been fond of sports metaphors and quotes in casual conversation. However today I decided to write a blog comparing writing to sport. It is not far fetched. Sport requires talent, diligent practice, discipline, and will. I could be describing a good writer. The difference lies in the fact that the reader only sees the result of the writer's performance, not the performance itself. With sport, the game's the thing. It is an interesting difference.
Within the writing community, some do appreciate the game itself. We are aficionados of the writing game and it has been characterized as such. Writing is our sport however the reading public sees it and they generally see it in much more grandiose terms. An elegant sentence is the equivalent of a three point goal in basketball. No more. No less. When one is blessed or burdened with a deep understanding of the process of pen across page, it is an incredibly rewarding experience to get all the moving parts moving together like a Rolex and make that three point goal, write that elegant sentence.
Sports, however, are played against other players and here the metaphor gets a bit thin. Any self-respecting writer does play against a canon of similar talent. They wrestle in their own weight class but they do wrestle. I am no Hemingway or Nabokov but I do have writers in mind that I would like to match or better. To me and, in practice, other writers, writing is a sport.