Hugo Schwyzer

Jock-Crush: The response one feels to an athlete of either sex, in any sport, who just makes your heart sing, if only for a moment.

While I follow major sports like soccer and American football, I also have some other particular passions: I love women’s college basketball, and I love distance running. Though my most enduring jock-crush in the former sport is Katie Feenstra, and in the latter, the sublime Scott Jurek, my current heroes are Alison Bales and Ryan Hall.

Ryan just became the first American to break an hour in the half-marathon. Even though the half-marathon is not an Olympic event, it’s one of my favorite distances to race. My best time was 1:30:00 to the second; I had raced to go under ninety minutes and missed my goal by one second. It’s a great distance in which to mix pure speed and endurance.

Alison is the rockin’ tough center of the #1 Duke Blue Devils. 6′7″ of blockin’-out, in the post-bangin’, free-throw nailin’ goodness. She played an awesome game last night in the Devils’ win over Tennessee; ’twas a thing to watch.

If anyone can get me an autographed picture of Ryan or Alison, that would be cool. In my life, I am frequently unimpressed by those who should impress me, and frequently awed by those who do not always attract the attention of the masses. Such is the nature of the jock-crush.

UPDATE: It is not entirely unnoticed by me that I tend to be drawn to female athletes who are unusually tall and strong. (I’m a huge fan of Serena Williams for example, as well as the aforementioned Feenstra and Bales). My male athletic heroes tend to be small and wiry, like Hall and Jurek and your average international class cyclist. Those who wish to psychoanalyze are free to do so. I am quite clear that there is nothing fetishistic about all this, but it is a pattern I recognize.