Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
August 17, 2001, Washington Post

Some Are Hot, Some . . . Not!

Like the weather, sports can get hot. Or they can cool down.

Take tennis. Twenty years ago, tennis was red hot. Courts were crowded. Kids were getting tennis rackets for Christmas. Matches between tennis stars such as John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg or Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were high-rated television events.

Now, tennis has cooled. Television ratings are way down. The courts are empty. Or they are crowded with kids hot-dogging on skateboards or playing hockey on roller blades.

So, what sports are hot these days?

Well, skateboarding for one. The number of kids skateboarding has more than doubled since 1993. In my home town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, they turned some tennis courts into a skateboarding park. That says it all.

And how about golf? The National Golf Foundation estimates that there are a record 26 million golfers in America. The courses are packed and the TV ratings for tournaments are sky high.

Why? Three reasons. Tiger . . . Tiger . . . and Tiger.

Tiger Woods has made golf cool. Especially for kids.

Lacrosse is even hotter than golf, up 15 percent since 1993. More schools are starting lacrosse teams, and I see kids all over (boys and girls) practicing their stick handling and playing catch. They love the sport's fast-moving, high-scoring action.

Want another hot one? How about NASCAR? I know kids can't drive the cars, but they -- and their parents -- must be watching, because the TV ratings for all kinds of auto races are up.

And who can blame them for watching? The races on TV are super exciting. The networks put cameras all around the course and even in the cars, so that you really feel part of the action.

Soccer is still popular, especially among female players -- there are now more women's college soccer teams than men's teams. But it seems to me that the soccer craze peaked a couple years ago.

Same deal with basketball. Hoops still might be the most popular game for kids to play, but it doesn't seem to have the same sizzle that it did a few years ago. Maybe that is because the pro games on TV (both NBA and WNBA) are so boring.

Some sports have cooled way down. Boxing and horse racing used to be a big deal. Now, almost no one -- especially among kids -- talks about those sports.

Even baseball, America's one-time national pastime, has cooled off.

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the number of kids playing baseball has dropped 20 percent since 1997.

News like that breaks my heart because baseball is my favorite sport. But, hey, what does it matter if a sport is hot or not? It can be tennis or tiddlywinks, badminton or baseball.

If you love a sport and you love to play a sport, that makes that sport the hottest -- and the best -- game of all.

FRED BOWEN is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail (with "The Score" in the subject field): kidspost@washpost.com.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company