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The idea of psychoanalytic perspectives on sports is a rarely explored subject within the broader area of applied psychoanalysis and one that certainly deserves much more attention than it currently receives. Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Intense Involvement in Sports is a volume edited by Hirsch, Blumberg, and Watson, which organizes its various chapters into three separate sections: psychoanalytic thoughts on issues within sports, sports fans and fandom, and specific clinical applications. One of the most compelling and thoughtful qualities of many of these chapters is just how authentic and personal this group of contributors are in sharing their own personal connections to sports. The majority of these articles were published in 2010 in Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the addition of a few more chapters helps enliven the final section of this edited volume with vivid clinical examples.
Many of those who contributed to this volume share their own experiences with sports, so perhaps that would be a meaningful place to begin. A few thoughts come to mind for me, including frequent family trips during my adolescence to watch the Cincinnati Reds play at Riverfront Stadium (along with meeting some of the best players from that time, including Pete Rose and Johnny Bench). Around the same time, I began my lifelong passion for running by joining my junior high school’s cross-country team; I remember that difficult transition from running in junior high school to becoming a member of my
high school’s cross-country team and just how competitive that group of young men was compared to my former teammates.
Two of the chapters in the first section of this volume focus on the connection between psychoanalysis and baseball. The chapter by Adrienne Harris, entitled “Baseball’s Bisexuality,” is a thoughtful essay in which Harris addresses her sense of the fluidity of roles within baseball. She notes, for example, the shifting players do from batting to catching as well as the in