Free

I am free to write today. Whatever I write about sports, no one cares anyway. Everyone weighs in on the historic arrest of a former president for alleged crimes against humanity.

Expectedly, social media floods with international law treatise from the luminary to the illusory. Leave it to the experts. Netizens chime in even without rhyme. Democracy at work, it caters to all. Who is right, leave it to history, not necessarily the historians. Or better yet, the revisionists.

Even if I write pickle ball threatens to replace tennis, no one cares. What is pickle ball anyway. The balls that matter now are the guts of small minds thinking big and speaking bigger. Don’t leave it to wisdom, it is often mistaken for kingdom.

If I prove pickle ball occupies big space in sports does not matter. The proof that matters now is the one that separates guilt from innocence. But who is accused matters more. Don’t leave it to the bar of public opinion, not everyone can handle evidence, especially the inconvenient truth.

Even when it is tennis greats Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf playing the fast rising sport against not-so-great Andy Roddick and the never-been-great Eugenie Bouchard, no one cares. What matters now is how the once greatest is treated. But don’t leave it to the rude, even in the red carpet.

If I write pickle ball is quite similar to tennis, although slower and weaker, no one cares. What matters now is whether the strength and speed of justice system compromises justice and equity. Procedural and substantive due process are inseparable.

If I write the underhanded serve in pickle ball is inherently weak, no one cares. What matters now is how the warrant was served. Even if I write how disrespectful the underhanded serve is for tennis, no one cares. What matters now is whether the police were authoritative or authoritarian when they broke the news to the arrestee.

If I write how many times Nick Kyrgios used underhanded serve in tennis, no one cares. What matters now is how many times the crimes were allegedly committed as to make it systematic.

If I write the once great Martina Hingis did it to Graf at the French Open, no one cares. Even if it is the only grand slam missing in her collection. What matters now is whether a former president with lengthy public service deserves the legal process.

If I write how others defended the Swiss Miss for being too young to discern then, no one cares. What matters now is whether old age factors in how a person is treated. Definitely, but it does not acquit.