Bankrupt

Sports Authority has just declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Nearly a quarter of its 463 stores are expected to close or be sold off.  Among the reasons cited for the move is customers’ preference for online buying.

In our neck of the woods, Sports Authority used to be Sportmart, with an outlet all of five minutes from our house, by foot, no less.  We could’ve dropped Clare off there, had dinner and a movie, and come back to pick her up without worry she’d wander off.  Not as long as our daughter had bats and balls and other equipment to check out.  I think we bought her first glove there.  I know we bought her first real bats there.

I can’t imagine shopping online for sporting goods other than shoes, maybe.  Team jerseys and hats aren’t sporting goods; they’re merchandise.  Tennis racquets and bats and fishing rods are sporting goods, best bought in person.  As a kid, I always went to Sam Santo Sports; it smelled of leather and echoed with duck calls.  But now we buy online and lose the human touch that should be central to sports.  Quack.