I loved pretending, honestly, I still do. In the world of pretending you can eat mud pies, save the world with your BB gun, win the NBA championship with a miraculous shot from half court as the clock runs out, and hit the lottery three times in a row. In movies, a frail little woman can somehow beat a large man senseless, saving herself and whoever else that’s written in the script from certain death.

In real life however, the man demolishes the woman in under a minute, on his way to winning a gold medal, and the ugly truth is that he could take on the other two medalists simultaneously and come in second and third too. Pretending only works if you can get everyone to comply. Good luck with that.

ws