I can't believe that fencing is considered a sport and I can't believe that so many people rate it so highly. I've built a few fences in my day and believe me, it's no fun. With a board fence, you have to learn to deal with splinters, bent nails, and smashed thumbs. With wire, especially barbed wire, you are going to lose a lot of blood. Try driving one of those little staples without it taking off for the moon! Or maybe your eye. And fences require postholes. Dozens of postholes. Even hundreds of postholes. Digging a posthole is not the kindest thing you ever did for your back, arms, and sholders, not to mention blisters on your hands. Not my idea of a sport!

What? Not that kind of fencing? Oh, I see. Yes, I know about the other kind. In fact I have a distant cousin named Roscoe who is a fence. He makes good money fencing. He says fencing is the only thing he really knows. He doesn't mind an occasional raid or a trip to see the judge. Fines are just a business expense, and if he does a little time, it's just a vacation from the hussle and bussle of the fencing business. It's part of the game. Yes, fencing is a game. But I still don't think of it as a sport. In Roscoe's neighborhood, it's sort of a public service.
Howard