For most of my life, sports occupied a much larger place than they do today. Growing up in Northern California, I listened to Giants games on the radio with Russ Hodges describing every pitch as though it were the most important one ever thrown. I argued with friends about whether Willie Mays was better than Mickey Mantle. During my college years, I followed Stanford football through some very lean seasons and somehow remained optimistic every September. Later, while living in Southern California, I became a UCLA basketball fan and watched a young Lew Alcindor—who would later become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—change the game before our eyes. Sports weren’t simply something I watched. They were part of my life. Today, I still make time for the Giants, the…