I enjoy sports. I get a real joy from playing sports but I don't

When Kevin Costner declared, “I enjoy sports. I get a real joy from playing sports but I don’t look for those movies. Oliver Stone wanted to know if I would do Any Given Sunday and it just didn’t appeal to me,” he was speaking not only of his preferences as an actor, but also of the deeper divide between living an experience and dramatizing it for the screen. His words remind us that there is a purity in the act of playing—of running, sweating, striving—that cannot always be captured or desired in artifice. For him, sports were not roles to perform, but realities to be lived.

The origin of this quote lies in Costner’s long association with films about sports—Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup—works that have become cultural touchstones. Though he had portrayed athletes and told their stories with power, he confessed here that his heart was not drawn to every such project. Even when Oliver Stone, a master of intense and provocative filmmaking, invited him to star in Any Given Sunday, a film about the raw world of professional football, Costner turned away. It was not disdain, but discernment: he loved sport itself, but he did not need to chase every tale told about it.

This distinction echoes across history. Consider Marcus Aurelius, who loved philosophy not for its public display but for its private strength. He wrote not for fame, but to guide his own soul. Similarly, Costner found joy in sports by playing them, not in constantly retelling them. Just as Marcus did not need to parade his Stoicism before crowds, Costner did not need to perform every sports film to prove his love of the game. The truest devotion often lies in simplicity and restraint.

There is also a lesson here about choosing one’s battles. Not every opportunity, no matter how grand, is meant to be seized. Many would have leapt at the chance to work with Oliver Stone, but Costner recognized that not all stories resonate with one’s soul. To accept every role would be to dilute his own sense of truth. His words show us that wisdom is not only in action, but also in refusal—in knowing when to step aside from what does not stir the heart.

Moreover, this quote celebrates the joy of authenticity. Costner speaks of “real joy” in playing sports. That joy is immediate, unmediated by cameras, applause, or scripts. It is the joy of presence, of being fully alive in the game. Movies may immortalize stories, but the act of playing itself carries a vitality that art can only imitate. In this way, his choice is not rejection of art, but affirmation of life itself.

The lesson, then, is clear: honor what is real. Seek the things that bring you direct joy, not only their reflections. Do not let the shadow of representation replace the substance of experience. Just as Costner chose to keep sports as a lived passion rather than merely a performed one, so too must we preserve those things in our lives that make us feel alive, unfiltered, and true.

So let us hear his words anew: “I enjoy sports… I get a real joy from playing sports… but it just didn’t appeal to me.” They remind us that not all doors must be opened, not all invitations must be accepted. Choose what speaks to your soul. Choose what keeps you whole. And in that choosing, you will live not as an imitator of life, but as one who knows its deepest joys firsthand.