My father (b. 1911) cared about only one sport: baseball.
Dad was a baseball player himself, so excellent at relief pitching that he was offered a position on the New York Yankees when a NYY's scout spotted Dad in a local sandlot game. Dad turned down the offer because he didn't like to travel. Bummer!
As a result of my upbringing, I've never understood football. This explains the game:
Here is a later "re-creation" of the same story that you might also enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between baseball and football
ReplyDeleteI loved playing football more than any other sport when I was young. I only played a couple years on teams, but I played with friends, full contact, no pads, regularly until I was 25 years old and my neck went out for good. I have a variety of injuries from playing that I will have for the rest of my life. I think if you watch football without having played it a lot, perhaps it seems just brutish (or a little too much like Greek wrestling) and dumb, and perhaps if you did play it a lot you may lack the capacity to form reasoned opinion on the subject ;) but we should enjoy it while we can. In the future football is going to look very different. The strength and conditioning of the modern player, ever improving, is making the game just too dangerous to play. We're just a few more horrific injuries away from a forever changed game.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
Reminds me of a story of an Englishman who, when watching a football game for the first time, remarked "wouldn't it be much easier if they gave each side a ball?" Thanks for 5 good minutes of laughter - 10, if you count Ducky's link. :)
ReplyDeleteFinally! I found time to check comments to this blog post.
ReplyDeleteThank you, all.
I have been preoccupied with recovering from this stunning incident -- and dealing with car woes (Crown Vic: jump start needed on Saturday and brakes failure on Sunday) and grading essays. Not to mention ordering a new motor for Mr. AOW's hospital bed.