G’morning 24/680 People – and welcome to a new week.
We’re doing some broken field running through the stock market this morning as they take a bit of a hit but we know the more sports-minded among us are still recovering from a weekend of nail-biting contests on the gridiron and in hoops arenas. Local teams fared well – to the unending pleasure of family members rooting from earthly and heavenly grandstands, and there’s a lot of digital chatter going on about certain vanquished quarterbacks and stuff – some of which we understand, most of which we don’t.
We played some sports, never really well, and moved on to other interests fairly early on, preferring Sir David Lean movie parties to Sunday gatherings in front of the Big Screen cheering on big, sweaty dudes we really knew nothing about. Being essentially social beings we would accept invites to Game Day Parties and would fake our way through the inevitable chatter about assists, and PATs, and ERAs amidst a living room filled with team jerseys until we showed our true colors and referred to a team that hadn’t been around for a decade or so. That’s when we felt the familiar pang of an “oh oh” moment, sensing burly people at the rear of the room nudging one another and pointing at us with a guac-tipped potato chip, muttering “Jesus God, who invited those guys?”
Hence our “Quiet Exit” move, slipping out the back door and catching a matinee showing of a restored “Lawrence of Arabia” or something while folks wearing foam rubber cheese wedges on their heads or waving “We’re Number One!” fingers paraded in the streets outside.
We totally get it and know better than to get in the way of someone’s interest/support of a specific team or sport, realizing what “fan” is short for and that many of these folks work out a great deal more than we do. Plus, who does it hurt? Perhaps on the odd occasion when celebrants go nuts and start turtling cars or scaling downtown lamp posts during significant post-season wins, but for the most part it’s a harmless pastime – just don’t hold our lack of interest against us.
In the meantime it’s Go Warr-Niners and congrats to all members of the winning squads and those who bet on them. Interested readers are perfectly welcome to post their sentiments about Mahomes and Allen and the NFL Overtime Rules (we have absolutely no idea what we just said in there but it made us smile) in the comments section.
Now, if we can just find “Lawrence of Arabia” on NetFlix.
Jock in high school – huge sports fan. I won’t bore you with the weekend results, but not all men are into sports. My boss isn’t and I have to email him “all the results” so he can “keep up.” I’m tempted to tell him ignore it, but I’m employed at-will.
Ha! Nice one, Keith. What sports did you participate in?
Baseball, football, basketball and golf. Baseball is my favorite sport — still golfing.
Mom, aunt, cousins all good baseball players. Dad tried out for Niners in ‘47.
Became a FAN in 1981. Cinderella Niners redux in 2022? Instead of The Catch we will have Ooooh Almost Intercepted and Lookatimgo!! Deebo!
There he goes, talking in indecipherable Sportese, again!
I lost interest in Pro Sports many years ago.
When Baseball Players started earning a million dollars a year, I found I didn’t want to pay to go to a baseball game.
When I saw a football player charged with a 15-yard penalty for saying something to an opposing team member that didn’t fall in line with the niceties of the time, I decided not to watch football any longer.
I have a lot of respect for players who dedicate themselves to a sport whether they receive accolades for their achievements or not.
For all those who are fans, good for you. Have a great time.
I’ll spend my time enjoying my freedom of choice with a walk in the woods, a good book, or a pleasant conversation.
Sure. That said, we happen to know/have known a few professional athletes and they are all stellar citizens and neighbors as well as really nice people. They laugh at our obvious lack of knowledge and appear forgiving…