Thursday Morning Quarterback

Don't be a blockhead - learn about sports

So most people blog about things they know about or have an interest in. I got inspired today by a co-worker & friend, Matt L. Matt comes from a big sports oriented family & he was telling me how his brother actually has a sports blog. 

So I thought it might be interesting to try & write a posting about a topic I know so little about. (ok - so I know nothing about it) So here it goes. SPORTS! Rah Rah.

One of the first football/baseball
stadiums


I don't know when sports began, but the coliseum in Rome kinda looks like a football stadium or maybe a little like Yankee stadium, so I'm assuming football & baseball have been around for a long long time. I don't think they had uniforms back then because they mostly wore those little mini-skirts 

Roman football  players



Gotta beat that parking lot traffic

Growing up in queens, you had to root for the Mets. Everyone in Brooklyn rooted for the Yankees. I'm not sure why because Yankee stadium is in the Bronx, so i guess it's not a logistical thing. We went to Shea Stadium to see games, but we always left around the 5th inning because my father (sports knowledgeable, but another non-sports lover) would usually say it was better to leave then, to avoid the traffic coming out of the parking lot. Thinking back, I guess a real sports lover would probably not leave a game early to beat the traffic in the parking lot.

Not PC

Anyway, getting back to baseball - there's the Yankees & the mets, but they don't play each other unless they are in the world series. Something about divisions not being allowed to play together unless they're the best team at the end. I'm not sure about these divisions, but some of the teams are cubs, bears, red socks, white socks (who makes up these names anyway?) I think there's also indians, but maybe they changed that because it doesn't sound too politically correct to start calling a team indians. 

Football is violent

 Then there's football. I understand the concept, but don't have a clue about the rules. Just a bunch of big guys smashing into each other. It seems like they take more time setting up & then there's a big commotion & they only get a few feet & then they're lining up again. I went to a football game once & almost froze to death.That's my only memory of being at a game with my uncle mike. (who actually loved sports). It's even worse on tv - you can't tell who's on what team because of the commotion on the field when they're playing. I guess that's why they wear uniforms - so you can see who's getting killed on the field. I do know the quarterback can be smaller because all he does is throw the ball & hope that the other big guys don't smash him. Then there's the guy that kicks the ball -  i'm not sure why he kicks it instead of running with it. When they run to the pole or kick it over the pole, it's a touchdown.

The happy dance

And whoever gets the touchdown usually has to do a little dance afterwards. I'm not sure if this is a rule or it's just that he's so damn  happy.The scores on this game can be really big numbers, like 47-21. Not like baseball, because their numbers are very small. (usually under 20). The entertainment in between is pretty good, especially when there's the superbowl. I think there's also a rosebowl (& maybe an orange bowl?) Maybe i'm just confused with orange juice, i'm not sure. Anyway, it's pretty confusing.

Basketball is just like football

Basketball looks like they're playing football, except it's indoors & you don't have to freeze if it's winter. They also wear shorts & t-shirts, probably because they get so hot with all that running indoors. This is another game where they run around & it's hard to know what's going on. But at least they're not trying to kill themselves like in football. Sometimes they smash into each other & fall, but mostly they just try to make a hoop. Interesting gerry fact: I just found out last week what "swish" means. It's when someone gets the ball in without touching the rim. I hope that's helpful for people like me that never knew what  that meant.

Short guys play basketball too

Most of these guys are very tall, but sometimes there's a shorter guy in there - maybe he makes a lot of "swishes", so they hired him. There's a clock that times the game, but even though it says a certain amount of time is left, it can take hours for this game to finish because that clock is always stopping

Hockey is more interesting

Hockey is like football, except they're on skates & like to just punch each other. There's alot of blood when this happens, so it's a little more exciting than the previous games I talked about. Especially if you have good seats & they smash into the plastic in front of you. But with this game there's a "penalty box". For those of you who don't know what that is, it's when they do something wrong, they have to sit in there. It's just like time out with little kids, except they're adults & are usually full of blood. 



Wow - i guess i know more about sports than I thought. But if I haven't covered anything, just email me & I'll be glad to answer any additional questions about these games. But for now I have to go so I can avoid the traffic in the parking lot.