Sitting at lunch today at the AP conference, the people at
my table began talking about hockey. Tuesday one of the woman in my group asked
if I’d look up the World Cup score on my computer so she knew which shirt to
wear the next day. Now, I am from Pittsburgh and
the Penguins were supposedly awesome in their heyday before Grezsky left for Arizona, and I visited Canada several times during my
adolescence, but I just don’t get hockey. A bunch of large, muscled men smash
each other against Plexiglas while hitting around a very small black puck on
cold ice. And I’ve seen Bend it like Beckham and really enjoyed it, but
both of these sports relatively bore me. I remember dating a footballer (read:
soccer star) in high school and watching her run back and forth like a mangled
goose while she ate oranges and wore Umbros. I hearken this to baseball. The
Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001 and the Pirates won the first World
Series ever, but give me a break, the ball is small. They hit it with a stick
and then run around in circles. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to baseball
games and enjoyed them, but that’s because I get to see things that the camera
doesn’t focus on. Like the people in the pool in the outfield (yes, Bank One Ball Park has a pool) or the man picking his nose four rows down.

I can deal with basketball because there’s a ton of
movement, but ever since college football has been my favorite sport to follow.
I remember 1995 when Penn State beat everyone and went undefeated, and I was brought up in the era of the Steel Curtain; I am
surprised how little I thought about this until over a decade later. When I was
little I even remember my father taking me to a Thomas Jefferson high school
football game. But then later I went to Penn State, and after that I returned to Pittsburgh. And then my
wife and I joined a football poll at work. This is where I really got into football
and would argue teams with my students and family.

Other than football, the only other sport I really watch is
golf. Now I know, you’re probably saying how can golf be more exciting than
hockey or, even, baseball, and I really don’t know. There are things I
personally like, and there are things I really don’t care about, like that
little black pick or little white ball.