Chip Shots: Reminding Myself To Enjoy Summer’s Lull
June 2, 2023 at 10:18 p.m.
Chip Shots: Reminding Myself To Enjoy Summer’s Lull
By Chip Davenport-
There is nothing going on for me on the gridiron nor on the pitch until mid-August when soccer launches.
I’ll have to be sure I enjoy the reset period to its fullest this year instead of just tapping my feet waiting for the new scholastic sports year to begin.
There was a time when summer would have meant the daily reading of every Major League Baseball (MLB) box score and imprinting the stat leaders for the American and National Leagues in my brain each day during my adolescence.
My pro sports interest started shifting into somewhat of a sabbatical in the mid-1980s after the NBA finals wrapped up, and I would take a pro sports sabbatical until NFL training camp signaled the start of another NFL season in late July.
This summer will not be much different from those years. I’ll catch the NBA Finals, then I’ll pay attention to some MLB stories on a national level and stop to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cleveland Guardians when they’re on the tube.
Otherwise, I’ll spend my high school and professional sports sabbatical period watching pre-recorded Super Rugby highlights available on YouTube, and I’ll watch some selected NFL games on condensed replay in my NFL+ app.
I tried to fill my summer with different types of auto racing, watching NASCAR and Indy at the beginning of the millennium, but I quickly realized I enjoyed watching humans compete in races on foot far greater than a bunch of guys hopping in souped-up cars who concentrated on swapping sponsor hats and integrating sponsor names in their post-race interviews.
Aside from Tony Stewart, I found most of the racers vapid when the mic was held in front of them.
Formula One, more so, was a cure for insomnia as far as I was concerned.
Pole position, barring an accident, usually won. I traveled with and worked with a lot of first- and second-generation Italians living in Toronto and in Argentina from 2002 to 2009, but I could not feign enjoyment of Formula One racing at the levels they enjoyed it.
It was an acquired taste, I was told, and all I could think of was friends telling me the same thing about scotch, and how awful scotch tasted after multiple attempts to sip it.
This lack of passion for auto racing makes me quite the square peg in the Hoosier State.
My involvement in announcing Warsaw Tiger boys’ and girls’ soccer, however, has increased my interest in the beautiful game, so I’m looking forward to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted during Australia’s and New Zealand’s winter this year from Jul 20 through August 20.
Hey, this rolls right into high school soccer season for me. It will all be fresh in my head.
Game time will range from 12 to 16 hours ahead of our local time, and we’ll likely know the scores in the mornings when we rise and shine, before the recorded broadcast will be on screen in the Eastern Time Zone.
I am equally interested in watching “who advertises what” as I am in watching the action. It helps me get a feel for what demographics the ads are targeting, and what twists global giants like McDonald’s and the soft drink titans will make in their respective messaging.
It’s equally humbling and enlightening to see advertisers’ approach to the target market, people ages 18-49, and even younger when it comes to watching soccer.
The humbling part is knowing I’m of less interest to those targeting the aforementioned age group, but it’s also enlightening to see styles, brands, and the consumption of food and drink the target age groups are enjoying.
Soccer’s offside rule finally clicked for me this winter and spring while watching English Premiere League and Major League Soccer.
I hope you get a kick out of that (absolutely no pun intended).
PA announcing high school soccer requires a “less is more” approach, so unwritten etiquette discourages the PA announcer from noting offsides on the mic, but at least it will allow me to carefully observe whether a goal will be called back before prematurely, and unwittingly, announcing it.
In the meantime, summer affords me an opportunity to entertain myself beyond the world of sport.
There will be plenty of streaming to do among several series I’ve wanted to watch, more evening and weekend time to spend on the water, a handful of three-day weekends for chores or travel, and some al fresco dining around area lakes.
I’ll enjoy waking up tomorrow morning with nothing on my plate - for just a little while - as much as I’ll enjoy today’s semistate softball action.
There is nothing going on for me on the gridiron nor on the pitch until mid-August when soccer launches.
I’ll have to be sure I enjoy the reset period to its fullest this year instead of just tapping my feet waiting for the new scholastic sports year to begin.
There was a time when summer would have meant the daily reading of every Major League Baseball (MLB) box score and imprinting the stat leaders for the American and National Leagues in my brain each day during my adolescence.
My pro sports interest started shifting into somewhat of a sabbatical in the mid-1980s after the NBA finals wrapped up, and I would take a pro sports sabbatical until NFL training camp signaled the start of another NFL season in late July.
This summer will not be much different from those years. I’ll catch the NBA Finals, then I’ll pay attention to some MLB stories on a national level and stop to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cleveland Guardians when they’re on the tube.
Otherwise, I’ll spend my high school and professional sports sabbatical period watching pre-recorded Super Rugby highlights available on YouTube, and I’ll watch some selected NFL games on condensed replay in my NFL+ app.
I tried to fill my summer with different types of auto racing, watching NASCAR and Indy at the beginning of the millennium, but I quickly realized I enjoyed watching humans compete in races on foot far greater than a bunch of guys hopping in souped-up cars who concentrated on swapping sponsor hats and integrating sponsor names in their post-race interviews.
Aside from Tony Stewart, I found most of the racers vapid when the mic was held in front of them.
Formula One, more so, was a cure for insomnia as far as I was concerned.
Pole position, barring an accident, usually won. I traveled with and worked with a lot of first- and second-generation Italians living in Toronto and in Argentina from 2002 to 2009, but I could not feign enjoyment of Formula One racing at the levels they enjoyed it.
It was an acquired taste, I was told, and all I could think of was friends telling me the same thing about scotch, and how awful scotch tasted after multiple attempts to sip it.
This lack of passion for auto racing makes me quite the square peg in the Hoosier State.
My involvement in announcing Warsaw Tiger boys’ and girls’ soccer, however, has increased my interest in the beautiful game, so I’m looking forward to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted during Australia’s and New Zealand’s winter this year from Jul 20 through August 20.
Hey, this rolls right into high school soccer season for me. It will all be fresh in my head.
Game time will range from 12 to 16 hours ahead of our local time, and we’ll likely know the scores in the mornings when we rise and shine, before the recorded broadcast will be on screen in the Eastern Time Zone.
I am equally interested in watching “who advertises what” as I am in watching the action. It helps me get a feel for what demographics the ads are targeting, and what twists global giants like McDonald’s and the soft drink titans will make in their respective messaging.
It’s equally humbling and enlightening to see advertisers’ approach to the target market, people ages 18-49, and even younger when it comes to watching soccer.
The humbling part is knowing I’m of less interest to those targeting the aforementioned age group, but it’s also enlightening to see styles, brands, and the consumption of food and drink the target age groups are enjoying.
Soccer’s offside rule finally clicked for me this winter and spring while watching English Premiere League and Major League Soccer.
I hope you get a kick out of that (absolutely no pun intended).
PA announcing high school soccer requires a “less is more” approach, so unwritten etiquette discourages the PA announcer from noting offsides on the mic, but at least it will allow me to carefully observe whether a goal will be called back before prematurely, and unwittingly, announcing it.
In the meantime, summer affords me an opportunity to entertain myself beyond the world of sport.
There will be plenty of streaming to do among several series I’ve wanted to watch, more evening and weekend time to spend on the water, a handful of three-day weekends for chores or travel, and some al fresco dining around area lakes.
I’ll enjoy waking up tomorrow morning with nothing on my plate - for just a little while - as much as I’ll enjoy today’s semistate softball action.
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