Dad, What's Your Favorite Sport?
November 15, 2017 at 5:24 p.m.
By -
He started his life on the other side of Earth with a hole in his lip and a chasm between his gum lines. He was described as shy by his caretakers, which is occasionally true – sometimes selectively so.
But if you spend any time with Oliver, you quickly find out that his mouth, and the rest of him, works just fine. And if you spend a good amount of time with him, he will undoubtedly ask you a question. Actually he will come to you and say “Please, I tell you a question?”
Say no to that – I dare you.
He “tells me questions” several times a day: “what is your favorite color?” “What is your favorite food?”
Last week, it was “what is your favorite sport?”
Most of the questions are easy to answer: purple, french fries, Batman (my favorite super hero), Law and Order (TV show).
But favorite sport?
I like sports – period. I enjoy all of them. I like competition. I like to compete and I like to watch others compete. Two evenly matched opponents who are focused and engaged can put on a better show than any TV reality show.
But Oliver never takes “I don’t know” for an answer. If you respond with that, you usually get “tell me Dad.” And so I am ranking my top 5 sports today:
• 5. FOOTBALL. Whatever you do, don’t show this article to Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen. He might just see if my nose will go through the back of my head!
Understand that it has nothing to do with anthem protests or concussions. I love football. Thanks to the access I have been given over the last 30 years, I have come to understand and appreciate the game and the people who play it much better. The stereotype of the “mindless” football player who has an IQ equal to that of a rock in his backyard is no more. Linemen are still big and strong and tough, but the game has changed to a point that makes it almost impossible for someone who is slow to pick up on things to be successful. I went to Argos, and we didn’t play football. I think because I didn’t play football I don’t have the same feeling for it that I do other sports.
• 4. BASKETBALL. Basketball is fun because it allows the observers to be more actively involved in the game and connected to the players. The court is smaller and it’s easier for the fans to not only be near the action, but also be a part of it.
The fans from the two competing teams are sitting right there next to each other. They can yell at their opponent’s players and fans, and they hear what’s being yelled right back at them. Basketball is more likely to give us an upset, especially since the installation of the three-point line in 1986.
• 3. BASEBALL. From a purely dramatic standpoint, baseball is the best sport – period. All of the other sports have dramatic moments, to be sure. But admit it, when the visiting team loads the bases with two outs, everyone sits up on the front of their seat and their heart rate goes up, even if it’s the first inning. It’s also the only sport that has no timing device to determine the length of play. A team that is down 10 runs and has no runners on base with two outs in the last inning can still win the game. It’s never over until it’s over – Yogi Berra said so.
• 2. SOCCER. I grew up with this game, and it has been so good to see it grow to become more acknowledged here in the United States. It’s not just kids at a soccer complex that know the game.
International futbol, specifically the English Premier League, has become a factor in the sports watching public in America. It is the sport of young adults, and as the world gets smaller and smaller via the internet and social media, that relationship will just keep growing. That’s why the U.S. Men’s National Team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup is such a devastating blow. It’s a sport that never has a time out and never lets you stop moving. It is perpetual motion, and it IS the “beautiful game.”
• 1. HOCKEY. Yep, hockey is my favorite sport. I used to watch it on Sunday afternoons when the NHL offered a game of the week in January and February when I was kid in the 1970s.
I used to go to sleep on winter nights with a transistor radio next to my pillow listening to Chicago Blackhawks games.
Like your high school sweetheart when you go your separate ways to college, I lost hockey when I went to Butler University. The Chicago station I used to listen to was too far away, as was St. Louis and Detroit. Then, the Indianapolis Ice were formed and played at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum. I got a season media pass and went to home games all the time. The speed, the grace, the power, the raw force … for a non-drinking Baptist from a conservative Christian family at a secular university like Butler, hockey was the source of my personal intoxication.
Now I am married to a woman who has come to love the sport as much as I do. She loves going to the games, cheering during the anthem while wearing her No. 88 Patrick Kane jersey right next to her hubby in his No. 19 with the captain’s “C” on it, and wiping away the tears rolling down my cheeks when the Hawks win the Stanley Cup.
If you read my stuff a lot you are asking “what about golf and fishing … you love golf and fishing?” True, but golf and fishing are activities, not sports.
Again, these are my favorites. They may not be yours, or your order may be different. Great!
The beauty of sports is that you and I could sit down over a tall glass of our favorite beverages (mine is A&W), and go over it and debate it and argue about it … and in the end we could laugh about it, finish that drink and say goodnight.
And that’s how it should be.
Oh that politicians could do that.
He started his life on the other side of Earth with a hole in his lip and a chasm between his gum lines. He was described as shy by his caretakers, which is occasionally true – sometimes selectively so.
But if you spend any time with Oliver, you quickly find out that his mouth, and the rest of him, works just fine. And if you spend a good amount of time with him, he will undoubtedly ask you a question. Actually he will come to you and say “Please, I tell you a question?”
Say no to that – I dare you.
He “tells me questions” several times a day: “what is your favorite color?” “What is your favorite food?”
Last week, it was “what is your favorite sport?”
Most of the questions are easy to answer: purple, french fries, Batman (my favorite super hero), Law and Order (TV show).
But favorite sport?
I like sports – period. I enjoy all of them. I like competition. I like to compete and I like to watch others compete. Two evenly matched opponents who are focused and engaged can put on a better show than any TV reality show.
But Oliver never takes “I don’t know” for an answer. If you respond with that, you usually get “tell me Dad.” And so I am ranking my top 5 sports today:
• 5. FOOTBALL. Whatever you do, don’t show this article to Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen. He might just see if my nose will go through the back of my head!
Understand that it has nothing to do with anthem protests or concussions. I love football. Thanks to the access I have been given over the last 30 years, I have come to understand and appreciate the game and the people who play it much better. The stereotype of the “mindless” football player who has an IQ equal to that of a rock in his backyard is no more. Linemen are still big and strong and tough, but the game has changed to a point that makes it almost impossible for someone who is slow to pick up on things to be successful. I went to Argos, and we didn’t play football. I think because I didn’t play football I don’t have the same feeling for it that I do other sports.
• 4. BASKETBALL. Basketball is fun because it allows the observers to be more actively involved in the game and connected to the players. The court is smaller and it’s easier for the fans to not only be near the action, but also be a part of it.
The fans from the two competing teams are sitting right there next to each other. They can yell at their opponent’s players and fans, and they hear what’s being yelled right back at them. Basketball is more likely to give us an upset, especially since the installation of the three-point line in 1986.
• 3. BASEBALL. From a purely dramatic standpoint, baseball is the best sport – period. All of the other sports have dramatic moments, to be sure. But admit it, when the visiting team loads the bases with two outs, everyone sits up on the front of their seat and their heart rate goes up, even if it’s the first inning. It’s also the only sport that has no timing device to determine the length of play. A team that is down 10 runs and has no runners on base with two outs in the last inning can still win the game. It’s never over until it’s over – Yogi Berra said so.
• 2. SOCCER. I grew up with this game, and it has been so good to see it grow to become more acknowledged here in the United States. It’s not just kids at a soccer complex that know the game.
International futbol, specifically the English Premier League, has become a factor in the sports watching public in America. It is the sport of young adults, and as the world gets smaller and smaller via the internet and social media, that relationship will just keep growing. That’s why the U.S. Men’s National Team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup is such a devastating blow. It’s a sport that never has a time out and never lets you stop moving. It is perpetual motion, and it IS the “beautiful game.”
• 1. HOCKEY. Yep, hockey is my favorite sport. I used to watch it on Sunday afternoons when the NHL offered a game of the week in January and February when I was kid in the 1970s.
I used to go to sleep on winter nights with a transistor radio next to my pillow listening to Chicago Blackhawks games.
Like your high school sweetheart when you go your separate ways to college, I lost hockey when I went to Butler University. The Chicago station I used to listen to was too far away, as was St. Louis and Detroit. Then, the Indianapolis Ice were formed and played at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum. I got a season media pass and went to home games all the time. The speed, the grace, the power, the raw force … for a non-drinking Baptist from a conservative Christian family at a secular university like Butler, hockey was the source of my personal intoxication.
Now I am married to a woman who has come to love the sport as much as I do. She loves going to the games, cheering during the anthem while wearing her No. 88 Patrick Kane jersey right next to her hubby in his No. 19 with the captain’s “C” on it, and wiping away the tears rolling down my cheeks when the Hawks win the Stanley Cup.
If you read my stuff a lot you are asking “what about golf and fishing … you love golf and fishing?” True, but golf and fishing are activities, not sports.
Again, these are my favorites. They may not be yours, or your order may be different. Great!
The beauty of sports is that you and I could sit down over a tall glass of our favorite beverages (mine is A&W), and go over it and debate it and argue about it … and in the end we could laugh about it, finish that drink and say goodnight.
And that’s how it should be.
Oh that politicians could do that.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092