July 14, 2004
National Holiday
Just a note for non-sports fans who feel like they can never escape the games that consume their friends and family:
The NFL plays early September to early February, and only on Sundays (with a couple of exceptions). The NBA plays late October to mid-June, and each of the 29 (30 next season) teams plays 82 games in the regular season, so there is a game almost every day in that period. The NHL also plays an 82-game season with 30 teams that extends from mid-October to mid- or sometimes late-June. Sports fans get complete coverage for almost eight months. The overlap of these three schedules through the winter and early summer months leaves baseball to carry the weight for the duration of the summer. Right now, Major League Baseball is the only show in town. Happily for the addict, MLB plays a 162-game season from early March to late October (and at least once, early November).
What's my point? Today, July 14, and Monday, July 12 are the only two days in the entire year that do not have a professional American sporting contest. The only two days in the year that don't have an MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL game are the days before and after the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which was played last night. So wives and husbands of sports addicts, today is your last day to celebrate for an entire year. Take your foam-fingered couch jockey out tonight and show her or him that there are bars without TVs, restaurants without hotdogs, and life without sport.
Of course I didn't mention Golf, NASCAR, pre- and off-season deals, training camps, college sports, jai-alai, rugby, Aussie-rules, MLS, etc...
Don't forget futbol. The Copa América is going on right now.
Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!
Neither did I mention cycling, sailing, track and field, bullfighting, equestrian sports like steeplechase, swimming, quidditch, calvinball, ultimate, volleyball, petanque, curling, polo (water and otherwise), hurling, gaelic football, target sports, multisports like bi- and tri-athalon, snowboarding, skiing, bobsledding, skating, squash, tennis, bodybuilding, racquetball, badmiton, the "outdoor games" like treeclimbing and stump sawing, handball, foosball, tetherball, bocce ball, gymnastics, motorcross, bodyboarding, skateboarding, ju-jitsu, sumo, or croquet. I'm sure there are many more...
Occupy the body.
Yeah, but soccer occupies a special place of its own. It's by far the most popular sport in the world, after all.
I mentioned MLS. There are hundreds of other soccer leagues in the world, and I'm only vaguely familiar with their structure, so I figured a brief mention of this most popular sport (one that I really don't like at all) was sufficient. Nyah.
I like how this post is right next to a post called The Decline in Reading. God I just wanna shoot somebody.
Hmmm, Bol, I'm not sure how to take this. I don't think watching sports and reading are mutually exclusive. There are a couple of contributors to this site that are not sports fans (supersixone and sleepnotwork), but the others (redstripe (me), mallarme, ludwig, piraeus, 808, and other various) do enjoy the sport. We all have our particular tastes, and I'm probably the biggest sports fan, but we are all huge readers too. When I'm not in school, I probably read more than 10 hours a week. During school, if you count my law books, I read (depending on my classes) 7 or 8 hours a day. Despite that, I still make time to watch my Dallas Stars or turn on Sportscenter.
So shoot me if you want, but I'll bet my library is bigger than yours. :)
Don't you mean your dick?