On 2/22/14, 4:51 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 4:42 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 2/22/14, 4:31 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 3:28 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller,
population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?


Man, are you an instigator. Most of us are proud of the performance the
American team has done.




I think it absurd to take national pride in a profe$$ional $port$ team,
just as I think it is absurd when a city takes pride in its NFL, NHL,
NBA or baseball teams. I am impressed, though, that very small countries
without the professional sports budgets we or the Soviet Union have, are
cleaning up at the winter olympics. It just proves that money can't buy
everything.

We go to a few pro baseball games in season, but we don't care who
wins...we go to watch the game and hope it is closely contested.

I was delighted to see Norway's Marit Bjoergen win the womens'
cross-country skiing event, followed by two of her countrymen. It again
is a very small country, population-wise (about five million), and like
Finland, it uses its resources on its people.


They are all people ... humans ... regardless of where they are from.
The smaller countries may not have the structured professional teams
that we have but that doesn't mean they don't spend months or even years
playing together and practicing.

You are entitled to your views on professional sports of course. Only
thing to remember though is that your views are in the extreme minority.
Me? I like baseball because it's old and has a lot of tradition.
Many find it boring, but unless the game is a total blowout by the sixth
inning, there is a lot of strategy that goes on. The most interesting
games are extended innings when both teams run out of pitchers in the
bullpen. It's a hoot when they move a center fielder to the pitcher's
mound.





I love baseball for the same reasons you do, and because it is a
slow-paced game for the most part and for a team sport, there is much to
see in individual and team abilities and finesse. The drug/steroids
scandals in baseball really distressed me.

I got to see Sandy Koufax play in the late 1950s, and I got to see
Mickey Mantle play, too. My dad and I would go to at least a dozen games
of the Dodgers or Yankees each season, starting earlier when I was about
eight years old. I don't know how they met, but when my dad exhibited at
the New England boat show in Boston, I got to meet his "friend," Ted
Williams, who had a contract with Sears in those days to promote its
sporting gear. Sears had a huge tank set up in the show place and
Williams would demonstrate casting techniques with various gear.