Baseball...Great for Insomniacs

Sports and Culture

It's that time of the year for America's "pastime" to once again take its place in the "Baseball, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet" part of American culture. Unfortunately, it looks as if only Apple Pie is going strong as Chevrolet is on the ropes and baseball seems to keep losing it's hold on Americans to NFL football, Nascar and other sports. While much of the fault lies in the marketing of Major League baseball, it also seems that the game is out of step these days with the fast paced American culture that seems to prefer the excitement of constant action and movement. Baseball they say is more of a thinking man's game, but I find that the game is so slow that it tends to put the thinking processes to sleep. It seems that all I have to do is sit down in my recliner, put the game on, and within a few minutes my head is nodding and I'm in la-la land. It's just that I prefer a sporting event that has more action and excitement as opposed to listening to an announcer speak as if he were describing a golf tournament. But on the flip side, for all those having trouble sleeping, throw away those sleeping aids and put on a major league baseball game, it will do wonders for your insomnia.

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Rugby and Other Things Less Understood

Sports and Culture

I remember seeing a Rugby match for the first time down in Norfolk, Virginia. I was visiting my brother who happened to be in the Navy at the time, and as he was busy, I decided to take a walk in the park that was nearby. I happened to notice a bunch of burly guys playing a game that was unlike anything that I had seen before. Although it was a little like soccer, and somewhat like American football, it was something foreign to me. I stood there for about an hour watching and trying to figure out how the game was played. I never did quite get it. Later on I realized that part of the problem I had understanding it was that I was trying to relate it to games that I had played and understood like American football and soccer. Rugby has it own rules and culture. That's part of the reason people who didn't grow up playing a particular sport, don't understand it, and since it makes no sense, never really "get it". It's like one of my favorite sports; Ice Hockey. While the game and rules seem very simple to me, I've had people say to me, "why do they stop skating all of a sudden", or "why did the ref blow the whistle"? They have no understanding of "icing", or "offsides" and therefore the game makes no sense. While there is no one sport that is participated in by all cultures, it is nevertheless interesting how the various sports have developed, and makes one wonder what kind of new games that future generations will be playing? How about Rugby on skates?

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