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nebroadweI've always enjoyed watching sports and can get myself interested in almost any of them, given the opportunity.* Since this weekend features significant contests in two of my oldest sports fandoms, professional football and figure skating, I'm a happy couch potato. I watched the men's and pairs' short programs from the National Championships in Spokane first -- I'd never thought of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life" as particularly skateable, but Jeremy Abbott pulls it off. Then I switched over to Arizona v. New Orleans in a win-or-go-home playoff. My sympathies are with the plucky Cardinals after their last-minute win last week, but their coach may have turned back into a pumpkin since then, alas. Later I'll switch back to the rebroadcast of the pairs' final (sort of a non-event despite deciding the Olympic team -- I never thought I'd see the day when the U.S. had more world-class ice dancers than pairs skaters, but here we are) and round out the day with the other football playoff, Baltimore v. Indianapolis. I have relatives in Baltimore who still have not forgiven the Colts for packing themselves up in the middle of the night and sneaking off to the Midwest. They froth at the memory and would like nothing better than to see the Ravens grind the Indianapolis Irsays [sic] into the turf. Me, I keep my head down.
I just wish more of my local friends shared my enjoyment of these sports. I can usually persuade a few people to sit in the same room with me for the Superbowl, but it's been a long time since I could drum up a group to watch Skate America like the one who critiqued the performances so heatedly that a passing non-fan felt moved to remark, "It's like a bunch of guys watching football!" Which we took as a compliment. Ah, those were the days.
*Except the motor sports. Not my bag. This despite having grown up near a speedway and having a friend (briefly) in grade school whose dad raced there. Said speedway is now the parking lot of a major chain retailer. Sic transit gloria mundi.
I just wish more of my local friends shared my enjoyment of these sports. I can usually persuade a few people to sit in the same room with me for the Superbowl, but it's been a long time since I could drum up a group to watch Skate America like the one who critiqued the performances so heatedly that a passing non-fan felt moved to remark, "It's like a bunch of guys watching football!" Which we took as a compliment. Ah, those were the days.
*Except the motor sports. Not my bag. This despite having grown up near a speedway and having a friend (briefly) in grade school whose dad raced there. Said speedway is now the parking lot of a major chain retailer. Sic transit gloria mundi.
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Date: 2010-01-16 11:38 pm (UTC)Dog shows (all kinds, the action and the prissy). Horse racing. I used to like Australian Rules Football a lot in college. I like the new snowboarding stuff that's going on but I don't go out of my way to look for it.
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Date: 2010-01-16 11:56 pm (UTC)Except for hunting/fly fishing shows. I love the plot in those shows--it's so complicated.
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Date: 2010-01-17 12:16 am (UTC)I've only seen Australian rules football once, in the middle of the night when I was ill, but it has to have been one of the weirdest sports I've ever watched and the closest analogue to quidditch the Muggle world has produced. That is, if I'm remembering it correctly, and not mixing it up with a fever hallucination.
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Date: 2010-01-17 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 12:59 am (UTC)Aussie rules football...yes, Quidditch is a very good reference, IMHO. With or without fever hallucination.
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Date: 2010-01-17 01:01 am (UTC)Hale them where? [grasps sofa arm somewhat nervously]
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Date: 2010-01-17 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 01:36 am (UTC)My Steelers had a shit year (Superbowl hangover guys? WTF?) and the only way I'd root for the Ravens if if they were playing against... oh I don't know, actual terrorists, or something. Plus I love Peyton Manning (I think I love him more than Ben Roethlisberger) so I'm totally rooting for the Colts. I was a little disappointed for Arizona, though, as I've remained a big Ken Whisenhunt even after he left Pittsburgh.
...As long as it's not the Vikings. (God I love football.)
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Date: 2010-01-17 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:07 am (UTC)[grin] I like to tell people that when the Giants play the Cowboys, I'm rooting for the asteroid (or the tidal wave, or the earthquake -- choose your stadium-destroying disaster).
Plus I love Peyton Manning ...
He's easy to love. Talented guy, team player, doesn't seem full of himself. (Although my dad and I kid each other about despising the Quarterback of the Patriots, who shall not be named, who's also talented, handsome, a team player ... geez, he's so dam' likeable, it makes you want to spit in his eye. My mom roots for Rivers of the Chargers because he's cute. I can get behind that, too. :-)
I was really hoping the Cardinals would pull it out, because Gregg Easterbrook has convinced me that Kurt Warner is a space alien. An intermittent connection to an orbiting mothership explains so much about his career, doesn't it?
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Date: 2010-01-17 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:11 am (UTC)Curtain? Wall? There's a difference?
Date: 2010-01-17 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 02:18 am (UTC)I should foist it off on my brother, the hunter.
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Date: 2010-01-17 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:01 am (UTC)omg, my dad has an old Rocky Blier autograph around here somewhere, I've been meaning for years to get that framed for him...
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:04 am (UTC)My main problem with The Quarterback who is Not Named is that he's so damn bland! How do you marry a Brazilian model and stay so damn bland! It's almost offensive! Peyton has a sense of humor about himself (looooved his fake SNL commercial) which gives him some personality (laser rocket arm! come on!) on top of all those nice things you mentioned.
And Ben Roethlisberger is kind of a schmuck. I mean, he's a schmuck I want playing FOR Pittsburgh, not against us, but still. And he looks like a Mr. Potato Head.
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:09 am (UTC)Oh, sorry, did you say something about football...?
la la la la la....
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:11 am (UTC)eta - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/DocDana/Rainbowinnumber12.jpg (the kitten's mom and explain to me why my parents thought 'bargain hunter' was a good game for me??)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/DocDana/Rainbowskittens.jpg (the feline Steeler lineup)
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:19 am (UTC)But yeah, this season was just awful - it seemed like everytime we put one fire out someone put something else up in flames. Urgh. Still, I'm tired of all the fans who are moaning about this being the end of the Steelers. Dude, we all have sucky seasons once in a blue moon, and frankly I think the Steelers do a better job than the majority of teams at maintaining a high level of excellence.
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:33 am (UTC)Eh, teams have b ad years. It's when it stretches into several years that you worry
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Date: 2010-01-17 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-17 03:38 am (UTC)