Give Brett the Finger I thought, because of my hatred being openly expressed for Brett Favre, that this google ad on my page was really good, and inline with my thought process, then I read the rest of the little box:
Tell Brett what you think of him! Get a #4 Finger Decal or Cap today
Not quite what I was looking for. I might tell him how he's number 1 and all, but not with the same finger they are marketing.
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You show them, you tell them, then you demonstrate it against them, and they still don't get it. Is football really THAT hard to understand? I mean, we're not talking about breaking down the intricacies of the game on an NFL level, or even getting them to understand how to control the game on a Playstation 3. First off, as much as I know about football, the NFL is a bit ahead of my curve, and a playstation has way too many buttons for me to figure it all out...I just pick a play or two and stick with a couple buttons. I consider that an achievement of a guy who grew up with the one button-one joystick Atari era.
What we're talking about is simple backyard, neighborhood football games. The same game I learned to play in the 80's (yeah, i'm that old). I'm playing kids that are high school age, who are smart enough to operate these new-fangled video game systems in their sleep (I'm not), are in shape (I'm not), and can run, throw and catch (which I can do the last 2 out of those 3). And yet, I can take just about anybody and beat an opposing team out in the yard.
I'm not that good of a player, I just know the game, but most of my teammattes aren't anywhere near that level of knowledge. So I play with a bunch of kids, even when I have the teenagers, who understand at best the concept of football. And here I am, a 30 year old guy staring very near the peak of that proverbial hill I'm supposed to be going over sometime in the future, who is out of shape (I mention it again because of how badly that condition is for me), and yet I embarass these kids everytime we play.
The other day, I used my 5 year old. On offense, it was easy...just give Buggy the ball. And while I did a little bit of blocking, Buggy made easy work out of a couple of kids twice his size and twice his age....especially after I pointed out to him NOT to run backwards, but towards the endzone. On defense, it got to the point where I showed the other side a play to run, and LET them run it, just so they would score...
I hate to embarrass the kids, but at the same time I'd like SOME competition. I don't know if I've just aged with the kids who actually take an interest in and try at football, or if its just a city kid thing where kids are interested in basketball and soccer, or "just hanging out" as their main ideas of how to occupy their time. And of course, I love how kids complain how bored they are, but any ideas of what to do are met with the constant phrase "Naw, I don't feel like doing that."
Now to be fair, I'm sure my parents could say the same thing about me back then, but it was usually when there was NOONE to play with. That and their idea of me cleaning my room "to ease my boredom' doesn't exactly fly as a legitimate suggestion.
Growing up in Sac City, we had two things going for us. A ravine, and Witte's yard. The ravine was for exploring, mapping out, and playing war or building a fort. But Witte's Yard...that was football central, and in our neighborhood it was the equivalent of Soldier Field. Hallowed grounds to be sure. Rain, Snow, Sunshine, Cold or Hot, we'd play, because it didn't matter to us when we had a group of us together. We just played..by the rules, and hard. It was all about winning, and effort and all that other crap a coach would say while giving you a pre-game or halftime speech.
It didn't matter if there was only 4 of us, or 20 of us...GAME ON!! And of course I was always out to try to show up my buddy Jay's older brother with my impressive skills, right up until he decided to show me he had moved on and learned even more to continue beating up on me on the gridiron. But now, he too is old like me, and I think that I can take him now...Josh is all broken. For reasons why see this video
6 comments:
fitness & video game skills aside, i think you actually take joy in playing people you can so easily beat and are afraid to look for opponents with better strategic skills!
and pretty soon, someone's going to notice the creep in his 30s playing football with a bunch of kids ;)
I take joy in playing the game altogether. Earlier this summer I played with a few teenagers who actually play ball at school. (Even with a bigger field of play on that instance...they still only provided mild competition) I welcome the challengers at any level...
As for the creep playing with kids....I may have to start teaching PE or coaching a sport, so it doesn't seem so bad?
The first paragraph in your response...other than the joy part, i call bullshit. As for the coaching, that's actually a good idea :)
Becky,
I think my biggest frustration here, is the generation of kids I play qwith weren't exactly brought up the same as mine. We were taught to be tough....scraped knees, bruises, a few headaches (read: concussions from hitting heads from Chuck Nattress!) were generally blown off by parents (mostly dads) who told us to "tough it out" and also told us to figure the game out, and learn how to compete and win against tough opponents. These kids these days....God forbid they ruin their shoes, take a bit of a hit, or sweat too profusely without whining about it. And I believe this is why the teenage ball players weren't much of an actual challenge either. They were more concerned with making sure they looked and smelled good to pick up their female counterparts at any given moment.
Does it make us old, to think the younger generation has it easier than we did?
True. No one ever accused you of caring how you smell. :)
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