Are you an adrenaline junkie craving fast-paced action? Or maybe you are a fan of slow, methodical, yet graceful sports? Do bone-jarring hits float your boat? Simply, what do you get from watching sports?
As my character would indicate, I am a very eclectic sports fan. That is, I like aspects of all of the above. I like the speed with which hockey is played. The relatively few stoppages gives an “edge-of-my-seat” feeling. The continuously changing camera angles act much like a roller coaster, as one is never really sure where the puck will end up. At the speed at which the game is played, hockey is one of those sports that make you pay for getting off your couch to grab another drink. I always marvel at how these athletes can fearlessly fly around the ice as they do. The game is changing, mind you, and I can’t say it is for the better. Truth be told, I watch less hockey now than I did a decade or two ago.
The beautiful game is fast becoming my “thing”. As a latecomer to the its fandom, having only been watching passionately for the past seven seasons, it teeters on the brink of being an art form for me. Really. The ebbs and flows to the game really hook me in, and just as I marvel at the triangle passing, someone will lob a ball into the perfect position for some striker to crush it past the keeper (Yes, I was describing Van Persie’s goal versus Liverpool last Saturday). Football is more than just a sport – it is a culture. Okay, there is diving. I get it. It used to really frustrate me, and still does to some extent, but if you can realize that it is part of the culture of the sport it won’t detract from the fact that soccer is the by far the biggest sport on earth, and it’s not even close, and there are many reasons why. Sorry golf fans.
Football, as in the North American version, has been my bread and butter since I was a wee lad. Having season tickets to the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats since I was six years old, I grew up with the game, rarely missing action at the stadium or on television. I was so enamored that I even worked as the club’s “Equipment Boy” when I was in high school. Unlike hockey, there are many stoppages in play. The reason? Well there are several, but most importantly to strategize. I am the epitome of what it means to be an armchair quarterback. I am always trying to look at the game from a different perspective – sometimes I’ll focus on the quarterback, other times I will key in on a defensive back, and still others I will see who is winning the battle in the trenches. The competitive nature comes out in me, and football satisfies that perfectly.
So, what sports float YOUR boat?
…and that is the last word.
