So after I wrote the last post, I decided to give those sports another try. I lasted roughly 60 seconds of a professional men's basketball game, until the first ref call which stopped the game. It may have been a good thing, though, because I was already bored with it. The college hockey game lasted a little longer, but I still got tired of not knowing what was happening, the tight knots of flailing sticks, and trying to figure out why grown men were sitting in a little plastic box.
So we move on to the two sports I have watched for more than a couple of minutes at a time: soccer and Australian rules football. It's just a coincidence that they tend to involve cute boys (or men, depending on how you look at it) in shorts.
Soccer:
This game involves kicking a ball around on a field. You can also use your head, but you cannot carry it around. The goal is to somehow get that ball past the other team into a net. This sport is becoming more socially acceptable for the female majority of the human race. I even watched the entire game (Olympics, maybe?) that ended with Brandy Chastain taking off her shirt. Not that the sports bra underneath wasn't anything anyone hasn't seen on runners, so it wasn't a big deal. It was a great game. Most of the time, however, even though soccer is a sport that I can tolerate more than others, when I look up from the book or playing with the dog or whatever else I'm doing while the television is on, those cute boys in shorts are still just kicking the ball up and down the field. The couple of times I've tried to watch a game live, I just get fidgety.
Australian rules football:
Several years ago I was lucky enough to spend a month in Australia. I spent most of that time working in Melbourne, and was able to catch an Australian rules football (otherwise known as Aussie rules footy) match. It was a semi-final match, between the Melbourne Demons and another team that I don't remember. I went with an Australian friend who was a supporter of the other team, and I remember imploring him to take off the scarf with the other team's colors. Basically, there's one word for the crowd at an Aussie rules footy match: rabid.
The game is some sort of an amalgamation of soccer, rugby and American football. I can't even begin to explain it, although he did try to explain it to me as best he could. The idea is kick the ball from any angle that works through the goals posts at each end of the field. The coaching staff sits above the field and communicates with representatives on the field by phone. So all you see is the action. And there's plenty of it. It's incredibly fast paced, and slightly crazy. The most memorable moment of the match for me was when one cute boy in shorts ran full speed into a goal post, lay there for a couple of seconds, and then got back up and started running around at full speed again. And these boys don't wear padding or helmets: simply a shirt and shorts.
Our seats were probably not the best, since we were seated at the end of the field, by a goal. I enjoyed the view though. Really, really enjoyed the view.
I don't get any of the channels which show Australian rules football matches. So my memory of staying interested in an entire sports game remains intact. I also wonder if I would enjoy rugby, since I enjoyed watching Aussie rules footy. I may just have to explore that idea.
