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March 16, 2008
Sports Mania
For those of you that don't actually know my husband O (or don't know him very well) I should tell you one thing. His real name is Mr. Sports Man. That's Mr. Man to you and Sporty for short. The moral of the story is, he is everything sports. Literally. He is a math teacher but he just wrote an entire curriculum for a summer math program based on sports. And the whole time he was smiling and saying things like "I can't believe they pay me for this".
Regardless, if you know anything about sports, you might guess that he's in all his glory right now. March Madness. Spring baseball training. AND today, the annual Juan Samuel Fantasy Baseball League draft. (don't ask about the name, I just did and got a *really* long story about it)
Anyway, professional baseball is by far the favorite sport and then probably college football, college basketball, professional football, professional hockey and then somewhere around #86 on the list is triathlon. So this is a good time of year because the college basketball tourney is starting and professional baseball is almost there too. And the big draft today where O and 4 or 5 or 6 of his college friends conference call each other and for 4 or 5 hours auction players off until they have their team. All I know is that in the time he was partaking in the draft I took a nap, did my long run, rode my bike, showered, stretched and iced.
But I will have to say, being married to Mr. Sports Man has been interesting in that I've increased my sports knowledge about 10,000 fold. I've always followed "endurance" sports but never the big pro sports. But O is a very educated sports fan and knows his players and his stats like no other person I've ever met. And I don't think he was about to have a wife that couldn't at least converse about the top players and teams in all the big sports. So I can. Mostly because he tells me good stories about the players and that's how I remember. And I've enjoyed it truthfully. I would never have had the respect I have for these sports had O not helped me to understand that just because they don't swim, bike or run until they bleed internally doesn't mean they don't play and train very, very hard.
So if you want to know what we talk about at the dinner table it usually goes something like "how was your day" (insert random story about a cantankerous patient or unruly student) and then the *real* conversations start about my training, his coaching and what went on in the sports world. Simple people we might be. But I dare you to challenge us to a game of all sports trivia! :)
Right now O is smiling ear to ear. Probably at least in part due to the fact that he has all next week off (their spring break) but also because he is knee deep in basketball brackets and very pleased with himself for securing the top player that he wanted for his fantasy team. Life really doesn't get much better does it?
Posted by beth at March 16, 2008 8:30 PM
Comments
Beth definitely holds up her end on talking sports. She can spout out stuff about the NFL or Penn State athletics and knew that Sidney Crosby was one of the best players in the NHL (unlike her friend who met him!!!!). Don't forget about who won the last year's fantasy XC draft?
By the way, the JSFBL is now in its 11th year and was a group of us on the same dorm floor at Elizabethtown College. Juan Samuel is/was the "commisioner's" all-time favorite Philadelphia Phillies player. Most of the guys live over in Philly, so it's hard for me to cross the state for the draft, but they're very accommodating to work in drafts on instant messenger or this year we did a conference call for the first time!!!!!
Posted by: O at March 16, 2008 9:05 PM
See, I knew he couldn't help himself with the story about the fantasy league's name. Although you all were lucky to get the short version... :)
Posted by: Beth at March 16, 2008 9:09 PM
Sounds just like my life!! I have 3 brothers and a brother-in-law, a husband, 4 nephews, and literally all there is in our "family" life is sports!! I always pick a basketball bracket in March just to be able to participate in the conversations!
It makes life a little more fun though doesn't it!
Posted by: kellye at March 16, 2008 11:11 PM
Uh, oh, when I finally meet O, I'd better plan to talk to him about math, b/c my knowldge of professional sports is zip, zippo unless it involves the Red Sox in 1986...and I only know about then b/c one summer my mom made me go to summer school (it was the year I finally quit swimming and was too young to work)and I wrote a beginner's computer program about tracking baseball scores. It was the year that Roger Clemens won the Cy Young, Oil Can Boyd was in the pitching rotation, and the Sox were one strike away from winning the World Series. Darn, I should have saved these pieces of trivia for when I met O. Now, we'll definitely have to talk about math!
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at March 17, 2008 8:28 AM
O,
have you seen the movie "Diner"? One of the sub-plots is that one guy of a group of friends who is getting married, is actually quizzing his fiancee on sports trivia as a pre-requisite for marriage... not to be missed... with a very young Mickey Rourke...
(found some info at http://www.amazon.ca/Diner-Widescreen-Barry-Levinson/dp/B00004RE27)
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at March 17, 2008 7:40 PM