December 8, 2014: Mainstream

posted in: Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox | 2

Football, basketball, hockey, and baseball… these are the sports we talk about all the time.  These are the big 4 if you will.  What about the other sports?  Where is the love?  Let me show a little…

Let’s start with one that I’ve played a lot: racquetball.  Browsing through the channels late last night, I saw Racquetball being shown.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen racquetball on TV, and because I’ve played it a lot, I turned it on.  It was the US Open Racquetball Championship matches.  Man, those guys were good… actually, one guy was good.  He was dominating the other in the Men’s championship match (I must have missed the women’s… damn.)  If I heard the announcers correctly after midnight, they said this guy, the same guy who was dominating this match, has won 9 straight championships… so I looked him up.  Kane Waselenchuk has won 10 of the last 12 championship matches, and 7 straight years.  If you looked at him, he doesn’t look like your top flight athlete, but man can he play.  For kicks, I looked up the women’s info.  Same type of domination going on there with Paola Longoria (sounds hot).  She’s won 4 straight and 5 of the last 7.  I always wondered how I’d do in a tournament… maybe I could make some noise in a local tourney, but I don’t think I’d be able to take on Kane any time soon. 

OK, what about soccer?  I have talked about it before here, during the World Cup, and I do currently play the sport… in our hallway, with my 2 year old son.  I’m not a big fan of the sport… period.  However, based on my son’s wicked left footed Messi-like kick, he may be playing it sooner than later.  The soccer that I do like is foosball.  OK, so it’s not an actual sport, but it’s one of my favorite games to play.  I recently got a chance to play it for the first time in forever…  I used to play every day at the Boys Club back in the day.  Between foosball, bumper pool, regular pool, and ping pong, the competitive juices flowed regularly.  One day I will have a foosball table in my basement… until then, I will only have interest in soccer via my son and every 4 years in the World Cup.

Penegra cheap tadalafil thought about that is the chief online hostile to feebleness pharmaceutical that is intended for the man erection inconveniences. Urinary system http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/dog-digging-in-the-dirt/ buy levitra professional diseases cause them originally, in one day these diseases can’t be got. The University of Florida published a study in the Journal of Urology found that the supplement inhibits erectile rx generic viagra dysfunction in lab rats. These compartments are a collection of veins, http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/hat/ free samples of levitra which become inflamed with system during full sex-related confidence. Tennis, swimming, boxing… there’s a few more.  It seemed like tennis was so much bigger back in the day.  I remember when Boris Becker burst on the scene and won Wimbledon.  Or how about Agassi, Sampras, Courier…  and that was after Connors and McEnroe.  The women had their big names too, like Graf and Seles.  I actually used to watch the grand slam events… not any more.  As far as playing, I have of course, like most sports, dabbled, but that’s it.  Now I am pretty good at swimming, learning at an early age at a hotel swimming pool when my dad threw me in… or at least that’s the legend.  We took a different approach with my son.  He’s already been swimming for over a year… maybe a gold medalist of the future?  As long as he likes it, we’ll keep it rolling.  Boxing is another one that used to be huge.  Two words… Mike Tyson.  Who wasn’t a fan?  This guy dominated the sport, until that fateful night against Buster Douglas.  When those words were announced over the PA system at the UIC pavilion during that monster truck event, I could not believe it.  Boxing has never been the same since…

Then there’s golf… after racquetball, the one I’ve played the most of the other sports.  The best part of golf, besides drinking and hanging out with your friends & family, is getting a par, birdie, or even eagle on a hole.  It’s for that moment, for that one hole, that we can stack up to any pro in the world.  To keep that up over 18 holes… maybe 18 holes in my entire life, seems impossible.  But for that glorious hole, the pros are within reach.  One day, I will get that hole in one… one day.

They’re all fun, and there are many more, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to the Big 4.  These are the sports that take the spotlight.  These are the sports where OUR teams play year after year.  If you can’t get into them for whatever reason, go outside of the “mainstream”, and watch… play!  If you can, then keep watching and keep reading here… it goes on and on and on…

2 Responses

  1. Mo

    Soccer and Boxing are they only ones I can think of, but Soccer is only big, once every 4 years. Boxing used to be good, but unless i have got big money on a fighter, not paying $60 to watch something i can see for free on the net…maybe thats what killed the sport. Long live Mike Tyson’s punchout…best drunk game ever!

  2. bullwinkle

    I’ve always said that you and your li’l bro should get into some entry-level raquetball tournaments. I played in a few, back a couple of years ago’, and had a good time. Only one time did I advance to the semi’s, but still, always had a hoot. Meeting other guys, playing guys other than just the 3 of us or my playing partner of the year, was always a fun experience.

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