For "sport" in the UK read "sports" in the USA.
There is no shortage of sports here - in fact, there's loads of it.
Unlike in the UK where players complain of fatigue if they play two games a week, here basketballers and baseballers play three, four, sometimes five times a week. And of course there is never a draw. Never!
I explained to my boss the other day that some of the best soccer games end as a high-scoring draw. He looked at me in a way I am becoming accustomed to -- a look that says "what is the British guy going on about?"
Oh The Beautiful Game! Of course, no such epithet here. It's just plain old "soccer".
I've managed to get myself onto a team in the local Co-Ed Soccer League. It's great fun but is proving to be a steep learning curve. For example, players are duty-bound to call the referee "Sir". An almost impossible task! But I am learning that if I swear at said Man in Black with as pure an English accent as I can manage he doesn't understand me. Also difficult is the fact that everyone is so darn nice on the pitch; no cajoling, no winding-up and no "what-you-lookin-at" type behaviour.
And then there's the co-ed element. Generally speaking, the girls are pretty much the best players on display and they encourage us to treat them like one of the lads - or words to that effect. Not a problem for me - the cynical, wrong-side-of-35 player that I am.
So, having been booked by the ref for some overly colourful language and having been given the general runaround by the other team's number 9 - Sally - for the majority of the match, I decided to pile into her and take her out from behind.
My team-mates, unimpressed, told me that sort of behaviour just isn't soccer.
They're right of course...but it is football!


