Watching my team play. Any of you watch American Football?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by JPablo

but maybe you want to "connect" with ESPN (I don't know if you need a Satellite/parabolic dish or what... most probably you do) and watch some American Football... (I personally enjoy it a lot more than baseball.)

I'm afraid it's all too alien. I have tried, but fail to see the point. I don't even understand Rugby, or in fact, 'normal' football. If I bought a satellite dish, I would pick up some other signals that might mean a bit more to me. Each to his own.

[JPablo]

Understood!
(Hey, have you read "Mission Earth" volume I, The Invaders Plan? There there is some "alien" sports that are really "alien"... no kidding!)

[Elaina]

My

--------Brett Favre SHOULD RETIRE!!

[JPablo]

Well... I respect your opinion, Elaina... but what are the ESPN commentators and NFL analysts going to talk about during the summer? My personal opinion is that Brett Favre should keep his Hamletian dramo... "To retire or not to retire... to unretire or not to unretire... that is the question... are the questions..." (I think that when he actually retires, besides keep selling jeans, he should also entertain doing some Shakespearean dramatic performances... I don't know, Hamlet... probably Richard the III, if he has to recover from some of the surgery...)

He could go up to 44, and still remain in "mint condition" and win a couple of Super Bowls in the process... (give 2 or 3 to the Saints in these next years and 2 for the Favre's Vikings!) (After all this is Chris' thread! )

Well, how is that for Science-fiction?

(N.B.: No offense intended at all to Mr. Favre. I respect and admire him as one of the best athletic and sportsmanlike individual this planet has produced...)

[Elaina]

I still think he should retire and stop BEING GREEDY. He should give a chance to some other quarterback. There's only so much a human body can resist and not break down. I think his body is ready to call it quits but his brain is not listening to his body.

He should get into something else and enjoy his life with his wife (who is a survivor of breast cancer) and his kids. Be thankful for the years he could play and then very graciously step aside.

[JPablo]

Mmmh! Greedy! (I never thought of that! ) But now you reminded me another "greedy" athlete, Eddy Merckx. He was called the "cannibal" because he wanted to win "everything", and he not only won 5 Tour de France (to the 7 Lance Armstrong won) but also won 5 Giros d'Italia and 1 Vuelta a España in the 70s.
Sure enough he worked with a team, but his 'philosophy' could be summarized in this quote,
"There are too many factors you have to take into account that you have no control over...The most important factor you can keep in your own hands is yourself. I always placed the greatest emphasis on that."
Eddy Merckx, Belgian, who won Tour de France five times.

Maybe you are totally right, and may be better for him to retire, but what I like of Brett is that he demonstrates again and again that "function is senior to structure", that "thought is boss", and he keeps the spirit of play... (And that is not exactly his "brain" but that which controls his brain and his body... call it "spirit" "elan vital" like Bergson... or "source of life energy"... )

[Elaina]

Oh please do not misinterpret what I said about him being too old to play. Its just that certain things are done better when you are younger. You cannot deny the fact that football playing is very demanding physically and you cannot compare a 27 y/o's body to a 40 y/o. You need strength, speed and stamina (3 SSS).......in other things though, I think a 40 year old will do just fine....

[JPablo]

Oh, I think I understand what you mean... (Not sure what I misinterpreted...) But I sure got your point about the 40 year old performance...

Innocently and factually speaking, being 47, (that is 4+7 = 11) I play 10 to 20 minutes of soccer every morning before work and breakfast, with friends that are up to 61 (6+1 =7)... So I recognize I have an edge...

(I remember maybe 10 years ago, I ran a "popular" 5K, with maybe 300 runners... I ended up 20 on the overall classification... but I had at least 3 or 4 60 year olds passing me in the last 2Ks! That was a nice 'lesson' to learn. Of course, 'running' is a lot less demanding than football... but I think you get my drift)

Then again, the best cardio-vascular exercise (and most efficient time-wise) is a bunch of squats on a daily basis... I got up to 200 squats a day... and that definitely helps you when you want to run without tiring yourself... Peterson, writes in his book about transformetrics that if you can do 500 squats in less that 20 minutes, you are "in shape". I've done it a couple of times, but I need a bit more consistency...

At any rate. My own philosophy (to stay on the thread subject) is that if you watch any sport, you have to practice it as well, or if you don't do that sport, then you are practicing something, i.e., at least do something with your body, (not just eat hot dogs while you watch) so your body is a useful tool to reach whatever goals you want, without having to be "introverted" on it...

[Elaina]

Hey! Eating a hot dog CAN be a sport.........have you seen the hot dog eating contests?

Seriously though, I agree with you. Any type of movement is good no matter what your age.

Gotta keep that pounding.

[JPablo]

That's right. (And yes... I heard about the 'hot dog' contests...
and also the ones on drinking beer, in Germany... )

Yes, some jogging, some push-ups, pull-ups, some stretching... that is always good to get your in good shape!

(Basketball, soccer, volleyball... ping-pong...) ... ... ... ... The key is always have a ball!