se71

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October 25, 2006

Baseball

Sometimes I think it might be nice to live in the USA. Things are cheaper, there is lots of space, service is really good (though the constant tipping does suck).

But there is an all pervasiveness about sports, that even the British cannot match, and I think it would drive me round the bend if I had to live with it day in, day out.

Take this morning for example.

I went to the gym at 6:05am and took my place on an exercise bike, which happened to be next to a row of treadmills. A middle aged woman was fast-walking next to me. Before I'd even managed to work out the bike's menu system, she turned to me and said:

"So who won the game last night?"

My standard UK response came in useful

"What game?"

She seemed genuinely shocked by this lack of knowledge (I had a newspaper under my arm which contained a sports section), and blurted out:

"It's only the world series !"

I finished our brief conversation with

"Well I'm only British"

Which seemed to shut her up. I dropped the sports section on the floor and read the main part of the paper while I cycled.

My problem with this is that absolutely everyone expects you to know all about baseball, and American football, and probably hockey or softball or some other dull bunch of overpaid knuckle-heads running around a field. Being a foreigner allows me to get away with my ignorance. But if I lived here I know I'd be ostracised from society by my disinterest in these all-american pasttimes. It's the first thing people think of in the mornings, it's discussed at lunch, it's on TV in restaurants and bars. It's bloody boring but impossible to avoid. I think I'll just have to stay at home - at least there things only go completely football crazy about once every four years.

Posted by se71 at October 25, 2006 04:12 PM

Comments

Posted by: DrHyde at October 26, 2006 11:46 AM

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