VOL. XV, NO. 4
NOVEMBER 30, 1973
Bench Beat
By BROCK AKERS
One of the greatest thinkers of our time, Albert Einstein, once said, ". . . athletics is merely the folly of those who do not think." Given some thought, it would seem that most all sports are just that, idle folly.
Consider exactly what those games are which the entire country pays millions to watch and even more to participate in. Sports are so simple and unsophisticated that they verge on the ridiculous.
For example, what is football? Football is merely two teams of eleven players, (where they came up with that number, no one will ever know) who try to move a strangely shaped ball up and down a 100‑yard field with a lot of knocking, hitting, and hurting along the way.
Cross country makes even more sense. All that sport consists of is running; the only variation is in the amount. Soccer is interesting-22 guys in knee length socks running around kicking a ball and trying to knock it into a large net.
One of the greatest thinkers of our time, Albert Einstein, once said, ". . . athletics is merely the folly of those who do not think." Given some thought, it would seem that most all sports are just that, idle folly.
Consider exactly what those games are which the entire country pays millions to watch and even more to participate in. Sports are so simple and unsophisticated that they verge on the ridiculous.
For example, what is football? Football is merely two teams of eleven players, (where they came up with that number, no one will ever know) who try to move a strangely shaped ball up and down a 100‑yard field with a lot of knocking, hitting, and hurting along the way.
Cross country makes even more sense. All that sport consists of is running; the only variation is in the amount. Soccer is interesting-22 guys in knee length socks running around kicking a ball and trying to knock it into a large net.
Basketball is a lot or running and jumping with each team bouncing and shooting a ball through a hoop just barely bigger than the ball itself. Baseball, the national pastime, a fair weather game, pits nine strategically placed men with oversize gloves against one, with a big wooden stick, who tries to hit a ball thrown at him and run to one of four bases before he is tagged or forced "out."
Who with two ounces of brains would play any of these games or worse yet pay others to watch them played? Has anyone so little to do with his spare time that he must revert to something as insignificant as athletics?
We must all be dolts, as each of us in some way or another waste time and/or money on this "idle folly" to while away the hours. But this can't be all wrong, as the nation's number one fan, Richard Nixon, does the same thing. And we all know he can't be wrong. Just ask him.
Who with two ounces of brains would play any of these games or worse yet pay others to watch them played? Has anyone so little to do with his spare time that he must revert to something as insignificant as athletics?
We must all be dolts, as each of us in some way or another waste time and/or money on this "idle folly" to while away the hours. But this can't be all wrong, as the nation's number one fan, Richard Nixon, does the same thing. And we all know he can't be wrong. Just ask him.