Useless Trivia

Seems like my posts tend to be serious followed by mindless of late. In that vein, here's a link that will give you an idea of how I spent a slow afternoon at work.

Paul Lukas now writes for Slate, and his latest effort is dated November 14th--but the Village Voice columns are just short enough to keep you hooked, with the prospect of more useless trivia to follow--here's my favorite, which presents otherwise useless sports uniform facts ranging from 1916 through 1997--the final factoid noting the retirement of Craig McTavish, the last person to play in the NHL without a helmet.

I haven't written much about sports here, beyond the occasional metaphor. Not that I don't follow sports--just the opposite, I watched the baseball playoffs, usually catch a college and/or pro football game on the weekend, and even went to a pro basketball game last year (saw the Hornets lose their final game of the 2002-2003 season to Philadelphia. If there was decent, reliable train service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, I'd probably go to more Hornets games, and might even watch a Saints game or two).

Back in the 1970's, when I was a kid, my parents took me to some Virginia Squires games in the old ABA. Afros, real shorts that were above the knee, Converse Chuck Taylors...and the symbol of the league, a red, white & blue basketball. Julius Erving was the star of the ABA, but, man Artis Gilmore was TALL. I believe the saying goes, 7'2", but 7'6" with his afro...

But I can't say I'm real proud of my sports addiction. Hell, I consider sports to be the television equivalent of junk food. Easy on the eyes, simple to follow (if difficult to really understand, like American Football), fraught with moral clarity (except when teams like the Oakland Raiders throw a monkey wrench into all that is supposedly good, true, and right)--hell, I'll admit that it burned for a bit when I watched the Cubs flame out again this year, followed by Grady Little sticking with Pedro for an inning too long--but, shit, sports are empty calories. Maybe that's a good thing--for example, let's hope Chicago fans hold no grudge against Steve Bartman, who, from all I've heard, seems like a truly decent person--even if I laughed at the several MasterCard parodies that appeared in the days following (could only find one link for this post--sorry). But even as I know I'll be watching a good bit of MNF this evening, I'll try to balance it out with some sort of chore, so at least I can say my evening wasn't completely wasted...