Football & war ...The literature of sport bubbles with colorful phraseology phra·se·ol·o·gy n. pl. phra·se·ol·o·gies 1. The way in which words and phrases are used in speech or writing; style. 2. that makes for a lot of vibrant communication, personal fouls, and a mild touch of lunacy lunacy: see insanity. . Remember the glorious '40s and '50s? Great years for college football. We had a lot of good friends among the coaches and enjoyed every one of their flights of fancy. None more than the voice of the turtle in Columbus, Ohio Columbus is the capital and the largest city of the American state of Ohio. Named for explorer Christopher Columbus, the city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and assumed the functions of state capital in 1816. . Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was a college football coach who is best remembered for his 28-year tenure at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, from 1951-1978. loved to hear himself speak and he was never afraid of leading with his chin. It was Woody who acquainted us with one of the most awful metaphors of the 20th century--that football is the closest thing we have to war. Our first thought was that Woody was being negative. As he went on with his "clever saying," we realized he was speaking positively about football. What a great thing it was that football was just like war so that you could prepare for war just by playing the game. An astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, piece of idiocy IDIOCY, med. jur. That condition of mind, in which the reflective, or all or a part of the affective powers, are either entirely wanting, or are manifested to the least possible extent. 2. Idiocy generally depends upon organic defects. . We honestly believe that most of the speakers who use the term actually think it makes them sound erudite er·u·dite adj. Characterized by erudition; learned. See Synonyms at learned. [Middle English erudit, from Latin . We have expressed our distaste for the term on more than a few occasions, but never as lucidly as a Marine officer who appeared on a TV show last fall. He had once played football for the Navy, and he looked heroic in his dress uniform, square jaw and hard-eyes stare. After a few warm-up questions, the MC was ready for his first brilliant mistake: "You must be proud to be a Marine after your career as a tight end. Wouldn't you say that football is the closest thing there is to war?" We looked upward. "Please, Lord," we thought, "don't let the answer to that question kill our will to live." The Marine was looking straight up the MC's nose. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Sport is not the closest thing we have to war," he said. "Nothing is close to war. Where else do you find everybody shooting at you and trying to kill you? Football is no closer to war than jumping rope." From our TV set on top of Old Smoky, we led the applause. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion