Tony,<<<Just because someone is a clone of Ray Lewis doesn't mean he wants to hurl himself at people as big and as fast as he is, as hard as he can for 60 minutes a week. You can get killed.>>>
You don't get an argument on that from me. That in fact is the main ingredient in football attraction, the mayhem. Not athletic esthetics. It's like going to see a car race (don't get me on that) and waiting for a car crash.
<<<. The left handed relief pitcher comes to mind. If you can get the ball over with something on it, and do absolutely nothing else athletic, you can hang around 'til you're 45. >>>
That is normally what is left after a lifetime of developing pitching skills. You don't start out to develop the skills of a left handed pitcher coming in to get that one left handed batter out. That is the rare exception in baseball. Most baseball players have to hit, run, field, and throw.
Few football players learn to catch a football and even fewer learn to throw a football. If you can't do either, you specialize to kick it. You specialize in kicking a football with someone holding it, or you can speicalize in kicking a foot holding it with your own hands. And, you can alos make a living just kicking it, while it is sitting in a holder on the ground. There are some players that need to learn how to hold on to a football and run away before getting killed. I guess that is the excitement. But, most football players don't play much with a football. That is not what it is all about.
Sure, to play at the highest level, it pays (it demands) that you are in shape and are athletic. But, football, to me, has not that much to do with athletics.
IMO a skinny little gymnast is far more athletic than most football players.
Mary |
