Sports Note

Football is perhaps the ultimate non-athlete sport. They split a football team between the skill players (quarterback, running back, wide receiver) and, well, everyone else. Let's face it: if you're a guard or tackle you're pretty much there because you're one helluva big hunk of meat. (I know, I know, its not that easy. But if I were a big hunk of meat I could learn the guard/tackle thing; if I were a talented blocker I'd be worthless UNLESS I were a big hunk of meat.)

Other sports seem to have taken notice. For example, there's Shaq. The guy can't do anything unless he's RIGHT UNDER THE BASKET. A ten foot shot? Might as well be from half court. Free throws? Forget it. Ball handling? Not unless you're talking about jumping straight up and throwing the ball five feet to the basket.

If you were Shaq-sized, you, too, could pretty much do what he does. Maybe not with his personality, such as it is. But with no prior basketball experience, if you suddenly became Shaqesque, you'd have 90% of his, er, talent.

Hockey for some time has had people who can barely skate. What do they do? They stroll around the rink and take out the other team's best players, slamming them into the boards, the ice, whatever. Hey, you see a 250 pound lug who's is barely in control of himself barrelling down on you you get out of the way. And maybe miss a pass or muff a shot in the process.

Baseball is full of lunks who can hardly field, can only throw in the general vicinity of whatever they're aiming at, and basically swing at anything thrown their way when they're at bat. Of course, when they connect they are as likely to hit a home run as a popup -- which is why they're there.

The point is, the thing that makes any of these sports so compelling is the skill it takes to play them well. That guard ball-handling like a magician, the forward who can pop that off-balance three pointer in from the other side of the court, the wide-receiver who reels in a one handed catch in traffic, the hockey player who stickhandles his way through the defense and can make the perfect pass to boot, the outfielder who can run down the line drive and then throw a pinpoint bullet to grab a runner leaning too far off base. Even the perfectly executed choreography of linemen pulling to throw a block at the precise right time to spring the running back. Knowing that these guys have one-of-a-kind skills is what makes the whole thing worth watching.

Please keep the Sports Center highlights, the monster dunks, the home runs, the hockey fights. Quit idolizing the guys who have no skills other than being freak-sized slabs of beef. Show me the guys who do those things that take skill, not size.