Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Well I Can't Say Otherwise

Once again in Bob's. This time I'm sitting with Coach... an old fellow with thinning white hair and leathery skin who, just by looking at him, I know he could be 104 years old, he could still kick the crap out of me. He writes a weekly column for the Bangkok Post called Coach's Corner about American football. (I'd give you the link, but Bangkok Post wants registered users only, which sucks. Feel free to hunt for the column on your own if you're really interested.)

Between himself and Bill (Fukui San), a sportscaster himself, they know more about sports than any other 2 people you will run into in regular company. They will fall into a detailed discussion about game 4 of the 1989 World Series. Coach will throw out trivia questions too: "Name all the sports teams whose names don't end in 'S'."

"Manchester United," I say. Coach tells me I'm no longer allowed to participate.

After a discussion on the rule regarding end-zone celebrating, Coach asks, "Who was the first person to ever spike a football?"

Everybody looks at him funny.

"Actually, that would be me," he says.

He used to play professional football in the Canadian Football League (before going on to coach the University of Memphis, and then a Coca Cola executive), and apparently, according to him, back in the late 60s, he spiked a football after scoring a touchdown for the first time, and it took off from there.

Well, I can't say otherwise.

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