The other sports

Believe it or not, I occasionally think about sports other than football. I love basketball, and approximately 5 times a year I deem it worthwhile to pay attention to baseball.

Basketball
I've developed an odd quirk--I can't watch a basketball game if I can't see it from beginning to end. This means I don't watch too much basketball anymore--I want to, then I keep catching games after the first quarter begins. At that point, I feel I've already missed the necessary development of the game, and I can't quite get into watching it. I feel if I miss the tip, I'll never get into the flow of the game. Sunday I was looking forward to watching the Suns and Lakers--but then ABC's coverage started when the game was already at 6-4, and I couldn't get into it and stopped watching it (thus missing the fantastic ending).

In round two, I'll start looking closer at schedules and prime myself to be sitting in front of the television before tipoff. Because I love basketball, and I really want to watch some games. And for some OCD reason, I won't watch if I miss the beginning.

Baseball
I'm sick of Johnny Damon being called Judas and all that. The only group to whom Damon is a traitor is Red Sox fans. To other baseball fans, he goes from one big market, big payroll team to a bigger market, bigger payroll team. He's no traitor. Johnny Damon the man owes nothing to Boston or the fans. He can go where he wants, even if its for the money. Betrayal? What did he do besides leave? Benedict Arnold tried to help the British defeat the American colonists. Judas turned Jesus over to be killed. Did Damon do anything overt to hurt the Red Sox or Red Sox fans? No. He just went to another team. And unless he grew up in either New England or New York rooting for one or the other team, what is the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to him? Not much. Nothing at all when millions of dollars are concerned. There's no ideological betrayal involved. He didn't actively bring any harm to his former team.