Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

Last night we had dinner at a local pub called Johnny's Northside Grill. In any other town this should be a heavy drinking establishment with only adults in attendance. But Los Gatos is such suburban, middle-class, white bread, that even the bars end up being family establishments. But what I wanted to write about was the TV.

It must be an off-season for sports because on one of the TV screens spread around Johnny's was women's professional bowling. Who knew that such a thing even existed, let alone was televised? I don't think I'd seen bowling on TV since I was a kid. But I was hooked, and couldn't take my eyes off of it.

Maybe it's just the TV deprivation we've been going through, but I found this bowling tournament to actually be exciting, as I found myself picking which players I was going to root for, and which ones I wanted to loose. And the woman I picked did win!

At least the bowling was more exciting than the baseball game that was on the other set: Atlanta v. Florida. But, as a friend of mine pointed out, the Florida Marlins aren't exactly professional sports.

I'd have to say the most boring sports event I've ever seen on TV was while I was in England many years ago. They broadcast sheep herding. Yeah, that's right: Sheep Herding. Fat old guys who blow a whistle and the dogs do all the work getting the sheep into the pen.

It was highly surreal, and made even golf look like an exciting show. I have to admit, some of the dogs were cute. But this could never qualify as a sports event in America. Here's why: No place for your beer.

You see, we Americans will let bowling and fishing enter our sporting lexicon, because they each provide a place for your beer. It's almost an encouraged part of these sports to have a drink while you participate. But it's hard to take a drink when you're blowing a whistle and yelling at a dog to round up the sheep.