* Keith Olbermann, whose mien reminds us that he’s convinced he’s entirely too smart to be trafficking in sports, made headlines the other day with an auto racing comment. He said it really wasn’t a sport. NASCAR types sped to the defense.
As much as I hate to agree with Olbermann about much of anything, I do on this one, although he should have differentiated athletic sports and “sports.” But I know what he meant. The latter, demanding eclectic skill sets shy of athleticism, could include everything from road racing and skeet-shooting to billiards and shuffleboard.
* “Football is not a contact sport. It’s a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” That was a vintage Vince Lombardi line that underscored the physicality of football. We all got it. Hard-core fans loved it.
Here’s another quote that is reflective of more enlightened times when it comes to the incidence and ultimate impact caused by collision-sport concussions. “Nope. I wouldn’t. … I think the risk is worse than the reward.”
That’s Mike Ditka’s response to Bryant Gumbel’s question as to whether he would want his own kid to play football. Yeah, THAT Mike Ditka.