Thursday, March 26, 2015

Life Letters (March): Learning (Sports)

With March Madness kicking off, I figured my first week of studies should be sports. I love sports. I am a total sport girl. In our house, growing up as long as you played a sport you were good. You could have Bs in school but playing a competitive sport was a must. 

So sports it was for my first week of learning. Which meant lots of watching TV ;) Basketball mainly with crazy round 1 and 2 upsets including Butler, Iowa State, and Kansas. Of course I indulged in a little tennis with Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas in Indian Wells. I love this tournament and the beauty of Palm Springs. I felt a little warmth while watching.


For the first time, I went to the gorgeous library in Ossining. It is a 4 story building with an enormous children's center, a teen room, a cafe, and a wonderful staff. The building is about 4 or 5 years old. It truly is a beauty inside. I checked out a book on badminton. Badminton is similar to tennis in that there are racquets and a ball-like object to hit over a net. There is a lined court too. The game's name originated in 1869 when a group of British army officers played the game after learning it in India. By 1893 fourteen clubs had been formed to make the Badminton Association. Like tennis, there is singles and doubles. A competitive game that involves gracious and quick footwork as well as hand-eye coordination.

Speaking of European teams, did you know that the Pope has a cricket team? It is called St. Peter's Cricket Club and was started by the Vatican. Five players from other countries were recruited for the team!

In notable news, NFL rookie Chris Borland is retiring after his first season due to concussion concerns. He graduated from college with a degree in history and intends to pursue that as a career. He has had several concussions and is concerned about new studies and the affect of multiple concussions on one's life. This decision is forcing the NFL to take a closer look into the subject.

Patrick McDarby, a sport logo designer, died at 57 years old. From Connecticut, many sport logos emerged with his pencil and paper during his daily commutes into NYC. Examples include the NY Rangers, Islanders, Knicks, Washington Wizards & Capitals, Indianapolis 500, Lady Liberty, Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Panthers, Villanova, Iowa State, Major League Soccer, and WWE.

There are so many sports. So many...like 8000 plus. That is crazy. But means the likelihood of excelling at one is great ;) There are 41 sports in the summer Olympics and 15 in the winter games. 

What a great first week of learning about a subject so near and dear to my heart...on to the next week :)

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