When is a ball not….
Really a ball? The reason I ask such a thing is that last weekend was had the final game of the World Cup action going on. The World Cup, of course, being a soccer tournament featuring teams from all around the world (hence the name) and held every 4 years, much like the Olympics. It is a BIG deal and probably the most watched television event there is, even bigger than the Super Bowl. And in this case, it was arguably the most exiting and best game ever played, coming down to a tie and then getting settled by what they refer to as “penalty kicks” (a tie breaker for those not in the know). Anyway, I did find myself glued to it, mind you, I had not watched a lot of the other matches and, in general, I’m not a huge fan but I absolutely get why it is so extremely popular.
That all said, in the rest of the world, they refer to soccer as football, yes, the same name as our beloved and most popular National “Football” League. And this got me thinking. Because in soccer, you really only get to use your feet to pass/kick the ball and eventually try and score (yes the goalies can use their hands, but that’s it). Okay, you can also use your head to advance or “move” the ball but it’s probably 95% use of foot which, in my eyes, makes “football” a fairly appropriate name for the game. Also, a soccer ball is round, which is what I believe most people think of when the word “ball” (not the party/dance thing) is used.
As it turns out, round comes up in the first definition of a ball but the second delves into “ovoid” shape which is another way of saying egg shape, which, I think, is another way of saying “football” shape (as in NFL Football) so I guess it fits that criteria, however, in NFL Football, there is a lot more going on than just kicking the ball. In fact, I’d say that kicking the ball might account for maybe 5% of what goes on in a football game. I mean there is passing the ball, running with the ball, jumping on the ball when someone drops it (fumble), just plain a lot of things happening other than kicking that ball.
So this continued me thinking. If the original founders of NFL Football decided that “football” wasn’t really their first choice as a name to go by, what else might have worked? Think about it, we have “baseball” which, yes, has bases but in the same way, also has so much more. There are bats, gloves, pitches, hits, diamond shaped fields, outfields, infields, etc., etc., etc. But they called it “baseball” and it stuck and at least the ball is round so I guess that works but I am almost thinking “Hitball” might have been more appropriate. A similar line of thought goes with basketball and I am surely not sure why”tennis” is tennis and not racketball, even with the existence of “racketball”. But none of those are competing with another sport using the same name.
So what else could we have called “football”? There is the obvious, “Goalball”, “Passball”, “RunBall”, “Ovoidball” (I like that). Also partial to “Tossball” as passing the football is typically more exciting than running it. And you know that with whatever they named it, had it been something else, well that’s just what it would be and we wouldn’t ever even think about it because the game is the game and it is quickly gaining on soccer (the original football) throughout the rest of the world in popularity so not likely that that is going to change.
How about “Laceball”? Dang, baseballs have laces as well so no good on that one. Anyway, food for thought. And if you do enjoy NFL action, this is going to be a weekend chock full of it with games all day Saturday and Sunday (Christmas Day)! And if you are not a fan, well, I believe they start running “A Christmas Story” sometime on Saturday and it just stays on for two days or so, so there is that.
We are featuring “building the Pulp Greenhouse, session 2” on the new Pulp page this week, check it out if you can, and a little Xmas surprise, the debut of the “Pulp Deck” video (as in the making of it) also on the new Pulp page this week backed with a new song we are working on called “Friday”!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays y’all. See you next week!
