SOCCER and i
By: Stan Jordan
I know nothing about the game of soccer and I am sure it’s going to be big here in the United States so I had Crystal punch me up Wikipedia and this and another column will help in understanding the game better. I’m sure down the road it is going to be nationwide.
America hates a loser and loves a winner and if America ties into soccer like I think they will, the United States will be first in a few years, even though we will be playing someone else’s game.
Association Football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world’s most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.
Association football is one of a family of football codes which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity. According to FIFA the earliest of these with standardized games and established rules for which documentary evidence exists is cuju, played in Han dynasty China. The modern game traces its origins to 1863 when the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association.
Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, save for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may also use any other part of their body except the hands and the arms. The team that scores most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA; French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organizes World Cups for both men and women every four years. Www.wikipedia.com
BASEBALL AND THE DH
By: Stan Jordan
In last week;s mournful column we talked a lot about baseball history, attendance and gale receipts. That had a lot to do with the American League adopting the designated hitter. Over the years advertising has bailed out all sports activities from the poor house, but in my way of thinking, baseball has caused a lot of their own problems with the those fantastic contracts to some of the players.
Now to call a spade a spade, the American League expected and wanted the d.h. to liven up the game and put more people in the stands, but has it? I’ve talked to a lot of baseball fans and you get a number of returns. From “well yes”, “I don’t know”, or “yes, it’s great”, “I don’t like the game at all”, to “I’m a National League man”. There’s some down right good discussions.
Like a pitcher trains his body hard and uses some muscles and tendons that a regular player doesn’t use. And one argument is a pitcher’s field is special and he trains special and he doesn’t try to hit the ball so let someone bat who wants to win. Winning is the name of the game. A die-hard National League man has just as many reasons to let the pitcher bat, it has always been like that ever since Abner invented the game.
Over the years, there has been a number of changes in the game. They lowered the pitcher’s mound, a more easier ball, new parks and lower outfield fence. It seems the pitcher can throw that ball harder, but some batters see it just as well.
Now the designator hitter can bat in any field today from 1 to 9 place.
I have received all kinds of answers and retorts on the value of the d.h. some are note worthy and some are not, but I look for the d.h. to stay as it. What I mean is that National League will not use it and the American League will not drop it.
See ya!
MY MEMORY AND THE CEMETERY
By: Stan Jordan
For 14 years, around the turn of the century, I mowed the cemeteries and the lawn over at the Dana Plant. I mowed every week in season and I got to know where certain people were buried because I went by their grave and markers lots of times.
Every once in a while strangers will stop at the cemetery and ask Pudge where a certain friend or relative of theirs is buried. Sometimes he can’t come up with the location of said grave and that bothers him because he likes to help people if he can. Now and then he will call me in hopes I can remember where this person is buried.
Not long ago my phone rang and Pudge said “What are you doing?” I said, “Watching baseball on the t.v.” He said, “I need a little help, there is some people here from Georgia and they would like to see a grave and tombstone before they go back home. They are looking for Ed Lieder and I can’t find him nor remember him.”
I said, “I know that Lieder and where they lived, now let me think where that stone is.” But I could not come up with where the Lieders were buried. I tried and tried.
Then the lady told Pudge that wherever it was, that was a man named Wilkerson in the same area. So when Pudge told me that I remembered where Ralph Wilkerson was buried! I asked Pudge on the phone if they were at the tool shed and he said, “yes” I told him, “Take the little road to the left that goes east about 100 yards up that little hill and then there’s Ralph Wilkerson’s grave on the right and Ed Lieder’s grave is on the south end of that row.” All of it was coming back to me from memory.
Pudge called me back in a few minutes and he said the folks wanted to thank us again for our help.
I said, “I’m glad to be of help,” and Pudge said, “That’s the way I feel.”
See ya!
SO FAR IN JUNE
By: Stan Jordan
By the time you read this, we will be over in July. One month of the three summer months is gone.
So far here in the area we have had plenty of rain, the farmers have their crops in. It is according to where you live, if you had a wet spring, and some folks did.
The Rotary Club had their big breakfast down at the United Methodist Church on Decoration Day, or Memorial Day, which ever you prefer, and it was well attended.
The ACDC had their 8th annual Cleveland Street Ribfest and it was a “Jim Dandy”, everyone had a good time. The ACDC has a lot of good plans for the area.
The EMS squad had their pancake and sausage breakfast and we always sit and talk a while and have a good time.
The Chamber had their early yard sale special city wide and lots of folks look forward to that.
Now as I understand in July we will have the Big Boy$ Toys$ on the streets as usual.
The Bethel United Methodist Church will have their annual home made ice cream festival. I think that is Saturday, July 21st.
Dan Bowers will have his Muddy Maumee River Raft Race that includes anything that will float. More info on these dates a little later.
The Woodburn Summerfest is over and the big parade was not rained on, but other parts were rained out.
See ya!
