So I am becoming something of a regular at this particular sports bar in town where I watch college basketball. Yesterday the bartender remembered me ("Gimlet?") and so did a couple of guys I remember from the Duke game as being particularly boisterous UNC fans. I sat beside them at the bar and besides having my eyes opened to a whole different level of strategy and analysis (e.g. him: "Manuel's percentage of jump shots from outside the three is less than 28% and so it was dumb of him to take that shot;" me: "Even though he sunk it?" Him: "I don't want to see any more of that.") I also got to listen in on / participate vaguely in some male-male conversation of a nature I've not been privy to before. Topics included accompanying one's wife to buy furniture, some conversation about their children's birthday parties, speculation about whether daughters or sons were nicer to fathers once those fathers hit old age. Also strip clubs and which ones take credit cards and what the charge shows up as on the monthly statement and one of their friends who recently got married and how much he liked going to strip clubs -- apparently none of them had known the level of the groom's appreciation for this hobby until the pre-wedding festivities. Also the various things coaches of college sports teams should and shouldn't do in their personal lives. One of the ways these exchanges were different than conversations I'm used to is that, of course, sports and commentary about commercials and ribbing of the other guy were interspersed and always took priority over the other subject. But each subject was treated with only a sentence or two -- unless I blurted in and asked questions, which mostly I didn't but sometimes my curiousity got the better of me -- and then was done. Information exchange is very efficient, apparently. The whole pattern of statement, question, longer elaboration, question for clarification or about a nuance, answer with more details and new observations, and then connection of the point to something else about one or both of the people in the conversation and moving on from there was not applicable.
Anyway the whole experience of hanging out at a sports bar is fun. A lot more guys with buzz cuts than I'm used to being around,but so far everyone's been friendly and cool. Which is good since I'll be camped out there for pretty much all of the month of March....
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