It started out innocently enough. At work, we use instant messenger heavily to communicate between teams. Everyone can customize the picture that others see during “chats”. My current picture is one of Bucky Badger, symbol of my university.
People in my office may not recognize Bucky or know which college he is associated with. But everyone knows it’s a college mascot. There are others in the office who do this as well: we have an LSU, SC and Nebraska.
I was chatting with my new programming partner, who works from India. We had covered the work, and he made the comment,
“Even though your picture is angry, you seem cool.”
It stopped me cold, and I looked at Bucky with new eyes. Yes, he is angry. After all, who has ever met a happy badger? They are notorious for their bad tempers, and their viciousness.
I quickly explained that this was a mascot, and we moved onto a discussion of football (American). He floored me again by saying,
“I understand American Football is like soccer.”
On the surface, yes. But how does one explain special teams, offside kicks, false starts, safeties and touchbacks to a person whose experience is a very regular set of rules where the most major is “don’t use your hands”? I was at a loss.
He went on to say that everyone in India was crazed about cricket there. And did Americans like cricket?
I’ve seen cricket. It’s a good thing to watch if you want to go to sleep. So I answered truthfully, “I think Americans would like cricket if the bats were used to hit people about the head.”
We both laughed, but there is a certain amount of truth to it. We Americans revel in rough sports played in extreme conditions. Football and hockey are two examples. And both are extremely difficult to explain.
Photo by Ed Yourdon
