Hey man, remember that one guy, you know, he played for the Falcons, this white safety in the '80s and '90s?\
""Oh, you mean Scott Case?""
""Yeah. What the hell made me think of him?""
One of the greatest advantages of being a sports fan is the ability to have meaningless conversations like this with any other sport fan you ever meet. Sitting in a living room, drinking a can of Dew, just shooting the shit for a while and there's a lull in the conversation.
Nothing much to say.
Sports fans don't have this problem. We'll just talk about that shot Freddie Owens made in the 2003 NCAA Tournament or the time Raiders running back Napoleon McCallum's knee exploded on ""Monday Night Football.""
It might not seem like much, but a comment as simple as that is enough to get a group of sports enthusiasts talking for literally hours.
We live vicariously through these athletes, being both willing and able to accept the fact that we, as out-of-shape collegians, will never run into the end zone with Touchdown Jesus in the distance or leg out a triple in the College World Series. So we get excited remembering the moments we wish we could have lived, or at least seen in person.
In conversations like this, sometimes the hardcore fans are separated from the average fan. When someone mentions the dreaded fourth-and-26 play that ended the Packers' 2003 playoff run, the real fan will recognize that the defense need not have been on the field at all if Mike Sherman had the confidence to give Ahman Green another shot to pick up a fourth-and-one. A fan might remember when Jason Kidd, Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn all played for the Dallas Mavericks, but a fanatic would think of their horrible 11-71 mark in the 1992-'93 year (and that the only reason they had that many wins was because Jackson finally signed his contract).
Sometimes, though, it's not even anything that significant. Sometimes it's fun to just rattle off obscure athletes in a sort of childhood sports memory dick-measuring contest. This is much more likely to result in a Scott Case reference than a discussion of underrated former NFL defensive backs, because that would be a bit much even for most sports nuts.
For those unlucky enough not to enjoy or follow sports, it may be helpful to consider an analogy. Remembering strange moments and obscure players is much like the sort of talk two music lovers will engage in, with one person mentioning what other bands a group sounds like or what other bands a member may have been in.
Sports fans might not be the greatest conversationalists, but among others of their ilk are never at a loss for words. That's why we instinctively look for and find other sports fans-so we can talk sports with someone. It's just a need we have.
In case you were wondering, that's the Scott Case who shared a defensive backfield with two-sport stars Deion Sanders and Brian Jordan. Just thought you might want to know.
