...creak...

That sound you just heard is the noise my brain makes when I learn something new and it expands to include the new information. I'm, naturally, pretty used to it by now, but it sometimes frightens children or disturbs those right next to me.

Today, thanks to the Olympics, I actually watched part of a game of field hockey for the first time in my life. Although I'd heard about the game quite some time ago and knew it existed, I'd never seen a match or game or whatever it's called. Now I have, and I must admit to being underwhelmed, if not bored.

My ten or fifteen minute exposure showed me all I need to know about the game, which is that it's soccer (or football or futbol) played with shepherd's crooks and what I suspect to be a harder, solid ball. The main thing I took away from the experience, and the first thing I noticed, is that the game looks to be an exercise in torture for the back. There's a great deal of bending over, which I suppose would make it a natural for anyone who works all day picking fruits and vegetables.

The only reaction I had while watching Germany win the Gold Medal over the Netherlands was ... ouch.