i know! i know!

This morning the Eleven was gabbing and X cross exams me by asking how many of Ten Commandments I can name. My first thought is that I’ve done something wrong and need to think about the commandments and/or get some religion. I stumble through what gets classified as “four, maybe four-and-a-half.” I know, I don’t know what ‘half a commandment’ might be but it had something to do with wondering if coveting and adultery were the same commandment or not. Between us we eventually got to eight, maybe eight-and-a-half. What this led to was a gathering of categories that would be indicative of what Americans know and don’t know – in particular, what we think is very important versus what’s actually more like trivia and how it is we might sort them in our dusty brain cabinets. We argue, debate, and rage on certain topics yet we aren’t particularly well versed in knowing some of the details, such as what they actually include. So, we give you a herd of things to ponder while staring up at the corner of the ceiling and wondering why you haven’t vacuumed out the cobwebs.

Name the Ten Commandments
Ten hit songs by Madonna
Ten U.S. Presidents
The Bill of Rights
The original Rolling Stones and all the Beatles
Ten African nations
Sing at least one verse of “American Pie” by Don McLean
Supreme Court justices

You get the point, I think. We did laugh heartily at the fact that neither of us can name, or sing, even one of Mariah Carey’s 19 #1 songs – she now trails only the Beatles.

This won’t qualify as sport, per se, but I was trying to explain the other night how seeing a playoff game between the Capitals and Flyers is very different than games between the Caps and the Thrashers (or Lightning, or Hurricanes, or Panthers). The Flyers aren’t some Johnny-come-lately band of southern hockey franchises; they’re an original. What symbolizes this place in sport hierarchy are the uniform design and colors: a strong “P” symbol on the chest and the block orange and white jerseys with black pants. No mauves, purples, taupes, or horrible greens. As I was explaining this I got the perfect response from the her-listener, “So they’re like stormtroopers.” Exactly. The Flyers are like stormtroopers.