Exactly: it's like Canadians playing hockey
Oh God, the people who talk about football all the time. And I love how some of my co workers would say "Oh, when WE played Denver" (for example). Like they were actually part of the team themselves. Oh, dear Lord...forgive the religious references.
Now if they were talking about college football and they actually went to that particular university...that would be different. Referring to their team in the first person plural (inclusive) would be more appropriate.
Dunno why I pointed that out, it just seems to be the norm among football fans. Thank God I didn't go to a college with a football team. Even though I didn't, it is still full of Marylanders arguing over whether the Redskins or the Ravens were better.
Yes, that armor seems to be there for a reason. But I think lacrosse also has the disadvantage of being considered an uppity, affluent white people's sport to a lot of people. This is deeply unfair, especially to the people who INVENTED the thing. But I digress.
I'm told the crazy a** m***** f****** are the goaltenders/goalies. Pietramala's book says that a goalie will have about 40 to 50 shots fired at him during the average game which he has to try to block, typically with his body. Wow. That's ballsier than I am! Then again I'm a pussy and I've never played a sport in my life. If I had a ball hit me at 90 mph, as the book claims (probably accurately) I'd cry...for quite a while.
I understand that an American team (or maybe it was a Canadian team, I can't recall what i read exactly) visited the UK to demonstrate the sport in front of Queen Victoria in the 1890s. She called it "very pretty to watch." One wonders what Her Britannic Majesty would have considered "ugly" to watch; in fact, one shudders to think.