Savage Words: ‘Why do they have duck feet on their shoulders?’

It’s become quite obvious over the years that I’ve lived in a sports bubble for most of my life.

For me, it’s just common knowledge that the New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are the four teams remaining in this year’s NBA playoffs. 

For me, everyone – everyone – knows that. Up until a few years ago, it would have shocked me if someone didn’t.

The landscape in most sports is as obvious to me as is the color of the sky to others. 

I’m realizing more and more that I’m the weird one – not them.

My daughter is 21 years old. My entire career has been writing about sports. She could care less about sports. I’ve also realized over the years that that’s actually a good, refreshing thing.

It hit me hard two years ago during the Major League Baseball playoffs. In the five-game National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, the two teams were scheduled for a do-or-die Game 5 on Oct. 11, 2024.

I listened to national sports radio broadcasts all day on Oct. 11. There was so much hype about that game. Again, to me, everyone on the planet knew about it.

That afternoon I saw my daughter and one of her friends from Augustana.

“You guys watching the Dodgers/Padres game tonight,” I said.

They both had perplexed looks on their faces.

“I have no idea what you’re even saying,” her friend said. “You mean church?”

Church?

“Padres,” my daughter said. “Like a priest. Is that what you’re talking about?”

“A priest,” I said. “What in the blank are you talking about? I’m talking about the baseball playoffs tonight.”

Her friend rolled her eyes, and walked away.

“I have zero idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

My daughter just grinned, and had the look of: “Sorry, dad. The sports thing does nothing for us.”

I shrugged it off. It had been that way for years when it came to my daughter and her friends’ comprehension of sports.

When my daughter was little, she used to come with me to games when I had to cover them for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls. She went with me one night when I had a game at Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

She did her homework in the stands with her back to the game. She used the bench that she should have been sitting on as a makeshift desk for her homework. She probably went to 30-40 games with me during her grammar school years. She saw zero plays.

But towards the end of the game at Roosevelt when her homework was done, she turned around and looked at the massive mural of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders that looks over the gymnasium.

“Daddy,” she said to me as she tapped my leg with her eyes glued to the mural. “Why do those cowboys have western saddles, but they have English-style stirrups?”

What?

I truly didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

She rode horses as a little girl, specifically the English discipline. Apparently, there’s a difference between western and equestrian saddles and stirrups.

Who notices things like that?

I certainly didn’t. But I’m guessing the next time you go to Roosevelt for a sporting event, you’ll have a look.

The other night, I was watching the NHL playoffs in the basement. Midway through the third period between the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers, my daughter came downstairs. She sat down near me on the couch, thumbing through a book, occasionally glancing up at the screen.

I watched her, because I knew she had no idea what was going on. But, it was interesting to me just to watch those wheels turn.

Finally, I got this: “Dad, why do they have duck feet on their shoulders?”

Again…what?

She was talking about Anaheim’s secondary logo – a webbed duck foot – on their jersey.

And again…who notices things like that?

I’m convinced my daughter and her friends know more about Harry Potter’s quidditch game than they do about the NBA playoffs this year. In fact, I’m certain of it.

But, you know what? It’s refreshing at the same time. I’ve learned so much from her, things I never would have paid attention to in the past. Things like the proper positions in ballet dancing, finger placement on the violin, and what the difference is between a soprano, alto, tenor and bass is in a choir.

It’s fair to say that in her three years at Augustana, she and I have never been to a basketball game. But I’ve been to my fair share of choir concerts.

When I go to those concerts, I’ve never discovered a duck foot on their robes. 

But still, pretty cool.