DUFF & NONSENSE!: First it was umbrella trouble(*), now it's . . .

Sunday, 12 December 2010

First it was umbrella trouble(*), now it's . . .

. . . hurdling! As it happens I have some experience of hurdling. Don't ask me why but back in the mists of time when I was around 15 years of age I became very keen on it as a sport. Straighforward sprinting was boring, and middle- and long-distance running hurt too much, well, my pain threshold was on the minus scale even in those days! Now, whilst I am not claiming that hurdling was difficult, it did require a sort of minimal amount of thought and working out. The length of your pace and your take off point for the first hurdle had to be measured and that decided the point at which you started, for me, as I recall, it was 3" behind the start line because that took me to exactly the right launch point. Then there were the paces between hurdles to be considered so that you could sprint but still take each hurdle without breaking your stride pattern - and so on. All this preparation produced a feeling of great satisfaction when, occasionally, I managed to sprint down a line of hurdles clearing all of them without breaking step - even if, as usual, I did finish last!

So I say again, you do not need to be 'Brain of Britain' to master the sport but, alas, it seems to have completely foxed the 'Brain of America'! I am led to believe that his favourite sports are golf and basketball. Do you think he lobs his golf ball towards the holes and hits the basket-ball with a club? I don't know, but I think we should be told!

obama-hurdle