I recently decided to try allowing people to make recommendations on possible blog topics on my facebook page. I said that I would write about the one that got the most likes. This is not it. Due to tests, I have not had time to perform the social experiment that got the most (1 like) positive response. I did want to post this week, though. So I’m taking another suggestion that will be quicker to write about. Uncle Sam* suggested the following topic:

The eternal question that philosophers have pettifogged for years: Is nothing better than an interception?

The question first sprang to light in my early days of watching football. Football is a beloved sport in our family. My mom has been telling me from a young age that it is important to love and understand the game 1) because it’s awesome and 2) because boys would be impressed by my interest in the sport. The jury is still out on the latter, however the former is absolutely true. I digress though.

I was watching a game with my dad and uncle. This game in particular was not going well for our team. In fact, our team had just thrown an interception that had us all groaning in disgust. In frustration I yelled out, “Nothing is better than an interception!” At this my fellow game watchers turned to me in concern. They assumed that either I didn’t understand football (something terrible) or that I was cheering for the wrong team (even worse).

They hurriedly sought to correct me from my erroneous ways. After several minutes the issue was finally cleared up. We realized there were two possible interpretations of the phrase. 1) an interception is the best thing that could have happened in that scenario, which is the one they heard and 2) not gaining any yards (nothing) would have been better than giving yards away, which is what I meant.

To this day the matter still looms in the air whenever there is an interception thrown by either team. Unintentional wordplay can create confusion and even conflict. The English language is dangerous. Proceed with caution.

*Once again, not the Uncle Sam. My uncle. Sam Nelson.