Wine is like Football

Follow me closely here, because this one isn’t going to come naturally to most.
How much do you know about football? Do you know how the game is played? Do you have a favorite team? How many players can you name on your team? How many players can you name on other teams? How many coaches can you name? Am I talking about college? Or the NFL? What if I’m talking about both? How many players’ 2010-2011 stats can you rattle off without doing some research first? Have you ever noticed, that regardless of how much you know, there’s always that guy that knows SO MUCH more than you do?
​Football season is great because Monday morning when you go to work, you have something to talk about with people that you wouldn’t normally talk to. On the elevator, you may talk to a complete stranger about how good the Broncos game was. At a table, you may comment on the hit that put your team’s QB out for the season. It’s a subject that everyone seems to have at least a little interest in and always has something to say about it. To me, wine is like that. I know very few people that have no interest in wine. Obviously, the vast majority of them don’t want to get in to it like I do, but just about everyone has something to say about it.
​Have you ever watched a Bronco’s game and watched Champ Bailey play? You watch in amazement as he is having the game of his career. You can’t wait to go to work and talk about it because you know everyone else is watching the same plays. When you get to work the next day, you see Charlie at the water cooler:
​“What a game! Did you see that hit Bailey put on Randy Moss?” Thinking about the game, and that hit has your heart pumping again! You’ve been waiting for 18 hours to talk about it! Now is your time! It’s your chance to show off your football knowledge, and confirm your masculinity to yourself, and to Charlie! (Maybe that’s just me).
​“Yeah! CRAZY game! I can’t believe Moss walked away from that!” he says, sharing your excitement. Then he starts to get a little deep “I can’t believe the Broncos pulled it off. The last time they played, remember? That offsides penalty with fifteen seconds left, that put them out of Field Goal range? They lost their playoff chances because of that play!”
​Whoa! You don’t remember that game. You’re not even a Bronco’s fan, why would you have seen that game? What is he talking about? What if he gets deeper?
​“And that hit, it was nothing special. Remember when he played for the Redskins? The game against Dallas when he ended their tight ends saeason? How about when he played for Georgia? Do you remember the interception he returned for a touchdown? When he ran over that Ohio State QB and ended his football career? He had nine sacks per season in college, as a cornerback!!”
​What is Charlie talking about? How could anyone remember all of this? You were so excited to talk to Charlie, and he made you realize how little you actually knew about the game. What a disappointment. Next time you’ll talk to Jessica about the game.
​Wine is the same way. I’m in a position now where I taste amazing wines from all over the world all of the time! I want to talk about it with people that will relate and enjoy the conversation. I’ve tried looking for wine discussion forums on random websites. I want to talk about the Continuum wine dinner that I just hosted. The wines are a few hundred bucks a bottle. I should fit right in, right? Nope! These forums are all people talking about the Petrus they drank the night before:
​“Last night I opened one of my bottles of 1997 Chateau Petrus. It was good, but didn’t compare to the ’82 Margeaux I had the night before.” I can read their snooty noses through their text. I love T-Vine! If I even whispered a breath of T-Vine in a forum:
​“Ugh! Silly under-appreciative American palates! They’ll never understand the complexity of great wine!”
​No one wants to hear that! That’s why I don’t talk to Charlie about football! I’m going to comment on how good the game was, and he’s going to reminisce on a penalty that happened in an NCAA game 35 years ago that ruined the career of a potential Pro Bowl offensive lineman.
​The fact is, as much as you know about wine, there is someone that knows 100 times more than you. For every expensive bottle that you’ve had, someone has used it for cooking wine. For every stat you know about Peyton Manning, someone knows his high school stats, and can’t wait to impress you with them. I’ll never know everything about wine, just as I’ll never know everything about football. The trick is, I’m always willing to learn, and I don’t focus on what I don’t know. Learning about wine is fun. Keep doing it. Taste thirty different wines today! It’s education! It’s just like learning about football without the concussions.

Nosh: http://nosh121.com/grapesgrains/default.asp
The Blue Star: http://www.thebluestar.net/WineSpirits.asp

Also coming soon:

Wine Event at Nosh – March 17, 6PM – 8PM – Wince Cru Spanish and Portuguese Wine Tasting