Sport is not war, games are not conflict

The great American comedian George Carlin had a terrific routine in which he talked about the language used in American football, writes Michael Moynihan.

In the sport, he said, the object of the game was the quarterback, also known as the field general, staying on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defence by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he had to use the shotgun for short bullet passes and long bombs.

I was reminded of Carlin’s routine when reading a terrific piece by Peadar King for the RTÉ website during the week.