Once again Monday, Houston radio talk-show host Charlie Pallilo pulled out his infamous Cone of Silence. I sympathize with his attempts to get home after hosting his show without hearing any mention of the result of yesterday's Syracuse(his alma mater) game. Like Pallilo and many others reading this post, I assume, I have constructed my own Cones of Silence on numerous occasion. With the proper amount of planning, these cones can and do succeed quite often; however, sometimes even under ideal circumstances a fortress of sports isolation can be rendered asunder.
A Case in Point
In June 1994, I was much less experienced in the methods of avoiding exposure to sports results. Further more, 20 years ago, I was living in rural Japan. As the lone American in a town of about 40,000 people, I was naive enough to think that maintaining a Cone of Silence would be a piece of sushi.
The result I was seeking to avoid was Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Rockets and the Knicks. That game, which the Rockets needed to win to force a Game 7, was held on a Sunday in Houston. A tape delayed version was to be shown very early Tuesday morning on satellite television station in Japan.
My plan was to tape the delayed broadcast on the VCR of the church where I served and avoid the result until I had a chance to watch the tape on Tuesday morning. My apartment did not have sattelite nor a VCR. The church did. Obviously, 20 years ago, the Cone of Silence was a much easier endeavor than it is now. No Twitter, no internet, etc.
My tasks were pretty simple: watch no television(in case on of the Japanese news shows happened to show a highlight, which wasn't likely); listen to no radio(I could sometimes pick up an English broadcast from a U.S. military base; and close my eyes when I picked up the newspaper off the porch.(The Daily Yomiuri sometimes had scores prominently displayed on its front page)
Was I confident when I started to walk to church on Tuesday morning to watch the tape? I can't remember how I felt about the Rockets chances to win, but I WAS confident that my Cone of Silence had held, and that I would be able to watch the entire contest unaware of its outcome.
Arriving at the church(see picture above), I made my way to the classroom with the television, rewound the tape, and settled in for Game 6. I didn't even see him coming. Shortly after Olaujwon and Ewing took their places for the jump ball, Pastor Watanabe, who didn't speak English very often, poked his head in the door on the way to his office, which was down the hall. I should have put my fingers in my ears. "That was a great win for the Rockets wasn't it Mike-san!"
The best laid plans of mice and men, indeed!
Pastor Watanabe, who knew I was a big Rocket fan but had been unaware of my attempted Cone of Silence, was out the door and in his office before I had time to react. I watched the game for a little while, but admittedly some of the excitement was gone. Eventually, I stopped by Pastor Watanabe's office and explained what had happened. We had a good laugh about the whole thing, especially since the Rockets had won. I never did figure out a good translation for Cone of Silence, but he understood what I meant.
Fortunately, the tape delayed broadcast of Game 7 aired on Thursday afternoon, so I was able to watch the contest without video taping it. I was able to avoid Pastor Watanabe that day and watch the Rockets bring home their first NBA title.
No comments:
Post a Comment