I heard an interview with Morris Peterson of the Raptors the other day. He was talking about the fact that Chris Bosh was injured, and how the rest of the team has to play better because of it. During the interview, it struck me — why do basketball players always feel it necessary during interviews to remind you of what sport they play? Whenever you hear an interview, you get things like:

• Yes, our star player is injured, so the rest of the team needs to step up and just play basketball
• I’m not going to talk about that [some controversial issue], I just want to play basketball
• I don’t know why I was traded, I’m just here to play basketball

You never hear hockey players talk about how they “just want to play hockey” or baseball players say they are “just here to play baseball”. Come to think of it, I have heard football players say stuff like that too – This weekend’s game is going to be tough, but we just have to be ready and play football. Thanks for the clarification, buddy, I thought perhaps we were going to have a spelling bee instead.