Talk:The 43 Peculiarity/@comment-3125805-20150112203504

Interesting that what Sheldon is doing here is instantly recognisable to British viewers as the good old game of "keepy-uppy", normally performed with a football (soccer ball, that is). The world record stands at way over a thousand repetitions without once letting the ball touch ground, so Sheldon has a way to go yet.

As a British viewer (correct me if I'm wrong) what we would call football and Americans call soccer appears to have a strange position in American physical sports education. It's a long way down the list of prestige sports for boys (but is viewed as ideal for girls) way after American Football and others. Our perception is that American boys who play soccer are seen as a bit strange, or geeky, or it's a default activity to use for boys too weedy, weak and uncoordinated to play a proper man's sport like real American football.

Way back in the day in East Texas, there'd have been a High School PE coach whose woes would be added to by having to introduce Sheldon Cooper to some sort of physical activity they could both live with. Is this where hacky-sack/keepy-uppy began, as the sole sporting activity a Sheldon Cooper could perform with any sort of pleasure or competence? ideal for Sheldon, who would love continual physical repetition, and a face-saver for his PE coach, who could direct Sheldon to a corner of the gym with a hacky-sack knowing he's be profitably occupied for an hour.