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Wednesday

Sports - War minus the Shooting

Listen to "Sports - War minus the Shooting"

The title of this episode comes from the following George Orwell quote: “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard for all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting." This is meant to be a fun episode on the similarities between football, chess, and war. Please take each analogy with a grain of salt.

Football (two armies fighting to reach the opposing camp/end zone):
  • Kick-off Team: Skirmishers
  • Quarterback: Tactical Commander
  • Head Coach: Strategic Commander
  • Halfback: Light Infantry Reserves
  • Fullback: Heavy Infantry Reserves
  • Tight End: Heavy Cavalry
  • Linemen (offensive and defensive): Heavy Infantry
  • Wide Receivers: Light Cavalry
  • Cornerbacks: Light Cavalry
  • Linebackers: Light Infantry
  • Safeties: Heavy Cavalry
  • Kicker: Artillery


Chess (two armies fighting to defeat the opposing commander):
  • Pawns: Heavy Infantry
  • Rooks: Artillery
  • Knights: Light Cavalry
  • Bishops: Light Infantry
  • Queen: Heavy Cavalry
  • King: Tactical Commander


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