Sunday, July 13, 2014

A Benchwarmer's Guide to Benchwarming

Depending upon when you are reading this blog post, the FIFA World Cup has ended/is underway/is soon to commence. Regardless, this post is relevant to most sports, except, for instance, golf. (Does golf really even count as a sport? I mean, all you do is hit a ball with a strangely-shaped stick called a "club" (A club? What are we, cavemen?) and hope that it falls into a hole. You then causally strut over to where the ball landed (or, if you feel exceedingly lazy, you can take a golf cart) and continue to prod the ball until it falls into the hole. Then you move onto the next hole, and repeat. Stay tuned for my rant on golf!*)

*I’m not writing a rant on golf. It doesn’t even count as a sport.
              
  Every sport that counts as a sport (A.K.A. not golf) requires all of the members of the team to pull their weight. Defenders need to defend, scorers need to score, and benchwarmers need to bench. Wait, no. They need to warm the bench. Yeah, that!

                Benchwarmers need to warm the bench, and they need to do it well. They need to reach and maintain OBT (Optimal Bench Temperature). OBT is defined as standard human body temperature, which is quantified as 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or, for you folks who are inclined to using the metric system, 37 degrees Celsius. It is the benchwarmers’ job to ensure that the active players do not have to suffer the agony of a cold bench. A cold bench draws heat energy away from the active players’ bodies, which can cause their muscles to tire, cramp, and, eventually, give out.

                So, what are the steps to becoming an effective benchwarmer? Well, a good benchwarmer starts the day with a hearty breakfast, ideally one that contains at least 3,927 calories. Try to avoid vegetables and fruits as much as possible, and focus on cramming in as many carbohydrates, sugars, and fats as possible. More body weight allows for a greater surface area, which will allow you to more effectively warm larger portions of the bench.

                During practices, your team will likely be doing some productive, healthy workouts and training exercises. Rather than partaking with them, you should be sitting on the closest chair, practicing some warming techniques. Occasional flatulence will allow you to rapidly spread heat to the area of the bench immediately beneath you. While you’re on the bench, you want to keep a constant pace of shifting around every 2 minutes or so. Work out a system with your fellow benchwarmers so that no portion of the bench is left uncovered for a period longer than three seconds. This keeps the bench at a nice, even temperature throughout. You don’t want the bench to be too cold in one place and too warm in another. Wear thick, heavy clothes made of wool. You may be sweltering, but it’s a sacrifice you need to make for your team. Bring four boxes of Twinkies with you to practice in order to further your body’s surface area. You need to be ready for the big game! By closely following these steps, you should be an amazing benchwarmer! (You’ll also probably be obese and dead in no time, but it’s a sacrifice you need to make for your team! Besides, you get courtside seating to all of the games, and you might even get to interact with the actual players now and then!)


                Good benchwarmers are integral to a good team. Otherwise, failure will surely ensue. Heck, LeBron James left the Miami Heat because the benchwarmers were inadequate. Pick it up, Miami!

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