Like about a hundred million other people, I watched the SuperBowl on TV last week. It was SuperBowl number 40, which reminded me that I've been enjoying American football for over twenty years now. I like it for the amazing acts of athleticism, the rapid changes in fortune, and the spectacle of it all. Some people have told me they find it boring because of the stop–start nature of it, but that suits me fine — I need those breaks in play to mentally process what's just happened.
It was an exchange student from the USA, Mike Mattson, who introduced me to the game. It had been shown on Australian TV for a while, but I hadn't found it very interesting. Mike patiently explained the basics of the game to me one day, and that completely changed my outlook. It was a relatively small investment on his part, but a large reward for me in the form of twenty years of enjoyment — as near as it gets to a something–for–nothing arrangement.
If there's a lesson to be learnt from this, it is that there are many ways to be an influential teacher, and most of them don't involve making lots of noise. You don't have to write books or present at the big conferences. All you have to do is tell someone something cool now and then.