I enjoy the pro football season. I sometimes stop what I'm doing and watch a play, or even a series or two. In a really good game, I can pay close attention to a whole quarter and enjoy every minute of it. But sometimes when the game is over, I'll have to ask what teams were playing.

Even then, I'm not really sure who they are.

I just haven't cared enough to keep the names straight in my head or to follow the teams through their buy-outs, sell-outs and moves. Somehow I forgot to pay attention over the last 20 or 30 years. I still expect them to be the Baltimore Colts, not the Indianapolis Colts; the Cleveland Browns, not the Baltimore Ravens; the St. Louis Cardinals, not the Arizona Cardinals; the Houston Oilers, not the Nashville (what is it they're called this week?).

Somehow, some Jaguars and Panthers joined the game when I wasn't looking.

What I do care about, though, is that I've gotten out of touch with some other, real-life things that do make a difference, subjects that are important to me.

For example, I'd like to think that I have at least a superficial knowledge of the different breeds of cattle.

Even as a child, I was conversant with the standard English beef breeds — Herefords, Angus and such — that I saw in the pastures. In the late 1960s, I saw how proud my Illinois landlord was of his Charolais bull, the first in the area.

But now, you can't tell the players without a program, or at least I can't. In an industry that prizes precision in nomenclature, I now shy away from referring to a critter by a breed name because I'll probably be wrong. I may suspect the bovine in question is a Red Brangus, but just to be safe, I'll probably call her "that big red rascal."

Just how many cattle breeds are there, anyhow? I went to the computer and found Oklahoma State University's animal science website. They list 226 different cattle breeds worldwide. I had only heard of 50 or so, but reading through the list makes for some entertaining speculation.

Take the "Australian Milking Zebu," for instance. Zebus are tall — just how high does a calf Down Under have to reach to find his breakfast?

There's one breed called "Hays Converter." Just how fast do they convert the hay? Wouldn't they do better on grain?

What about the "N'dama?" It's an African breed, I suppose. Or maybe this is just another name for a No. 2 Okie? It seems I've heard shouts from the pens that sounded something like that.

Or the "Ongole?" Is going through fences an ongoing problem?

What isn't in the Oklahoma State list is almost as interesting as what's there. For example, "Grassmaster" isn't there. Or is it classified as a Beefmaster that got on the other side of the fence?

I have a suspicion about the new breed registries, that the real money just may be in creating and running the registry books, not running the cattle. I think we should get into that. Let's cross some No. 2 Okies and start our own breed registry: "Bovine Ordinairé."