My explanation is a little long.
When I first joined the Cowboy Forums around the Internet, I wanted something that would identify me as a true Cowboy fan. I wanted something that only Cowboy fans would understand. So I got the bright idea to use AsthmaField from something that happened in the early 90's with Jimmy Johnson.
Jimmy was known for running brutal training camps. He brought training camp back from nice, cool Thousand Oaks, California, to the sweltering, suffocating heat that is Texas in August. With Jimmy, everybody ran hard and worked hard.
This particular year, I think it was before the '91 season, it was even hotter than normal. I had gone to Longview, Texas to visit relatives (which I usually tried to coincide with training camp), and was watching a 30 minuet daily special report on TV about training camp.
While the reporter was talking you could see the whole team running laps, with Jimmy occasionally clapping and yelling encoragement. Then, one of the players, a skinny little free agent punter who had been brought in for camp competition, fell out in utter exhaustion. He was sweating profusely and really looked like he wasn't going to make it.
Johnson ran over to him and started yelling to get up as the other players just kept running by the pair. He didn't move, so Jimmy really started yelling at him, bending over to yell in his face.
The skinny little punter, loud enough for the camera to catch it, said, "I can't coach! I can't! I have asthma!"
Jimmy straightened up ever so slightly, and for just a second seemed at a loss for words. Then he yelled, "Asthma? You have asthma? Well, you can go run over there," he said, pointing to a vacant field next to where they were practicing, "that's where people with asthma run. That's the Asthma Field!"
He made the poor guy get up and go run over on the empty field. You could see him stumbling around and around the field while they were finishing the training camp special. Jimmy about ran him to death.
The next day, Johnson cut the punter.
Classic Jimmy Johnson.
Anyway, as I was about to sign up to the forum, that came to mind and I decided to use AsthmaField as my moniker thinking that Cowboy fans would surely know about the asthma field.
I've wished many times I hadn't done it. Apparently, the term isn't as widely known as I thought, because hardly anyone has known what it meant. Also, when I get in disagreements online, I usually end up being called wheezer or something like that. Just for the record... I don't have asthma.
So there you have it.