How 'bout some sports news, Bob Neumeier..er...I mean Newmy?
----- This girl's father is an ass. Parenting...what parenting? "Our baby's a goalmine, I tell ya!"
----- May cause irritation. Do not operate machinery following reading.
----- Hopefully you can link to this (you may need to be a subscriber...not sure). Gary Smith's writing is the best consistent sportswriting there is, period. He has had no equal for about two decades, or ever since Frank Deford tried to put together that crappy sports-daily back in '90 or so (it covered pro wrestling, I remember that much..), and lost a little piece of his mind.
Pat Tillman may be the 21st Century's equivalent of my greatest 20th Century American Icon, Ted Williams (that is NOT an exaggeration, IMO), for very different reasons. While Ted was also angry, bright as hell, stood up for underdogs, an athlete/warrior, and always asked "why?", Tillman was a college graduate and intellectual, more of an underdog type than the great "Splinter", came from a stable middle class home (though Tillman's parents eventually divorced) and possessed much more media savvy, as he chose to ignore the media hordes after deciding to enlist....savvy, right? Ted always wanted to explain himself. First, why he didn't have to join the Armed Forces in WWII and then later why he shouldn't serve in Korea, since he had done his duty. He was right both times but the media assholes "killed" him twice for doing what he thought was right. And he served valiantly twice.
Tillman and Williams are everything that is great about this country, and just a bit about what we sometimes do badly. Tillman's death by friendly fire has some in the military questioning his recklessness, just as Ted's decision to NOT bail out was questioned following his crash landing in Korea. But both decisions, I believe, will stand the test of time. Ted's career continued (as he did NOT break both legs, as likely would have happened by ejecting and ditching the plane) and Tillman, who had never before been in a live-fire incident, chose to engage the enemy rather than sit back and wait. He seemingly did the right thing: try to save his platoon mates from an ambush. Maybe we will never know the whole story of what went down the day Tillman was shot by his fellow Rangers in a wicked crossfire of inexplicable confusion (the "fog of war"), but he may be more representative of America in the 21st Century (as the sole superpower) to lefties like me because of his NEEDLESS DEATH by American bullets. The amazing Tillman family have uncovered a large part of what happened that awful day, as you will find by reading the SI story. Very complex man was Tillman. Very amazing and wonderful gift to us all was his life and death. Please read the story.
------- Thank you docs: Big Papi is back.
Another loss tonight (to lowly KC) though.
------- Sharapova v. Henin-Hardenne in the Women's US Open Final? Yuk.
Sharapova is a seemingly programmable robot whose shrieking is irritating as hell. And if anyone thinks Henin-Hardenne's gamesmanship in any way compares to Johnny Mac or Jimmy Conners, well, they just didn't get those two guys. Mac and Jimmy Conners tried to psyche THEMSELVES up, not psych OUT the other player...well, maybe a bit of both. Henin-Hardenne has faked injuries numerous times to get the advantage of TO's and slow the other player's momentum. I root for neither. Go A-Roddick.....
----- May cause irritation. Do not operate machinery following reading.
----- Hopefully you can link to this (you may need to be a subscriber...not sure). Gary Smith's writing is the best consistent sportswriting there is, period. He has had no equal for about two decades, or ever since Frank Deford tried to put together that crappy sports-daily back in '90 or so (it covered pro wrestling, I remember that much..), and lost a little piece of his mind.
Pat Tillman may be the 21st Century's equivalent of my greatest 20th Century American Icon, Ted Williams (that is NOT an exaggeration, IMO), for very different reasons. While Ted was also angry, bright as hell, stood up for underdogs, an athlete/warrior, and always asked "why?", Tillman was a college graduate and intellectual, more of an underdog type than the great "Splinter", came from a stable middle class home (though Tillman's parents eventually divorced) and possessed much more media savvy, as he chose to ignore the media hordes after deciding to enlist....savvy, right? Ted always wanted to explain himself. First, why he didn't have to join the Armed Forces in WWII and then later why he shouldn't serve in Korea, since he had done his duty. He was right both times but the media assholes "killed" him twice for doing what he thought was right. And he served valiantly twice.
Tillman and Williams are everything that is great about this country, and just a bit about what we sometimes do badly. Tillman's death by friendly fire has some in the military questioning his recklessness, just as Ted's decision to NOT bail out was questioned following his crash landing in Korea. But both decisions, I believe, will stand the test of time. Ted's career continued (as he did NOT break both legs, as likely would have happened by ejecting and ditching the plane) and Tillman, who had never before been in a live-fire incident, chose to engage the enemy rather than sit back and wait. He seemingly did the right thing: try to save his platoon mates from an ambush. Maybe we will never know the whole story of what went down the day Tillman was shot by his fellow Rangers in a wicked crossfire of inexplicable confusion (the "fog of war"), but he may be more representative of America in the 21st Century (as the sole superpower) to lefties like me because of his NEEDLESS DEATH by American bullets. The amazing Tillman family have uncovered a large part of what happened that awful day, as you will find by reading the SI story. Very complex man was Tillman. Very amazing and wonderful gift to us all was his life and death. Please read the story.
------- Thank you docs: Big Papi is back.
Another loss tonight (to lowly KC) though.
------- Sharapova v. Henin-Hardenne in the Women's US Open Final? Yuk.
Sharapova is a seemingly programmable robot whose shrieking is irritating as hell. And if anyone thinks Henin-Hardenne's gamesmanship in any way compares to Johnny Mac or Jimmy Conners, well, they just didn't get those two guys. Mac and Jimmy Conners tried to psyche THEMSELVES up, not psych OUT the other player...well, maybe a bit of both. Henin-Hardenne has faked injuries numerous times to get the advantage of TO's and slow the other player's momentum. I root for neither. Go A-Roddick.....
posted by joe sweeney at 11:34 PM
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