There are two defining moments in English history. The defeat of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror in 1066 and the victory of the English soccer team in the 1966 World Cup. That second moment healed all the defeats, disappointments, and humiliations of the previous 900 years. The victory could [...]
Archive for the ‘Sports’ category
A worthy contest
Not all contests are worthy of one’s attention, and those that are worthy of attention do not deserve it in equal amounts. The best reason to pay attention to a contest is that its outcome truly matters — that it will affect the physical well-being of many non-contestants. Wars are the paradigmatic case here; elections [...]
An (un)sporting life
For the last 20 years or so (since moving to Southern California for high school), I have been a fan of professional basketball—specifically The Los Angeles Lakers, a team that, later tonight, will either end up winning their 256th championship or losing to the hated Boston Celtics (who could go on to win their 257th [...]
Friday photo (marathon)
I wish I could add a soundtrack to this…crunch, crunch, crunch. There is something wrong about the idea of an urban marathon and the reality of thousands of plastic cups scattered across the street.
Boredom?
I was thinking this week about boredom, first in a religious context. When I was a kid, church was pretty boring — although, as “good kid,” I was kept in line by a combination of my hypertrophied superego and an intense interest in doodling. As an adolescent, I started to really take an interest in [...]
You be the judge
1. The socialite couple who crashed the White House dinner last week should be: a. Thrown in jail. b. Hired as security consultants for the Secret Service. c. Given their own reality show. d. Ignored. What’s the big deal? 2. The most likely scenario involving Tiger Woods and his wife is that: a. He was [...]
Is this cheating?
Is it okay to break a rule in sports if you don’t get caught? In baseball, especially, cheating is not only tolerated; it’s celebrated. If a pitcher can throw a spitball and not get caught, all the better for him. But in most other sports, cheating is seen as, well, cheating. If you do it, [...]
Damn Yankees
In a scene in Annie Hall, Alvy Singer, played by Woody Allen, awkwardly and defensively plies his girlfriend Annie, played by Diane Keaton, when she accuses him of not loving her. “Love is too weak a word for what I feel,” he claims. “I *lurve* you, you know, I *loave* you, I *loff* you.” Similarly, [...]
Stella and the sheepdog trials
After the excitement of the fell race, Stella arrived at the sheepdog trials. Besides the competition, there were many other forms of entertainment, including spinning, a farmyard petting zoo, ice cream, beer, and the North West Stickmakers. But the main attraction was the sheepdog trials. The judges watched from a special van, while the contestants [...]
