Players From That Age

Modern sports fans are always saying that athletes from the Golden Age of Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and various other sports could cut it now and they are right. Today'athletics are stronger and faster, but I can always count on Bob Gibson on the Cards or Gale Sayers or Dick Butkus and many others could have flourish in the 21st century and further argue that few modern players could have competed in the 50s, 60s, or 70s when competitors are seriously injured by rivals. I have come to hate the present rough plat of sports, but then I guess I'm getting soft in my old age. Not.

Joe Was Good People

Penn State played Navy this weekend and after the game the teams sang each other's fight songs. Nittany Lion supporters were touched by this display of sportsmanship, but once more criticized the NCAA ban based on the Freeh report accusing the university and its football program of enabling a child molestor for decades. Alumni are incensed by the firing of the late Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier without recognizing their complicity in the sex abuse scandal. They express their anger at the situation without any connection to the cause for their shame. Ask the boy who was raped in the shower room, if he feels unbowed. Joe Paterno did nothing to protect him and that is the truth no matter how songs the football sings after a game.

The Word Is Choke

I'm a Red Sox fan. Back in the 20th Century we lost in the 7th Game of the World Series to The Cardinals in 1949, the Cardinals again in 1967, the Reds in 1975 and the Mets in 1986. The Yankees denied us glory on numerous occasions, although none worse than Bucky Dent's homer off Mike Torrez in the 1978 playoffs. We have won two World Series in this century, but that long tradition of losing the big game has been etched into my marrow, so that I can commiserate with England fans. Last night England lost on penalty kicks to Italy. I knew as soon as Ashley Young approached the mark that he was going to blast the ball. It soared off his foot and hit the bleeding cross bar. The I-ties scored on their next attempt and their goalie blocked an easy shot by the next kicker. Game over. Hearts broken across England, which hasn't won a big international match since its World Cup victory in 1966. Forty-six years of losing. I know how it feels, but at least the Red Sox Nation could blame its losing streak on the Babe Ruth curse. The English can only fault its team and the name of the curse is THE CHOKE or Bill Buckner. That was the biggest choke in Red Sox history, then again the English don't give a shit about baseball and no one in the Red Sox Nation cares if the Brits lose for another forty-six years. Not one.