Search This Blog
Monday, June 16, 2014
RIP Tony Gwynn
I was just startled - and I mean that literally - by the news that eight time NL batting champion and Padres legend Tony Gwynn died today of salivary gland cancer. He was only 54.
What a loss, to MLB, to the fans, and most of all to his family (I used to enjoy watching his son play in the Brewers organization in the mid-aughts)
What a loss, to MLB, to the fans, and most of all to his family (I used to enjoy watching his son play in the Brewers organization in the mid-aughts)
Fun Tony Gwynn fact (courtesy of Fox Sports): He faced soon-to-be Hall of Famer Greg Maddux 107 times. He hit .415 & didn't strike out. Not once.
An Old Injury
One day last August I went out to start our lawn mower, only to be met with a nasty surprise. The engine seized and the starter cord flew out of my hands. It broke my left thumb in three places and earned me a run of stitches down its left side. It was nasty to look at and was an awful 1st impression for the first week of law school.
The picture below was taken weeks later, so it had healed up quite a bit. Shortly afterwards the nail fell out, as seen below. It's been nearly a year and the nail is 90% back to normal, although I still have a numbness at the very tip of the thumb. I'm hoping that's not a lifelong problem, but I'm not holding my breath.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
A Father's Day Gift
Me: I was 11# 14oz at birth.
Friend: I know. I can't believe you weren't a C section
Me: Oh, I was, but my Ma coulda handled a regular birth. She was used to my Daddy.
Youv can thank me later Pop. Happy Father's Day!
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
The Sweet Science
For those of you who don't know, I am officially on strike from Major League Baseball this season. I can't tolerate the hypocritical witch hunt that resulted in Alex Rodriguez's suspension, and yes, I feel strongly enough about it to abandon my favorite sport for a year. I don't know who's doing well or who's doing poorly, and I have no idea about the standings. I DO know my hometown Brewers are whupping butt so far, and ain't that just my luck - watch them go all the way in a year I don't pay attention!
Anyway, thank the Lord I have boxing to fill the gap in my heart. I've always liked boxing and periodically binge on it, but my knowledge and fandom has solidified in the last twelve months.
Today I watched the Sonny Liston - Eddie Machen bout from September of 1960, a great exhibition of Liston's prowess that descended into a glorified wrestling match in the final round. I think Liston was a great fighter - albeit one that did throw the famous "phantom punch" fight with Ali, IMO (his first loss to Clay being a frustrating but true defeat) - and radically under-appreciated nowadays. What a jab!
I also watched a nasty 1965 dustup between former champ Floyd Patterson and George Chuvalo. What a great fight to watch, if spoiled a bit by Floyd's awkward attempt at commentary on this '60's rebroadcast.
And for those of you who dismiss the great Larry Holmes as a pretender, or someone who reigned large only because the competition was weak, think again: on the 36th anniversary of the fight I watched his 15 round brawl with the great Ken Norton. Not only was Holmes skilled, he could take a punch and not bat an eye. I like him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)