How ironic, that, according to the Chinese calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Tiger. That may or may not give Mr Tiger Woods hope for brighter days ahead. Who are we to judge - if the finger waggers opened their closets wouldn't there be many, many tales of immorality and such? Perhaps not to the same degree, however...
The fact that the game of golf will take a hit in the Year of the Tiger is probable.
What a shame that two greats in sports lost so much in the final days of last year. Tiger Woods and my hero the Indianapolis Colts. Imagine telling the Romans they had to rest before marching on to a major battle. Imagine Caesar worrying about his soldiers getting hurt.
To an athlete, great athletes at that, athletes who were making history, Peyton Manning, Jeff Saturday, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai etc, playing to the death as it were is in the script and if it isn't it should be. Why work so hard to win game after game after game to simply throw the historical winning streak away two games before the end of the season - why try at all?
I can't help wondering who the Jets' supporter is in the Indie Franchise that was willing to sacrifice his men, his team, from making history, from going ALL - THE -WAY so that the New York Jets could advance to the playoffs. On the sidelines, despite what he diplomatically voiced on TV, Manning looked destroyed. Imagine asking Picasso to erase Guernica, to erase the masterpiece.
2009, the Year of the Ox, came to a bad end for many. Oddly enough the Ox signifies stablilty and perseverence. "The typical Ox is a tolerant person with strong character. Not many people could equal the resolution and fearlessness the Ox exhibits when deciding to accomplish a task or an objective. Oxen know they will succeed through hard work and sustained effort and find no truth or benefit in concocting insincere schemes to get ahead." Hm...
The Tiger is said to be lucky, vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle and his undying courage.
So for Peyton Manning and his loyal crew the future is inevitably bright - they will bounce back and fight back, as they do, to victory.
For Tiger, in this coming year that bears his name, he might just have to rely on the luck attributed to that of the other Tiger.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Answer My Friend...
...better not be blowing in the wind. What the hell's with Drew Breeze. There's good and then there's an unnerving good. The kind of good quarterback, team, coach that is so goddamn unassuming, egoless, modest that it rattles one's nerves inexplicably -because it is inexplicable - The New Orleans Saints. The New Orleans Saints. I ask you.
At the beginning of the 2009/10 NFL season, I hoped it was going to be a Giants vs Colts Superbowl - Manning vs Manning. Then I entertained, and still hope for, a Vikings vs Colts Superbowl, but after watching New Orleans trounce New England, I have to wonder. A Saints vs Colts Superbowl? Hmm? The unpredictability of a new NFL season - one never knows. The cream of the crop curdles, an underdog reigns supreme, coaches come and go, the young take over, the vets never cease to amaze, and cease to amaze, rookies rise and fall, stars are born and others diffused - all in a day's work. Laughter, tears, crumpled brows, bones and egos, and the glue of comaraderie - ah, the beauty of meritocracy.
Oh, and in answer to some dude's question that for some reason won't post on my comments:
Unicorns can't be bought - they're earned!
At the beginning of the 2009/10 NFL season, I hoped it was going to be a Giants vs Colts Superbowl - Manning vs Manning. Then I entertained, and still hope for, a Vikings vs Colts Superbowl, but after watching New Orleans trounce New England, I have to wonder. A Saints vs Colts Superbowl? Hmm? The unpredictability of a new NFL season - one never knows. The cream of the crop curdles, an underdog reigns supreme, coaches come and go, the young take over, the vets never cease to amaze, and cease to amaze, rookies rise and fall, stars are born and others diffused - all in a day's work. Laughter, tears, crumpled brows, bones and egos, and the glue of comaraderie - ah, the beauty of meritocracy.
Oh, and in answer to some dude's question that for some reason won't post on my comments:
Unicorns can't be bought - they're earned!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Wizard and the General
There are many great moments in the NFL that stick in my mind. Mind blowing plays, unfathomable feats performed by the wonders of the sport like Favre, Brady, Manning, Breeze, the other Manning, Moss, Hester, Polamalu, Harris, Sproles, Wayne, Ward, Clark, and on and on and on. Last Sunday's Patriots/Colts game was a beauty unto itself - ah, thanks for the memories.
I was nervous days in advance. The Colts were undefeated and the Patriots are the Patriots. They live for games like this - the two Super Powers of the NFL - but one of them has to lose. What a match up - there was something very Roman about it all. The two best quarterbacks in the league head to head - I was dying.
To me, Brady is like an army general leading his troops to war - an all out soldier, competitive, driven, merciless. He marches into the face of the enemy - unflinching and his troops respond to his lead. In that zone, he can and will annihilate the opponent. The tougher the competition the better Tom Brady is. And he proved it up until the last few plays of that brilliant Sunday night game against the Colts. But I never, for one second, doubted that the Colts were going to win that game. All the braun in the world cannot match a wizard's magic.
Peyton Manning is a wizard, a sorcerer, a magician - other worldly - a sage. It may sound over-the-top - so be it, call a spade a spade and all the other cliches. But there is noone else who can watch his team unravel before him, even allow it, want it to happen to expose the weakness, to learn the weakness, then fix it there and then, completely sew the team back up again, make it stronger and better while playing one of the best and toughest teams in the NFL. Then predetermine the exact time he is going take the game back and win it. With 13 seconds left on the play clock, Manning throws an unbelievable pass through the solid coverage into the waiting hands of Reggie Wayne.
Victory.
Magic.
How Reggie Wayne made that catch was mind blowing but that's Reggie Wayne and that's Peyton Manning - After the game, with the Wizard proudly towering over him, Wayne matter-of-factly said,"when Peyton called my number, I knew I had to make that catch." I don't know if I would ever want to be in that position, if I would ever want Peyton Manning calling my number on the last play of a supremely important game with a mere 13 seconds left on the clock.
On the sidelines, The General's face said it all. And the experts and the fans can blame the Patriot's loss on a great and risky call by Belichick, but no matter what the Patriots did in those last few moments of that monumental game - the Colts weren't going to lose. They were never going to lose. They knew it. Peyton knew it and I think Belichick new it too. How can a mortal, even great ones at that, ever beat a Wizard?
I was nervous days in advance. The Colts were undefeated and the Patriots are the Patriots. They live for games like this - the two Super Powers of the NFL - but one of them has to lose. What a match up - there was something very Roman about it all. The two best quarterbacks in the league head to head - I was dying.
To me, Brady is like an army general leading his troops to war - an all out soldier, competitive, driven, merciless. He marches into the face of the enemy - unflinching and his troops respond to his lead. In that zone, he can and will annihilate the opponent. The tougher the competition the better Tom Brady is. And he proved it up until the last few plays of that brilliant Sunday night game against the Colts. But I never, for one second, doubted that the Colts were going to win that game. All the braun in the world cannot match a wizard's magic.
Peyton Manning is a wizard, a sorcerer, a magician - other worldly - a sage. It may sound over-the-top - so be it, call a spade a spade and all the other cliches. But there is noone else who can watch his team unravel before him, even allow it, want it to happen to expose the weakness, to learn the weakness, then fix it there and then, completely sew the team back up again, make it stronger and better while playing one of the best and toughest teams in the NFL. Then predetermine the exact time he is going take the game back and win it. With 13 seconds left on the play clock, Manning throws an unbelievable pass through the solid coverage into the waiting hands of Reggie Wayne.
Victory.
Magic.
How Reggie Wayne made that catch was mind blowing but that's Reggie Wayne and that's Peyton Manning - After the game, with the Wizard proudly towering over him, Wayne matter-of-factly said,"when Peyton called my number, I knew I had to make that catch." I don't know if I would ever want to be in that position, if I would ever want Peyton Manning calling my number on the last play of a supremely important game with a mere 13 seconds left on the clock.
On the sidelines, The General's face said it all. And the experts and the fans can blame the Patriot's loss on a great and risky call by Belichick, but no matter what the Patriots did in those last few moments of that monumental game - the Colts weren't going to lose. They were never going to lose. They knew it. Peyton knew it and I think Belichick new it too. How can a mortal, even great ones at that, ever beat a Wizard?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Upcoming Readings
Wednesday November 18th - I'm reading at the Pivot Reading Series, Toronto, 8pm with Amy Jones and Priscila Uppal more info: pivotreadings.wordpress.com
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Casualties
The first games of the NFL season are both exhilarating and frightening. Last year, Tom Brady went down in the first play of the first game, gone for one year - devasting. With 52 players on a team why is it the big playmakers are the ones most likey to be injured immediately, completely changing the fate of a team's season. Thursday night, Pittsburgh burst through the gate impressively, but noone was as impressive as their own personal predator, the panther that leaps out of nowhere at anytime, well always the right time, and trounces his prey in one foul swoop - Troy Palamalu. He was flying aroung that field, taking down big men in a swoop. Then he goes down, knee injury - out for 6 weeks. First game of the regular season, Chicago lost their toughest bear - Brian Urlacher - just like that -out fos a year. Heartbreaking. It is, it is but I'm not a Bears or Steelers fan. AS long as the Colts stay healthy,I'll sleep at night, eat and pray. Yes, yes, I take up praying come the start of the NFL season - pray that everyone stays healthy one game at a time.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Brett?
The poet in me has four words and one exclamation mark for you:
What
Are
You
Thinking?
The other day I'm at work and there's a phone call for me. It's not unusual that the phone's for me but when the voice on the other end is a friend - that's unusual.
"Did you hear the news?" my friend Jan says, in a whisper. I look around, look around to see if anyone else has noticed that I'm acting strange because a friend has called me at work. No one's around. But I'm nervous for more reasons than one. Jan sounds serious. Serious with an echo of hysteria brewing in that whispering voice. I sit down and say, "No," and pause because Jan would only call me at work if it was big news - something serious. My palms sweat. I gulp. Look around again.
Jan's voice deepens and she says, "Favre signed a three year deal with Minnesota."
She guffaws.
"NO!" I shriek.
"Yes!"
I slap my thighs - crack up. Crack up and it is the most satisfying crack up I've experienced in months. "No. No." I squeal. Laugh, I laugh hysterically and she laughs with me and it's not that we are laughing at Brett Favre - we are not. But we have been through this on again off again thing with him for so long now - this is an event. The resurrection, the retirement resurrection - again!
At first it was heartbreaking - the initial retirement - the newest unretirement is gut-wrenching, a belly ache - another unpredictable play in Favre's career. Shocking? Shocking enough to call your friend, at work, when you haven't had the time to speak to each other in weeks!!
Never a dull moment in the NFL - ah, and here it is, back again - everything worthwhile makes a comeback!
What
Are
You
Thinking?
The other day I'm at work and there's a phone call for me. It's not unusual that the phone's for me but when the voice on the other end is a friend - that's unusual.
"Did you hear the news?" my friend Jan says, in a whisper. I look around, look around to see if anyone else has noticed that I'm acting strange because a friend has called me at work. No one's around. But I'm nervous for more reasons than one. Jan sounds serious. Serious with an echo of hysteria brewing in that whispering voice. I sit down and say, "No," and pause because Jan would only call me at work if it was big news - something serious. My palms sweat. I gulp. Look around again.
Jan's voice deepens and she says, "Favre signed a three year deal with Minnesota."
She guffaws.
"NO!" I shriek.
"Yes!"
I slap my thighs - crack up. Crack up and it is the most satisfying crack up I've experienced in months. "No. No." I squeal. Laugh, I laugh hysterically and she laughs with me and it's not that we are laughing at Brett Favre - we are not. But we have been through this on again off again thing with him for so long now - this is an event. The resurrection, the retirement resurrection - again!
At first it was heartbreaking - the initial retirement - the newest unretirement is gut-wrenching, a belly ache - another unpredictable play in Favre's career. Shocking? Shocking enough to call your friend, at work, when you haven't had the time to speak to each other in weeks!!
Never a dull moment in the NFL - ah, and here it is, back again - everything worthwhile makes a comeback!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I dreamt I was...
Last night, I dreamt that I was Cristiano Ronaldo. I regularly have strange dreams. This one took the prize. Many a famous person, athletes, writers, philosophers, politicians, you name it, have appeared in my dreams but I've yet to dream of being one of them. How did I know I was Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese national who the Gods have been showering in good fortune for the past year and a bit; the highest paid right-winger ever to grace a football pitch; the new Real Madrid winger who was bought from the mighty Manchester United for 80 million pounds. The most any team has ever, ever paid for a player. How did I know I was him and not merely dreaming of him. I'll tell you how I knew - the feeling. I have never felt like I did the night I dreamt I was Cristiano Ronaldo - never. It was a fleeting dream. I, as Cristiano Ronaldo, walked into a diamond studded room. I as Cristiano Ronaldo, felt a little anxious at first, that feeling one has when you're still young enough to feel momentarily unsure of your surroundings. Then everyone in the room who was sitting down stood up. The crowd of people standing parted. Then, I, as Cristiano Ronaldo, remembered that I am no ordinary boy anymore. No. I am the highest paid footballer ever. I am an empire. Then later in the dream, though fleeting it had a few scenes, one of which I as Cristiano Ronaldo fell asleep and had a dream - the dream within a dream scene in which I couldn't kick the football. I had two left feet. I could not live up to the hype, the paycheque and that's when I as Cristiano Ronaldo woke up, sweating and ill. Then I, as myself, woke up, relieved that it was all a dream.
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