Sports
Looks like Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, is finally getting some perspective on his life after the personal and professional turmoil of the last couple of years. He tells Esquire that his value in the eyes of God is not as a quarterback.
Look at the attention I get: It’s because I throw a football. But that’s what society values. That’s not what God values,” Brady said. “He didn’t invent the game. We did. I have some eye-hand coordination, and I can throw the ball. I don’t think that matters to God.”
Incidentally, Brady’s dad is a Catholic deacon. I met him a couple of years ago when he spoke at Proud2BCatholic. Nice guy dealing firsthand with a son whose fame comes with a price.
Anyway, I hope Brady Jr. continues on his spiritual journey.
An inspiring story of good sportsmanship by two college women’s softball teams competing for a championship.
Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Opening Day and you don’t have to be Red Sox fan to know what that means. Most any baseball fan can tell you that Buckner is the first baseman who let a dribbling grounder roll through his legs and past his glove in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and began the momentum shift in favor the New York Mets.
It was unfair, really, to blame it on Buck because the whole team lost Game 7 (not to mention the pitcher didn’t get over there to back up Buckner on that play). Unfortunately, for the hapless Sox and their fans who had been waiting since 1918 for that elusive World Series championship, Buckner became the symbol of that ignominious defeat, synonymous with goat. (A late night joke of the era: “What do Michael Jackson and Bill Buckner have in common? They both one glove for absolutely no reason.” Another one: “Did you hear Bill Buckner tried to kill himself after Game 6? Yeah, he stepped in front of a bus… but it went between his legs.”)
It wasn’t the first time Buckner had been applauded by Boston fans since that fateful day.
On Tuesday, however, Buckner was received with applause and cheers by a hometown crowd as it celebrated the second World Series win since that day of nightmares. Some cynics might say that the fans would not be so magnanimous had the Sox not won the Series yet but I would point out that it wasn’t the first time Buckner had been applauded by Boston fans since that fateful day.
I don’t remember exactly when it was but it was sometime in the 1988 or 1989 seasons, when the wounds were still fresh. A group of guys I was working with in a factory in my hometown decided to take off into town that night and get standing-room tickets to the Sox game against the Kansas City Royals. We got in well before the start of the game, while on-field warmups were still underway and we stood above the left field foul line, near the Green Monster, watching the fielders work. Bill Buckner was playing for them now and the abuse rained down on him from bitter fans as he fielded some balls. But then on one grounder hit right at him, he pretended to flub it, lifting his glove comically and with obvious intention. It was not malicious, but humorous and it was the perfect antidote. Immediately the cheers turned to laughter and then applause as the fans in the stands understood that Buckner knew. He knew where he stood in the annals of baseball history and made clear that he was willing to acknowledge the label that had been attached to him.
It couldn’t have been easy being Bill Buckner for the past 22 years, although it probably got a little easier when the pressure came off in October 2004. Perhaps now, in 2008, Buckner can finally leave that burden behind. For the fans, it’s only a game and our jeers at the TV and the ballpark get left behind when the rest of life comes around. But for a man who made baseball his life, being made the goat would be a bitter pill you’d carry with you every day.
Good on you, Bill Buckner, for showing some class, and good on you, Red Sox fans, for returning the favor with a standing ovation. Now let’s enjoy the fruits of the labor of the current crop of boys of summer and leave the past where it belongs. Play ball!
I suppose a Super Bowl post-mortem would be appropriate, since I’ve done one every time the Patriots won.
First, I want to congratulate New York Giants fans. Yours was the better team last night. The Patriots were merely mortal and Tom Brady was not his usual stellar self, but that aside, the Giants defense was explosive and aggressive against a porous Pats offensive line and the Giants offense scored when it counted.
In the previous 18 games this season, the Patriots had some lucky breaks—last-minute penalties, lucky bounces, incredible catches—that they didn’t get on Sunday and thus they were denied a definitive statement of their uniqueness among football teams. Nevertheless, they still accomplished a lot this season. Among their superlatives is the only 18-win season and the best offense ever.
And there aren’t many footballs fans who can say that the first time they experience their team lose in a season happened in February.
It was a good season that I wished could have ended better. And, again, congratulations to the New York Giants and their fans.
P.S. It was mighty subdued in my office today.
