Original Face

Let the games begin!

    The Olympics start on Friday not 8/8/08 as NBC has been drilling into our heads with their incessant promotional advertisements for the past six months.  They start in Brooklyn on the Fourth of July and the best of the best from the nations of the world will be represented at the games.  What am I writing about?
    The annual hot dog eating competition of course.  Who can forget the upset victory of America's own Joey Chesnut winning back the gold after so many years?  Or the gutsy performance of the legendary  Takeru Kobayashi who presaged Tiger Woods' US Open performance by fighting through a severe case of TMJ to come in a close second to Chestnut?
    Forget about track and field, swimming or gymnastics.  Who but freaks of nature could stand on an Olympic medal stand?  But all of us if we have stomachs of steel and the ability to push through the heartburn can dream of being hot dog champ.  I can't wait.

Big Brown as Bobby Bonds?

    There is an old saying of a father to his son, giving the young man some life wisdom: "If a man come up to you in a bar and says that a bird will fly into a bar and poop in your ear in the next two minutes.  Do not take that bet, because as sure as you think you are, there will soon be a bird shitting on you and taking your money."  That caution against easy expectations was borne out again today, as Big Brown couldn't get it done in the Belmont Stakes.
    Unlike other Triple Crown wannabes it wasn't the 1 1/2 mile distance that caused Big Brown problems.  From the 1/8th pole, the horse looked off...his head was high and he was fighting the bit.  Looking at the replay I can't see anything that would throw him off stride, rather it seemed as if from the starting gate on, he wasn't really in the race.
    In the days ahead much will be made of the quarter crack in the left front hoof, but that problem couldn't have caused the type of race he ran today.  Instead the question is more was he "juiced" at the Preakness and the Derby?  Almost all states ban steroids in racehorses.  Surprise, surprise but that isn't the case in three of the major racing venues.  Wanna guess which ones? In Maryland and Kentucky the use of steroids is legal in horseracing.  It is also the case in New York.  But unlike the first two legs of the Crown, Big Brown hadn't been on steroids for several weeks.    Why did they lay off the needle?  Could it be that since steroids impinge wound healing, that the trainers and vets were concerned that the quarter crack might not be completely repaired with the steroids on board?  Was it because the media was beinging to wonder if Big Brown was really just Barry Bonds on four hooves, a talented but not talented enough athlete without chemical help?
    It probably will remain a mystery, but it does make one wonder.  If human athletes should not use steroids, that should also be the case for equine athletes as well.  Watch for Kentucky, Maryland and New York to follow the example of the other states and ban steroids in equine athletes.

   

He made Shelby Lyman a star

    It almost impossible to believe that once for several months the nation was caught up in the merits of Sicilian versus the Ruy-Lopez defense.  No, they are not schemes devised by Bill Belichick to frustrate the Chargers.  They are some of the intellectual tools used by chess combatants.
    Combatants?  In 1972 Bobby Fischer was an American combatant fighting for both himself and the Free World against Boris Spassky, the pride of the Soviet Union.  Chess, usually found in the depths of the New York Times Sunday edition next to the bridge column, was suddenly appearing on page one.  The evening television news programs followed every win, loss or draw.  Shelby Lyman, a chess master and teacher, hosted highly rated broadcasts which announced each move and had a team of grandmasters (read: black belt nerds) break down the action as closely as the NFL Network dissects a playoff game.
    The Free World won with Fischer's victory, but Fisher lost.  Like Paul Morphy and a host of chess geniuses before him, Fischer shortly went off the deep end.  For years he was "underground" and not even his closest chess colleagues knew if he was alive.  When he re-emerged, Fischer was a wild man full of anti-Semitic rants (that he was half Jewish seemed not to matter to him) and bizarre conspiracy charges.
    But now that his king has been laid on its side, we can forget all of that.  Instead we can remember when he brought art to the 64 squares, mesmerizing the world with bold, radical moves that made even Shelby's grandmasters frequently shake their heads with awe and wonder.   

Cowboy up

    Several seasons ago the Boston Red Sox used as their motto "cowboy up" to signify their commitment to giving their all for victory.  After what I saw today, however, baseball players should be ashamed to even think of themselves in the same class as real cowboys.  Now I am not questioning baseball players athletic prowess, but courage, real courage, is not something baseball players have in common with cowboys.
    I attended the Professional Bull Riding's event in Massachusetts and was amazed at the ability of real cowboys to "cowboy up" through pain and injuries to perform and perform at high levels.  Bull riders just expect stuff like concussions, separated shoulders, torn biceps muscles, broken wrists as a matter of course.  Regardless of what the bulls do to them, they come back, and back, to ride yet again.
    Today Mike White got his calf stepped on by a 1800 pound bull with malice in its eyes.  For several minutes White laid on the ground as the EMTs and the PBR's staff orthopedic surgeon came out to check on him.  As they carried him off, the crowd held their breath.  Sure Mike White had made his eight seconds on the bull, but with a single hoof, the bull got the better of the fight.  Or so we all thought.
    Later when the men who made it to the championship round were announced to the applause of the crowd, out into the arena hobbling, but on his own, was Mike White.  He rode in that championship round and made another eight second ride on a rank bull.  When asked by the announcer how he could do it, White merely said, "Nothing was broke, so I just had to 'man up.'"
    To Mike White doing what he had to do was no big deal, even if those of us in the stands were amazed.  Remember Mike White when some guy who works in a white shirt says "cowboy up."   That guy has no idea what he is talking about.

There will always be the Bruins

Watching the faces and listening to the interviews of the kids at the Boston Red Sox victory parade yesterday struck me as being a bit odd, off.  Finally I figured it out.  These children expect the Sox to win.  They take for granted that the Pats are a dynasty and the fact that the Celtics are on the covers of both SI and ESPN: The Magazine as the NBA favorite team is no big deal to them.

Hold everything.  This is the next generation of Red Sox Nation?  The progeny of the folks who drove enumerable managers, coaches and general managers from their jobs?  Who made "They're ruining our summa!" a regional mantra?  To cite a Chicagoism--Say it ain't so!

Boston is losing the chip on its collective shoulder.  Soon, people will smile politely.  Drivers will yield, waitresses will bring more coffee, "r"s will be pronouced and cabbies will know directions.  Old time yankees will put their spare pennies in store counter penny trays and people from Southie will enter a float in the Gay Pride Parade.

Oh, but wait, we still have the Bruins.  As long as the Jacobs family owns them they will continue to remain a contender for mediocrity.

Phew!

Like the ravens remaining in the yard of Tower of London keep England prosperous, so long as the Bruins are rotten, Bostonians can remain Bostonians. Thank goodness we can count on the Bruins ruining our winta!

May I have another, sir?

Couple of weeks ago I wrote that we are witnessing some of the greatest athletes ever to play their respective games.  Add to the list of current tennis, golf and polo exemplars perhaps the 2007 NE Patriots. 

Even without Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour and with having Asante Samuels back in camp for only one week, this year's Patriot squad have the chance to be ranked with the great Dolphins, 49er and Packer teams of years past as perhaps the best team assembled.   Of course it is still early days, but the depth of this team and their seeming lack of weaknesses on either side of the football make football fans think of those legendary squads.

The 51 yard catch by Moss while being triple teamed has to put shivers up the spines of defensive coordinators through out the NFL, as must the play of the Pat's offensive and defensive lines.  Once the aforementioned Harrison and Seymour are back in the line up, the defensive huddle will scare even Manning and Thomlinson. 

Bonds ties Aaron's record

Barry Bonds isn't fit to polish Hank Aaron's cleats.  'Nuff said.

1012 words

    This guy from North Carolina has his priorities in the right order.  [Click on picture to make it bigger.]

Notes from Nathan's

Evan Slavitt, OF's own Major League Eating correspondent, sent in the following report on the amazing upset at the July 4th annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest from Brooklyn. (Oh, yes, if you too would like to be a correspondent for OF, just drop me a line.)  Thanks, Evan.

With a machine-like efficiency, Joey Chestnut gobbled a world-record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes yesterday to defeat defending champion Takeru Kobayashi and claim the Mustard Yellow Belt at the annual Nathan's Famous hot-dog-eating contest. It was a feat that left even the other competitors on the Coney Island stage scratching their heads. "When I would run, I used to have to worry about being lapped, now I have to worry about being tripled," said Belmont-bred "Crazy Legs" Conti , who finished out of the top 10 with 23.5 hot dogs consumed. His personal best of 24 at a Midwest contest is what won Conti a spot in his sixth Coney Island contest. To put the accomplishments of the first- and second-place finishers into context, Conti said that "less than 10 years ago, my finish would have won me the Yellow Belt." A six-time winner, Kobayashi had a jaw injury that had some wondering whether he could compete and others claiming he was playing possum. "Nothing fake about it. Kobayashi's jaw will have to go in the same sentence as Curt Schilling's ankle," said Conti, who has a competitive-eating DVD out and does commentary at eating contests for Spike TV. Conti was ahead early on, but was quickly outpaced . "For eight seconds there," he said, "I was leading the pack."

Wow, look at that grass grow!

What a race!  What a finish!  If you missed watching today's race in the America's Cup series between New Zealand and Switzerland, read no further and find out when the replay on the Versus Network will be on next. 

I take back my comments about Ed Baird, the helmsman, and Brad Butterworth (who by the look of him could use to stop using so much of his namesake), the tactician of Alinghi, the defending Swiss boat.  Their tacking duels in the race and the maneuvers at the third mark which caused Team New Zealand to foul (the first time in America's Cup history that a foul was called by umpires on the racecourse) were masterful.

If you were bored by this race and still hold that sailboat racing is boring, then you may have looked, but you did not see.  This should bring a lot more fans to the sport.I can't wait for the next Cup defense to start. 

Hey, anyone gotta couple of million dollars hanging around and don't know how to spend?  Have I got an idea for you. Just give me a call...