Olympic Athletes from Russia for 2018 Winter Olympics
Due the doping ban on Russian Federation, the 169 clean Russian athletes marched as neutrals in red and grey uniforms as neutrals. Any gold medal winning "Olympic Athletes of Russia" will be feted with the raising of the Olympic flag and anthem. While the 2,952 athletes participating in the Pyeongchang games are the best winter sport athletes in the world, but only a few make it up to the medal stand to receive their glory. For most, marching in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony is the highlight of their careers.
This makes Eric Liddell's admonition about glory all the more poignant. What is particularly noteworthy of Eric Liddell is not that he was the the Flying Scotsman was the first British Gold Medal winner in track from 1924, or that he was the basis of the film Chariots of Fire (1981), or his steadfast Sabbath keeping, but for dying as a missionary in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945. We should all be inspired to run a good race in life and doing our best.
Gordie Howe, a.k.a. Mr. Hockey, died at the age of 88. He had been in failing health for years, struggling with Alzheimer's and was debilitated after a massive stroke in October 2014. But at Gordie Howe's passing, it is worthwhile to remember his remarkable achievements and motivation to play the sport which he loved. Howe played 32 seasons in professional hockey-- 26 seasons for the NHL and six seasons for the WHA. Howe played for the Detroit Red Wings from 1946 to 1971. As a Red Wing, Howe led the team to four Stanley Cup championships, was the NHL's MVP six times and was the league's leading scorer six times. In fact, Howe was in top ten scorers for 21 seasons. Howe retired in 1971 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of fame. However, two years after retiring from the NHL, Howe came back in his mid 40s to join sons Mark and Marty Howe to play for the Houston Aeros in the upstart World Hockey Association. This stint was not just a marquee trick as Gordie Howe managed to rack up 100 points during his six seasons with the Aeros. Howe briefly made a comeback in the NHL during the 1979-80 season at age 52 with the Hartford Whalers. In 1980, Howe make the starting team for his 23rd NHL All Star Game. The welcome which greeted Gordie at the All Star Game in Detroit that year was astounding.
In George Orwell's prophetic novel Nineteen-Eight Four (1948), the protagonist Winston Smith slaves away at the Ministry of Truth (MiniTrue) erasing all sorts of inconvenient truths that deviate from the powers that be's current line. Essentially, the novel anticipated historical revisionism for the purposes of political correctness.
2004 World Series Championship Ring
Sadly, the same process can be seen at ESPN. Curt Schilling, a former Major League Baseball player who gained notoriety for his heroic bloody sock pitching performance of game six in the 2004 World Series. Schilling's clutch performance pitching on a bad knee set up the Boston Red Sox to break the nearly century old Curse of the Bambino, coming from a 3-0 deficit to win the MLB World Championship over the St. Louis Cardinals. Five years ago, ESPN produced an hour retrospective of this incredible come from behind playoff rally titled "Four Days in October". Schilling's performance was prominently featured.
However, ESPN recently fired Curt Schilling from his on-air job because of personal social media commentary concerning transvestites and those citing gender dysphoria from using whichever bathroom he/she/zhe prefers at that moment. Subsequently, less than a week later, when ESPN 2 reran "Four Days in October", the chronicle of Schilling's crucial play (and the bloody sock) was strangely missing. In this case, one ought to call the channel "The Deuce" with good reason. All week, Schilling has been proclaiming the unchecked political progressivism at his former employer, as well as noting that more than a few have displayed overt racism. But because Schilling violated today's shibboleth of "transgender" acceptable, it seems his memory must be erased at what is purportedly a sports channel. So know that Disney/ESPN is not only spewing liberal commentary within their sports coverage, they also have taken it upon themselves to rewrite history. Perhaps one of the 1984 IngSoc mantras will become more poignant "Ignorance is strength".
The Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Washington Capitals for game three of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flyers team initially seemed inspired by the emotional pre-game tribute to the late owner Ed Snider and scored within the first minute of play at the Wells Fargo Center. But then the momentum stopped for the Orange Crush, which brought out the worst in unhappy Flyers fans.
As the Flyers descended to an eventual 6-1 rout by the Capitals, Flyer fans got unruly. The towards the end of the game, giveaway bracelets began to pelt the ice and even hit Capital players on the bench. Despite the entreaties of P.A. announcer Lou Nolan, the Philadelphia Flyers were assessed a bench minor penalty for delay of game as the shovel brigade worked to clear the playing surface from debris from pissed off fans.
Red Wings Head Ice Manager Al Sobatka
The Detroit Red Wings have to temper their fans enthusiasm in the playoffs but from the other end of the spectrum. A tradition started in 1952 that enthusiastic fans threw an octopus on the ice symbolizing the eight games that were needed to win the Stanley Cup at that time. In the 1980s, Red Wings fans tossed larger and larger cephalopods weighing 38 and 50 pounds. The head ice manager would twirl the octopi above his head as he walked to the Zamboni. The NHL tried to curtail this practice but the league relented after the hue and cry from fans in Octopus-gate. Philadelphia Flyers fans are renowned for their fierce fanaticism. This seemingly reflects the region (as Veterans' Stadium had a court and jail for rowdy football fans). It is not surprising that Flyers fans emulate their team's legend. During their heyday in the 1970s, the Flyers were known as the Broad Street Bullies. Their fans revel at intimidating and insulting their bete noirs. To some extent, this fanaticism is admirable. But it can be a vein for irascible and unmerited anger. Cheering injured players, taunting "traitors" (players now playing for opposing teams), attacking players in the penalty box, booing Sarah Palin ceremonial puck drop and they even booed Santa Claus. But what cemented the conceit of classlessness happened several years ago when a PSA played on the Jumbotron featuring several NHL stars in an anti-cancer spot. The crowd booed because the anti-cancer ad featured it featured Penguin's star Norm Crosby et ali.
There is no particular desire for a unrepentant rivalry in the District of Calamity with the City of Brotherly Love. But it seems ashamed that Flyers fans projected their frustration being three games behind in the playoffs by trashing the ice and endangering players with their projectiles. It seems that Lord Stanley might not want a cheese steak this season. At a rally prior to the start of the series, I met a woman who was former military fully rockin' the red (including a red coif) who was driving up to the game in Philadelphia with a friend who is a big Flyers fan who was on shore leave. I shudder at the mood on the ride home based upon the behavior displayed at the arena.
Reacting the North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R-NC) signing HB2 "The Bathroom Bill", the National Basketball Association has threatened the Tar Heel State that Charlotte is in jeopardy because the law discriminates against transgendered persons from using whatever bathroom they feel like visiting at that time. Other sports leagues have threatened to boycott places to pressure governments to change their laws, like the NCAA's 15 year ban on South Carolina hosting sporting events over the Confederate battle flag flying on state capitol grounds in Columbia, or the NFL threatening to move a Super Bowl from Arizona over the state enforcing federal law on illegal immigration. It is curious to see how the NBA is going to great lengths to protest this "discrimination" of people having different genitalia using separate waste evacuation facilities which has been in place for generations and is rife for confusion and abuse. This sort of progressive pressure again demonstrates that sports has been politicized by the tyranny of liberal fascism.
The annual Army-Navy game is the last game of the college football regular season. It is an over a century old rivalry between two military academies.
During the first half of the 20th Century, the Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights were in contention for the national championships. However, nowadays the five year commitments which academy athletes make to their armed service makes professional sports players about as rare as a rocking horse's manure. Yet players give their all for this annual match-up. They are inspired to go the extra mile.
The Boston Red Sox moved to their new ballpark at 4 Yawkey Way in 1912. Fenway Park was said to be named after the Fenway neighborhood, which was created by filling in marshlands (the fens) in the back bay. However, that explanation may be somewhat suspect as owner John Taylor's family also owned the Fenway Realty Company.
Fenway Park in 2014
The Red Sox first game at Fenway Park was on April 20th, 1912 in an 11 inning 7-6 win against the New York Highlanders (who were renamed the Yankees the following year).
For Fenway Park's centenary, the building was designated as a National Historical Landmark. As of 2012, the Red Sox spring training facility, Jetblue Park in Fort Myers Florida is known as Fenway South as the facility has the exact same dimensions as the so called "Cathedral of Boston"
Last week, the Chinese Central government began a crackdown on golf by shutting down 66 "illegal" golf courses, which is 10% of the nation's fairways. While Beijing has be officially forbidden the construction of new golf courses since 1984, they have proliferated in the PRC. Between 2004 and 2009, 400 new golf courses were created despite the ban (tripling the number of links). But as the Chinese maxim goes, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away.
Aside from being good for generating yuan for their communities by catering to elites, foreign tourism and sparking ancillary business opportunities, golf courses were a great way to gain graft.
The local officials would line their pockets from the construction (as they expropriate peasants' land and profit from the sale to the golf industry) and they are can be surreptitiously sanctioned as being "ecological restorations". How conveniently corrupt.
The day after the golf course crackdown occurred, a Commerce Ministry official was investigated (effectively being found guilty) for participating in a golf event, which violated one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's eight rules against extravagance by government officials. From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government to embrace the game.
Despite the burgeoning number of golf courses in China, it is considered "the millionaires game". Mao Zedong banned golf in 1949 as bourgeois "green opium". Today, a round of golf can cost $150, in a nation where the average daily salary is $5. So it still remains "the rich man's game".
From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government not to be seen embracing the game of golf. Gordon Chang has been warning for years that the Chinese economy is on a precipice and a severe world financial downturn which results in a weak demand for cheap Chinese labor could spark a downfall in the current polity in Beijing. So a public crackdown from the Beijing government on golf appeals to the have nots to quell any clamoring for revolution while President Xi Jinping re-establishes central control over wayward provincial politicos engaged in crony capitalism.
Yet it is unlikely that China's War on Golf will actually forbid the game. Beijing has been spending serious capital on grooming a team to qualify for the Rio de Jainero Olympics in 2016. It's a tension between domestic tranquility and international glory.
Dan Washburn, the author of "The Forbidden Game" (2014) considers Chinese Golf to be apt allegory for the corruption, land grabs,
environmental issues and escalating economic disparity that have become
hallmarks of New China.
Washburn is ambivalent as to what will result from the war on golf. Washburn's metric is how the seized fairways are used in five years. Considering China's dismal track record on environmental issues, it is dubious if the seized courses will end up as actual "ecological restorations".
Will they be re-appropriated like the Shanghai Golf and Country Club in Hongqoai Park, which was converted into the Shanghai Zoo in 1954? Or will the seized courses go the way of Wonderland, a Chinese rip off of Disneyland, which is rotting away due to lack of business and uncertain legalities. China has a series of ghost cities, which are colossal waste of investment that temporarily pump up the GDP and esteem of a local official while saddling the area with a white elephant and a mountain of debt.
Typically, the Heisman refers to an award given to the outstanding college football player in the United States since 1935. The Heisman Memorial Award trophy is distinct as it is a lost wax process bronze casting design by well known sculptor Frank Eliscu that depicts a skilled and powerful football player, sidestepping and straight-arming his way to a touchdown.
Sculptor Frank Eliscu and the Heisman Trophy
Recently, when former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, the undeclared Republican Presidential hopeful invoked the Heisman when surveying the 2016 political playing field. Jeb Bush was asked about all of chaos in the Middle East which the Obama Administration's foreign policy precipitated (namely Libya, ISIS and an inchoate Arab nuclear arms race). Governor Bush responded that:
"I think she can’t do the Heisman on the first four years of the Obama
foreign policy. She’ll try. I mean, she’s going to, look, this is very
Clintonian, I think, to figure out a way to get out of a mess."
Bush invoked the image of the Heisman stiff arming opposition before striding into the end zone for a score. Certainly, the big bench of talented GOP Presidential candidates will seek to stop Hillary from side stepping opposition blocking her way to the South Lawn of the White House despite screens from the Lamestream Media.
It should be remembered, however, that the Heisman Award is an honor given by sportwriters (journalists) through a beauty contest vote. There is concern about the Heisman curse that designated winners often do not perform well the big game or during their careers in pro football despite the honor and the hype of the Heisman. Certainly, parallels can be made to Hillary's proto Presidential campaign and presumed coronation at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Have you ever wondered why Athletics baseball players wear an elephant on their sleeve? Well, it goes back to the origins of the team. When the Philadelphia Athletics became one of the charter members of the newly established American League in 1901, owner Benjamin Shibe took a spendthrift approach to staffing his team. Shibe was willing to pay top dollar to National League ballplayers to join the upstart Philadelphia Athletics. So in 1902, manager John McGraw, who moved to the National League New York Giants after the first American League Baltimore Orioles franchise folded, was disgusted by Shibe business strategy. McGraw opined that Shibe had a white elephant on his hands. At the time, a white elephant was a metaphor for something that looked nice but was impossible to maintain. The Philadelphia Athletics, however, embraced the jibe. So much so, the Athletics made the White Elephant into the team's mascot. In fact, Philadelphia Athletics Manager Connie Mack ordered that Athletics jerseys be emblazoned with a White Elephant. In the end, John McGraw's musings over the White Elephant A's proved quite wrong. By 1905, the Athletics were quite profitable and prosperous, earning its way into the championship series. To underline that point, John McGraw was given a White Elephant by the A's prior to the first game of the 1905 World Series.
New York Giants Manager John McGraw receiving a White Elephant before Game 1 of the 1905 World Series
McGraw was said to have doffed his cap and deeply bowed before the hooting crowd in the City of Brotherly Love.
The White Elephant has been part of the Athletics uniforms for much of their history, including in the A's incarnations in Philadelphia (1901-1954), Kansas City (1955-1967) and Oakland (1968-present). In 1963, however, A's owner Charlie O. Finley changed the mascot to a mule, perhaps to appeal to Show Me State Democrats. The elephant mascot was restored as the A's symbol in 1988 and was know as Harry Elephante. Since 1997, the elephant mascot has been called Stomper.
Alas for Oakland fans, the White Elephant is going into off-season hibernation as the A's lost their wildcard game 9-8 in 12 innings to the Kansas City Royals.
Sixty years ago, New York Giants Outfielder Willie Mays made "The Catch" during the first game of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.
In the top of the eighth inning, the score was tied 2-2 with men on first and second. Giants left handed relief pitcher Don Liddle served up a pitch which Indians batter Vic Wertz drilled into deep center field. In most ballparks, the Wertz 420 foot hit would have been a homer, which would give the Indians 5-2 lead.
However, the 1954 World Series opener was played in the Polo Grounds.
Willie Mays rushed in from short center field and made a spectacular on-the-run, over-the-back basket catch on the warning track. "The Say-Hay" Kid then spun around and tossed the ball to second to check the runner, although the lead runner was able to tag up and take third.
"The Catch" is the stuff of legend, which might make George Will wax poetically on the George Will Sports Machine, if such a show existed.
On September 24, 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field against the Milwaukee Braves. Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley had been angling for years to build a replacement facility for the National League team. O'Malley proposed a domed stadium in Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards (ironically now where the Barclay's Center stands) but New York Building Commissioner Robert Moses "would not play ball." Moses wanted a stadium erected in Flushing Gardens, Queens (where Shea Stadium and Citi Field were built), but O'Malley insisted: "We are the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Queens Dodgers!". To put pressure on New York City officials, O'Malley had "Da Bums" play a few homestands in Jersey City, New Jersey for two years, but to no avail. O'Malley packed up the Dodgers and left for sunny Los Angeles in 1958. And Brooklyn was never the same.
Yid With Lid's Jeff Dunetz argued that September 24, 1957 was "the day the Borough of Brooklyn died" as the Dodgers were the glue that kept Brooklyn together. Being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan was likened to being a "state religion" in Brooklyn. It was hypothesized that blue collar, ethnic first and second generation Americans identified with "Dem Bums" and were proud that Dodger players were just like them and lived among them. In fact, Samuel Johnson, an old-time Brooklyn Dodgers fan who lives at the Ebbet Field Apartments, recalled how seeing Jackie Robinson around in the neighborhood with his pigeon toed walk.
Brooklyn Dodgers fans have an unusual nostalgic affection for Ebbets Field, which was the Dodgers home for 45 years. Ebbets Field was built in "Pig Town" in 1912 between Bedford Avenue, Sullivan Place, McKeever Place, and Montgomery Streets from a collection of parcels which included a garbage dump. When Ebbets Field opened in 1913, the intimate bandbox (a.k.a. cigar box) stadium sported neither a flag pole nor a press box (the latter was not added until 1929). Ebbets Field had character because of its topography-- the parcel of sloping ground required that the right field corner be above street level. Ebbets Field could only seat 35,000 fans and had no hopes of expansion. Fans of "Dem Bums" thought that it had a homey feel.
After O'Malley moved the Dodgers to the Chavez Ravine in "Dodger-town" California, Brooklyn fans were thoroughly bummed about the abandonment of the Brooklyn Bandbox. Ebbets Field was demolished with great ceremony in February 1960.
The site was turned into the Ebbets Field Apartments. However that did not destroy the nostalgia for the Ebbets Field and Brooklyn Dodgers among their die-hards. Frank Sinatra had a song "There Used to Be a Ballpark" aimed at Ebbets Field. The facade for Citi Field in Queens architecturally evokes the exterior of Ebbets Field. And Ebbets Field even managed to be part of the plot in the film Field of Dreams (1989). People still pay good money for associations with Ebbets Field. In January 2014, for example, the Ebbets Field street sign which stood at the corner of Montgomery and McKeever sold for nearly $59,000.
Why do people still brood today of the abandonment off the Brooklyn Bandbox. Native New Yorkers get nostalgic about the prominence of the Big Apple. The Dodgers and the Giants simultaneously skipping out to California was a cognitive blow which inspired incredible animus. Hence, Judge Motley's quip about the "notorious abandonment" of Brooklyn 35 years later. The observation about the Dodgers being the sticky stuff which held the borough of Brooklyn together has some merit. The Dodgers ducking out of Brooklyn may have also marked the end of a certain age of innocence. Pro sports used to be a pastime which a lucky few like Roy Campanella continued play boyhood games into adulthood during the summer, only to go back to day jobs in the off season. The Dodgers move to Los Angeles may have underscored that pro sports could become big business.
Even though the Brooklyn Dodgers may have abandoned the borough, they did manage to keep their trademark. Brooklyn based restauranters opened "the Brooklyn Dodgers Sports Bar and Restaurant in 1988 arguing that the Dodgers abandoned Brooklyn in 1957, changing the organizations name and had abandoned the trademark. This might have been a successful trademark challenge, except the L.A. Dodgers started marketing Brooklyn Dodgers merchandise again in 1981. Major League Properties won the case in 1993 but the entrepreneurs had long since before gone out of business.
Bobby Riggs was a pro tennis star who was at the of his game in the late 1930s and the 1940s. But Riggs is most remembered for his battle of the sexes. In 1973, the 55 year old Riggs came out of retirement to play a couple of matches against much younger female tennis stars.
Originally, Riggs wanted to play Billie Jean King but King initially refused. So Riggs arranged a match with Margaret Cox, who was at the time the top female player in the world. Riggs achieved easy victory in what was dubbed "the Mother's Day Massacre" by using lots of drop shots and lobs which kept the 30 year old Cox off balance. In the national limelight, Riggs played up his chauvinism and taunted female players over his victory over "the lesser sex".
The Mother's Day Massacre caused the 29 year old King to change her mind and agree to play Riggs. The Battle of the Sexes was played on September 20th, 1973 at the Houston Astrodome before a record setting crowd of 30,472 spectators and a television audience estimated at 90 million. King won the $100,000 winner take all prize on 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. This Battle of the Sexes elevated Women's Tennis in America , fueled the politically correct womens' liberation movement and highlighted the Title IX law.
But there was more to the story than athletic prowess on the court. The Battle of the Sexes was lots of show business. Billie Jean King entered the Astrodome in a chair held by four bare-chested muscle men dressed like Egyptian slaves, ala Cleopatra. Not to be outdown, Bobby Riggs entered the Astrodome on a rickshaw drawn by scantily dressed models. Before the match, Riggs gave King a giant lollypop and King offered rigs a piglet. This spectacle seems akin to the WWF rather than the noble sport of Wimbledon.
Behind the scenes, there were efforts to augment the women's liberation propaganda. Billie Jean King insisted that ABC Sports drop tennis color commentator Jack Kramer because he was critical of King and the 26 year age advantage. Prior to the match, King proclaimed: "He [Kramer] doesn't believe in women's tennis. Why should he be part of this
match? He doesn't believe in half of the match. I'm not playing. Either
he goes – or I go."
There has been some speculation through a 2013 ESPN Outside the Lines feature which alleged that Bobby Riggs might have thrown the match in exchange for the mob cancelling Rigg's debts. Rigg's history as a hustler lends some credence to the gambling connection, as Riggs won a tremendous sum in 1939 by betting on himself to win at Wimbledon. But Riggs supposedly took a polygraph to prove that he did not prove the match. Ironically, Jack Kramer, the tennis voice that King silenced for the "Battle of the Sexes", insisted that Billie Jean King won the match fair and square.
The spectacle, the underlying themes and the promotion of "the Battle of the Sexes" should be instructive to understand how sports are marketing themselves through controversy, guided messaging and chasing a profit as much as excellence on the field of play.
"One of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance,
might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and
strained something best left unstrained. 'Aaarrr'."
[L] Cap'n Slappy (a.k.a. Mark Summers) and [R] Ol' Chumbucket (John Baur)
In 2002, the pair sent a "message in a bottle" letter to syndicated columnist Dave Barry who championed and promoted the idea. Part of the reason that Talk Like a Pirate Day has grown virally is because the faux holiday has not been trademarked, even though Baur and Summers have a website to garner some booty. John Baur's "pirate" family also participated in an episode of "Wife Swap" in 2006.
Michigan State Sen. Roger Kahn (R-32 Saginaw Twshp.)
Funny how a farcical pain cry became a parodic holiday. But believe it or not, the state of Michigan officially recognized Talk Like a Pirate Day as a holiday, with Michigan State Senator Roger Kahn (R- MI 32nd Saginaw Township) introducing the resolution wearing an eyepatch. Better to pass resolutions for farcical holidays than plundering the taxpayers' pocketbooks or truly taking away their liberty. If you want to scrawl your own electronic missive to the Talk Like a Pirate Day holiday sponsor, you can contact SenRKahn@senate.michigan.gov. In the spirit of the holiday, it is suggested to put it in pirate argot. To quickly translate, try usingPost Like a Pirate.
As we celebrate the bicentenary of Francis Scott Keys penning "The Star Spangled Banner", the Naked Gun movie comedic crooning ought to shame celebrities to learn the lyrics to the patriotic poem set to a period drinking song.
For those of us to struggle to keep on Key, lyrically and aesthetically, it is worth being reminded of the meaning behind the text. The lyrics were based on "The Defense of Fort McHenry" after a sustained bombardment of Baltimore during the war of 1812. Francis Scott Key was an accomplished attorney who was negotiating for the release of Dr. William Beanes held prisoner by the British after the Battle of Bladensburg. The British detained Keys as a diplomat on a prison ship while the Royal Armada bombed Baltimore Harbor. After a night's bombardment, Francis Scott Key looked to Fort McHenry and saw the Stars and Stripes flying, demonstrating that American freedom had survived.
There are four verses to the National Anthem, though sports fans are only familiar with the first verse. In case one needs a refresher, here are the real lyrics:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
New York Giants' Halfback Frank Gifford epitomizes his quote about pro football. Gifford took a hit by Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1960 which knocked him out and caused a severe head injury which caused him to retire from football.
However, after 18 months, Gifford re-entered the gridiron playing flanker (a.k.a. wide receiver), where he earned a spot in the Pro Bowl before retiring for good in 1962.
The National Football League is taking a hiatus on its classical finish to a season in 2016. Since 1971, the NFL championship game known the world over as the Super Bowl has been marked by Roman Numerals. However, when the Super Bowl is played at the San Francisco Giant's new stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 7, 2016, the game will be marketed as Super Bowl 50.
The reason for the change is neither Common Core compliance nor a concession to fans struggling with concussions. The reason is purely aesthetic. Keith Bruce, the president of the San Francisco Bay Area Host Committee, lobbied for a change from the "L" as it was time. However, there is also speculation that contemporary audiences may equate the "L" with Loser. For it's part, Jaime Weston, the NFL Vice President of Brand and Creative, noted that her team had tried 73 different versions of the Super Bowl 50 logo but could not find a design which was pleasing to the eye. The NFL will market two types of logos for Super Bowl 50. Both will feature the Arabic Numerals "50" in gold, as a nod to Northern California's history when James Wilson Marshall striking gold at Sutter's Mill in 1849 and sparked a gold rush of prospectors to the Golden State. Both the national and the regional logos will feature the Lombardi Trophy. The regional logo will also include Bay area landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, the TransAmerica tower as well as Levi's Stadium. While Latin teachers and classic scholars may be dismayed at migrating away from Roman numerals, it should be noted that traditions associated with the Big Game have evolved over time. The championship game was not even called "The Super Bowl" until its third iteration. In fact, the NFL did not even trademark "The Super Bowl" for a few months afterwards. The touch of the Roman Numerals followed in 1971. The NFL insists that this will be a one year hiatus, and that it will return in 2017 for Super Bowl LI. If it is true that NFL branding was worried about unfortunate associations with the big "L", what will they do in 2025, which it is Super Bowl LIX?
What is particularly noteworthy of Eric Liddell is not that he was the the Flying Scotsman was the first British Gold Medal winner in track from 1924, or that he was the basis of the film Chariots of Fire (1981), or his steadfast Sabbath keeping, but for dying as a missionary in a Japanese internment camp in China in 1945. 
