Being At Peace With Different Measures of Glory

Athletes from Unified North & South Korean Team at Winter Olympics

The 23rd Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are themed to be the games of peace.  This was accentuated by athletes of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) marching with their Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) counterparts under a unified flag.

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.

Iranian "Womens'" Soccer Team -- What a Farsi (sic)!

Al Arabiya reported that eight members of the Iranian Women's Soccer team are not actually woman and having been playing on the national team without a sex change operation. Some of those cited played their entire career as men but only revealed their gender on their last day of duty. Seven players were terminated because of this controversy. 

This is not the first time that the Iranian women's team has been over-inclusive in their team make up.  In 2014, when the Iranian governing soccer body started gender testing, it was revealed that four players on the women's national team were men awaiting sex change operations. 

The Iranian womens' soccer team is renowned for wearing a modified hijab when they are on the pitch.  FIFA banned the Iranian Womens' team in 2011 as the international body deemed the headscarf unsafe.  Perhaps.  But headwear certainly helped hide these sporting Tootsies.

Ironically, the Iranian Women's soccer team has experienced troubled fielding legitimate women soccer stars abroad.  Last month, standout player Niloufar Ardalan was stopped from traveling to Malaysia for a match by her husband who wanted his wife to follow sharia law by staying home and caring for her child. 

Aside from the jocular grotequeries of the Iranian Womens' Soccer team farce, this brings up several ancillary meta-issues.  President Obama made an Executive Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran over Nuclear Arms.  Many questioned provisions which allow the Iranians to self inspect, citing their history of cheating.  The multiple malfeasance by the Iranian Womens' soccer team does nothing to dissuade this perception of Persian prevarications. 

Secondly, the number of Iranian Womens' Soccer players who are supposedly having sex change operation calls into question transgender issues.  While operations may mutilate genitlia to mimic the female body features, does it really change someone's genetics.  In the wake of Bruce "Call Me Cait" Jenner's rollout, questioning this scientific fact can bring a civil discussion to blows.  

Last year, MMA fighter  Tamikka Brents reacted to her Technical Knock Out by transgendered athlete Fallon Fox (ne Boyd Burton).  Brents opined:  

I’ve fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can’t answer whether it’s because she was born a man or not because I’m not a doctor. I can only say, I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right. Her grip was different, I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn’t move at all in Fox’s clinch…

Some say this is just sour grapes after being TKO'ed. Perhaps.  But does a sex change operation change a person's skeletal and muscular structure? Of course not. This XY advantage becomes more evident in combat sports like Mixed Martial Arts, boxing and wrestling.

Lately, the political news has been abuzz over politically incorrect comments made by Republican Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson about how he could never support an unreserved Islamist for President.  Liberals lambasted the proud non-politician candidate as being a racist (which incorrectly presupposes that Islam is a race).  But the crux of the matter is that an Islamist adheres to sharia, a holistic religious, cultural and political legal system which  supersedes any existing secular law.  

Part of sharia allows for taqiyya, deception to advance one's aims by cheating.  It is sad to wonder if the Iranian "Womens'" Soccer team had to cheat to try to win, but the hijabs seem to do more than protect a woman's female honor on the field.  What a Farsi (sic)!

Forest Gump on Running

In honor on National Running Day, consider the mythical movie exploration of why running took off in America as a personal sport in the late 1970s. 

New Wolverine Football Head Coach Jim Harbaugh Fights for The American Sniper Showing

It is as rare as a rocking horses manure that a campus screening of a Hollywood major motion picture makes the news, much less the sports section, but we live in interesting times.

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor was scheduled to show "The American Sniper", the 2014 highest grossing motion picture about a Navy Seal who served four combat tours .  But the "American Sniper" screening was cancelled because of an open letter published by some U of M Muslim students which claimed that the Chris Kyle biopic ab that the film about the decorated Navy Seal was about “a racist who took a disturbing stance on murdering Iraqi civilians.” Aside from that blood liable, the letter worried that  American Sniper "not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim … rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer.”

So what does the University of Michigan, an institute of higher learning which sports the motto: Artes, Scientia, Veritas, do in a civil clash of ideas. The first instinct of the U of M Administration was to censor the controversial.  University officials canceled the showing and apologized for potentially making Muslim students feel unsafe.  The University planned to show Paddington instead, no joke.

After the Ann Arbor University Administration suffered from widespread derision over the politically correct pusillanimous decision, U of M backpeddled and promised to eventually show "The American Sniper" but only in a "safe space".

So allow for protests and ideological indoctrination afterwards.

Even this University of Michigan equivocation did not score well with incoming Wolverine football coach Jim Harbaugh.  Harbaugh took to Twitter to unabashedly show support to Chris Kyle and "The American Sniper".   Harbaugh played college football at "The Big House" of U of M before spending 14 seasons in the NFL then coaching in the NFL, including the San Francisco Giants.  Haurbaugh's bold proclamation about Wolverine Football gives the impression that he will not countenance safe spaces on the football field.

An early scene from "The American Sniper" depicts a life lesson given to a young Chris Kyle about the three types of persons in the world.

It is clear that Coach Harbaugh emulates a sheepdog.  What remains to be seen is if the team which he inherits, which went 5-7 in 2014 (including a Big Ten 3-5 record), are going to transmogrify into Wolverine Sheepdogs or remain collegiate sheep on the sports field?

A better question is what the University of Michigan learns from this episode.

Falcons Fined for Faux Fan Noise

Atlanta Falcons fans have had little to cheer about over the last couple of seasons as the team went 3-5 at home during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.  The Falcons organization sought to fire up their fans by playing an audio file with fake crowd noise to make it sound louder in the Georgia Dome.  

After an investigation by the NFL, it was determined the Falcons faux fan noise was a direct violation of league rules. Falcon's owner and chairman Arthur Blank issued a mea culpa which admitted to the forbidden practice.  

 Consequently, the Falcons will forfeit a fifth round draft choice in 2016 and will be fined $350,000.  Roddy White, the events marketing director who spearheaded the artificial crowd noise, is no longer with the Falcons.  Falcon President Richard McKay has been suspended from the NFL Competition Committee .

The Atlanta Falcons are in the process of constructing the New Atlanta Stadium to replace the Georgia Dome, which has been the Falcon's home since 1992.  The NFL ought to ensure that the $1.4 billion pinwheel roof stadium does not have a sound system like Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel which "goes to 11" . 

Fortune on Perseverance

Andy Murray on Scottish Nationalism

As Scots go to the polls to vote "Aye" or "Nay" on Scottish independence, British tennis star Andy Murray has stopped being coy about his viewing on Scottish nationalism.

Murray won the 2013 Men's Singles championship at Wimbledon, the first time a UK player has won in 75 years.  If the Yes campaign succeeds, it would vitiate this mark.  As Mike Myers might exclaim on in his Scottish comedic skits: "If it's not Scottish it's crap!"

Frank Drevin (a.k.a. Enrico Pallazo) on the Star Spangled Banner

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. 

There are too many examples of hyped singers who flub the lines to the National Anthem at sporting events, either through ignorance or intentionally, and show disrespect to honoring America.  That being said, it helps when the accompanist plays the right national anthem.

Singing "The Star Spangled Banner", which Congress designated as America's National Anthem in 1931, did not began a tradition at pro baseball games until 1942.  It is estimated that in the major leagues, the National Anthem has been heard before the first pitch at 121,000 games.   

  

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!

Jimmy Dugan on Adversity

As moving as "A League of Their Own" (1992)  is on the silver screen, it is a somewhat fantastic depiction of the All-American Girls Baseball League.  All of the characters in the film were fictional.  Moreover, the Rockville Peaches did not play for the 1943 championship as it was a series between the Racine Bells and the Kenosha Comets.  

Still, these sticky wicket of fact do not detract from the greater truths portrayed in the movie. 

Annie Savoy on the Church of Baseball

Major League Clu Haywood Chit Chat at Bat

Twenty five years ago today, the number one box office hit movie "Major League" premiered.  In the film, Clue Haywood was a triple crown winning slugger who had Indian's pitcher Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn's number until the end.   

What lent additional authenticity to the diamond drama was the inclusion of a real Major League ballplayer in some of the scenes.  Clu Haywood was played by 11 year MLB journeyman pitcher Pete Vuckovich.  Major League's writer/director David S. Ward encouraged Vuckovich to improvise during his batting scenes in order to say something which ballplayers would say during an at-bat.  

Clu's quip to the Indians catcher was meant to  unnerve the opponent during a crucial at-bat.  But the damn Yankee's  (sic) jibe did not distract the key members of the fictitious Tribe when it most counted. 

Erin Go Boom-Boom-- Cork Hurlers Superfan Joe Lynch

For those of us who are unacquainted  with the sport of hurling, assuredly it is neither reserved for post St. Paddy's Day revelry or nor necessarily part of the domain for Wayne's World.  Hence hurling requires some clarification.




Hurling it is an amateur outdoor sport with allegedly a 3,000 year tradition administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association.   Hurling fans claim that it is the fastest sport on grass.

Spot of tea, anyone?

Sydney Dean on Basketball

It seems that these two hustlers from the White Men Can't Jump movie have informed  Vice President Joe Biden's bluster on basketball, but it is questionable if lunchbucket Joe really has skills. 

Shane Falco on Glory

Lt. Col. William Kilgore on Surfing

Reconsidering Apocalypse Now (1979) as a surfing film.

Wisconson Waterboy TD Thrills Town

LaChute Mustang Football Player Noah VanVooren after scoring first touchdown

Noah VanVooren, is a  Senior at Little Chute High School in Wisconsin, who has served as the Mustang football team's  Team Manage Water Boy for years. 

While VanVooren has Down Syndrome,  the team treated him as just one of the guys on the field.  Senior fullback  Chet Pereenboom noted VanVooren's positive attitude and enthusiasm which he shared with the team.  So the Mustang team wanted to do something special for VanVooren.   

Little Chute Football Coach Mike Ryczkowski asked Noah if he want to play in the final home game.   Ryczkowski thought that VanVooren would be nervous but the Team Manager turned player confidently strode onto the field wearing number 14.   Noah was made the honorary team captain for the Senior Night game and  helped lead the team on the field.

With 1.2 seconds left on the clock and Little Chute leading 57-0 over Clintonville High, the crowd shouted out "Noah, Noah" and VanVooren was sent in for the last play.  Mustang Quarterback Sam Merrifield handed off to VanVooren.  The Clintonville Truckers team let number 14 through, and VanVooren ran 35 years for the touchdown as he was surrounded by his teammates.

Although the score did not count for the record books, as both teams and the officials facilitated VanVooren's touchdown, one would never know it based on the enthusiastic reaction from the Little Chute crowd.  VanVooren was swarmed by fans.  After scoring his first TD, VanVooren exclaimed: "I feel great. I scored a touchdown.  It was great." Later Noah enthusiastically sang the school song in the postgame team huddle.

Noah VanVooren's father remarked: He was born 18 years ago and the doctors told us he would never be able to walk, talk or do anything. And then to see him 18 years later, it’s amazing." VanVooren's father also expressed gratitude to the Little Chute community who had backed up and loved his son.

The idea for a touchdown came from a group of Mustang Football Seniors who approached an Assistant Coach.  The plan then got the approval of the opposing Clintonville football team as well as the officials. 

LaChute (WI) Mustang Football Team, [front row] no. 14 Noah VanVooren

Sports can chronicle achievements but they also mold and reveal character.  This Wisconsin Water-Boy's TD embodies the finest virtues of character building through sports.  It echoes the triumph and sportsmanship depicted in the film Rudy (1993)

According to Little Chute High Principal Dan Valentyn, the school prides itself on being a place that is small enough to maintain a family-type atmosphere and give a personal focus to assist those who may be struggling personally or academically.  The  sportsmanship shown by the Mustangs for an underdog who had long supported the team and inspired them was noteworthy and commendable.

Ronald Reagan on Education

The Pre-Game Plan for DC-Jockularity

Some might wonder why a denizen of the District of Calamity (sic) whose favorite contact sport is politics would create a Sports quote site.

The title of the site is a tongue in cheek portmanteu of the District of Calamity and a neologism of “Jock” and “ularity”, which should bring to mind a facetious feeling spelled differently.  The mast features a cheerleader surrounded by a variety of sports paraphernalia.  The cheerleader is the 43rd President in prep school rally mode.

While I enjoy watching some sports matches live or on a large screen high definition television, I’ll admit to being a sports agnostic aside from rooting for the alma mater during March Madness or paying attention during the Stanley Cup playoffs.  My interest tends to be in the business of sports, like sports stadia construction, rights for broadcasting, conference reconfiguration etc.  However, unlike the antipathy of a Manhattan intellectual in Annie Hall (1977) who put down basketball players as “a group of pituitary cases trying to stuff a ball through a hoop”, I appreciate the virtues of sport even if I do not always share in the fanaticism.



But I also see sports as a means to draw more wisdom from the world.

I have collected pithy pearls of wisdom for years and found that a decent number of them came from sports personages. Much to the chagrin of Charles Barkley, people do look up to sports stars and take note of what they say.  John Harbaugh, the coach of the Baltimore Ravens, used the example of Mohammad Ali winning ugly to inspire his football team to win Superbowl XLVII.

Sometimes their aphorisms have applicability off the field of play. But many articles containing sports quotes simply bundle them in a top ten list.  That is like reading a quote boxscore, which gives you the outcome but seemingly does not captivate  fans.  DC-Jockularity hopes to have posts which convey a narrative cognitively and visually which resonates long after the final score.

Anyone who has outlasted one Administration living between the beltways should well appreciate how sports can unite disparate groups in Washingon, DC.  The District of Calamity may be mired by partisan bickering and the townies not socializing with the governmental "gownies".  But the area unites around the Redskins, to some extent the Nationals and in some degree the Capitals.

Another reason for DC-Jockularity is recognizing the synergy between sports, entertainment and public policy. Richard Nixon used “Ping Pong diplomacy” to engage with the Peoples’ Republic of China during the Cold War.  Dennis Rodman was the unlikely unofficial American Ambassador to North Korea’s hereditary Dictator Kim Yung Un.

Politicians use sports as a means to humanize themselves and relate to the common man.  Barack Obama poses as a big basketball player. George W. Bush was a maven on a mountain bike. Bill Clinton liked to wear short shorts and jog.  John F. Kerry was wont to windsurf, yacht and ride expensive racing bikes.

 OK, not all pols are that savvy, despite the smart haircuts.

Nowadays, politics is creeping into sports.  Congress holds hearings on sports figures using steroids. Sports announcers like Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas interject progressive politics into their sports commentary. Politically Correct special interest groups try to change team names so as not to offend.   Superbowl ads from Obama Auto Bailout companies looked like gauzy campaign ads. Then the  NFL was being enlisted to promote Obamacare and the Baltimore Ravens bit at that bitter fruit.

So the pre-game plan for DC-Jocularity is to offer an unconventional collection of sports quotes which score big in the District of Calamity.  These aphorisms may be inspirational, philosophical or whimsical.  But pre-game plans almost always change.  So don't be surprised if some commentary on the intersection of sports, politics and history is also included at DC-Jockularlity.

"Field of Dreams" on Heaven