What Would Thoreau Say?

Yes it was excruciatingly painful to watch the USA lose yesterday.  But in a sense the game and tournament had far larger implications that were more important.  For here was truly a superb athletic event-the entire World Cup not just this match-that had you glued to the set and watching these wonderful athletes perform.  Here was evidence that women playing sport can be as entertaining as men and maybe more so because of their approach to the game. I have been a woman's sports fan for a very long time.  I take my share of crap from the neandrathal men I hang around with sometimes or sit with at a sports bar.  I have to put up with them providing their 1950's commentary on women playing sports and I have to constantly stand alone in arguing that women's sports are much more pure than men's.  I mean really, I argue, do you think Naismith intended for the game to be played with giants stuffing the ball down each other's throats or setting up behind the arc ...

OK, so let me see if I understand here...Roger Clemen's dna is found on the syringes and cotton balls (man, talk about foresight) but some idiot prosecutor submits some evidence-as in the conversation Andy Pettitte had with his wife saying Clemens did it-now that's controversial...and the judge declares a mistrial. My bet is they don't re-try this case and Clemens goes home.  He ain't goin in the Hall of Fame, but I'll bet he goes home (one time Kurt and I were at a Mets game when an opposing pitcher was taken out...some guy yelled "you don't have to go home, but you gotta leave here!"). Then there's that Anthony trial... And OJ... And a million other trials thrown out on a technicality or because a good lawyer convinced a jury that their client didn't do it. There are also stories like the one on the ESPY's the other night about a guy who went to jail for 35 years for something he didn't do.  The film/story--the interminable ...

[Long time no see....sorry, summer you know?  baseball, women's world cup...gotta lot to do] Derek Jeter Let me start by saying though I hate the Yankees I have always loved Derek Jeter.  Something about class and keeping his mouth shut and playing every day. And something about that time about five years ago when he went 0 for a million and never complained, kept playing and eventually came out of it.  It was that period in his career that made me a fan. So I've been watching and waiting to see when he would do it.  It's well documented what he did so no reason to go into that.  I'd rather talk about the kid that caught the ball. Turns out he's a 23 year old cell phone salesman (who lost his cell phone in the scrum, by the way).  He catches the carom off his old man and holds high the 3000th hit. Immediately people began to wonder about Jeter's legacy in the history of the sport; some talked about his class, his poise...all kinds of thing...