Every so often, political and cultural columnist Thomas Sowell will publish an article entitled "Random Thoughts", in which he states in snippet form, a random assortment of things which occurred to him recently. Since I've had writers block for awhile, I decided to imitate Sowell (such as I can) in the same manner, as well as the old Larry King sports column often expressed in selfsame fashion. So here are a few random thoughts with relation to the historical past. (The Piggly Wiggly logo relates to the 'small town grocery store' post-#3)
1. Although many decry the occasional outbreak of violence and 'thuggery' in modern pro sports (etc., NBA, NFL, hockey, etc.), a cursory glance at history will show that spectator sports nowadays resemble a church picnic compared to some of the spectacles of yesteryear. For example, Ty Cobb of the old Detroit Tigers in the early 1900's, would be arrested in put in prison if he played today and did the same things he did then (beating and kicking a handicapped heckler unconcscious, etc. etc.), and you took your life in your hands if you attended a Giants-Cubs match in 1904.
2. Speaking of the American pastime, what are the chances that Lou Gehrig should contact, of all things, Lou Gehrig's disease? (Also, isn't it strange that Cy Young, by all accounts, the greatest hurler of them all, never once won the Cy Young award!)
3. Although I confess to shopping at Wal-Mart for convenience and quantity pricing, I miss the 'small town' grocery store which is slowly being squeezed out of the picture. Good old local chains like Piggly Wiggly, Sunflower, et al, used to represent the heart and soul of the town. I worked at a Piggly Wiggly in high school many years ago, and remember vividly the colorful characters about whom "anecdotes clustered like barnacles" (to quote Eugene Peterson) who were regular customers such as Chew Brown, the elderly African American purveyor of "mule tobacco" and P.T. Barnum, the cigar smoking dispenser of wisdom and procurer of Manteca lard and Jax beer.
4. I remember reading of the sad case of a Baptist pastor in Texas who was divested from his pulpit and thrown out of his church after he was caught "giving the devil his due." Well, there but for the grace of God, go all of us, I guess......
5. I've got a crazy idea, but it just might work.
6. President Obama did not deserve to win the Nobel Peace Prize, although he gave a fairly good speech in Oslo. It was much better than his speech at West Point.
7. I'm very glad that Mark Ingram of Alabama won the 2009 Heisman Trophy. He deserved it, although Colt McCoy of Texas has the best name, by far. (My favorite all time name is "Angelo Dundee", the former trainer for Muhammed Ali.)
8. The New Orleans Saints are now 13-0 having defeated Atlanta. I remember the old time "Aints" and poor Archie Manning spending every game running for his life. Besides Tom Dempsey kicking his 63 yard game winning field goal in 1970, the Saints possessed very few memories in their first 30 years worth putting onto the highlight reel. (Yes, I remember Chuck Muncie and Ricky Jackson)
9. Speaking of the Superdome (relatively speaking), I have a "good news-bad news" story: The bad news is that I had to spend Hurricane Katrina inside the Superdome amidst the filth, heat and squalor. The good news is that I had seats right on the 50 yard line for the entire time.
10. According to Teddy White, then candidate for President, Ronald Reagan, at the 1980 New Hampshire/Nashua debate in which he grabbed the microphone after the moderator John Breen threatened to shut it off, referred to Mr. Breen as "Mr. Green." I myself, had always thought it was "Green" also, so I feel better as I am in good company!
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