Spittin' Sports and History

Johnsonville Cornhole Championships sounds rather formal until you realize it is about tossing a bean bag at a 6 inch hole on a board. But wait--it is 27 feet away from the "pitcher's box" and requires skill. With nothing else live on ESPN these months, we could watch singles, doubles, the top 100 world players(are you kidding?) and become addicted to seeing how many successful attempts one player could make(17 was the count). Such a simple game that was organized in 2005 with leagues, Las Vegas odds, and backyard competition. But simplicity has always had its rewards. When I began directing one-act plays at Wilson, I made sure I had the maximum cast number of 15 for any play so more students could share the experience. The year we were presenting Reynard the Fox, I needed one more cast member for 15 and decided to add a turtle. I asked sweet  Ginger to take it: no dialogue but on the stage the entire time. She accepted, made a great turtle shell costume,  came to every r...

Lance Armstrong was featured on a documentary on ESPN, and I watched to see if there was anything new about him: 16-year-old triathlete in Austin, biking whiz, winner of Tour de France in 1993, continued wins through 1996, cancer survivor, creator of the Livestrong Foundation which raised millions for cancer victims, champion again for more Tour De France events, constant source for doping charges, repeated rejector of doping accusations, final acceptor of drug use in 2013. I knew all that and that he had paid out millions in lawsuits and watched his foundation erased. I suppose I wanted him to get teary-eyed and say, "I'm sorry" because I had never seen him do that. But he didn't. He said he wouldn't change a thing.   Apologies aren't just for the world's greatest athletes. It can be for an entire county. In 1941 over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their homes and businesses and were put in barracks surrounded by barbed wire fences. There...

Bryson DeChambeau is a young golfer that the PGA is crazy about because he just made a drive of 428 yards. Holy Golf Ball! That's a quarter of a mile or 428 steps. Out of the 825 professional golfers, no one has copied that. Golf has been accused of being a boring sport because the players all dress alike, talk alike, sort of look alike, and aren't known for unique personalities. If they hit a good shot, they tip their hats. If they hit a bad shot, they tip their hats. They never get upset or speak out.  We pull for Jordan Spieth because he is from Dallas, for Phil Nicholson because he is left-handed, and Bubba Watson because he is a Bubba. It takes 4 afternoons, 2 days of tv watching on the weekend to finish a tournament. Daddy was a good golfer who played every Sunday from 1945 until he died. He shot so well that his golfing buddies begged him to play in tournaments so they could win as his partner, but he never agreed. Different from most golfers, he never went to hit a buck...