PoorRichardsExcuseWinning five Stanley Cups in seven years, the Edmonton Oilers stand above all other dynasties that followed them. The Oilers were led by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, the two best players to ever don a uniform for the same club. Born within eight days of the other on opposite ends of Canada, the […]
Balanced on Ballast Along the graded landscapebalanced on ballastspiked astrideperpendicular tieslies alignedparallel linesof forged steel rails. Ceaseless seamless sequencefor coming transport hencevista’s unseen spacesfar’way distant places. Symmetric stillremains untilbold whistle call hails coming thrall‘tis iron horsewith fearsome forceits’ powerful thrusteats miles with lustheadlong it’s boundshaking the ground in hurried paceto destined placeskipping verstssinging verseturbine basesets the […]
JOHN LENNON REMEMBERED We remember dates for murdered icons. JFK assassinated on November 22, 1963; brother Bobby, the 6th of June. Julius Caesar stabbed on the Ides of March, and Honest Abe martyred on Good Friday. John Lennon took his bullets on 8 December 1980, outside his home when a deranged fan tried to kill […]
Best known for his novels Animal Farm and 1984, George Orwell would seem an unlikely apologist of Adolf Hitler. Though no supporter of the Fuhrer, Orwell acknowledged Hitler’s underlying appeal to the Germans that entices us all: An inherent desire to fight. This impulse to fight finds vent in our own country as evinced by […]
For most of our history, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice summoned a mere passing interest. However, in the past 30 years, political stakes have increased to such an extent that each vacancy on the Court ignites a firestorm. Too much rides on a Supreme Court nomination as the party in power seems more […]
Incomparable: “Eminent beyond comparison.” The Webster dictionary defines that single word that best describes Robert Gibson. Certainly, there are other great pitchers in major league history, some of whom won more games—Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux to name but a few—but none of them toed the rubber more memorably. Gibson’s unique qualities ranged from […]
Louis Clark Brock’s career defies the modern day statistical number crunchers who attempt to rank players with the precision of diamond cutters. Statisticians whiff on the true measure of Brock’s greatness because his dynamic play and clutch performances cannot be quantified. While he owned impressive career numbers, the whole of his game was greater […]
Hell-o again everybody. Harry Carey here along with Jack Buck. We’re here in the Northside of Chicago to tell everyone that the reports of our deaths were not exaggerated, but the rumored death of the Red Birds……well, that is indeed a gross exaggeration. Covid can’t keep Cardinals caged for long. That’s right Harry, for […]
Americans oft revere the ‘winners of the world’ as measured by their wealth and fame. In fact, we read and hear far more about heroic professional athletes who ‘earn’ $30 million annual salaries than about the exploits of unsung heroes in our midst. We even elected a president based in part on his perceived […]
It was a sultry rush hour afternoon when the tow truck hooked and lifted the car’s crumbled front end. More than 10 years and 200,000 miles hauled off from the present to the past. It was my childhood, too. My father bought the car when I was five, and now less than a year […]