Neo

IN!

Hoss!

In ... for one, two or three ... two and three if and only if no SabreSpacers want them, of course.

First .... Second ... I've enjoyed my Saturday. The intersection of Music and Religion threads.

I don't have any conclusions about Jack's unique character and hating to lose. He's a young man who's world class at something. Those two things, among others, separate him from me. Best wishes to Jack. I enjoy his work. I do, however, have thoughts about the characteristic "hating to lose." Everyone hates to lose. Then, there are special people who won't allow it to happen. Hating to lose isn't interesting. What's done when losing is imminent, on the other hand, is. Messier, as an example, wouldn't allow losing. He differentiated himself from twenty others who all hated it. Those special human beings don't care if the next game is meaningless, or not. They don't know what a meaningless game, or shift, is. Imagine telling Messier "these last few games don't mean anything." Imagine telling Coach Ted Nolan something similar. Jack hates to lose. Well, good. I do, too. He'll separate himself from others when he refuses to lose. If he does, we have something special. Addendum ... those spectacular people are as hard to work with as they are to find.

Yikes! I hadn't seen that until I googled in response to your post. Sigh ....

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. Happy Fourth of July, all! I'm enjoying it in Buffalo. Life is good ...

Buffalo ... Home, Swede, Home.

I must've been too busy adjusting my rotating television antenna to notice!

I've been waiting for this.

Twenty four or so years ago, Dave Andreychuk was traded by the Sabres to the Maple Leafs. It was big news. I learned when the morning paper arrived. News was on television at certain hours, on certain channels, and not omnipresent. There was no internet. I could learn something and think quietly before having to react, before being confronted with the very next fact, view, opinion, or development. Big news was big news. There was no need to contort the small, making it appear big in an attempt to satisfy multi-channel 24/7/365 appetites. At work later that day, I talked to a friend and colleague. Bob was a Sabre die hard. If I'd met him on SabreSpace, I'd refer to him as among the learned. Bob, like many, loved the trade. Andreychuk always disappointed Bob because of what Andreychuk wasn't. "Hit him with your purse, Dave," and all that. I offered a wager that very day. "Dinner, any where in the world, when Andreychuk is voted into the Hall of Fame!" I believed Big Dave was going to get there. Bob laughed at me and took the bet. A few years later I moved to Tampa. I've not seen Bob in twenty years. It's time to find him. He owes me a dinner. Perhaps I'll use the web to search. Congratulations, Mr. Andreychuk!

Scotty Bowman, of course.

My oldest daughter planned 40 days, or so, in Europe with two friends the summer after finishing college. As happens with kids, her two friends cancelled. My undeterred daughter went alone. About a month before she left, she called me. "You know, I have one long stay during the trip. I'll spend 12 days in Paris. Will you meet me?" When a daughter asks a father, after all the trials and tribulations of youth, to join her on her first adult trip, his heart swells. I can do no better. I don't want to try to do better.

I seem to be a terrible book maker!

No hate for Ennis, here, but instead a cold look at the facts. What's the over/under on how many more NHL goals he scores in his career? I'll say 49. Over or under?

Collusion! Awesome sauce ... take a bow.

Welcome back! Because it's you, I am inspired by two great philosophers. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. Friedrich Nietzsche. I will survive. Gloria Gaynor.

Mine ... PS ... I'd LOVE to see "impressions of others" in the spirit of fun and affection!

I've written before on the topic of my age and my self awareness of being born a boy and becoming a man in relation to sports. I am grateful for the different lenses that filter my view. Certainly, the concept applies more broadly than to sport, alone. To life! I was 20 in 1981 when the Sabres traded Schoenfeld and Gare, heroes of my youth. Sports were never the same. Not better, not worse, but different. Ten years later, with my own children, I was leaving cookies and milk for Santa Clause. It made me happy, but not the way it did when I was 7. The 1976 - 1977 Habs were the NHL's greatest team. I watched them with the simple wide eyed amazement of an older boy. The 1984 - 1985 Oilers were 1A. I watched them with the more rigorous sophistication of a younger man. The 1972 Summit Series was the number 1 greatest hockey tournament. Two different approaches to what it meant to be a human being were being debated. The souls of two nations, the two approaches to organizing people, faced off. Canada came to a stop to watch, its national pride at risk. The Soviet Union came to a stop, its national pride about to be born, again. The drama exceeded the skill, which was, itself, extraordinary. The 1987 Canada Cup was the number 1A greatest tournament. Time and distance de-emphasized the drama while nutrition and training allowed skill at even greater heights. Drama and skill lived in each series, of course. Because I'm an American and a hopeless romantic, The Miracle on Ice is hockey's greatest game. Were I a non-American, or less romantically prone to teary eyes, game two of the 1987 Canada Cup would be hockey's greatest game. Note One: Rick Tocchet played for team Canada in 1987. Note Two: All of sport's greatest event occurred 44 years ago, tomorrow. "He is moving like a tremendous machine!" 31/2:24. I was a boy. I am a man. Different lenses matter not.

Thank you, Irwin and We've ... I'm grateful to those who served and never came home. I'm equally grateful to their families.

In! And JJ and I are meeting up in Florida, right JJ? We'd welcome those of you looking for weather relief.

GREAT thread. Wonderful response.

"Bloodlines" as a favorable attribute on sports pages. I don't think it's a valuable predictor of success. Maybe I just don't see it. We take great pains in society to avoid nepotism and bloodline as a rationale for assignment, recognizing its limitations in evaluation. Kim Jong-il has bloodline going for him.

Nietzsche spotting. Sartre on being a Buffalo sports fan: "To believe is to know you believe, and to know you believe is not to believe."

I, for one, am grateful for your work. Coulda, shoulda and woulda are most interesting in lives and life, examined and imagined.