Sad News

As everyone knows, St. Louis pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in an SUV crash late Saturday night. ESPN's Jayson Stark wrote a nice article (if not a bit overblown, but that's excusable) on the importance of durable, versatile, and dependable relievers that truly are the glue that holds championship-caliber teams together.

I'd like to quickly note that one thing that caught my attention in all the earliest news reports is that Hancock was the only player to attend the premiere of a DVD documenting the Cardinals' run to their 2006 World Series championship--despite being one of only two of the 25 Cardinals roster players to not make an appearance in the World Series. I think that speaks volumes about a players' character; to return the appreciation of the fans and interact with them on a personal level is a very nice, very humble gesture. I would hope that others could follow that example.

David Halberstam's ESPN.com Page 2 Articles

Due to ESPN.com's Page 2 section changing servers, it is impossible to find comprehensive archival content for the contributions of their two most famed former columnists: Hunter S. Thompson and David Halberstam.

While most of Thompson's Page 2 columns were compiled in a book by the same name as his column, Hey, Rube, Halberstam's have been lost in the vast depths of the world wide web.

Thankfully, I operate a computer that I've had for more than seven years now, and the Internet Explorer has a lot of old bookmarks. Among the bookmarks is a column Halberstam wrote in 2002 entitled "Are You Having Fun Yet, Barry?"

We all know Barry Bonds is a piece of shit, but it's still difficult to find any criticism of the man that doesn't come off as petty or fueled by an agenda. This is where Halberstam differed from most journalists: he had the ability to not just criticize athletes for individual trespasses, but rather he put athletes and sports as a whole into perspective against the grand scheme of life, and its joys and sorrows. He could write in this manner without being trite, or condescending, or contrived.

Thanks to my five-year-old bookmark, I was able to find some of Halberstam's columns on the old Page 2 server. ESPN.com might not have a Halberstam archive, but this here is a start. I believe these are all from 2002. Enjoy:

Are You Having Fun Yet, Barry?
Sports Can Distract, But They Don't Heal
If They Strike, I'm Going Fishin'
Torre Makes A Good Boss
One Splendid Day
Thanks, Soccer, See You In Four Years
Schaap Was A Pioneer...And A Good Guy


In truth, our lives are what we make of them. We work hard and, at the end of the day, in a world that is often mundane, the ability to watch one or two sports games a week is a kind of blessing, a relief from what is often a difficult routine. But if we want any kind of real emotional balance, we must get it from our loved ones, family, friends, co-workers. -David Halberstam

Five Stages of Yankee Denial

1) "You DON'T wanna pitch to A-Rod right now. Just walk him."
2) Just wait till our offense starts clicking.
3) We'll see who's in first at the end of the season.
4) You ain't gonna beat the Yanks in the playoffs.
5) Oh yeah, well who's got the 26 titles?!

Questioning the Bloody Sock

Boston players and manager Terry Francona are in a tizzy because Baltimore broadcaster Gary Thorne has claimed that Schilling's bloody sock in the sixth game of the 2004 ALCS was actually paint--and that he was told of this by Doug Mirabelli.

"It was all for PR," Thorne claims, supposedly quoting Mirabelli.

"I never said that," Mirabelli predictably, angrily denied. "I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood."


I personally don't care what it was--it doesn't diminish an amazing, gutsy, clutch performance. Blood or no blood, he pitched the game of his life on a gimpy leg. Even without the theatrics, his performance was mind-blowing. Willis Reed, Kirk Gibson, they've got nothing on Schilling. Anyone who's ever tried to play through debilitating injury and pain knows how impossibly difficult what he did was.

I can't help but point out, though, that during game six I noticed that Schilling was the only Sox player in the starting nine who chose to wore white sanitary socks with stirrups. In the entire series, actually, I didn't see anyone else wearing them. Everyone else wore red socks.

Okay...Schilling wore this combination all through the postseason, so maybe he just likes stirrups. He's an old fashioned kinda guy. The chance that he happened to be the only guy wearing white socks and also the only guy bleeding out his leg is probable. The alternative theory--that the whole red stain on a white sock was premeditated--is equally probable, whether it was blood or not.

Schilling's a smart guy, and there is no greater stage for heroics in all of baseball then being on Boston's side and knocking down the hated Yanks in the postseason. Being visibly injured while doing this is enough to catapult you into the history books as a godlike figure, especially in New England--don't think Schilling didn't know this. And you can't see blood--or paint, or ketchup, or anything red--if you're wearing a red sock.