Sometimes, everybody cries
Dammit, Frank DeFord and Morning Edition, no making me cry before my second cup of coffee.
Seriously. This is a sad piece. It starts with Alex Scott and her Lemonade Stand and the famous tie to Afleet Alex, and gets sadder from there. You may need a tissue. If harm to children or animals affects you deeply, you may need many. I'm talking to everyone, but I'm looking at you, Mom.
Frank DeFord does let one particular whopper go in this segment, though. He makes a comment that "sports writers aren't supposed to be sappy." Oh phooey they're not. I love good sportswriting because it's idealistic, emotional, subtly symbolic, a mix of the crystal individual moment and the sweep of history... in short, it's sappy. And don't ever change.
(I'll spare you my hero-worshiping tribute to the stable of artists in the Washington Post sports section, and just concentrate on the granddaddy of them all, Shirley Povich, who has a posthumous collection of columns out in book form. If you speak English and have half a soul, read it.)
Seriously. This is a sad piece. It starts with Alex Scott and her Lemonade Stand and the famous tie to Afleet Alex, and gets sadder from there. You may need a tissue. If harm to children or animals affects you deeply, you may need many. I'm talking to everyone, but I'm looking at you, Mom.
Frank DeFord does let one particular whopper go in this segment, though. He makes a comment that "sports writers aren't supposed to be sappy." Oh phooey they're not. I love good sportswriting because it's idealistic, emotional, subtly symbolic, a mix of the crystal individual moment and the sweep of history... in short, it's sappy. And don't ever change.
(I'll spare you my hero-worshiping tribute to the stable of artists in the Washington Post sports section, and just concentrate on the granddaddy of them all, Shirley Povich, who has a posthumous collection of columns out in book form. If you speak English and have half a soul, read it.)
posted by Joe at 8:07 AM
4 Comments:
Frank Deford is such a decent man. I want to be a decent man.
BTW, the Afleet Alex story didn't make me cry. But the 1983 interview where Frank spoke about his daughter, Alex, that made me cry.
The Alex's Lemonade Stand story tore me up during the Derby coverage. (And what a great thing for horse racing that the last 3 Triple Crowns have featured more "regular guy" owners and underdog horses and jockeys.)
Of course, it is no great challenge to make me cry. Which was almost the subject of this post, but I decided to save it.
Hi Joe .. you've been tagged with an infamous book meme. Sorry to post an off-topic comment.
GrrlScientist
"It's a little bit funny/ this feeling inside..."
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