Hearty Approbation Archives
A word on Gary Blair
Last night, for the first time in school history, Texas A&M Women’s Basketball brought home a National Championship. I was unable to watch, forgoing television this Lent, so I had to rely on my wife (herself a former basketball stud) for play-by-play in the waning minutes of the game. She was network-caliber, by the way…
“She’s going… and passes it to green…”
“Was that Green or green? Who’s Green?”
“Green… jersey… the team. Oooh! A shot! Miss!”
When the buzzer sounded, I asked her to continue. I wanted to know more. Important things. Like “Are the Irish (Notre Dame) crying?” And “How hard are they crying?” And “Are the fans crying? With blue and gold face paint streaking down their cheeks?”
But I also wanted to know where our Coach Blair was, what he was doing. Continue reading »
Killer
After a flurrious dash, finding myself standing then at the feet of the towering red-and-khaki edifice, I slowly looked up as I began with uncharacteristic hesitancy to ask the poorly considered question. In my hyper-real state, I could almost see the words as they left my mouth, my mind racing to gather them back up and regroup even as I clumsily spat out more until I whimpered the last. I winced as every one of those words crashed ineffectually into the looming, glooming countenance feet above me. “Um… uh… excuse me… um… sir. Did you say ‘Harmon Killebrew’ or were you just bullshitting?” Continue reading »
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Letter to Rick Reilly
I haven’t kept up with sportswriter Rick Reilly (or sports in general) since I let my Sports Illustrated subscription lapse and Mr. Reilly moved on to ESPN (related, I’m sure). But at one point, the “Life of Reilly” was a highlight of the volumes of sports reading I regularly pored over.
I’m not sure what inspired this letter written more than five years ago; there probably wasn’t anything in particular, but it was fun to write. Mr. Reilly seemed to enjoy it, and I certainly appreciated his generous consideration in responding. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
And if I can dream, I would hope you might be inclined to lavish praise on something or someone you really appreciate who has no idea who you are. The results can be surprising. Continue reading »
