Good Morning All & Happy Tuesday!
How about those Seattle Sounders! We had a little party at our house this past Sunday watching the MLS Championship Game in Seattle on T.V. while our daughter, son & son-in-law were lucky enough to get tickets to attend the game against Toronto. And what a spectacular game it was! I must admit I’m not much of a soccer fan, probably because it wasn’t a big sport in America when I was growing up. It’s really come into its own, don’t you think? It’s quite a sports phenomenon now. I must also say that I’ve never seen a better celebration of a championship than what I saw on the T.V. this past Sunday afternoon. All of the players brought their families up on the podium with them and it was a real family atmosphere there. You came away with a great feeling for the game and for the sportsmanship and all-around generosity of good spirit and fellowship among the players and the fans. Here’s to the Seattle Sounders and all of you Sounders fans out there!
Happy Birthday to my niece, Annie in West Linn OR, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow (November 13th)! Here’s to you, Annie!
Have any of you recently been in a dream state while you’re sleeping? Well, this past Sunday night it was one dream after another…a dream cluster if you will. Among the dreams I remember was one where a friend of mine, Tyler, was walking through an airport with a huge suitcase on rollers that looked like a gigantic golf bag with a huge toe nail clipper in the golf bag where a driver was supposed to be. How about that! It was the funniest darn thing I’d ever seen! Maybe it was the nachos and root beer I consumed during the MLS Championship that brought on this “dream state cluster.” I’ll never know…
Among the “Notes of the Notables” I came across in the October 26th-27th edition of “The Wall Street Journal” was one from basketball inventor James Naismith…what he called his “13 rules for basketball.” His best entry was “no pushing, no striking.” Basketball might never have become the global phenomenon it is today had Dr. Naismith’s original 13 rules written in 1892 while he worked at the Springfield MA YMCA, held true. According to No. 3, for instance, you couldn’t run with the ball (he failed to conceive dribbling, much less threading the ball between your legs); his concepts plodding pace would likely bore today’s crowds. Per Rule No. 8, you couldn’t score unless the ball lands in a literal basket (with a bottom) “and stays there” until some one with a ladder gets it down, throwing momentum and fluidity right out the window. I remember my dad telling me that they used to have to jump ball at half court everytime a basket was scored. As you can imagine, the scores were pretty low back when he played high school basketball at Willapa Valley High School in Menlo WA before World War II. Even so, thanks goes to Dr. Naismith for inventing the game of basketball that we can all enjoy while rooting for our favorite teams…GO ZAGS!
Speaking of sports, I came across the 1968 Topps Football Card for Tom Sestak, Buffalo Bills defensive tackle great, the other day. Drafted out of McNeese State University as a tight end in the 17th and final round of the 1962 draft, Tom went on to become one of pro football’s great defensive lineman. At 6’4″ and a “lean” 273 pounds, Sestak used his speed, strength, quickness and agility to become the cornerstone of the Buffalo Bills 1964 & 1965 AFL Championship teams (Jack Kemp was the Bills’ quarterback then). Tom was named Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1962 and earned All-AFL honors for four consecutive years (1962-1965). In 1964 the Bills defense allowed just 913 yards rushing on 300 attempts during the regular season, a pro football record. Although never selected for the NFL Hall of Fame (he was one of only six professional defensive linemen who were unanimous All-League selections for three or more years and all the rest have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame), Tom has been named to the AFL Hall of Fame and first team All-Time AFL Team. Sestak’s career was hampered and ended prematurely in 1968 because of injuries, primarily chronic knee problems. He played through much pain and, in one season, Sestak never missed a game despite suffering from three broken ribs. His teammates said Tom dominated the line of scrimmage. Many experts consider him one of the greatest defensive linemen ever to play the game. Sestak was born in Gonzales, Texas in 1936. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Czechoslovakia, and his maternal grandparents, Peter & Emily Dylla, were of Polish heritage. Very popular in Buffalo, Sestak remained in the city after his retirement, and for a time ran a restaurant with former teammate Paul Maguire. Off the field he was a gentle giant who got along easily with his affable and sincere manner. He made many friends as a restauranteur and businessman. He died of a heart attack in Buffalo on April 3, 1987 at the young age of 51, leaving behind his wife, Patricia, and son, Tom. In 2007, Sestak was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. Here’s to Tom Sestak and the great Buffalo Bills teams of the 1960s!
Here’s a book recommendation for the day (aren’t there so many books & so little time?):
Check out “Midnight Rising: John Brown And The Raid That Sparked The Civil War” by Tony Horowitz (2011). Even if you’re not much of a Civil War buff, you’ll enjoy this well-researched, well-written & fascinating story about abolitionist John Brown and his raid on Harpers Ferry VA on the eve of the Civil War.
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“I’m a fan of people who have quality…that do what they do…and that are not into showbiz.”
—Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
“Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow…blessed be Your name.
Blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness…blessed be Your name.
Blessed be Your name when the sun’s shining down on me, when the world’s “all as it should be,”…blessed be Your name.
Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there’s pain in the offering…blessed be Your name.
You give and take away…You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say, “Lord blessed be Your name.”
—Beth & Matt Redman, “Blessed Be Your Name” (2002)
Here’s to a great Tuesday & lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)