Sunday, December 26, 2004
I remember, growing up, watching football and baseball games on the television with my father, and listening to them on the radio at the same time.
My dad liked the games that way - he never really said why he preferred the radio - often he'd also be working somewhere else around the house. He had the radio on to catch the game - to visualize it - and maybe the TV was on just so he could rush back in to catch a replay.
I grew to like hearing the games as much as he did. The familiar voice Richie Ashburn, every time I hear it, kicks me back to the prepubescent days of dreaming I'd be the next Mike Schmidt.
I played baseball (I could hit), but my eyes went bad in my second season of little league, and I never did learn how to hit a curve ball.
I never played football, but I enjoyed football far more than any other televised sport. Football's relationship to structured warfare; the tactics, mayhem, and momentum, the sunday afternoons spent with the radio on with my dad, my brother, sharing hogies from Joe's Subs -
And Buddy Ryan's Eagles circa (1986-1990), with their haphazard offense, and overwhelming (and totally gonzo!) defense, led by Reggie White - all came rushing back to me today... because
Reggie White died yesterday, 4 years after he retired.
He was 43.
Just as powerfully as I remember Randall Cunningham scrambling to escape another jam generated by the pathetically weak Eagles front line, I remember Reggie White on defence - powering up the middle to overwhelm a hated Cowboys quarterback, or stuffing a fullback back a half dozen yards, or knocking down a pass.
Reggie White kicked ass in every game. Opposing teams double and triple teamed him and yet he regularly evaded every attempt at stopping him. He always did a legendary job.
Off the field, he also was legendary - in ministering to his flock he was truly a man worthy of respect.
Tonight, I remembered those years I watched him and the Eagles play their hearts out - and the taste of hogies with hot peppers -
It's a damn shame that a legend like White had to leave this world so soon.
¶ 8:38 PM
My dad liked the games that way - he never really said why he preferred the radio - often he'd also be working somewhere else around the house. He had the radio on to catch the game - to visualize it - and maybe the TV was on just so he could rush back in to catch a replay.
I grew to like hearing the games as much as he did. The familiar voice Richie Ashburn, every time I hear it, kicks me back to the prepubescent days of dreaming I'd be the next Mike Schmidt.
I played baseball (I could hit), but my eyes went bad in my second season of little league, and I never did learn how to hit a curve ball.
I never played football, but I enjoyed football far more than any other televised sport. Football's relationship to structured warfare; the tactics, mayhem, and momentum, the sunday afternoons spent with the radio on with my dad, my brother, sharing hogies from Joe's Subs -
And Buddy Ryan's Eagles circa (1986-1990), with their haphazard offense, and overwhelming (and totally gonzo!) defense, led by Reggie White - all came rushing back to me today... because
Reggie White died yesterday, 4 years after he retired.
He was 43.
Just as powerfully as I remember Randall Cunningham scrambling to escape another jam generated by the pathetically weak Eagles front line, I remember Reggie White on defence - powering up the middle to overwhelm a hated Cowboys quarterback, or stuffing a fullback back a half dozen yards, or knocking down a pass.
Reggie White kicked ass in every game. Opposing teams double and triple teamed him and yet he regularly evaded every attempt at stopping him. He always did a legendary job.
Off the field, he also was legendary - in ministering to his flock he was truly a man worthy of respect.
Tonight, I remembered those years I watched him and the Eagles play their hearts out - and the taste of hogies with hot peppers -
It's a damn shame that a legend like White had to leave this world so soon.
¶ 8:38 PM
