Athlete of the Week Archive
| Athlete | Author | Comment |
| Laila Ali | M. Ali | Women's boxing isn't much of a sport (as opposed to mud wrestling) But you have to give Laila Ali her just due. She is now 20 - 0 with 17 by KO. The apple didn't seem to fall far from the "greatest tree". | Mr. Branch | E. Gull | Amazing performance! | Boston Red Sox | Peter Chabot | Okay, each of us has his "lucky underwear" as crack columnist Caplan noted last week or a certain sitting position or "go-to" saying or chachke (remember the pink football?) that you say or throw when you absolutely need a strikeout or a clutch hit or whatever..... Well, this is my story........our family goes over to Sharon Woods in mid-September for a barbecue at our friend's house for a regular season Yankees game (Caplans also involved) even though they have all but clinched the East leaving the Wild Card for us yet again. This guy is a big-time Yanks fan but we remain great friends except during the past 2 years during the LCS's. He claims that decendents of his used to own farmland that has since become the site of Yankee stadium. Hmmm!!! Wow!! Anyway, I'm sitting in his living room watching the game and the kids are screaming and the barbecue is ramping up and the beers are flowing and I look down at this coffee table arrangement of, I think, a big candle and a bunch of shellacked rocks in a tray around it. I think that it is nice and I see that certain rocks have words on them and if anyone knows Jill, you are not surprised that they are inspirational, optimistic and /or worthy of a Stuart Smalley Daily Affirmation (Hope, Faith, Love, Friendship, etc.) Then I look again and I see one that says "BELIEVE" so I pick it up and think that this is generally a motto of long-suffering Red Sox fans and that Wade Boggs was running around Fenway after the Sox clinched the East in '86 randomly yelling "Believe" imploring the Fenway Faithful and we all know how that worked out. Wade almost looked sincere that he cared about winning and not just calculating his lifetime batting average while ru! nning down to first after a hit but that's for another time. So anyway, I'm rubbing this stupid rock in my pocket and yes, that was a rock in my pocket even though I may have also been happy to see you. Next thing I know the Sox are wrapping up and 11-4 victory right after someone named Halsey throws at Dave Robert's head and gets his assed kicked out of the game. I originally thought I would put the rock back on the arrangement before I headed for home but the many times that I noticed it was in my pocket, I conveniently did NOT walk over and place it back and lo and behold it ended up back at my house. It's in my hand / pocket as I watched the first 2 games of the Anaheim Series and we win and I take it to Fenway with me for the Friday night clincher and it seems to work better in my left hand when I rub it profusely (still talking about the rock). And Papi goes yard over the wall and I'm hugging complete strangers and then the irony of having a stolen a rock in my possession from a Yankee! s fan's house starts setting in as I see that my thumb print is almost bleeding and the shellack has begun to rub off near the word BELIEVE. Sox go down in the first 2 in the LCS and the rock is not working and I think I'll have a funny story for my friend as to how desperate we Red Sox fans have become while we go down 3-0. So I leave the rock on my bureau with my game-used LDS ticket and we win G4 and then G5 and the cleaning lady comes so I have to move the rock and the ticket but I replace it in the EXACT same spot as my little shrine on my bureau and it sits untouched a week and a half and 8 STRAIGHT wins later. Now thats a magic rock!! Apologies to Glenn and Jill for having them help us all break the C---- I can't say it, the long-standing unfortunate endings that I have endured watching and following this team for about 35 years. I'll return the rock, you probably didn't miss it, I may or may not share this story with you because there is a fa! ir chance that in Semptember of '05, I may invite myself over for some football watching or something and proceed to go back to my little helper just to see if we can REPEAT!!!! Go Sox! Go Sox Nation! Enjoy!! | Curt Schilling | B. Ruth | Biggest Balls we have seen since the great medicine ball throwing contest back in '59. | David Ortiz | Barry Roos | Hitting a home run to win the big game is something we all dream of as kids.
Ortiz did this last night, sending the Sox to the ALSC. | Tom Brady | I.M. Wright | Better than the overrated Manning. When will the rest of the NFL figure this out? | Lance Armstong | -S Crowe | Freak of nature, what else can you say? | Mike Krzyzewski | Peter Caplan | With apologies to Spike Lee for my title, lets hear it for Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K recently had the opportunity to jump to the pro ranks of coaching and pocket a cool 40 million dollars by going to the Lakers, but chose to stay in the college ranks and remain true to his recruits. Do not weep for MIke Krzyzewski for will not go poor staying in Durham. He is amongst the highest paid coaches in the college ranks, so perhaps turning down this incredible sum was easier than it would be for most. But, regardless of what Gordon Gekko once told us about greed back in 1987, it didn't win out in this case and that's incredibly rare in today's sports world. So to you Mike Krzyzewski I salute you for doing the right thing and not jumping for the Benjamins. Perhaps more athletes and coaches will follow your example. I somehow doubt it, but a guy can hope can't he. | Phil Mickelson | Peter Chabot | Phil is the man of the people. Not too many multi-millionaires can wear that mantle. He combines likability with daring-do. People want to root for someone other than Tiger (or the Yankees or the Lakers), and 3-putts on the 71st hole notwithstanding, Phil, YOUDA MAN!!!! | Clemens the Ass-tro | Chabot | It pains me to write this, but is this guy incredible or what? I no longer remember why we Red Sox fans even hate him anymore, we just know we do. But this guy is supposed to be sipping lemonade in a rocker somewhere editing his Cooperstown speach, not going 7-0 and second in the league in strikeouts. WOW!! |