Virgil

I love sports. I only follow a few, actually just two, baseball and American football, because you could spend your entire life following and watching sports. I have friends that way, spend every night watching one sporting event after another. I put limits on myself.

I love athletes. Professional or not. I know, drugs, huge salaries, spoiled brats, huge egos. It does do something to a young kid to be so successful and make such a huge salary. I tend to cut them a break. But it's not just natural talent that makes you at the top of the game. It's hard work, refining of skills, perseverence, constant attention to the subtle nuances of the game. Actually everything a great writer does.

But while I admire the skills of many ballplayers, there is only a certain type that I consider a hero. That type is what I would dub the John Wayne type, the guy who bites the bullet and fights as hard as he can and while he may not have the most natural talent he just has the ultimate perseverance, the guy who overcomes adversity. My sports heroes are the type of guy who inside their gut has an intensity that will not quit, will fight you no matter what. Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest baseball player of all time, would not be one of my heroes. He was too self centered and I don’t know of any adversity he over came. The baseball player I want to highlight is Joe DiMaggio. He had incredible natural talent, smooth as silk in the field, a beautiful swing, a commanding presence. It was his work ethic that characterized his career:

However, his reputation as a player far surpassed his statistical achievements. Part of his reputation had to do with his grace on the field. "He made it look so easy," said Ernie Sisto, a "New York Times" photographer of the day. "It was uncanny, the naturalness. It seemed like he was made for the game. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe it was the other way around, like the game was made for him." DiMaggio was renowned for never slacking on the ball field. When asked why he played so hard, he replied: "Because there is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dimaggi...s/pande02.html

But what really characterized DiMaggio was his playing in pain. Fans in his day never knew how badly hurt his legs were. He never showed it. He played smooth, he never slacked off, but underneath was pain, pure pain. There are stories running and sliding on the field and in the club house needed to be carried by his shoulders. He even became a hero to Hemingway, who in The Old man and the Sea used DiMaggio as a metaphor for perseverance:

Say it aloud ... the great DiMaggio ... and turn to Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea," where the old man, with a big fish lashed to his boat, thinks, "Do you believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I will stay with this one? ... I am sure he would and more since he is young and strong. Also his father was a fisherman." And Santiago tells Manolin not to worry about the Indians of Cleveland. "Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

http://www.sportingnews.com/archives...o/kindred.html

And of course there’s the Simon and Garfunkle song, Mrs. Robinson with the lyrics:

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away

I always thought that song highlighted the difference between the generation of the 1960s, a generation that refused (and in many respects still hasn't) to grow up and the greatest generation, the generation that had the persverance to fight and win WWII.


Certainly there are other athletes who did not cross into pop culture as Joe D. but had that same tenacity: Some of my personal favorites in various sports: Roger Staubach, Frank Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Jackie Robinson.

But the point of this entry is to add a new one to my list. I know nothing of golf. I’ve tried playing a couple of times and really have no interest in it. I find it even more boring to watch it. But what Tiger Woods did this weekend is for the ages. It ranks up there, as Hemingway put it, with “the great DiMaggio.” First he was down by one shot in the last hole and he shot a birdie, sinking a great put, to tie. And all along everyone thought he was playing with a tender leg. “Can his knee take one more round of golf?” he was asked ‘"It's going to have to," Woods replied. ‘ And then in the playoff match he just flat out won. And then the news the next day:

While riveted to the television watching Tiger Woods limp and grimace his way to a dramatic sudden-death playoff victory at the U.S. Open, the thought was if this performance didn't have comeback player of the year written all over it, nothing did.
And then yesterday, on his daughter Sam Alexis's first birthday, came word the world's No. 1 player was more injured than he led us to believe. He will undergo reconstructive surgery on his left knee in the coming days, which will force him to miss the rest of this season.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazett...8-53b64baa318a

That is just a feat worthy of admiration. That is why sports are great entertainment. It shows the character of a person. I appreciate the athletic skills, but I admire the internal resolution. Here's to you Tiger. You got it. They ought to write a song about you. If only we had a generation of men like you.