SEPTEMBER 26 NEWS
ASA COLLEGE
SHOOTOUT
ASA
Hall of Fame Stadium Complex set to host
The Shootout, which will run September 26-28, is divided into three separate
pools of competition.
The Red Pool is highlighted by
In the White Pool the
The Blue Pool will consist of the
The Shootout gets underway at
“The Oklahoma Shootout is an excellent opportunity for fans to catch an early
glimpse of what 2004 holds for their favorite teams,” said tournament director
Karen Weisman. “The coaches are using this event to get the new faces on their
roster some collegiate experience.”
TOURNAMENTS
The field is now set for the Batbuster Fall Classic on October 4-5.
Forty-four teams will compete at four sites: Maxwell Park,
The AZ Hotshots Gold tournament on October 11-12 is still accepting some 14U and 16U teams, and can admit one or two more 18s. azhotshotsgold.com.
Team Fusion is
holding its fall showcase on October 4-5, at
LISA NAVAS
Lisa Navas, the coach at
CORRECTION
SPY ran a story about Elizabeth Pierce leaving the
THE TOMB GUARD
Being assigned to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is
considered one of the higher honors in the United States Army – and an
enlisted man trains rigorously at the Third Infanty (Old Guard) Regiment at
THE SUPREME
YANKEE HATER
There have been many vitriolic attacks on the Yankees,
starting when they acquired the Babe from
I'd rather donate to
the Enron executives' defense fund than pull for the Yankees. I'd let my
daughter date Mike Tyson before I pulled for the Yankees. I'll eat liver and
onions and wash them down with Pennzoil before I pull for the Yankees. I'll
enlist in the Taliban before I pull for the Yankees. Those monuments out there?
I hope the pigeons mistake them for porta-pottys.
IN MEMORIAM
GEORGE PLIMPTON
(Editor’s
note: I seldom reprint an entire obituary, but I admired George Plimpton, whom I
never had the pleasure of meeting, as a distinguished man of letters.
It’s a good read.)
Plimpton
died Thursday night at his
"I saw
him the other day. He was full of energy," said Kaufman, who said she had
known Plimpton for 40 years. "He was talking about a trip he took with his
family to the tip of
Praised as
a "central figure in American letters" when inducted in 2002 to the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, Plimpton also enjoyed a lifetime of making
literature out of nonliterary pursuits.
He boxed
with Archie Moore, pitched to Willie Mays and performed as a trapeze artist for
the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus. He acted in numerous films, including
"Reds" and "Good Will Hunting." He even appeared in an
episode of "The Simpsons," playing a professor who runs a spelling
bee.
But writers
appreciated Plimpton for The Paris Review, the quarterly he helped found nearly
in 1953 and ran for decades with eager passion. The magazine's high reputation
rested on two traditions: publishing the work of emerging authors, including
Roth and Kerouac, and an unparalleled series of interviews in which Ernest
Hemingway, William Faulkner and others discussed their craft.
The Paris
Review remained more respected than read. The subscription base was rarely
higher than a few thousand and the bank account seemed to descend at will. At
one point in 2001, Plimpton reported, funds dropped to $1.16. Donations from
various wealthy friends kept it going.
Plimpton
proved all too effective at praising others at the expense of himself. Until
2002, when he turned 75, his highest honor was being named
In 2003,
Plimpton decided to write his memoirs, signing a $750,000 deal with Little,
Brown and Co.
A native of
But the
public knew him better as an amiable underdog, stumbling amid the feet of the
giants of sports and other professions. Much of his career served as a send-up
of Hemingway's famous credo: "Grace Under Pressure."
Starting in
the 1950s, when he began his vocation as a "participatory" journalist,
he practiced the singular art of narrating panic. In a culture where millions
fantasized about being movie stars or sports heroes, the lanky, wavy-haired
Plimpton dared to enter the arena himself, with results both comic and
instructive.
In
"Paper Lion," he documented his time training with the Detroit Lions
in 1963. Allowed briefly to play quarterback, he remembered the crowd cheering
as he left the field after a series of mishaps.
"I
thought about the applause afterward. Some of it was, perhaps, in appreciation
of the lunacy of my participation and for the fortitude it took to do it,"
he wrote, "but most of it, even if subconscious, I decided was in relief
that I had done as badly as I had.
"It
verified the assumption that the average fan would have about an amateur
blundering into the brutal world of professional football. He would get
slaughtered. ... The outsider did not belong, and there was comfort in that
being proved."
His other
books included "Bogey Man," "Out of My League" and
"Shadow Box." Plimpton could also take credit for at least one
memorable fictional character: Sidd Finch, a baseball pitcher of unprecedented
gifts (168 mph fastball) and unlikely background (reared in the mountains of
He seemed
to know everyone: athletes, actors, musicians, statesmen. He had deep
connections to the political world, dating back to childhood, when Adlai
Stevenson - the two-time presidential nominee - was a family friend and
Jacqueline Kennedy a debutante he would see at dances. Robert Kennedy was a
classmate at Harvard.
Plimpton
maintained a light touch in his work, but he knew tragedy firsthand. He served
as a volunteer for Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential run and was walking in
front of him as the candidate was assassinated in the kitchen of a
"I had
my hands around his neck," he recalled in a 2002 interview with The
Associated Press, referring to gunman Sirhan Sirhan, whom he helped wrestle to
the ground. Plimpton turned his head away as he spoke, his clear voice turned
foggy.
"Bad
stuff."
He sailed
with John Kennedy, played tennis with former President Bush and rode on Air
Force One with President Clinton. He witnessed a baffling encounter between
Richard Nixon and Casey Stengel, when the president wanted to talk baseball and
the former baseball manager wanted to discuss banking.
Sports was
the common bond between Plimpton and politicians. He knew the current President
Bush from his days as owner of the Texas Rangers and chatted with him shortly
after Election Day 2000, when the outcome was still in doubt.
"He
wanted to talk about Sidd Finch," Plimpton recalled. "I thought that
was rather odd."
Plimpton
was married twice: to Freddy Medora Espy, whom he divorced in 1988, and to Sara
Whitehead Dudley. He had four children.
end