Curtis Dahlgren
February 5, 2008
Lessons for Super Tuesday from Super Sunday
By Curtis Dahlgren

"Anyone who will tear down sports will tear down America. Sports and religion have made America what it is today." — Woody Hayes

GOD SAVE THE UNDERDOG. LONG LIVE THE UNDERDOG. The person sitting next to me at Sunday's Super Bowl party is a politically involved person, but he thinks that sports are nothing but "bread and circuses." He didn't even look at the TV screen most of the time, and at one point he asked me, "What thoughts have you had in the last 10 minutes?"

WELL,
the New York Giants put on quite a circus, that's for sure. As a "little brother," I'm hoping that Eli Manning's winning streak is a good omen for proclaiming this the Year of the Little Brother. Eli was a prophet without a country for the first half of the season. They say that the reason the Giants win so many games on the road is because they don't get booed as much on the road as they do at home (sort of like our armed forces).

In the last three games, Eli beat Tony Romo, Bret Favre, and Tom Brady. That was HISTORICAL. As for my "thoughts," here are some thoughts that come to mind in retrospect:

"I always turn to the sports page first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures." — Earl Warren

"A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall." — Vince Lombardi

"Hurt is in your mind." — Harry Lombardi, to his son Vince

"Sports do not build character. They reveal it." — Heywood Hale Brown

"Going to bed with a woman never hurt a ballplayer. It's staying up all night looking for them that does you in." — Casey Stengel

"When we won the league championship, all the married guys on the club had to thank their wives for putting up with all the stress and strain all season. I had to thank all the single broads in New York." — Joe Namath

"The most exciting play in baseball is a triple." — Henry Aaron

"Baseball is very big with my people. It figures. It's the only time we can get to shake a bat at a white man without starting a riot." — Dick Gregory

"The worst prejudice in sports isn't skin color, it is size." — Calvin Murphy

"I don't want to be liked. I just want to be respected." — Reggie Jackson

"You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain." — Leo Durocher

"The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then pick it up." — Bob Uecker

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." — Vince Lombardi

P.S. Regarding "Straight talk": My only comment about Super Tuesday comes from Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930):

"It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth."

© Curtis Dahlgren

 

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Curtis Dahlgren

Curtis Dahlgren is semi-retired in the frozen tundra of Michigan's U.P., and is the author of "Massey-Harris 101." His career has had some rough similarities to one of his favorite writers, Ferrar Fenton... (more)

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