Graham had a dual meet on Tuesday against nearby track rival Marshfield. His buddy Jack, a sophomore on his team, had been promising to beat him in the eight hundred, and finally they squared off. With three hundred meters to go, Graham passed Jack, but on the final curve, Jack ran Graham down. I wasContinue reading “Let Us Now Praise Track Athletes”
Tag Archives: Sports
Riverboat Gambler Graham
This weekend is the biggest betting weekend of the year. The American Gaming Association estimates that $23.1 billion will be bet on the Big Game. FanDuel has literally hundreds of prop bets you can “invest” in, ranging from the length of the National Anthem (folks, it’s prerecorded—someone already knows how long it is!) to theContinue reading “Riverboat Gambler Graham”
We Are a House Divided
I’m sure most of you read these posts and think, Well, if that’s the worst of it for them, things must be pretty awesome. But of course, no one tells the truth on social media, and the oldest true crime trope is, They were so normal and nice! Who could have guessed they would allContinue reading “We Are a House Divided”
Runner’s High
At my last job, one of our practices was sports analytics. We did cognitive and personality evaluations of athletes for professional and NCAA teams. At one point, I had done hundreds of semantic analyses that gave us Big Five reads of players, and I had seen a pretty consistent pattern emerge among wide receivers atContinue reading “Runner’s High”
One Peanut Butter Sandwich Away
The Patriot League cross country meet was last Saturday. Graham ran varsity, as he had all season; it was a warm, clear October day, temperatures rising to almost eighty degrees. Graham’s goal was to run the 5k in 18:30. He ran 19:06 and finished fifth on his team—he normally finishes third. Naturally, this led toContinue reading “One Peanut Butter Sandwich Away”
I Want You to Be Honest about Something
The man has three distinct scenes in mind before this conversation with Lucia. At age eight, she hit her five-year mark with the local dance company, which meant that she was to receive a five-year award at the spring dance recital. They issued these awards partway through the recital. Each kid’s name was called, andContinue reading “I Want You to Be Honest about Something”
That’s an Auspicious Beginning
They are playing the middle school city championship at Buc Stadium, which can hold fifteen thousand fans and is home to most of the city’s weekly high school football games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. They are used to playing on dirt fields surrounded by a fence that parents stand behind. Most of theContinue reading “That’s an Auspicious Beginning”
A Poor Man’s Made Out of Muscle and Blood
The boy is ten and on his first All Star baseball team. They have completed their first practice in the simmering Corpus Christi heat, and it was nothing like regular Little League practice. Drills were far more intense, they conditioned, and they worked the entire two hours with no time wasted shagging balls or foolingContinue reading “A Poor Man’s Made Out of Muscle and Blood”
Be a Winning Winner Who Wins, Not a Losing Loser Who Loses
They have just finished playing 2 v 1 on a full-length U12 field. Lindsay and Graham both play for Liverpool locally, but the man has beaten them 18-12. Lindsay is irritated about it. “All right. Over to the big goal. Five-shot PK shootout.” “Seriously, Dad? I wrestled and then we played and I’m exhausted.” “OhContinue reading “Be a Winning Winner Who Wins, Not a Losing Loser Who Loses”
I Have Graven Thee Upon My Elbow
They have a bucket of thirty baseballs, and they carry it, their home plate, two bats, and gloves to the park. The park has a backstop. His mother walks out paces to where a pitcher’s mound should be. He plays catch with her until their arms are warm. Then she pitches to him, ball afterContinue reading “I Have Graven Thee Upon My Elbow”
His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral 