Month: October 2016
In Sports As In Life
The town decorated in the colours of the local football club for the weekend’s big game
Suppose in sports as in life it is all about winning and fame
The local footballers are playing for renown
For the fans and love of self glory and love of the Hometown
And for love of the club colours they proudly do wear
The very thought of losing even seems hard to bear
To the uninterested ’tis just another game of football
But in sports as in life the winners seem to take all
Of the admiration and fame and of singing their praises their fans never tire
And even gallant losers so few seem to admire
To be graceful in defeat to little does amount
In sports as in life only winners seem to count
At the weekend they play for the trophy and their self glory and sporting renown
And for their sporting success hungry fans and for love of their Hometown.
– Francis Duggan
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16th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1854 Oscar Wilde (author & playwright)
Died:
1793 Marie Antoinette (Queen of France, beheaded during the French Revolution)
On This Day:
1950 The Lion, The With and The Wardrobe (CS Lewis) released
Have a good Sunday, 16th October
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Sports Fanatic
My wonderful son has a way with the girls –
He’s tough and he’s buff, and he has lots of curls –
He loves to play sports and he’s usually found
Lifting, or batting or golfing a round;
His den is his trophy room – all black and white
A staunch White Sox fan from morning ’til night
In front of the big screen for hours he’ll sit
Engrossed in the sport to the very last hit;
His ankles are taped, his knee gives him fits
But he just keeps on playin’ – the guy never quits!
So either he’s playing or watching a game,
He lives it, and breathes it – there’s nothing the same
Since he was a little tyke sports are his life,
I pity the girl that he takes for his wife!
– Linda Ori
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15th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1920 Mario Puzo (author of The Godfather)
Died:
2011 Betty Driver (actress)
On This Day:
1880 Koln Cathedral finally finished (begun 633 years previously)
Have a good Saturday, 15th October
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The Sportman
The real ones, the right ones, the straight ones and the true,
The pukka, peerless sportsmen-their numbers are but few;
The men who keep on playing though the sun be in eclipse,
The men who go on losing with a laugh upon their lips.
The men who care but little for the laurels of renown;
The men who turn their horses back to help the man that’s down;
The fearless and the friendly ones, the courtly and the kind;
The men whose lion courage is with gentleness combined.
My notion of a sportsman ? – I’ll try, then, to define.
For preference well bred, of course, of some clean- living line;
With pride of place and ancestry whose service was the King’s;
With all a noble knight’s contempt for low, left- handed things.
Not the ‘good sport’ who burdens us with cheap and futile chat
Of the ‘pedigree’ of this one and the ‘outside chance’ of that,
But a man who loves good horses just to handle them and ride
Where the fences call to valour and the English grass lies wide.
All the best and truest sportsmen I have lived with and have known
Have a changeless faith within them which their simple hearts enthrone,
Believing in the God that made the green fields passing fair,
The God that gave good courage – and to every man his share.
And all the truest sportsmen I have met have had this gift:
A love of all the classic books that lighten and uplift;
And all have loved red woodlands, swift birds and coloured flowers;
And all have played with children and counted not the hours.
And I think when God has gathered all the men that He has made,
The perfect British sportsman may stand forward unafraid;
For, brave and kind and courtly, and clean of heart and hand,
No life than his seems nearer to the life our Maker planned.
– William Henry Ogilvie
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14th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1639 Simon van der Stel (Dutch Governor of the Cape Colony)
Died:
1977 Bing Crosby (singer and actor)
On This Day:
1066 Battle of Hastings (Norman forces beat the English)
Have a good Friday, 14th October
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Sports Day
I remember our school sports day
Where we all went out to race
I remember jumping in a sack
And falling on my face
I remember someone calling out
Next race is starting soon
I remember running down the field
With a stupid egg and spoon
I remember throwing beanbags
At a circle on the floor
I remember not being very good
But going back for more
I remember coloured sashes
And I wore the colour green
I remember what we won that day
Wasn’t easy to be seen
I remember looking at the score
We were still at the beginning
I remember what our teacher said
It’s the taking part not the winning
– David Threadgold
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13th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1537 Lady Jane Grey (Queen of England for only 9 days)
Died:
1945 Milton S Hershey (chocolate tycoon)
On This Day:
1884 Greenwich established as the meridian from which time is measured
Have a good Thursday, 13th October
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Cobb Would Have Caught It
In sunburnt parks where Sundays lie,
Or the wide wastes beyond the cities,
Teams in grey deploy through sunlight.
Talk it up, boys, a little practice.
Coming in stubby and fast, the baseman
Gathers a grounder in fat green grass,
Picks it stinging and clipped as wit
Into th eleather: a swinging step
Wings it deadeye down to first.
Smack. Oh, attaboy, attyoldboy.
Catcher reverses his cap, pulls down
Sweaty casque, and squats in the dust:
Pitcher rubs new ball on his pants,
Chewing, puts a jet behind him;
Nods past batter, taking his time.
Batter settles, tugs at his cap:
A spinning ball: step and swing to it,
Caught like a cheek before it ducks
By shivery hickory: socko, baby:
Cleats dig into dust. Outfielder,
On his way, looking over shoulder,
Makes it a triple. A long peg home.
Innings and afternoons. Fly lost in sunset.
Throwing arm gone bad. There’s your old ball game.
Cool reek of the field. Reek of companions.
– Robert Fitzgerald
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12th October – On This Day In History
Born:
1910 Robert Fitzgerald (poet)
Died:
1997 John Denver (country music star)
On This Day:
1609 “Three Blind Mice” (children’s nursery rhyme) is first published
Have a good Wednesday, 12th October
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