Lauren Hill inspires on and off basketball court

Lauren Hill

Tom Rinaldi tells the story of Lauren Hill, diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and expected to live only until December, as she takes the basketball court for Division III Mount St. Joseph.

Reference: Lauren Hill: One More Game.

It is January 17th, as I write this, and I searched for articles on Lauren Hill.  The fact that I found nothing that said she had died is, to me, no news is good news.  

Stuart Scott brings tears to ESPY Awards

After a while I didn't see much of Stuart Scott on ESPN.  I was living overseas 2006 - 2011, and was too taken up with life and work to wonder where he was.  Then he reappeared, looking gaunt.  It turned out he was found to have cancer of the appendix in 2007, and here he was in 2014:

Don't give up. Don't ever give up.

Scott was honored at the ESPY Awards on July 16, 2014, with the Jimmy V Award for his ongoing fight against cancer. He shared that he had four surgeries in seven days in the week prior to his appearance, when he was suffering from liver complications and kidney failure.  Scott told the audience: "When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”  At the ESPYs, a video was also shown that included scenes of Scott from a clinic room at Johns Hopkins Hospital and other scenes from Scott's life fighting cancer.  Scott ended the speech by saying: "Have a great rest of your night, have a great rest of your life."

Reference: Stuart Scott.

Scott clearly knew his time was coming to an end, and oh what a poignant valedictory speech he gave.  

RIP.

Stuart Scott spoke straight to us sports fanatics

Stuart Scott RIP

ESPN is by far my favorite sports news source (channels and website), and I used to turn Sports Center on, hoping Stuart Scott was one of the anchors.  I loved his expressions (Boo Yah!), metaphors (He's butter, because he's on a roll), and slang (He must be the bus driver, cuz he was takin' him to school):

Among the features of the new ESPN studio in Bristol is a wall of catchphrases made famous by on-air talent over the years. An amazing nine of them belong to one man.

Reference: Stuart Scott dies at age of 49.

I felt he spoke straight to the crowd that adored sports, and watched sports, and play sports.  He wasn't an anchor per se, but simply one of the guys like us.  Clearly ESPN understood his talent.

ESPN 30 for 30: Broke

This is truly a fine documentary on the who, how and where millionaire athletes go terribly off track, lose it all, and saddle themselves with huge debt.  Like many regular Americans, I can only dream of making that much money in such a short period of time.  Like many viewers, too, I imagine, I wish that someone got through to these athletes, and advised and counseled them better.  I somehow found myself in their cleats and sneakers going that terribly off track.  I commented Definitely sobering and painful to watch. 

ESPN 30 for 30: Price of Gold

I remember the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding scandal, ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics.  While a very graceful, athletic sport turned into a criminal investigation and media circus, I see how sad and unfortunate it all was.  People in general seem prone to simplify complex issues and polarize controversial incidents: So Kerrigan was the angelic victim, and Harding the feisty villain.  But interestingly not many saw another stark difference between the two: that of social class.  That is, behind the scenes, it was have vs have not, a contest that no doubt gets played out in America on a daily basis.  There is no diminishing Harding's involvement, especially in the aftermath of the attack, but I thought she competed with great determination without the sort of financing, facility and focus that Kerrigan had.

ESPN 30 for 30: Robbed

Long before there was Mike Tyson, there were Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman and Leon Spinks.  But in my younger days, that is, the 1970s, it was Muhammad Ali who captivated my attention and imagination: his flair, his poetry and his finesse took him well above the brutishness of others in the sport.  This third heavyweight bout between Norton and him took place on September 28th 1976, amid quite a free for all inside and outside Yankee Stadium.  The New York Police Department were picketing the event, indicating, I imagine, insufficient security for people.  It didn't help matters that the unanimous decision in favor of Ali, who seemed outmatched, suggested something rather foul and fishy among the judges.  Boxing no longer captivates me, but for several years I loved it as much as I love football now.