Nice Reflection on Sports

[Homer_Rice]

A friend of mine [url="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14957442&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=551415&rfi=6"]wrote this the other day.[/url]

[b]I'm the Will Rogers of sports movies - I don't think I have ever seen one that I didn't like.[/b]

I have seen many dull baseball games on TV. But I have never seen a bad movie about baseball. When, in "The Pride of the Yankees," Gary Cooper makes Lou Gehrig's speech about how he is "the luckiest man on the face of this earth," I am equally moved every time. To me it is far more touching than Romeo to Julie on the balcony.
I loved "The Natural," and I have seen "Bull Durham" more times than I care to admit. "Field of Dreams" was a perfect film. And I thought "The Rookie" rocked. My wife and kids were bored.
Billy Crystal's film "61," made for HBO, is, in my opinion, a low-keyed, overlooked little masterpiece.
And how about, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with Sinatra and Gene Kelly?
Even baseball movies that have bombed, like "For the Love of the Game," I have seen multiple times. That one's worth it just for the insight that only guys drink, or think about, V-8 juice.
I really liked a movie about golfer Bobby Jones that came out a year or so ago. As far as I can tell, I am the only person, besides the cast members and their family, who saw it.
I like football movies too, and I like the game most. But the majority of football movies seem a little off. I like them all. But they don't quite work. Al Pacino as an NFL coach? Give me a break.
The exception that proves the rule is "The Replacements." That movie is a hoot. It conveys the sheer joy of sport, and something true, I suspect, about professional athletes trying to be both athletes and grown-ups.
I asked my 14-year-old son if he wanted to watch "The Replacements" with me the other night and he said, "Again?" He indicated that one repeat was his limit and he'd like to experience new frontiers in pop culture.
I have two rented Bergman movies sitting by the TV at home. But I keep putting them off because they seem like homework. Instead I'm looking for someone in the family willing to watch "The Replacements" with me again.
My favorite line about sports in the movies comes not from a sports movie, but from a little seen but lovely flick called "See You in the Morning," with Jeff Bridges. At a particularly low moment in his life, Bridges' character picks up the sports pages and begins to read. Then he looks up from the paper to the ceiling and says, "Thank you, God, for sports."
The London bombings make me think about that line.
And the war in Iraq does.
And the fights in Washington do.
And friends battling age and disease do.
Sports are wonderfully objective, heroic, and beside the point. All three.
Sports are their own message, their own moral, and their own reward.
Who cares who can peddle a bike the fastest or longest?
Or make that crack of the bat?
Or hit the green in one stroke?
Exactly.
And you know what else? You can't put an ideological spin on a biker's time.
As the great philosopher Bill Belichick says, echoing the even greater Yogi Berra, "It is what it is."
As my son would say, "Dude!"
You catch the ball or you drop the ball.
You kick it through the posts or you don't.
The ball goes in the basket or not.
You blocked that guy or you failed to.
Hitting one out of the park may be small potatoes compared to interest rates or the location of bin Laden, but it is objectively irrelevant.
And, sometimes, just plain great. In and of itself. Period.
Ted Williams seems to have been often miserable when not playing ball or fishing. And miserable to be around. But if you are thinking at all, you have to be grateful to The Great I Am that Ted Williams lived.
And you have to regard Lance Armstrong with similar awe.
His athleticism, his toughness, and determination and resilience are not just admirable, they make you feel grateful to have been here.
It is irrelevant to me that Armstrong dumped his first wife. I look to him as a model athlete, not as a model husband. And I want my kid to see Armstrong's athletic dedication. He shows me the character that I, and my son, can learn from - on the bike, and in what it took to get back on the bike. I don't know or care about the rest.
I admire Tom Brady for his coolness under pressure and his physical toughness. I admire him as much as any living athlete. It is said that he wants to go into politics one day. Well, when I saw him try to talk politics on TV a few weeks back, I was embarrassed. Who cares? That's not why we brung ya, Tommy Boy.
And what matters to me about Ruth or Mantle is how they played ball, not what they did to their livers.
The role model exists only on the field of play.
And that is more than enough.
Because sports don't have to be a metaphor and athletes don't have to be spiritual or political leaders.
Physical ability, grace, and discipline are enough.
Sports are fun. They make you feel good. That's the deal.
Especially when the athleticism is improbable and sublime.
So I have been thinking about Lance. My God, he is a great athlete. Maybe the greatest of our time. The big C was ready to take him, and he pushed it back. The French threw urine in his face a few years ago, and he kept riding. Can you ask more of the guy?
I'm really happy Larry Brown is going to the Knicks. Some, including Randy Smith, say Brown is a restless opportunist. But I see it like the guy who said Brown is the Lone Ranger: He comes into town, cleans it up, and moves on. Brown is a better teacher of the game than anyone now in basketball. That's enough for me. I just want to watch him work.
I'm sorry Tedy B. won't be with the Pats this season. He always makes the plays. He finds more joy in the game than anyone. He's fearless. I don't care what he thinks about gay marriage or free trade.
I'm sad Jack The Bear is saying goodbye to golf. But what was great is that he wanted to play his last big game, not collect tributes.
* Excellence.
* Drive.
* Attention to detail.
* Grit and determination.
* Competitive fire.
* Stoicism.
* The idea of "heart" - never enough, by itself, but the last great thing, if you have all those other qualities.
These are the "values" of sport. Who needs a metaphor?

Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of the Journal Inquirer.