Before I write anything else, let me say that I am a huge sports fan.  I have been since I was a child.  I follow the Philadelphia four.  I played team sports, as did my brothers.  My husband is a New York football Giants fan.  And this is his year.

Having said all that, Joe’s Giants beat a very strong San Francisco 49ers team on Sunday, to take the NFC Championship trophy.  They will play the New England Patriots in two weeks in this year’s Super Bowl.

Sounds good so far, doesn’t it?

Unless you are Kyle Williams.

During Sunday’s game, he made two mistakes which led to Giant touchdowns.

Which led to his getting death threats from angry 49er fans.  Death threats!  Really?

Chicago White Sox general manager, Kenny Williams (Kyle’s father), was quoted as saying, “I’m used to the years of criticism and threats on my life from time to time, but I have to hear about threats on your son’s life while you’re watching TV and it certainly makes you question our culture of sports as it stands,”

Well-stated.

It used to be said of sports, that it’s only a game.  But not anymore.

Sports is a business.

Sports can be an escape for people who don’t have lives of their own.

Sports can make heroes of men who are nothing of the sort.

And it can make victims of innocent men who make a mistake on the field.

Death threats?

Really?

Tags: Kyle Williams, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers

Ice & Snow

People never tell of ice
Or the snow that glitters nice
Or of the icy crunchy snow
Of that most people do not know
The crunch that sounds beneath your feet
As your sole and ice compete

When in the morning as you wake
You see a single white snow flake
You look out of the iced window
The look out seems so very low
Because the snow fell all night
It has left behind its sheet of white

Helen Windass

My friend Justin Brook told me about a book titled The Tipping Point.  A word from Justin is valuable.  I borrowed the book from the library  And then I bought it.  Twice.

The Tipping Point is a lesson in understanding why change happens suddenly and often in an unexpected manner.  It examines social epidemics and why an illness turns into an outbreak.  Or why a little known author writes a book that becomes an overnight bestseller.

A tipping point of sorts has happened to a young, talented woman named Jessica Lathsaw.  I met Jess last year when she visited our home with a group of friends.  She is lovely, pure and enormously gifted.  When I heard about her recent success, I was overjoyed.

Returning home on a New York City subway, she found herself playing her ukulele accompanied by a man on the congos.  As she began to sing an original tune, Ain’t My Friend, another man captured the moment on his cell phone video.  Now on youtube, it is nearing one million views!  The New York Fox affiliate invited her to sing on their show.  And sing, she did!

A tipping point.  The moment that marks…changes…catapults…activates what had been building for a long time.  Some of us miss those moments because we give up too soon.  I’m glad that Jessica Lathsaw did not quit.  And I, for one, am thrilled for her.

Tags: Jessica Lathsaw