The Zong

The tides are changing, my friends. See those large waves wash over the prow of this little ship. Watch so many old precepts, records, and platitudes be caught in those cold dark waters and be taken over board, sinking to the deepest darkest recesses of those rocky ocean bottom of the historical record. Look out, it’s a revisionist kraken! Augh!

All kidding aside, these days are heady days for me. With the results of the Iowa caucuses in the bag, and my favorite team of all time having just completed a sweep of the season, the the times, they are a-changing, and the old guard, all those little Shulas and Clintons, are being slowly but surely etched into the history books. I couldn’t be more pleased.

Considering the virtual cacophony of vitrolic diatribes that occupies this space on a regular basis about Bay Area “sports” “teams”, I feel it is my solemn duty as someone with a rabid love of the New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox, as well as a precious login to this blog, to gravely and seriously impart some words to the rest of the nation’s fans, as well as to the supporters of HIllary Clinton:

Neener, neener, neeeeener.

No, I take that back. That’s not fair. I’ll admit it. It’s been a good year. In fact, as far as sports is concerned. it’s been a pretty great decade for me so far. And as someone who prides themselves on his basic fairness and love of the true roots of the games involved, I concede there has been some unfortunate events.

There’s a lot of talk of ‘change’ in politics and in sports, and more often than not, the personnel in both are shuffled around so rapidly and with such vigor that it seems to encapsulate some type of hope that change is like a thermostat: dial up the right number, and the roomer will get hotter or colder, left or right, win or lose the championship. But that’s not really the way it works, is it? Some organizations in recent years have tried to dial up change like that and have failed miserably.

Let me impart for our admittedly Bay-centric audience something that may catch their eye a bit more than my ranting, from SI.com’s Peter King, on the recent retirement of Forty Niners great Bryant Young:

“San Francisco DL Bryant Young had just one tackle in the last game of his life, the 49ers’ loss at Cleveland, but the game has lost an excellent player and an even better ambassador. Young, as classy a guy as the NFL employs, bent down at midfield after the game and became emotional, his 14-year career over. “I was just taking a minute there, giving thanks and realizing how blessed I’ve been to play a game every kid grows up dreaming of playing,” he said via cell phone afterward. “All good things must come to an end, and my life has been blessed because I’ve been able to be a pro football player.”

That, my friends, is what sports is about. Effort. Dreams. Perseverance. Gamesmanship.

Brady just broke the single season TD record, Moss broke the TD reception record, and in the age of salary cap and free agency, they went undefeated, smashing that pathetic old man’s record.

Barack Obama has just won the Iowa caucus, one of the whitest state’s in the nation, on the backs of young people and independents, with a message that the status quo is not acceptable anymore.

Even Huckabee’s success is remarkable, and as the Salon implies, may have a little more to do with economics than God.

These are all remarkable achievements, regardless of where your loyalty lies. They have a long way to go to the finish line. But they have all performed a remarkable feat, and when it’s all said and done, you will talk of the days when you saw it happen.

Try and enjoy it. Pull a Bryant Young. There’s room in this party boat for all of us, from Obama fans to Bengals fans.

Except for Guiliani and Cowboys fans. Who needs those lunatics?

- J.A.