On the heals of ESPN2's "You play better than you write" installment, to end today's stuff I leave you with "Sports Guys'" (Bill Simmons) take on one of the single greatest moments in sports - and for that matter - sports writing...well worth ten minutes of your time:
Lawdy, Lawdy, He's Great"

That brings me to this week's sports book. Back in 1975, two things happened:
1. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier had the greatest fight of all time. With all due respect to Hagler-Hearns, Leonard-Hearns, Foreman-Lyle, Castillo-Coralles and everything else, for sweeping drama, clashing styles, mutual hatred, historical significance and sheer brutality, the third Ali-Frazier bout in Manila stands by itself. Nothing comes close. Neither guy would ever be the same.
2. Writing about that same fight in Sports Illustrated, Mark Kram submitted the greatest on-deadline sports story ever. It's a masterpiece. Nobody has ever done better."Lawdy, Lawdy, He's Great"

Joe Frazier said that of Muhammad Ali, but so fierce and unsparing was their confrontation that the phrase could have applied to them both.

By Mark Kram

It was only a moment, sliding past the eyes like the sudden shifting of light and shadow, but long years from now it will remain a pure and moving glimpse of hard reality, and if Muhammad Ali could have turned his eyes upon himself, what first and final truth could he have seen? He had been led up the winding, red- carpeted staircase by Imelda Marcos, the first lady of the Philippines, as the guest of honor at the Malacaûang Palace. Soft music drifted in from the terrace as the beautiful Imelda guided the massive and still heavyweight champion of the world to the long buffet ornamented by huge candelabra. The two whispered, and then she stopped and filled his plate, and as he waited the candles threw an eerie light across the face of a man who only a few hours before had survived the ultimate inquisition of himself and his art.

-you can read the rest here

Vive Aruba

So i've been checking out some other "blogs" that apparently have the same interests that i've put down on my profile...curiousity and all that - you know...the wierd thing is, is that the majority, if not nearly all, of these haven't posted in quite a while...they all seem to have stopped and just disappeared. My mind is telling me -hell they just got caught up in other stuff...they thought a blog would be cool 'cause well you know it's trendy and what not, but the other half of me is thinking- what happened to these people? Did they just vanish? I mean, shouldn't we be looking for these folks ?...they just suddenly fell off. did something happen? are they wanting to post and tell us something and can't...did something horrible happen...are they just locked in the bathroom and can't get to the computer to let someone know...hell, these people could be hungry and tired layed up in the bathtub...someone should look in to this...not me - no...too busy - got to try and put every album i own on to my new toy (and those of you who have seen my extensive collection of music know how time consuming this process will be)...no it must be someone else for sure...but it needs to happen though...where have all these people gone and are they OK? I mean how can we just go about our days acting as if everything is alright when "Karl B" is tied up in the basement somewhere?

Don't Mess With Texas

From ESPN's Page 2 "Daily Quickie"...this pretty much sums it up on the man who has single-handedly done more for a sport (positively that is) than anyone else in athletics right now. A word to the wise: Don't Mess with Texas...Especially if your France -

Two Words For You:KING. LANCE."There's a setup here and I'm stuck in the middle of it ... I absolutely do not trust that laboratory."Lance was brilliant to take his case Thursday night to Larry King, the refuge of choice for the scandalized. Check out more of his rhetorical genius:"A guy in a Parisian laboratory opens up your sample, you know, Jean Francois so-and-so, and he tests it -- nobody's there to observe, no protocol was followed..."That's good: Throw a little Francophobe jingoism in there. U.S. fans don't need much of a nudge to discount claims from "Jean Francois so-and-so.""And then you get a call from a newspaper that says 'We found you to be positive six times for EPO.' Well, since when did newspapers start governing sports?"Here he's showing uncanny media savvy: If U.S. consumers don't trust any source right now, it's newspapers. Let alone French newspapers."A samples," "B samples": Fans have never shown interest (or expertise) in the scientific details. Ask fans who World Anti-Doping honcho Dick Pound is and they'd probably think you're telling a joke.So often, fans see athletes bungling scandal management, mostly by staying quiet in the face of wild claims.Sure, the accusations are discounted because they (a) come from France, (b) are 6 years old and (c) take on the reigning king of U.S. sports.But the most important factor is that Lance has stayed aggressive this week, and that's really why he's winning this PR battle.

fresh tattoo

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Well here it is ladies and gentlemen...the long awaited posting of the finch's blog and yes that was me in the third person...deal with it...it's late i'm tired and this whole process has consumed much more time than i had anticipated. Nothing special here - so far - hopefully this will be a tool for which i can better stay n contact with the good folks that i have come to know all around the globe...word up