I saw my dad the day before his birthday this year, which is as close as I've gotten in years.
31 thoughts on “March 6, 2016: Close Enough”
Park'd!!
10 years since Puckett passed away.
I admit that I'm a little disturbed by the "great man" comments I've seen.
Don't get me wrong. I loved Puck as a player and a character. But the various allegations took their toll on my confidence in the man behind the image.
Beau wrote on FB about this. He was a man. He did amazing things and he had flaws and he took one of the hardest breaks in sports better than most people could and there is nothing wrong with seeing all of that at once.
I am down with the Speaker for the Dead approach. He was a beloved player and character, who had his (allegedly significant) flaws. We can celebrate the things we loved about him without ignoring the flaws. But I'm not willing to think of him as a "great man" anymore.
But I'm not willing to think of him as a "great man" anymore.
I'll agree with that. One of the things that has always bothered me about the Fall of Kirby, though, was the apparent glee Frank Deford took in the story. My thought is, Puckett transcended some of the absolute worst conditions possible for an American kid to grow up in – not just by escaping through pro sports, but in the character he projected. It would be very, very difficult to sustain that kind of character for as long as he did without it springing from something genuine. The grace he projected at the end of his career seems to confirm that.
What makes it all the more tragic – and, sadly, all the more human – is that he wasn't able to escape all the demons, and he wasn't able to come back from them. Kirby didn't get his third act, his opportunity for public redemption. I really hope he found that third act in his private life.
I don't know if it's the Lenten journey I've been on this year or what, but I've been reflecting a bit on our generally "fallen" nature as humans. It's one thing to say we all have flaws, but it's another to really wrestle with what those flaws mean in a person's life. Lots of our flaws aren't so much flaws, they're, as CH put it, demons. They aren't things we choose, they are circumstances that sit on our shoulders and make our choices so much tougher. Puckett transcended more than most. He didn't reach the pinnacle though. And maybe what I've been thinking is that greatness is more process than result? I in no way mean to excuse or condone the violence and assaults. "Had a tough life" is no excuse because there is never an excuse. I just want to suggest a slightly different thought process. That there was grace in the struggle, even without a total victory. Rocky was the hero even though Creed won the match. That kind of thing.
I'm on a similar wavelength. I tend to think of it as "brokenness" instead of "fallen nature," and the journey as one of an attempt to heal that brokenness instead of climb back up to the pinnacle. Ultimately, a semantic difference in the metaphors. I think the brokenness sits with me more because I've read Eastern Christian thought more in recent years, but I grew up with the Western "fallen" metaphor.
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
Twain (from H'istan!)
So happy NPR is finally starting to push Deford out to sea.
He's almost completely unlistenable. Whatever the appeal was, I've not discovered it.
There are a few other NPR commentators on my discontinuation wish list, but this is welcome news.
I change the station/turn the radio off completely when he comes on. I can't stand his commentary.
In other NPR news, it's "Don Gonyea", not "Don Gagne". I just found this out last week.
Wow, I'm just learning the spelling now
WFCR (our NPR, and yes that's pronounced 'ahh' at the end) has a lady who does the not-completely-adverts-but-as-close-as-they-get between segments.
I can't stand her voice, and turn off the radio the second I hear her. Yeah, Deford is not far from that trip to the radio-knackers (think Boxer in Animal Farm).
NPR is finally starting to push Deford out to sea.
While living in Texas, Mr. Deford was invited to talk at Dr. Chop's school as the keynote speaker in the annual symposium on American values. His talk was titled "Sports: The Hype and Hypocrisy". He lamented that colleges didn't adequately compensate student athletes, but that the student athletes also didn't truly understand the 'real' nature of sporting. I was not impressed, and couldn't stop myself from heckling from the back of the bbq pit at the reception.
I'm not sure I feel comfortable being in the habit of referring to anyone I don't know personally as great or bad. Labels are rarely helpful.
He was a person who did great things and not so great things.
So if we get to pick a Puckett moment in time, I pick Oct. 29, 1987, when a quarter million showed up for a parade in St. Paul, shredded currency from the Minny Fed floating in the air.
NBBW and I are propped up on a fire hydrant on the corner not far from the Galtier Plaza, where we rented after we got married for a year. Kirby is riding in the back of a pickup, wearing his aviator cap with both flaps tied down. It was pretty cold, a lot of the Twins wearing fur coats.
For me it was summer of 1991, and I was 10. I had won the chance to throw out the first pitch and as my dad and I were walking down this long inside stairway to the field and suddenly there he was, just doing the splits on the steps, with no one else around. He stuck out his hand and said "hey kid!" and I shook his hand and couldn't say a word. That was cool.
Similar story for me. My brothers and I got to go watch the Twins take BP before a game in 1990. Kirby walked over to us near the dugout to say high. My youngest brother (four at the time) was a cross of starstruck and skeptical, and he told Kirby, "You aren't Kirby. You don't have three-four on your back." He was wearing a sleeveless navy shirt for BP. Kirby laughed and laughed.
That's a great story. We 'met' Kriby when he signed some stuff at a shopping mall in 89 or so. I can still remember his smile.
I met him at the NBA Jam Session and got his signature. It was 1994. I asked him if he felt the Twins chances were better now that Cleveland was in their division. He chuckled and told me the Indians were shaping up to be a strong team. I thought he was just bsing polite.
Oooh, my mom took my sister and me out of school to go to that parade! I definitely remember players wearing fur coats. And also being to short to see very much. 🙁
Us poor rural folk had to settle for watching the parade on the tee-vay during lunch / recess.
I have no specific memory, but I'm guessing we listened to the parade on WCCO.
I went with my Dad and my buddy and his Dad. I was also too short to see much, though I remember the convertibles, players in fur coats and a sea of heads (musta been up on my Dad's shoulders?).
What I remember more than the players was panic. I was a little kid with the proportionately little bladder (& lack of foresight - both juvenile and parental) and there were no public restrooms even remotely near where we were standing.... first experience with urinating in public. One of the more traumatic events of my childhood.
Ah, I was at that parade as well. I remember being shocked that my mom would let me miss school for this.
Made this today - Tindori Thoran (recipe from Rasa W1, a Keralan restaurant I discovered in London a while back):
Batch of Tindori (from local Indian groc store) quartered, boiled in water with salt and some turmeric.
Stir-fry raw cashews until golden (doesn't take long).
In a frying pan, toast mustard seeds until they begin to pop, then add curry leaves, red chilis, and chopped onion. Cook until the onion is soft.
Add some turmeric to the pan with some salt, then add the drained tindori and the cashews, cook a bit more. Remove from the heat, and stir in a liberal handful of desiccated coconut. Delish.
sounds interesting, but what are tindori?
Like little cucumbers, found in asian markets. Don't have a lot of flavor on their own, but have crisp/crunch, and absorb whatever you are cooking them with.
That sounds fantastic, NBB. We've really enjoyed discovering Keralan cuisine at home. Some of the dishes have become staples for the Great Fast.
Huh, should I go see Craig Finn tonight? The show is 8 blocks from my house at a venue I like, but he's playing with Titus Andronicus....
Park'd!!
10 years since Puckett passed away.
I admit that I'm a little disturbed by the "great man" comments I've seen.
Don't get me wrong. I loved Puck as a player and a character. But the various allegations took their toll on my confidence in the man behind the image.
Beau wrote on FB about this. He was a man. He did amazing things and he had flaws and he took one of the hardest breaks in sports better than most people could and there is nothing wrong with seeing all of that at once.
I am down with the Speaker for the Dead approach. He was a beloved player and character, who had his (allegedly significant) flaws. We can celebrate the things we loved about him without ignoring the flaws. But I'm not willing to think of him as a "great man" anymore.
I'll agree with that. One of the things that has always bothered me about the Fall of Kirby, though, was the apparent glee Frank Deford took in the story. My thought is, Puckett transcended some of the absolute worst conditions possible for an American kid to grow up in – not just by escaping through pro sports, but in the character he projected. It would be very, very difficult to sustain that kind of character for as long as he did without it springing from something genuine. The grace he projected at the end of his career seems to confirm that.
What makes it all the more tragic – and, sadly, all the more human – is that he wasn't able to escape all the demons, and he wasn't able to come back from them. Kirby didn't get his third act, his opportunity for public redemption. I really hope he found that third act in his private life.
I don't know if it's the Lenten journey I've been on this year or what, but I've been reflecting a bit on our generally "fallen" nature as humans. It's one thing to say we all have flaws, but it's another to really wrestle with what those flaws mean in a person's life. Lots of our flaws aren't so much flaws, they're, as CH put it, demons. They aren't things we choose, they are circumstances that sit on our shoulders and make our choices so much tougher. Puckett transcended more than most. He didn't reach the pinnacle though. And maybe what I've been thinking is that greatness is more process than result? I in no way mean to excuse or condone the violence and assaults. "Had a tough life" is no excuse because there is never an excuse. I just want to suggest a slightly different thought process. That there was grace in the struggle, even without a total victory. Rocky was the hero even though Creed won the match. That kind of thing.
I'm on a similar wavelength. I tend to think of it as "brokenness" instead of "fallen nature," and the journey as one of an attempt to heal that brokenness instead of climb back up to the pinnacle. Ultimately, a semantic difference in the metaphors. I think the brokenness sits with me more because I've read Eastern Christian thought more in recent years, but I grew up with the Western "fallen" metaphor.
Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
Twain (from H'istan!)
So happy NPR is finally starting to push Deford out to sea.
He's almost completely unlistenable. Whatever the appeal was, I've not discovered it.
There are a few other NPR commentators on my discontinuation wish list, but this is welcome news.
I change the station/turn the radio off completely when he comes on. I can't stand his commentary.
In other NPR news, it's "Don Gonyea", not "Don Gagne". I just found this out last week.
Wow, I'm just learning the spelling now
WFCR (our NPR, and yes that's pronounced 'ahh' at the end) has a lady who does the not-completely-adverts-but-as-close-as-they-get between segments.
I can't stand her voice, and turn off the radio the second I hear her. Yeah, Deford is not far from that trip to the radio-knackers (think Boxer in Animal Farm).
NPR is finally starting to push Deford out to sea.
While living in Texas, Mr. Deford was invited to talk at Dr. Chop's school as the keynote speaker in the annual symposium on American values. His talk was titled "Sports: The Hype and Hypocrisy". He lamented that colleges didn't adequately compensate student athletes, but that the student athletes also didn't truly understand the 'real' nature of sporting. I was not impressed, and couldn't stop myself from heckling from the back of the bbq pit at the reception.
I'm not sure I feel comfortable being in the habit of referring to anyone I don't know personally as great or bad. Labels are rarely helpful.
He was a person who did great things and not so great things.
So if we get to pick a Puckett moment in time, I pick Oct. 29, 1987, when a quarter million showed up for a parade in St. Paul, shredded currency from the Minny Fed floating in the air.
NBBW and I are propped up on a fire hydrant on the corner not far from the Galtier Plaza, where we rented after we got married for a year. Kirby is riding in the back of a pickup, wearing his aviator cap with both flaps tied down. It was pretty cold, a lot of the Twins wearing fur coats.
For me it was summer of 1991, and I was 10. I had won the chance to throw out the first pitch and as my dad and I were walking down this long inside stairway to the field and suddenly there he was, just doing the splits on the steps, with no one else around. He stuck out his hand and said "hey kid!" and I shook his hand and couldn't say a word. That was cool.
Similar story for me. My brothers and I got to go watch the Twins take BP before a game in 1990. Kirby walked over to us near the dugout to say high. My youngest brother (four at the time) was a cross of starstruck and skeptical, and he told Kirby, "You aren't Kirby. You don't have three-four on your back." He was wearing a sleeveless navy shirt for BP. Kirby laughed and laughed.
That's a great story. We 'met' Kriby when he signed some stuff at a shopping mall in 89 or so. I can still remember his smile.
I met him at the NBA Jam Session and got his signature. It was 1994. I asked him if he felt the Twins chances were better now that Cleveland was in their division. He chuckled and told me the Indians were shaping up to be a strong team. I thought he was just bsing polite.
Oooh, my mom took my sister and me out of school to go to that parade! I definitely remember players wearing fur coats. And also being to short to see very much. 🙁
Us poor rural folk had to settle for watching the parade on the tee-vay during lunch / recess.
I have no specific memory, but I'm guessing we listened to the parade on WCCO.
I went with my Dad and my buddy and his Dad. I was also too short to see much, though I remember the convertibles, players in fur coats and a sea of heads (musta been up on my Dad's shoulders?).
What I remember more than the players was panic. I was a little kid with the proportionately little bladder (& lack of foresight - both juvenile and parental) and there were no public restrooms even remotely near where we were standing.... first experience with urinating in public. One of the more traumatic events of my childhood.
Ah, I was at that parade as well. I remember being shocked that my mom would let me miss school for this.
Made this today - Tindori Thoran (recipe from Rasa W1, a Keralan restaurant I discovered in London a while back):
Batch of Tindori (from local Indian groc store) quartered, boiled in water with salt and some turmeric.
Stir-fry raw cashews until golden (doesn't take long).
In a frying pan, toast mustard seeds until they begin to pop, then add curry leaves, red chilis, and chopped onion. Cook until the onion is soft.
Add some turmeric to the pan with some salt, then add the drained tindori and the cashews, cook a bit more. Remove from the heat, and stir in a liberal handful of desiccated coconut. Delish.
sounds interesting, but what are tindori?
Like little cucumbers, found in asian markets. Don't have a lot of flavor on their own, but have crisp/crunch, and absorb whatever you are cooking them with.
That sounds fantastic, NBB. We've really enjoyed discovering Keralan cuisine at home. Some of the dishes have become staples for the Great Fast.
Huh, should I go see Craig Finn tonight? The show is 8 blocks from my house at a venue I like, but he's playing with Titus Andronicus....