“Coach's Corner: Sports heroes aren't perfect, but they have positive qualities that ... - Frederick News-Post” plus 1 more

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Coach's Corner: Sports heroes aren't perfect, but they have positive qualities that ... - Frederick News-Post

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 10:54 PM PDT

Last week was the first in a three-part series that addressed the comments of Dr. Jonathan Grife concerning his perception of the value of athletics in our present-day society. Today we can take a look at several other points that he asserted in his June 2 letter to the editor.

Grife's letter stated, "Let's stop worshipping false gods and false heroes."

Heroes. Everyone has looked up to a hero at some point in life. It may have been your mom or dad who rescued you from a vicious dog when you were young, or maybe your hero was an older sibling who had a driver's license and seemed to have unlimited freedom. For some teenagers, it could be a movie star, rock star or TV personality. Some choose politicians and some choose athletes. It depends on our interests and our perception of that individual. And that changes as we grow older and see more of the world.

A hero is a person we want to emulate. That person is our model. He or she possesses characteristics that we admire and has accomplished something that we want to achieve.

Heroes have likely been a part of our upbringing ever since humans have had the capacity to sit around the campfire to tell stories about people of special strength, courage and ability or draw images of great hunts on the cave wall. Epic poems, like Beowulf, depict the ultimate warrior hero who became a part of a nation's character.

King Arthur and Ivanhoe were my heroes when I was in elementary school, thanks to comic book classics. I admired their honesty, sense of fairness, and all the other qualities that made them good leaders. When I was in third grade, I was so caught up in being the chivalrous hero that I raced across the playground at recess to rescue a crying damsel in distress. A second-grader had accidentally dropped her lunch bag into a big trash can and couldn't reach to get it out. I arrived on the scene, minus the white horse, and quickly dove into the garbage and fished out her bag. I was a knight in shining armor hero briefly -- before the smell overtook everyone within 10 feet.

But the real-life heroes for me during the 1950s and 60s were the baseball stars. Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson. Even though I was an Orioles and Senators fan, it was these future Hall of Famers that I most admired. I wanted to be like Williams because, not only was he the greatest hitter in baseball, but he served his country in the military at a time when he was at the peak of his career. And Mantle came back from numerous injuries to be the center of the Yankees "Murderer's Row." I was lucky enough to be at old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore when Mantle came up to pinch-hit in the ninth inning of a tie game in his first at-bat after being on the DL for months with a nagging injury. He hit the scoreboard in center field on the first pitch and limped around the bases.

Mays was my hero because he was the most complete player. He hit for average and power, could run the bases, and was one of the best defensive center fielders ever to play the game. As a bonus, he was humble. And Jackie Robinson had to overcome the greatest odds of all when he became the first to break the color barrier in major league baseball.

But, as much as I wanted to be like them in their courage and abilities, I eventually became aware that each had flaws in their lives away from the field. They were not perfect. Williams, "The Splendid Splinter," became "The Splendid Spitter" by the press after he spit at a fan who was harassing him in the left-field stands. Mantle had to deal with alcoholism and died at an early age because of his drinking.

That's the thing about heroes. They're never going to be perfect. They are human and suffer the same human frailties we all have. The same can be said about politicians or celebrities. They are not to be worshipped, but respected for the positive qualities that they may possess.

If you want to see how a hero affected some students' lives, just ask the former athletes in Frederick County about how their coaches, like Don Boyer, Dave Schrodel, or Ben Wright, to name a few, influenced those athletes in very positive ways.

Next week will conclude the three-part series.

TV Review: DOCTOR WHO - SERIES FIVE - 'Flesh and Stone' - IF Magazine

Posted: 19 Jun 2010 11:44 PM PDT

TV Review: DOCTOR WHO - SERIES FIVE - 'Flesh and Stone' - iFMagazine.comSend to a friend

TV Review: DOCTOR WHO - SERIES FIVE - 'Flesh and Stone'

The plot thickens and the crack widens in the second half of a very good two-parter

Grade: B+
Stars: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Alex Kingston, Iain Glen, David Atkins, Darren Morfitt, Mark Monero, George Russo
Writer(s): Steven Moffat
Director: Adam Smith
Release Date: May 15, 2010

By ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG, Contributing Editor
Published 5/15/2010

After a swift but clever resolution to last week's cliffhanger, "Flesh and Stone" concludes the first two-parter of DOCTOR WHO's fifth series with a solid installment that boasts wonderful performances, even creepier if more nonsensical shenanigans from the Angels, genuine peril for Amy, and some beautiful set design. Our heroes have made it into the crashed Byzantium but the Angels follow, and soon there's a desperate chase through an incongruously wooded chamber to reach the main flight deck. Amy is dying, time is being unwritten, and there's just no ignoring the gravity of the situation.

While this is a good follow-up that maintains the atmosphere of the first part and amps up the excitement, it's not without a curious shift in pace and focus. About five minutes in, the episode seems to lose interest in the story that started last week in favor of another one, or to be more accurate, several other ones. Who is River Song really and who is she going to kill? What is going on with all those cracks? What is Amy's role in this whole thing and what awaits the Doctor in her bedroom? And just as you're asking all those questions, the story ends…or rather just runs out of time and stops to show you the "Next Time" trailer.

If you're a 'glass-is-half-empty' sort of person, you might think this is a bit of a narrative weakness, but if you're a 'glass-is-half-full person' - or just a fan like me – you'll find yourself arguing (and not necessarily inaccurately) that this not only increases the stakes in part two but provides context for the whole of part one. We had no idea what the Angels were up to, and now we know it's directly connected to the cracks and the overall series arc; we're even getting an explanation for the cracks only five episodes into the series. Ah, clever, that Moffat.

But that isn't the half of it. This has already been discussed to death online, but watch this one again and pay careful attention to the scene where the Doctor leaves Amy with the clerics as he goes off with River to find the ship's main flight deck. He leaves jauntily, sans jacket (taken from him by an Angel in a previous scene), and moments later holds Amy's hands, his demeanor much warmer and troubled, almost as if he were a different person…or a later version of the same person. Hmm, is that a jacket he's wearing in that scene? Ah, clever, that Moffat (again). Now go and rewatch all the episodes this year so far and start looking for clues to this future Doctor's presence; you won't be the only one.

I did mention there's some nice set design, and there is, from the nods to STAR TREK in the Byzantium's main deck to the lush forest that serves as the ship's "oxygen factory." Sadly though, it's not consistent. To wit – what is it with all the tin sheets nailed to walls in this year's episodes? Once or twice, you look past the apparently obvious cost-cutting, but now it seems every spaceship in every time zone has decided to nail up sheets of metal from the same supplier, even the new TARDIS! This time around it's most visible in the scene where the crack shows up. And if that isn't bad enough…yes, you did see it; the Doctor touched the wall leading to the forest and it actually wobbled. Wobbly sets – they're not just a classic series cliché anymore.

Never mind, why quibble about tin walls when you're graced with two compelling leads, guest stars like the not-all-that-annoying-this-time Alex Kingston and the commanding Iain Glen, whose final scene in this episode is one of the highlights? Granted, it may have been a mistake to actually show us the Angels moving in the climactic confrontation with Amy, but I have to admit, it still made my skin crawl, so perhaps it was a good choice after all. In fact you'll probably be so creeped out at that point or by their smooth manipulation of Amy into counting down to her own demise, you won't even stop to think about the insane plot point that allows Amy to fool the Angels by walking "as if she can see." Actually it's a good idea overall not to think too much about the four million new powers and caveats attached to the Angel mythos. They were a simple, elegant concept in "Blink" but it might be a good idea to retire them for a while now.

As long as we're in the forest, it's worth mentioning that so far this series has been telling us it's a fairytale more often than showing us…until now. If you didn't get the message this time around, you just weren't watching. Who's that making her way through that dark, magical forest amid an army of stone fairies, her bright red pullover in stark contrast to the lush leafy greens and moonlight blues? It's Red Riding Pond, but at least she's not in the company of wolves. Vampires next time, maybe…

And when all is said and done, the Angels are defeated, Amy saved, clerics all pretty much dead and River back in custody – but not before sharing a few spoilers while pretending she doesn't like to do that kind of thing – we get to the episode's final minutes. Amy decides to share a secret with the Doctor and show him what she's been running from since the end of episode one. But she seems to be having more than pre-wedding jitters; she's in the mood for something a bit more than friendship with her favorite Time Lord. Rose who?

As an old-school fan, allow me to say that I loved this last gambit on Moffat's part, giving us a companion that finally decides to jump the Doctor, not out of a sense of profound love necessarily but just because she nearly died, is facing the biggest day of her life, and has no idea how she truly feels. That internal conflict and the desire to just feel something, anything, to have physical release with someone that has loomed large in her imagination her entire life - it's natural, it's real, and it makes Amy one of the most human characters ever seen in DOCTOR WHO. And to reassure all those other old-school fans, the Doctor's reaction is just as appropriate and true to the character we've always known.

But there's no time for love, Doctor, because there's an explosion coming that will crack all of time and space, and the date is…Amy and Rory's wedding day? Uh-oh. Well hell, let's just go to Venice first…

Arnold T. Blumberg is Curator of Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, an author, teacher and comic book historian, and a published writer of DOCTOR WHO fiction and non-fiction for companies like Big Finish and Telos. You can also find him on the Gallifrey Base forum.