The 'Games' of The Natural World

 

By Harry Cummins

     While the eyes of the world currently center on the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, photographer Dan Johnson took time out this week to give us a private glimpse from the natural world to rival that of any aerials or axils streaming from the slopes and ice surfaces of Beijing.  

     Several years ago, an article in National Geographic described how seagulls have developed a cruel hunting strategy never seen before in the animal world - eating the eyeballs of  live seal pups.

     Yesterday, while on a stroll along the waterfront in Portland, Oregon, Johnson captured the rare revenge of a parental seal. This remarkable photograph begs the question: Is cruelty strictly a human construct that does not extend to the natural world?

     These aquatic exercises by gulls and seals certainly cause one to give pause.

hcummins@aol.com

    

On The Death Of A Dear Friend

 

The Sunshine Boys, Spring Training 1989 - Robert Brustad (right) along with this author
and the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti

By Harry Cummins

     A few weeks ago I lost a close friend to metastatic cancer.

     Dr. Robert Brustad, age 69, leaves behind a grieving wife, Vone, and a teenage son "JJ", who at one time, could correctly recite the uniform numbers of nearly every player from every MLB team. Not incidentally, Bob also left behind the game of baseball itself, currently locked in yet another go-round over the transitory things of this world.

     Baseball ultimately couldn't save my friend from an end that awaits us all, but it became a comforting companion to his well-spent life and especially to his final agonizing year of chemotherapy. Our final conversations would always leave space at the end for the saving grace and hopeful expectancy of another baseball season, another season in the sun to share. We both knew we were talking about much more than a game.

     Baseball may not be a road to God, but it can become a clear pathway to a deeply shared, collective love between persons.  One of the things that lets us know we are never traveling alone. 

     This, then, is the supreme message my friend's life left behind. The sacrificial hit that sends us all "home."

     Love one another!

hcummins@aol.com

     

     

Like Tifffany's On Ice

by Harry Cummins

     Upon watching Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France whirl their way to ice dancing Olympic Gold the other night, it was left to NBC commentator and two-time Olympian himself, Johnny Weir, to drop-spin the best quote of the Beijing Games to date:

      "Watching these two skate makes me feel like I just walked into a luxury store I couldn't afford"

Gabriela Bhaskar photo

Craw’s Corner, 2/14/22

 By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

It is time to take a hard look at the economy in the United States. Yes, I am not Dr. Doom and never have been, but I am always a realist and have been my entire life. I do not see a rosy future in the next 18 months. To keep it simple, inflation, interest rates and gas prices are poised to wreak havoc. They are the 3 keys to watch for the average consumer. 

And yes I didn’t even mention record rise in housing prices and crime in many areas. My word to the wise, don’t get over confident and pay attention to your wallet, before it gets empty.

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Are you like me? Totally annoyed by the lack of drivers using their turn signals. Yes you are laughing right now cause faced this awful phenomenon already today. How tough is it too signal. If you are a violator of this act, please change your ways.

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Happy Valentines Day. 

When Drug Testing Becomes the Obstacle

 

By Harry Cummins

     If tainting baseball's treasured names with our annual Hall-of-Fame balloting isn't enough, we've now managed to sully the slippery surfaces of the Beijing Winter Olympics with our as yet inability to understand and manage the complex issue of controlled substances in sport.

     The latest target of our well-intended ineptitude is the banned drug trimetazidine. We now have not only petite figure skaters, but bobsledders and curling sweepers under suspicion.  While we're at it, somebody should get a sample from that kid down the street who just shoveled his elderly neighbor's driveway in world-record time this week!

    What somebody should really put under the microscope is the sudden swell of sub-4 minute miles being clocked on the current indoor track and field circuit.  Seventy-nine NCAA men have now run a sub-4 mile THIS SEASON! Makes me want to lace on a pair of those super-spikes and give it a go myself.

    OK, in the face of all this, and a culture that finds difficulty imagining purity in human endeavor, we should at the very least summon Dr Fauci to appear before still another governing body to fully disclose what's really in those booster shots.

     One only hopes today's Super Bowl LVI is not decided on the strength of an 75-yard field goal. Let's see an NFL placekicker try to hurdle his way out of that post game press conference!  Of course, that's after he is first tested for drugs.

hcummins@aol.com

Craw’s Corner Is Back

 By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

It is with great pleasure that we bring back Craw’s Corner. One thing that is lacking overall is that many people are not good listeners . Well we listened and I asked many people what they would like to see in Craw’s Corner.

After listening here is how we will go forward. You will see content here every day except Friday. The stories will be short and the topics will consist of news, sports, business, politics and our world famous power rankings. 

Enjoy and comments always welcome or email at gregorycrawfordspeaks@gmail.com