I think conviction doesn't have to do with what you think about your subject or your circumstances, but what you think of yourself.
So yeah, what you said.
I'm confused.
Which part was the essay?
I guess, the intro was SO good, that IT'S what confuses me!!
Good stuff . . . really good.
Reminds me of the best papers I ever wrote in college, or some of my best interview/narations and editing jobs long ago for radio/tv (Jr. College, BUT, it WAS on air!!!), one's voice changes a bit during the MAKING of the essay or communication piece.
And so does the UNDERSTANDING of the people, and the piece, and one's self. They change and evolve, from change to change, from revision to revision, from edit to edit.
And WE the author's change, too.
I recall vividly going thru these processes and miss them so much . . . . I guess, that's why I frequent blogs and sites . . to communicate, to share, and ultimately, I know, I'm changing with each letter let loose out there into the cyber ether.
Can I assume it was Doc that wrote this? The reference to LM kinda threw me off the track.
I loved it. The intro . . . I LOVED it. Brought back memories and hit my present cognizance up the side of the head!!! IT ENGAGE ME!!! *G*
. . . I'm still confused at the essay topic though, I guess it's 'On Being A Professional'?
Anyhoots, thanks for posting and sharing that with us . . . I'M ENGAGED!!!!!
*G*
And Doc, I'm sorry I sniped atcha about Le Tour.
It's sorely wounded and bleeding.
They ARE putting good MSM spin on it though.
I like the guys saying they've spent their WHOLE lives for this, and they're GLAD someone else is being tossed for cheating . . . and how happy THEY are, at following and chasing their dreams on a more level playing field . . . it's a valadation of some sorts I guess . . . I can see their points, and it makes for good MSM vid and sound bytes.
I KNOW, if I was playing baseball (a boyhood dream) for a living or a dream, I'd be ROYALLY pissed at the juicers . . . I have GREAT empathy for those who play the games without the juice.
Now, taking home plate standing up with an onrushing lowered shoulder into the catcher to score, or using the spikes of yer shoe to seek the tender ankle of the 2Bag man while breaking up a double play, that's fine!!!
CHIN MUSIC!!!!
And, as a former catcher up to age 18, I'll TAKE that charge, and I'm gonna HURT you, cuz that's MY plate!!!
I love the game. Good ride, Doc . . . . hard times in sports, and in reality, too . . . 
*G*
I guess I'd better fess up, before Tanbark lights me up on this . . .
Despite all I wrote above, I somehow feel that Barry Bonds is legitimate, and deserving of his accomplishments, cream and clear aside.
Until he's convicted, and hung, any records he's set, or will set, are legit to me, and a thrill to witness.
His season of 73 homers, and two seasons of
.362 and .370 averages, past age 35, were awe inspiring. The FASTEST bat speed, ever. Not even Hammerin Hank's Wrists had Barry's bat speed.
You can't take that away from him. Bat Speed. Eyes like Teddy Ballgame.
Power, plus average.
Awesome.
Ok, so it looks like I'm a hypocrite.
But that's how I feel.
Now, back to the real world . . .
Larue -
1. The intro sets up the entire essay series.
2. The actual essay today was just about the nature of being a pro. Certainly I could have said more, but my first time out of the box I wanted to go for the double, not the home-run.
3. You and I have no trouble about the Tour. I was able to use your comment well; lots of people chimed in. Certainly I think the last 22 days have been about more than just sports. If I have any regrets they are these: this series took an enormous, really a stunning amount of my time to write well, and I wish more people had engaged given the time to effort ratio and how good people reported the series was for them. The people who did engage I think got something of real value and I don't say that because I wrote it. *laughs*
Everyone -
Something else was hidden in the writing which isn't in regular sports writing (or at least I tried to slide something else into the writing.) From the comments it seems I was successful. What that something is I leave as an exercise to those who didn't quite catch it the first time around, or to other readers to explain to the rest. *smiles* What can I say; it's the teacher in me.
We'll be moving back much more towards politics shortly as politics is the focus of our journalistic efforts. I have a vacation next week (not this week, next week) and this coming week the rest of our merry band is at YearlyKos so I'm uncertain of our posting schedule. All these are the growing pains of a new venture. We've not yet even finished our first month as GNB. I believe we're doing well for our first month, ya know?
Thanks again to everyone who paid attention to the Tour series.
As for the essay series... I've been wanting to do this since before the three of us starting talking of the Group News Blog. They won't come close to taking over the articles, never fear. But as a place to think deeply, I believe they will in time find a larger audience.
People may be surprised by this but out of our top 25 posts in our first month, three get thrown out for being stuff like our home page or the page with About Us on it. Of the 22 remaining articles, 54% or 12 of the top 22 as of last night are Tour. LM's great post on that hack of a New York mayor takes first, "Take a Number, Y'All", with Sara's "Rehab Nation" in second. But once people started reading the Tour, the series grabbed them. As I said, 12 of the top 22 GNB page views or just over half of our first month of operations belong to what I know many of you thought was a stupid thing for me to waste my and your time on. Turns out, not so much.
Give these essays a try. They'll grow on you also.
From the GNB Essay desk... no, there's NO SUCH THING as the GNB Essay desk. Gotcha. From my bedroom where I'm writing tonight, thank you and goodnight.
Hey, the Rolling Stone Sports Desk was mythical, too. You're in good company, Doc.
Everyone with more than a passing interest in sports knew that steroids were rampant. Steroids were not banned by baseball during most of the Bonds era. Baseball was delighted to have McGwire, Sosa et al. win the fans back after the strike. The home run derby hasn’t turned out well from a PR standpoint, but it’s preposterous that people are now claiming to be shocked and outraged.
Barry Bonds is the villain du jour, but he works in an industry where the gold standard for misconduct is set by people like Rae Carruth. Bonds is not in the class of Albert Belle, Lawrence Phillips, Ugueth Urbina, Julio Lugo, Steve Howe, Dwight Gooden, and hundreds of others. I’m not saying that Bonds is a good guy or a nice guy, but he’s not even in Pete Rose territory, maybe John Rocker. In a world plagued by terrorism, war, human trafficking and global warming, the commotion over Bonds is unseemly.
Good job, all.
Of all the thoughts provoked by the recent sports posts, there's one that I really feel like I have to take the time to put out there, and it has to do with the guy that Bonds is passing.
Barry may not be as bad a guy as the examples Watson offers, but that he has to be relegating Henry Aaron to second place really does stick in my craw. Hammerin' Hank has been the picture of class, grace and professionalism ever since I became aware of him. When he broke the record, besides dealing with the pressures of history, he did it while the target of vicious death threats from a horde of mouth-breathing yahoos, with the extent of that hatred becoming known only recently (and I'm rather mindful of what our former proprietor had to face along these lines).
And yes, I'm sure that Bonds is having to deal with some amount of that, too. But never mind the allegations about his use of chemical enhancements--Bonds has *never* shown one-tenth of the class that Aaron displayed, and I freely admit to being wistful that that man's heroic accomplishment are being eclipsed by a jerk like Bonds.
Captain Goto, I agree about the injustice to Henry Aaron.
I think a partial remedy is asterisks, like when they expanded the 154 game season to 162. Too much trouble? I don't think so. Browsing the voluminous archives has always been a special attraction for baseball fans. With the upsurge of gambling and fantasy leagues, the amount of digital ‘ink’ spilled on the game has exploded. It would be a simple matter to annotate a relative handful of records.
Permit a digression, and it’s hardly an exact analogy, but the issue of Bonds eclipsing Henry Aaron’s record reminds me of another situation – the status of people from the ‘Talented Tenth’ who can access elite schools and jobs without the assistance of affirmative action. They may view their credentials as wrongfully devalued.
Maybe so, but the real culprits are the white racists who insisted on a quota of zero for all those years. Affirmative action isn’t perfect, but it’s a necessary part of the solution. The legacy of racism will taint everyone’s credentials for a good long time.
Jesse...thank you for the kind words—truly! 
And part two of the "Sports" post will deal with some of these secondary elements mentioned here in comments—Big-Time College's complicity, and certain double standards, for example—along with some actual solutions. Nothing flip, but rather, tough, new ideas to bring athletics back from the brink.
Jesse really opened the door on the subject. I had been debating about Sports' clusterfuck heavily with my brother, and in a couple of other forums for quite some time. Jesse's post was the dam-breaker. I commented in that thread and said:
"This is kind of a divinely fucked-up confluence of every sport seeeming to go into the shitter at once.
1.You've got Barry Bonds and the swirl of ill-will over the steroids and his passing Hank Aaron on the all-time homer list. They're actually calling the era of baseball from 1986 to now "The Steroid Era"
2. There's the whole Michael Vick/Do- fighting and "Pac Man" Jones/repeated player felonies/out of control players mishegas in the NFL.
3. And of course, the crooked, gambling, mobbed-up NBA ref who caused commissioner David Stern to look like he'd swallowed Dennis Rodman's cock-ring as he answered tough questions at a news conference today.
Now, this doping scandal threatens to reduce the Tour De France to six kids on Big Wheels who'll have to pee in a cup every 200 feet.
I'm the biggest sports fan around, and I'm totally disgusted. There is NO refuge at all right now.
I'm probably gonna join you at the GNB Sports Desk Jesse, for a "White Paper Report"/Commentary on the state of sports now—which is just so damned pathetic.
LowerManhattanite | 07.24.07 - 6:38 pm | #"
It moved me to post, and tie in. It allowed me to focus and put down in words all the stuff my brother and I (not the wingnut, but the music producer) bat around in our daily phone call/bull sessions about the world's doings, and our overly-analytical discussions of sports.
Thanks again Jesse, for the spark!
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