That I would be loved
Even when I'm not myself
That I would be good
Even when I am overwhelmed
-Alanis Morisette
It's time for a final push on my first set of revisions. This will be the last blog entry for a while...
"I'm going in..."
I have started to turn in some of my revised draft. The August deadline is approaching quickly, and I am majorly stressed. It doesn't help that some of my recent conversations with my committee haven't exactly inspired confidence in me (I guess that is not their job). One thing that I am learning about this process is 1) how there is good stress and bad stress when it comes to writing---good stress inspires you and gets your juices flowing, bad stress disables you; and 2) power relations make writing complicated, and this can be a bad form of stress.
Apparently I misunderstood my sister's report. The doctors said that my dad had a heart episode/trauma, but fell short of calling it a heart attack. The level of triponin--an enzyme that is found in the blood stream when the heart is injured--was not high enough to officially label what happened a heart attack. The medical staff were concerned enough to keep him in the hospital for a week. We're not certain exactly what happened, and to what extent our dad is giving us all of the information that the doctors shared with him. Still, we are glad that he is home.
Dad came home this evening. Apparently, he suffered his third heart attack. He has been in the hospital all week, and he is glad to be home. I haven't heard anything else, but it is good to know that he is home and resting.
Still no word on my dad. My sisters and I are talking daily. There were elevated levels of troponin in his blood stream, which usually indicates heart trauma of some kind. They still need to run further tests. He is still in the hospital.
My dad was put in the ICU. The doctors are running tests on his heart. He has had heart trouble before. Needless to say, other things don't matter much right now.
There is a lot going on in the world of sports...
-Lance Armstrong is going for his sixth straight Tour de France amid allegations that he used performance enhancing drugs. My opinion: Standard line here, Innocent until proven guilty. Isn't kind of odd that we live in a society where steroid scandals are the lead stories, but as soon as the news cuts to commercial, we see an adverstisement for Levitra, a performance enhancing drug?
-Coach K is thinking about the Lakers' offer to be their next head coach. My opinion: The Lakers were done after the Pistons beat them. With Kobe on trial and Shaq wanting out, Coach K would be wise to stay in the college ranks where he can remain a legend.
-Maria Sharapova won the women's singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Serena Williams. People have talked about how Sharapova is another Anna Kournikova, since she also has a modeling contract (she is quite stunning for a 17 year old). My opinion: She is not another Kournikova because she has already one a Grand Slam event.
-Lastly, the Yankees and Red Sox played one for the ages last week. I have always thought, when looking at Derek Jeter's stats, that he was nothing special. Statistically, he is an above-avg. shortstop. ARod, however, is a much, much better defensive and offensive player than Jeter ever will be. ARod hits more homers in one year than Jeter does in two. Then Jeter does something like he did against the Sox. With the game tied in the 12th inning and two runners on, Trot Nixon hit a sinking blooper down the line to short left field. Jeter ran full steam a long way to make a great backhanded catch. His momentum carried him into the stands where he dove head and hands first over the press box and well into the 2nd or 3rd row of seats. He came out with lacerations and bruises on his face, but he made the catch. Unbelievable. That is why he will be in the Hall of Fame. The guy is a true leader, who comes up with huge plays when the Yanks need him most. There are athletes who come up big in clutch situations: Kobe, Elway, Montana, and of course Jordan. Add Jeter to that list.
ESPN is celebrating its 25th year on television. All year long they have been airing top 25 sports moments. Tonight I watched some of the show where they listed the 25 best sports movies of all time.
The top five were:
1) Hoosiers -- I agree, it has endured the longest as my favorite
2) Raging Bull -- great film, great performances
3) Field of Dreams -- a little too high on the cheese factor, but it made me cry
4) Bull Durham -- the best baseball film in my opinion
5) Caddyshack -- certainly the funniest sports movie of all time, but in the top five?
Some notable movies missing:
*Rocky -- this is a no-brainer folks; how could they miss this gem of a movie?
*Breaking Away -- no love for the bikers
*Hoop Dreams -- a fantastic documentary
*The Champ -- big time tear-jerker, certainly better than some on the list
*The Longest Yard -- the original football movie
*Knute Rockne - All American -- "Win just one for the Gipper"
*Brian Song -- made even the toughest football fans shed a tear
*The Hustler -- they DO show pool on ESPN
*One on One -- a great 70s basketball movie starring Robbie Benson
*Ice Castles -- OK, this one is a stretch, but I had a crush on Lynn Holly Johnson
*Endless Summer -- a classic of the surf film genre
*The Bad News Bears -- "never assume anything, because..." you know the rest
*Slapshot -- had to get a hockey one in
and isn't fishing a sport? What about A River Runs Through It?
That's all I could think of for now. I'm sure if I think of it longer, I'll come up with more. These were left off when films like Bend it Like Beckham and Searching for Bobby Fischer were included. Searching for Bobby Fischer was a very good movie, but should it make it over the likes of Rocky, Breaking Away or Hoop Dreams on a top 25 list for top sports movies?