no. 22

back to stuff that matters: i'm gonna miss this guy. my dad and i have watched and cheered for some amazing athletes -- dorsett, archie, bird, smoltz, mcgriff, manny, pedro, aikman, andrew, maddux, clemens just a baby in beantown. we have witnessed some transcendent sports moments -- bream's slide to the pennant in '91; johnny most's call when "bird stole the ball"; clint longley on thanksgiving '74; the miracle @ lake placid in '80; the second coming of bird straight from the locker room to the court to take over that game in the celtics-pacers series; in my cubs days, the hawk chargning the mound w/ blood in his eye (literally) after having been hit in the head by a pitch, and kerry wood's 20k game; the october day the creminoles rode into south bend and the numbers changed; gimpy gibson's home run; belichick's lethal coaching and brady's icewater veins; papi's walk-offs in the october new york and new england nights. i could go on ad infinitum, but maybe nobody (except maybe bird) held our allegiance more than emmitt. i was always proud to see him wear that helmet, and i was sad to see him go today.

you guys have had your bradshaws, montanas, rices, sooners, uscs, george rogerses, favres, walter paytons, lawrence taylors, hogs, jordan-led bulls teams, villanova over gtown, but the ones i talked about above are ours, my dad's and mine. our histories and loyalties have weaved in and out of each other over the years, and together we can craft a tapestry of more than 30 years of shared sports to rival pretty much anyone's for sheer devotion, passion and fandom rewarded.

another mvp on sunday would fit right in w/ the rest of the collection.

update: in the light of day, is that not sappy writing? wow. i meant it when i wrote it, but when did i start channeling dan brown? and p.s.: i saw a clip of emmitt's press conference this morning on imus. what was he doing? suck it up, man. you're a legend, so don't screw it up hugging your helmet and thangs.