From the department of the Hard To Believe: It was shocking enough that Helen Thomas, a living journalistic institution, would make such blatant anti-semitic remarks (which precipitated her recent retirement). But even more astounding the fact that some media folks refuse to admit her comments really were anti-semitic. Check out Rosie O’Donnell’s rationalizations on The View.
Phil Jackson, coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, has won ten NBA championships. (And I expect he will win his eleventh in the next week.) Yet he is rarely touted among sports journalists as the best NBA coach of all-time. Routinely commentators diminish his accomplishments by reminding us that he has had the good fortune of coaching superstars like Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Well, what coach who has led teams to multiple championships has nothad the benefit of coaching superstars? I’m neither a Lakers fan nor a Bulls fan. But what Jackson has accomplished in winning ten titles, to my mind, clinches his status as the greatest NBA coach in history and as one of the top two or three coaches in the history of all professional sports.
Finally, I’ve recently discovered the music of Josh Ritter, a genuinely literary songwriter in the folk tradition but whose musical forays have led him in a variety of directions. Lyrically, it just doesn’t get any better than this. Check out his website and sample some of his stuff.