A Confederacy of Dunces?
Just had to write a few words about this news item! It was nice to hear that Tiger Woods was declared the AP Male Athlete of 2006. I was just wondering how close Mr. Roger Federer had come to being thus honoured....after all, he deserved it as much as Tiger did (perhaps more). Surprise of surprises! I was informed that: "Woods won the award over San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, with tennis great Roger Federer a distant third." I rubbed my eyes in utter disbelief, but my eyes weren't deceiving me....the news article went on to explain: "Woods received 260 points from sports editors around the country. Tomlinson, who already has set an NFL record of 31 touchdowns with one regular-season game left, was second with 230 points. Federer, who won three Grand Slam titles and lost in the final at the French Open, had 110 points." Gimme a break, I thought! LaDainian Tomlinson? The chap who plays a sport which isn't even played anywhere outside the US? Then, it dawned upon me that the selection of contenders wasn't the point to be noted. Rather, the most crucial part of the article was the section that revealed the identity of the voters: sports editors around the country!!!! "The country"! That's when I heaved a sigh of relief....there was no need to remain shell-shocked any longer! It is common knowledge that ultra-patriotic sports editors from "the country" cannot think beyond the borders of "the country" in discussion, while bestowing such honours upon individuals! What more can we expect from "the country" that unabashedly declares its National basketball & baseball tournaments as World championship & World series (this, despite the fact that they have been losing all the recent Genuinely International tournaments)! To the citizens of "the country", it is indeed "a small world, after all"! Hence, my respectful title to this blog, in honour of the the beautiful minds that, through this mind-boggling voting process, made sure they lived up to our (limited?) expectations of them!
