On college athletes; protests in Iran; Kim Jong-un’s sister; Donald Trump and the GOP; one of Hogan’s heroes; and more
David Whitley is a sports columnist for the Gainesville Sun. His bio says that he “went to school to become a neurosurgeon but decided he could better serve humanity by writing about sports.” Fair enough. Whitley has written a feisty column headed “NIL proves once again that nothing sells like sex.” “NIL” stands for “name, image, and likeness.” This is the way that college athletes make money.
Whitley says, “Welcome to the latest NIL controversy. The female athletes making the most money also happen to be the best looking.” One of these lookers is a Louisiana State gymnast, Olivia Dunne. “Is that a problem?” Whitley asks. He says no. In any case, it is natural. “We are hard-wired to be attracted to attractive people, and it goes both ways,” Whitley writes. “If you’re Hanes, would you rather hire Tom Brady or John Daly to model your new line of bikini briefs?”
I myself am not yet sold on NIL. I have antiquated views on college sports. Hell, I don’t think professional athletes should compete in the Olympics. But we can leave these issues for another time (and these are ships that have sailed, regardless).
Whitley’s column took me down Memory Lane — to Anna Kournikova, the tennis player, born in 1981. I wrote about her in an Impromptus of July 2001. The link to that column is by now broken. But I quoted from that column in an October 2011 Impromptus — which is still “live.”
Anyway, my Memory Lane:
Wimbledon time brings thoughts of . . . Anna Kournikova (no sniggering). For several years now, I have been fascinated with the extreme resentment of her, not only from her fellow players but from journalists and others who comment on her. She is a bombshell — blonde at that — and so gets endorsements and attention that she wouldn’t receive otherwise. Everyone likes to point out that she stinks — that she has never won a major tournament and ranks only Number 11 in the world.
I love that: only Number 11. What a hack, Anna Kournikova! Geez, of all the women in the world — how many are there, about 3 billion? — this chick is merely the eleventh-best tennis player.
Whine about Anna’s commercial success all you like, but do you realize how good eleventh-best is? Yes, Kournikova is famous because of her looks. But life isn’t fair, not least in the looks department. So deal with it, baby — and people who can barely get out of their chair have no business knocking Kournikova’s tennis.
A word about demographics: Today, there are 8 billion people in the world. Making it 4 billion women (give or take). And whoever is the eleventh-best tennis player, or the eleventh-best anything — is scarily good.
• Recently, I learned something interesting, in the area of statistics. It involved college football, and also something broader, I think. Of the three least-penalized teams in college football, two of them are from service academies: No. 1 is Navy; No. 2 is East Carolina; No. 3 is Air Force.
Exercising discipline. Playing by the rules. This is critical in a military, don’t you think?
• Over the years, I’ve written thousands of articles saying that the Olympic Games should not be held in dictatorships. (By “thousands,” I mean like five.) Let me say in a brief impromptu: The same goes for the World Cup.
• I don’t like arson. (How’s that for an opening statement?) I don’t like the burning of houses. Or museums. If you want to protest, there are better ways. But the burning of Khomeini’s house, which was turned into a museum . . .
This carries great significance. It was that ayatollah who founded a dictatorship that has terrorized and immiserated so many. People are standing up to the dictatorship, losing their fear — or throwing caution to the wind.
For a BBC report on the burning, go here.
• Kim Yo-jong, you recall, is the sister of Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea. In recent days, she has likened the United States to a “scared barking dog.” (Go here.) I have to ask: What is it with brutish rhetoricians and dogs?
• Here is a report from Fox 10, in Phoenix:
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates has confirmed that he moved to an undisclosed location for his safety after security concerns connected to the 2022 midterm elections.
Deputies from the sheriff’s office are also providing a security detail, officials said.
Gates, a Republican and one of the leaders of the Maricopa County Elections Department, has been a fierce defender of the county’s election system and an outspoken critic of false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
An elections official, having to go into hiding or having to be protected by a security detail — that ought not to be, in our country. A shame. A shame on our country.
• The effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election is known as “stop the steal” — which is a perverse phrase, because the people involved in the effort were not trying to stop a steal but to pull one off.
• “It is time to stop whispering,” said Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican. “It’s time to stop being afraid of any one person.” And “I am ready for that fight.”
Lots of Republicans are opposing Donald Trump, now that he is down and wounded. All honor to those Republicans — those few — who opposed him when he was up and swaggering.
• Writing about Trump, an evangelical leader said, “He used us to win the White House. We had to close our mouths and eyes when he said things that horrified us. I cannot do that anymore.”
The truth is, no one ever had to do it. It was always a choice.
• Noah Rothman, of Commentary, has written a piece titled “America Needs a Conservative Party.” Man alive, does it. To hear Rothman’s case, go here.
• For years, I’ve known the term ‘infotainment.” That describes a lot of cable news and opinion, for example. The other day, I learned the term “angertainment” — which is even more apt. There is a lot of money in angertainment. A lot.
• The English language is so flexible — not least in our habit of turning nouns into verbs. Do you know the verb “to non-tender”? I give you a headline from the sports pages: “Dodgers non-tender former MVP Cody Bellinger after another rough year at plate.” (Article here.)
• “Dr. Mitchell Rosenthal, Phoenix House Founder, Dies at 87.” To read that obit, go here. “A psychiatrist, he was an early apostle for treating drug and alcohol addiction with group therapy in a residential setting.” To spend your life trying to help addicts, and give them hope — that is a life very, very well spent.
• Another obit: “Jay Pasachoff, Who Pursued Eclipses Across the Globe, Dies at 79.” Get this:
He entered Harvard University at 16. For his freshman seminar, he chose an astronomy course with Donald H. Menzel, an expert on solar eclipses. By chance, just a few weeks into the semester, a total eclipse was set to begin off the coast of Massachusetts, near Marblehead. Dr. Menzel borrowed a DC-3 plane from Northeast Airlines and took his class, along with the chief executive of Polaroid, to watch.
What a field trip!
• Did you see this? “‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ 4K Release Features Over an Hour of Never-Before-Seen Deleted and Extended Scenes.” For the American male, Christmas has come early. (I’m not sure what “4K” is, if it’s not four thousand, but I’ll know soon.)
• Ned Rorem, the American composer, has died at 99. I interviewed him around the time of his 80th birthday. Highly interesting person, smart as hell. Very gifted, obviously. Seldom have I heard an interviewee so interesting, and candid. I have been quoting from our conversation for years, in various contexts. Go here.
• “Robert Clary, last of the ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ stars, dies at 96.” “Twelve of his immediate family members, his parents and 10 siblings, were killed under the Nazis . . .” There is so much to say. Maybe I could relate something warm, and surprising, at least to me: “Clary married Natalie Cantor, the daughter of singer-actor Eddie Cantor . . .”
• This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for many things, and that includes you, dear readers. Have a wonderful holiday. God bless you. Talk soon.
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