Friday, December 09, 2005
A dark day
The past day (24 hours plus a smidge) has been a bit traumatic in my little world.
Jeff and Josh Paul were both DFA'd. *sniff* *sniff* OK, I've shed my single tiny, tear for each of them. And I wish them both well in their post-Halo careers.
and Gary Barnett was run out of town in Colorado.
I crossed paths with Gary and his family many times during our shared Northwestern years, and I always found him to be a bright person, a supportive friend and coach, and a skilled public figure (that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but he was good at returning the attention of strangers, and gracious in every situation, as well as a good speaker and interview.)
I knew his son well, and his daughter in passing. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to judge a parent by the children they raise, but both the son and daughter were bright, caring people. That is such a generic description, but they were model children, and not in a stepford way, but in that way where they are both generic-ly boring and singularly astounding. Golden and human and humble and everything you look for in friends, co-workers, teammates.
The controversy at Colorado about the treatment of his female player should have been a deal-breaker for me. I really can't stand discrimination, and as a woman and a former athlete I find that situation was, at best, handled poorly. But since I have seen Gary with his daughter, and spoken with him about the points where athletic integration could be possible (mostly as it relates to hockey, since that was my sport), I cannot bring myself to damn him.
Jeff and Josh Paul were both DFA'd. *sniff* *sniff* OK, I've shed my single tiny, tear for each of them. And I wish them both well in their post-Halo careers.
and Gary Barnett was run out of town in Colorado.
I crossed paths with Gary and his family many times during our shared Northwestern years, and I always found him to be a bright person, a supportive friend and coach, and a skilled public figure (that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but he was good at returning the attention of strangers, and gracious in every situation, as well as a good speaker and interview.)
I knew his son well, and his daughter in passing. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to judge a parent by the children they raise, but both the son and daughter were bright, caring people. That is such a generic description, but they were model children, and not in a stepford way, but in that way where they are both generic-ly boring and singularly astounding. Golden and human and humble and everything you look for in friends, co-workers, teammates.
The controversy at Colorado about the treatment of his female player should have been a deal-breaker for me. I really can't stand discrimination, and as a woman and a former athlete I find that situation was, at best, handled poorly. But since I have seen Gary with his daughter, and spoken with him about the points where athletic integration could be possible (mostly as it relates to hockey, since that was my sport), I cannot bring myself to damn him.
Comments:
What is DFA'd? what happened to Jeff and Josh Paull? There is nothing on the Angels' website about Jeff. I think he's a great player and if he gets to start every game on another team he will probably do really really well. What happened?
Did you play hockey at Northwestern? Cool. I don't even know if we had a women's club team at Illinois.
I didn't play Hockey at NU. No such thing existed, they didn't even have a track team-- they were very specific about the sports they supported. If only I had been a fencer.... I played when I was in boarding school in CT, 2 members of my team went on to the Olympic team a few years later. A source of tremendous vicarious pride for me. But we played no-check. I know, I know. The die-hard girls in high school also skated for a CT club team that allowed checking.
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