12/21/24
April 08, 2013
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
That was illuminating. I don't recall that we Yanks were made aware of the full depth of the enmity between sporting fans and Mrs. Thatcher.
The first sport-related thought that crossed my mind when I heard the news was that the Norwegian football commentator who delivered the immortal "your boys took a beating" oratory after the Norway-England match in the early 80's didn't have Maggie Thatcher to kick around any more.
I think that everyone the Norwegian named has now moved over to the Lord Nelson column.
posted by beaverboard at 03:01 PM on April 08, 2013
Joe Flacco to portray Johnny Unitas, playing the former Colts star in "Unitas We Stand", an upcoming movie being co-produced by Johnny's son Joe.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:21 PM on April 08, 2013
Thatcher was inclined to support the "membership" scheme that would have forced football fans to carry special ID cards. Hillsborough changed all that; the families still want to know her precise role in the govt/police/press nexus that blamed that disaster on supporters.
posted by etagloh at 03:48 PM on April 08, 2013
Today was the home opener for the Boston Red Sox. Now I have to admit that I am first and foremost a baseball fan, and despite the "best" efforts of the Red Sox over the past 2 seasons to force me to change my allegiance, I remain a Sox fan. So the home opener for the team is something of a special day. Today's was no different, perhaps better than many. First of all, the home team won. Second, the Red Sox-supported charity, The Jimmy Fund, was featured, with a chorus made up of kids who were being treated for cancer among others. But to this old aircraft lover, the highlight was the flyover. No F-16s, no F/A-18s, no USAF, USN, or USMC fancy jets, just a pair of the prettiest restored P-51 Mustangs I've seen in a long time. The P-51 is a WWII vintage fighter. I grew up in a town right next to Boston's Logan Airport, and when I was a kid, about the time of the Korean War, the Mass Air National Guard kept a squadron of P-51s there. I will never forget the sound of the supercharged V-16 Allison engines that drove those birds as they flew over in formation and broke for their landings. I think I went back about 60 years today as the camera followed the 2 Mustangs across the park and the audio picked up the roar of the Allisons. There are some things that baseball brings that have nothing to do with the game and everything to do with life.
posted by Howard_T at 09:24 PM on April 08, 2013
Geez, Howard--c'mon out to Reno in September. The sky's crawling with Mustangs, some lovingly restored, some customized to race. While you're here, check out the TigerCats, BearCats, Sea Furies, Yaks and other beautiful old warbirds. Even Lefty Gardner's P-38, possibly the only plane that challenges the P-51 for sheer beauty, IMO.
posted by tahoemoj at 11:12 AM on April 09, 2013
No one ever uses ME-262s though.
"Yeah, but those fockers were in Messerschmitts!"
posted by yerfatma at 01:13 PM on April 09, 2013
Love the P-51's. Wish there were as many flyable P-47's and P-38's around to admire.
I went up in a ME-110 as a kid. Don't see many of those around. What a canopy.
A salty-tongued older woman I know went to Germany a few years ago and took a few short hop flights in smaller aircraft while she was there.
I still have the postcard she sent:
"Just had a great fahrt in a Fokker".
posted by beaverboard at 01:31 PM on April 09, 2013
Geez, Howard--c'mon out to Reno in September.
If I could swing it, I'd be there. One of the local colleges used to have an aviation program, sadly now cancelled, and in cooperation with the Collings Foundation put on an air exhibition every second year at the local airport. No great extravaganza, but had lots of good warbirds and some really neat antique civilian stuff. There was a lot of flying, no aerobatics because of the populated area around the field, and Collings Foundation offered rides (for a small fortune) in its flyable B-17 and B-24. There is nothing like the sound of reciprocating aircraft engines driving propellers that pull these beautiful birds (there is no such thing as an ugly aircraft - I don't care what you might think about the A-6 or the A-10) through the sky that really gets me going.
Didn't mean to turn this into a discussion of antique aircraft, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who can not resist looking up at the sound of an aircraft.
posted by Howard_T at 04:08 PM on April 09, 2013
101GreatGoals, better known for its not-quite-kosher goal videos, has a piece on the relationship between Liverpool FC and Margaret Thatcher.
No minute's silence in Manchester tonight for United vs City, either.