02:55 PM
09/16/24
09/16/24
July 31, 2024
SportsFilter: The Wednesday 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.
South Sudan is impressive, but I think I know why they play hard and don't quit. Between 1990 and 1993 I lived in Cairo, Egypt, and worshiped at the Anglican Cathedral there. This was during the time of civil war between the Moslem North and the mainly Christian South. One of the priests from the cathedral would split his time between Cairo and Sudan trying to help out as he could. The undercroft of the cathedral was home to about 100 or so young Sudanese men who had fled in order to avoid being forced into the North Sudanese military, a fate that frequently meant being forced to convert to Islam or murdered. These men could not take a job other than whatever they could get on the sly. During my time there I was called upon to run the parish fair. The refugees became my principal source of labor, and I have never met a more willing and hard working group. Watching their Olympic basketball team reminded me of the way they worked in those days.