Maggie's Farm

We don't have a "Sports" category, but maybe we should.  I normally wouldn't call out a seemingly obscure sports obituary. However, it seems worthwhile, particularly in these 'racially troubled' times (let me be clear, I don't feel we are in any troubled times, but Connie Hawkins' story goes to show just how far we've come).

I was surprised to learn Hawkins passed away.  In fact, I'd forgotten about him, more or less.  Not an extremely well-known NBA player after the early 70's, in his early years he had been blacklisted by the NBA because he was implicated in a point shaving scandal.  The problem, of course, was he was a freshman in college, ineligible to play, and couldn't have been involved in any point shaving.  During the investigation, he was denied the right to legal counsel while being interviewed by NYC police.

As a result, he was expelled from school, and the NBA blackballed him.  He played for the Globetrotters, the Wizards and eventually joined the fledgling ABA and proved he was every bit as good as expected.  Unfortunately toward the end of the 1968-69 season, he injured his knee and it required surgery.  That same year, his suit against the NBA's blackball was settled and he received a large payment as well as having his rights assigned to the Phoenix Suns.  

His first season, he again set out to prove he was a top tier player.  But after 8 years of being denied the right to play professionally, many of his best years were behind him.  Despite this, he averaged 24.6 points per game, 10.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.  There's little doubt that, fully healthy, Hawkins would have been a premier talent, probably even an NBA legend, if not for circumstances lining up against him.

7 years later, his career was over.  He remained a regular at Phoenix poker rooms for years, where his affable nature and celebrity kept him in good company.  He was honored by the NBA and inducted into the Hall of Fame because of his overall contributions to the game, in 1992.  The Phoenix Suns retired his number, 42. 

In the genre of sports literature, 2 books stand out to me.  Ball Four and Foul!  The Connie Hawkins Story.  I read both in my early teens, and they taught me as much about life as they did about sports and celebrity.  They are, in various ways, classics and paved the way for all the stories in that genre which followed.  They broke the rules of silence surrounding sports, exposing the soft underbelly and dirt which were previously ignored because athletes were icons, and sports leagues seemingly incorruptible (despite the Black Sox Scandal, Americans had a love affair with sports leagues and even today these flawed organizations are viewed as leaders and examples for young athletes).  Hawkins was a victim, as opposed to a perpetrator (unlike Jim Bouton), of bad behavior.  

What may have made him most well-known, toward the end of his injury-riddled NBA career, was a sketch on the second episode of Saturday Night Live, in which he played Paul Simon in a game of one-on-one.  

Here is a link to the video (there is no embed capability, unfortunately).  The Paul Simon/Connie Hawkins sketch occurs about the 17:20 mark.

I was cleaning up this weekend and emptied out a backpack to find notes I'd written a year ago about topics of interest to me.  While I traveled through Austria and the Czech Republic, the extended family took meals together and whenever something caught my ear, I'd write it down.  One such topic was 'bog butter' - something I'd heard of, but knew little about.

The thought of it makes me wish to know as little as possible, in some ways.  Yet it turns out to be an intriguing topic.  We are all probably familiar with the remarkable capacity of peat to preserve just about anything.  Peat has properties of preservation which are rather astounding.  Apparently, old societies used peat to preserve their butter and occasionally forgot about it, lost it, or left it behind.  Which means some archaeologists or bog workers are the lucky recipients of free butter.  If they're willing to try it.

Its quality varies based on the kind of peat, how long it's been sitting, and what it's made of.  I was told by someone who has seen some that it smells like old shoes, which may not make it the most appetizing of condiments.  However, perhaps a better description is 'strong cheese'.  I'm still not trying it, even if it is edible.

While these random finds are of little culinary value, they do provide insight into techniques of ancient food preparation and management.  It has been noted that butter was a bit of a luxury, but was used for more than just food.  It was also used to pay taxes, rents, fines and provide hospitality as well as helping out with healing.  The quality of the butter would be an indicator of socio-economic status.

As for me, I'll stick with my Land O' Lakes, salted.  Refrigerated, not stored in peat.

Living in the NYC area, I have plenty of wacky Progressive friends.  They are really wacky these days.  Of course, my Republican friends can be just as nutty, at times.  It all depends on what you're discussing, though this should go without saying.

What's really crazy, though, is how one Progressive friend mentioned to me that polarization has reached "fever pitch" and the basis of her comment was the recent Congressional shooting.  I shrugged and said it had been at that level for 24 years, really, and she'd simply chosen not to notice.  Now that she's energized politically, it matters to her.  No, no, no, she replied, that can't be it.  It most certainly is.

All my Progressive friends are members of the #Resist movement.  I am not a Trump supporter, but I'm not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, either.  He's had mixed results so far.  Nothing outlandish, nothing crazy. I think he's accomplished quite a bit (both better and worse) for not passing a single piece of major legislation.  His bluster and hyperbole bug me, but that's just talk and Tweets.  I've seen and heard worse from regular politicians.  Yet it's these words that set off the #Resist people.  They go bonkers over every little thing!  It's fascinating.