Thelatestopinion pieceby neo-conservative syndicated columnist George F. Will is a tributeto retiring umpire Bruce Froemming, who ishanging up his chest protectorat the end of theseasonafter 37 years as Major League umpire, the longest stint ever for an ump. It caught my eye because a long-time friend of mine who recently died umpired in the minor leagues and knew Froemming, and because I'm always interested in andimpressed by long careers in sports and the departure of the final person or persons who were active during a given era in the past.
Will has always loved to write about baseball and this column is innocuous, especially compared to most of the written and visual material spewed forthby the corporatemedia, but as one who views everything in the MSM with a trained and jaundiced eye, the politically correct, pro-status quo, pro-system formulaWill follows is quite evident and simple in its design.
According to Will, Froemming represents everything that's good and true and remainsthe norm among those incharge despite such bumps in the road as "a left-fielder suspected of better hitting through chemistry; an NFL quarterback accused of dog fighting; an NBA referee guilty in a betting scandal; the Tour de France ruined by failed drug tests." Those fourselectedstains on sportsare of course racially balanced while the unrelenting crime wave among black athletes goes unmentioned.
Willunquestioningly accepts Froemming's contentions of unwavering purity on the joband of never having had even a single momentary lapse in concentration during 37 years of umpiring MLB games.
Will's ode to Froemming does include Froemming having been chastised and subsequently grown after hearing it one day early in his career in the big leaguesfrom the "regal and ferocious" Bob Gibson.
The moral ofWill'syarn is-- despite flaws the system, as represented here by MajorLeague Baseball and Bruce Froemming,is strong, worthy and beyond reproach,with Froemming evenbeinghelpedalong the way by a Magical Negro, an event he still remembers "like it was yesterday."
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will082007.php3Edited by: Don Wassall
Will has always loved to write about baseball and this column is innocuous, especially compared to most of the written and visual material spewed forthby the corporatemedia, but as one who views everything in the MSM with a trained and jaundiced eye, the politically correct, pro-status quo, pro-system formulaWill follows is quite evident and simple in its design.
According to Will, Froemming represents everything that's good and true and remainsthe norm among those incharge despite such bumps in the road as "a left-fielder suspected of better hitting through chemistry; an NFL quarterback accused of dog fighting; an NBA referee guilty in a betting scandal; the Tour de France ruined by failed drug tests." Those fourselectedstains on sportsare of course racially balanced while the unrelenting crime wave among black athletes goes unmentioned.
Willunquestioningly accepts Froemming's contentions of unwavering purity on the joband of never having had even a single momentary lapse in concentration during 37 years of umpiring MLB games.
Will's ode to Froemming does include Froemming having been chastised and subsequently grown after hearing it one day early in his career in the big leaguesfrom the "regal and ferocious" Bob Gibson.
The moral ofWill'syarn is-- despite flaws the system, as represented here by MajorLeague Baseball and Bruce Froemming,is strong, worthy and beyond reproach,with Froemming evenbeinghelpedalong the way by a Magical Negro, an event he still remembers "like it was yesterday."
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will082007.php3Edited by: Don Wassall