My Sunday Feeling

This writing stuff is a curious process. I just got finished doing a paid gig that needed to be pretty much filed Sunday night which is why I’m just now getting to this week’s MSF. It’s funny how these things gestate. I tend to formulate most of my stuff in y head while I’m out running. My buddy at the paper works stuff out on the golf course sometimes. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen a discussion out on the links turn into a column.

Anyway, this piece I wrote last weekend was one of those rare essays that pretty much wrote itself. I sat down Saturday around 1 in the afternoon and had a first draft done by tip-off of the first basketball game. I tweaked it a little Sunday and Monday and that was it.

Oh were it always that easy. Today I dictated an Answer and Counterclaim while doing my day job. I don’t know if I accidentally took some stupid pills before going to work this morning or what but I just couldn’t get the words out.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that stuff that comes flying off of the fingers with ease can’t suck. It can and it does. And it doesn’t mean that the pleading I struggled with so much today won’t be just fine. It will. It’s just a curious process.

How ‘bout them Tigers? - The LSU Tigers made it to the Final Four of both the men and the women’s tournament. This hasn’t happened since 2000 or so when UConn had both it’s teams in the finals. At the risk of causing heart failure amongst my friends in Southeast Louisiana, I am going to take the opportunity to give the devil his due and to give LSU all the credit in the world.

Just imagine. It is hard enough to get to the Final Four. It was especially hard on the men’s side where all of the number one seeds took a powder. Indeed, ESPN reported that out of the 4 million participants in its basketball pool, only 4 people correctly picked the teams that stumbled into the Final Four. The Lady Tigers had a somewhat easier time of it despite getting a scare from Stanford last night. To get both teams in the Final Four is great. To get them both in giving what all these kids went through post-Katrina is nothing short of remarkable.

By now, we have all heard the stories of the incredible acts of kindness and courage displayed by the athletes of LSU. Glenn Davis served as a human IV tree, standing for hours with lines running off of his massive arms until they could find durable medical equipment. The football players moved people around. The female athletes served as nurses, teachers and babysitters. Some of these kids served others all the while not knowing about the fate of their own friends and loved ones. I could go on and on. Better yet go to the archives at SI.com and pull up Rick Reilly’s great piece “LSU To The Rescue.” I defy you to maintain dry eyes.

I don’t know if they are going to pull this off, but I know this: The kids know tough. Basketball ain’t that tough.
And that’s about all I have for now. Maybe it is the stress of saying something nice about LSU.

Writing is a curious process. Better shut this down while I’m still ahead of the game.

Before I write something stupid like “Geaux Tigers!”