Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Cheering for the underdog

There are few things in life as gratifying as picking an impossibly long shot and then rooting him home. Oh, the sweetness of looking around to all your scoffing friends and loudly asserting, “I told you so” and have the betting ticket to prove it.

The football version of that scenario happened during the playoff game between The Washington Football Team and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that was not to be missed on Saturday, Jan. 9.

To say Tampa Bay was favored was putting it mildly. They have gobs of talent and the Greatest of All Time quarterback by the name of Tom Brady, also known as “The Ageless Wonder” and as the owner of six championship rings.

The QB for the hapless Washington team (known at the WFT, with tongue firmly in cheek) was the underdog of all time, right up there with Rudy, he of Notre Dame legend and movie fame. Only this no-chance prospect didn’t have to walk on; he was dragged out of a college math class and told to suit up.

Now Alex Smith, the comeback kid featured in a recent Bleacher Views, was supposed to be the WFT quarterback, but he had pulled a leg muscle and couldn’t go. The prior starter had been released for doing stupid stuff off the field, so guess what? The team was down to the taxi squad QB by the name of Taylor Heinicke (pronounced High-Nee-Kee, I think).

He had bummed around the league for several years as a back-up, but he was widely considered to be too small to make it in the big time. Small QB’s have had a rough go of it regardless of the Doug Flutie’s and Russell Wilson’s of the world, but it is always a good idea to remember the old adage about the fight in the dog before telling the smaller man he cannot compete.

Now if this were a Hollywood production, the little underdog would step up and win the game, making the GOAT look like a goat in the process. Well, he did come pretty close, and I guess that is pretty good considering what kind of year this has been. We will have to take our gratification where we can find it these days, and having our underdog put in an overdog kind of performance will have to do.

But about next year? Well, let’s just see what happens. It might be worth keeping an eye on the WFT.

 

Millerton resident Theodore Kneeland is a former teacher and coach — and athlete.

Theodore Kneeland

Latest News

Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Windacre, a 25-acre property in Millerton will be the site of “Work in Progress,” an afternoon with acclaimed entomologist, New York Times bestselling author and Homegrown National Park co-founder Doug Tallamy.

Provided

For nearly three decades, Doug Tallamy, a professor at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park, has studied the intricate relationships between native plants, insects, birds and the ecosystems that sustain them. His books, including “Bringing Nature Home” and “Nature’s Best Hope,” have helped shift the conversation about conservation from something that happens primarily in parks and preserves to something ordinary people can practice on the land around them.

On Sunday, Oct. 4, Tallamy will bring that conversation to Windacre in Millerton for “Work in Progress: Toward Native Fields,” an outdoor gathering exploring both the possibilities and the complications of restoring private land for biodiversity.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

How would you feel if you found out you weren’t the only you — if there was an exact replica of you? What if you found out that you’d been cloned? Would you believe that you’re the real you? Would you suspect you might be a copy of the original? How could you be sure anything about your life was real? These are some of the questions posed in Caryl Churchill’s play “A Number,” opening at the Ancram Center for the Artson Oct. 1.

Churchill was born in London in 1938 and has been hailed by the theaterl world as one of the strongest voices of her time to take on sexual politics and feminist themes. Her works garner pointedly considered analysis from the highest levels of theatrical intellectualism. Basically, it’s about as far from “The Lion King” as you can get. While she’s experimented with dance theater in the past, “A Number” is much more stripped down, highlighting Churchill’s chosen themes and the skills of both actors on stage.

Keep ReadingShow less
performances

Dispatches from the Farm

Dispatches from the Farm

Adamah Farm crew members planning out the day’s tasks on a late September day.

Janna Siller

“Dispatches from the farm” is a new, periodic column offering a firsthand look at the rhythms, challenges and rewards of farming through the eyes of a local farmer.

The thing about plants is that they can’t get up and move. When a storm like last weekend’s nor’easter threatens to roll through, you can’t just round everybody up and settle them safely on the sofa for movie night.

Keep ReadingShow less
dispatches-from-the-farm
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Pinchas Zukerman brings an all-Beethoven program to Hotchkiss

Pinchas Zukerman brings an all-Beethoven program to Hotchkiss

Pinchas Zukerman to perform at Hotchkiss Oct. 4

Cheryl Mazak

The passion, drama and energy of Beethoven will fill Katherine M. Elfers Hall at The Hotchkiss School on Oct. 4, when world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman is joined by pianist Shai Wosner for a special recital.

The 4:30 p.m. program at the Esther Eastman Music Center will feature three of Beethoven’s celebrated violin sonatas: Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, “Spring”; and Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Found Footage Festival brings laughs to The Triplex

Found Footage Festival brings laughs to The Triplex

Pickett and Prueher on stage.

Provided by Found Footage Festival

On Sunday, Oct. 4, the Found Footage Festival makes its way to the Triplex Theatre in Great Barrington with a treasure trove of lost and forgotten VHS tapes scraped from the piles of distant memories and discarded physical media.

The Found Footage Festival is a “celebration of the videos that time forgot” hosted by two Brooklyn-based comedy writers and childhood friends, Joe Pickett of The Onion and Nick Prueher of The Late Show.

Keep ReadingShow less
film festival

Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl

Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl
Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl
Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl

Luis Felber is excited about creating in the Northwest Corner. Coming of age in the British countryside, all he wanted to do as a teen was move to London, the creative heartbeat of England. At 17, he started a band called the Eraserheads and went for it. Since then, he’s been in so many bands he struggles to list them all. But on Saturday, Oct. 3, he’ll be taking the stage at the Cornwall Music Bowl all by himself.

Felber has always felt more comfortable on stage than interacting with people. There’s a sense of purpose in being at a concert. Everybody in the room is there for the same reason: to witness the act of making music. So whether he’s on the stage or in the audience, he feels at home in a venue.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.