In his 2002 autobiographical movie 8 Mile, rapper Eminem posed a question.
If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, in
one moment, could you capture it?
Baseball player Rick Monday captured the moment and more, 30 years ago
today.
On April 25th, 1976 the Chicago Cubs center fielder rescued the American
flag moments before it was to be burned by two protesters who stormed the field
in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Running from center field, Monday, a former Marine Reserve,
intercepted the flag from the two men who were only seconds away from igniting
the cloth. He left them there empty handed looking like two teenagers in
disbelief who had the phone number for Paris Hilton just fall out their
hands into the Grand Canyon.
The history of sports is littered with athletes who fail or succeed under
pressure. Big games make and break careers and lives can be changed by
how a person reacts. Sometimes an incident in a sporting event can define
a person beyond the sidelines. Just ask Roberto Alomar, who snapped and
spit on Umpire John Hirschbeck in 1996.
Ask anyone about Alomar and most will remember him more for his saliva than
his clutch hits.
Adam Vinatieri is known for being cool under pressure, the same with Michael
Jordan, Derek Jeter, Magic Johnson, Kerri Strug, and Larry Bird, The list of
players who performed under pressure during a game can go on longer than the
final two minutes of an NBA game.
If you are prepared, how you perform can also solidify you as a great person
and not just an athlete.
Today on the anniversary of the event, Monday was interviewed on ESPN radio
in Los Angeles.If like me, you were
lucky enough to hear the hosts recap the incident, (complete with the radio play-by-play
by Vin Scully) you would come away remembering Rick Monday not as a baseball
player, but a Patriot who stood up for something that was right and what he
believed in.
Monday has received various sorts of praise for his act, complete with
awards, plaques, admiration and in 1976 the Chicago Cubs presented him with the
actual flag from the incident.
Recently, the baseball Hall of Fame named the quick thinking act of Monday
one of the top 100 events in baseball history. It may be a top performance in baseball, but it was more than that, it was a top performance from an athlete who made a life changing decision in a split second.
In 2003, Eminem walked away with the Oscar for best song in a movie.30 years ago, Rick Monday waked away with
the respect of Americans.
Thank you sir, it's been a while but good to be back in the blogosphere.
I was a little tired after the last blog and wanted to recharge. This time I plan on being in the community blogging and writing more with others. Got a few good subjects stored up and hope to add consistent good posts this time and not just #### out entries in a short time like I did last time.
Glad to see you returned.
I'll be checking your posts also.
Hi Hiccups....I had totally forgotten about that Rick Monday story, and it's a good one. Thanks for bringing it alive in a really well-written post....nice job....
I had forgotten about it also, but was reminded of it after hearing him on the radio on my lunch hour. It doesn't get enough talk, but it's one of the more positive stories in sports in years.
The play by play by Scully was brief but excellent.
I was going to write a blog on this, but the community here would have dubbed it another plea for attention.
I think it's a hypocritical act by Monday. He says, ""What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976. In my mind, it's wrong now, in 2006. It's the way I was raised. My thoughts were reinforced with my six years in the Marine Corp Reserves. It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented."
But flag burning is protected by the First Amendment (Texas v. Johnson).
While the fans should have been punished for trespassing onto the field of play, burning the American flag is a completely legal activity whether you like it or not, and Rick Monday is a hypocrite.
UltraMega - What do you mean when you say that it would have been dubbed as another plea for attention?
Monday's act was not considered hypocritical.
Hypocritical is saying one thing and doing another. He has never wavered in his thoughts on the flag.
I respect your opinion on this and thanks for commenting, but it's not one that I can agree with.
The fans in the left field broke out into "God Bless America" after this event. Some people may view his act as wrong, but I believe that most people view it as Patriotic and right.
UltraMega - What do you mean when you say that it would have been dubbed as another plea for attention?
I have written a few articles that have garnered some controversy, and some of the people on here write it off as nothing more than a plea for attention -- that I stir up controversy just to do it.
Monday is a hypocrite. He said, "...friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented."
The flag represents freedom, right? Well, flag-burning is protected under freedom of speech in the First Amendment. That's why he's hypocritical.
And just because it's patriotic doesn't mean it's right. Thought processes like that is why the criminal Bush administration continues to pass unconstitutional bills through Congress like a hot knife through butter. First, they're going through your library records and financial statements, then they're videotaping you inside your house, and then -- Orwell's hell: they're controlling your thoughts.
This country is slowly but surely turning into a totalitarian society.
Thanks for the explanation - I was wondering about your past post history and viewed your blog for former controversial posts, but didn't find any right away.
Your opinion is strong and nobody can fault you for that.
Like it says, my wife calls me a lazy liar and she's only half right. Ok, maybe I made up a few of the statistics, well, maybe I made up all of the statistics, and lied througout the whole thing, but other than that, it's 100% true.
I think the charitable works of players should be celebrated with equal fervor. Isn't helping Katrina victims just as heroic as saving a flag? It's an amazing story nonetheless and I think people will enjoy this post.
Of course it is, but what I wanted to portray in this incident was the fact that he made a decision in a split second and didn't think about it, he reacted.
Compare him to Alomar who made a decision in the same amount of time and the consequences are different.
You have just a quick moment to react and how you react can affect how you are portrayed as a person rather than an athlete.
Charitable contributions are just as valuable, and probably more valuable but it's a choice made througout time with thought and guidance.
Kermit Washington has done alot of work with kids, but his one second of mayhem has labeled him for life.
I run 20 miles with a backpack each morning to the local orphanage where I unload clothing I've collected from donations throughout my community.
I then teach Spanish, French, German and a little bit of Hungarian language lessons to the many kids who have nicknamed me "El Guapo".
After lunch, I drive to the hospital down the street and administer brain surgery on needy patients from thirld world countries. I only take half of the payment from them and donate the rest to the school in Africa I helped build with Oprah.
In my spare time I like to play soccer with my 14 adopted children and then read bedtime stories to them each night where I pick out a certain book for each child and read it to completion. My wife says I'm a lazy liar, but she's only half right.
