Tributes in Unexpected Places

Some of you will have heard by now of the demise of Keith Olbermann's MSNBC news and comment programme, Countdown. I mentioned it in an earlier post, and I certainly wasn't the only person writing on the topic.

While casting around today, I found two things of quick interest: first, that Mr Olbermann has tweeted his intent to further tweet, so to speak:

"At exactly 8 Eastern tonight I will issue my first tweet. Well, other than THIS one :)"

...so that's 7pm, CST, and if my damned internet connection (which goes down everytime there's a light rain in the vicinity, never mind six inches of snow - curse you, Time Warner [but not as much as Comcast]) stays up, I'll be checking in.

What I noticed with some surprise, though, was that on Mr Olbermann's baseball blog, at which I have glanced in the past, of the fifty-three comments on his most recent post (Thursday, 20 January), after the first eight, the remainder appear to be about the cessation of Countdown, and the majority are overwhelmingly supportive.

A number of the commenters also mention that they aren't really baseball fans at all. Here, I should admit that I am a marginal fan: I like going to a game now and again, and I can appreciate the history of the game and even watch Ken Burns' excellent documentary with interest, but I'm not on superfan level - not even close. I've read one book about baseball ever, David Halberstam's Summer of '49, which I read on a bet and very much enjoyed, but that's as far as it goes. I don't remember statistics, and I don't even really have a favourite team, these days. When I think of baseball, I think more of a rural idyll, of playing - badly - as a youth, on a small town ball diamond, composed largely of cracked, dried dirt and a variety of enthusiastic weeds. I think of being smacked in the mouth in Cub Scout baseball and bleeding profusely - but not losing any teeth. I think of the only home run that I ever hit that same year. Gifted at sports, I was not.

Perhaps, though, I should read more, and maybe even make an effort to care, just a little bit more. If other well-rounded and intelligent people enjoy sport so much, am I perhaps allowing my own personal history to keep me from something genuinely wonderful? It's worth considering.

Equally worth considering are these tributes of other non-fans, who take the time to seek out a sports blog, and leave a comment, thanking Keith Olbermann for standing up and saying what certainly appeared to be the right thing to say, at the right time.

Which, in my own small way, I'm doing here.

Thanks.