Images of the Surreal Past

Over a lifetime, we witness a few events that leave us slackjawed, captivated, astonished. During such times, these occurences take up much of our thoughts, a lot of our time, and most of our focus. Some are immediate, some last hours, some last days, weeks, months or longer. While we all have our personal ordeals, here, for the purposes of this post, I'm talking more regarding historical surreal events that have happened in our lifetimes. As individuals born in different times, different places, we'll have our own angles on what constitutes an "unreal" reality. I suppose it's my nature, but most of my remembrances of such events are the nightmarish ones. It's why news is news, I suppose. The 9-11 image that I placed atop the post is one of the latest ones for me. The tsunami about three or four years back was another event this new millenium. Actually, one of these episodes of which I'm speaking broke the new century. Remember the hanging chads in Florida in the 2000 election? Hard to forget, huh? I remember day after day watching the television for the political spin, and the counts and recounts, wondering what the heck had happened to our system of government.

One has to be a certain age and experience enough of this thing called life, I think, to let these experiences become so meaningful. Maybe I'm wrong. The first one I can remember for myself was the death of Elvis Presley - and this wasn't so much for me as it was for my parents. Older people may well remember the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination, and then his brother, probably the Munich Olymics - I'm sure those would be on my list if I was living and old enough back then. However, I certainly remember night after night watching 20/20 and the news cover Elvis and then hearing "Dr. Nick", who had some e'splainin' to do. My parents LOVED E.P., and we had several of his vinyl albums and cassette tapes at that point. For me, with all the Vicki Carr, Paul Anka, and Tom Jones my parents were listening to, Elvis was always a welcome respite. And then he was gone.

The single event that has affected me most - as in, I had nightmares over it when I was a young teen - was the Jim Jones' People Temple massacre in Guyana. After seeing it unfold on the news, hearing people at my church talking about it, and then seeing the horrid pictures in the Time Magazine that I fetched out of the mail, that one kept me on edge for weeks. Despite my fear of everything that had happened, for whatever reason I thirsted for more and more knowledge. I think it was the cult aspect, and it was the first time I had heard of such. It wasn't the last time, obviously, but this was the most indelible image for me.

The next event I remember pretty well was the Son of Sam killings by David Berkowitz. That was followed by the Iran hostage situation, which lasted quite a long time. Maybe I was a little slow on the up and up, maybe I was a bit sheltered, but this was the first time I remember learning about the Middle East and all the dissension there. As a kid, I always thought of America as the greatest country, and then, being naive, figured everyone else in the world did, too. Quite an initiation to the contrary. Ayatollah Khomeini, the takeover of the U.S. Embassy, and the hostages taken mixed in with an America where long lines at the pump, a Cold War, dwindling hope in the country, and with a President that didn't know how to handle any of this chaos. Enter Ronald Reagan.

Supreme Court nominations, especially conservative nominations, have seemed to divide the country. Speaking of Reagan, his nomination of Robert Bork set off a huge political clash and one that went public. Pressure groups, both conservative and liberals, had pumped plenty of funds into the "fight game" rhetoric prior to the confirmation hearings of Judge Bork. Democratic senators took the offense and a few prominent ones had spilled the beans beforehand that they would vote against Bork's nomination for Supreme Court justice. That backlash resonated with many Americans, and while Bork went down swinging, he went down alone, with the White House that had pledged to support him beforehand, now nowhere to be found.

A long time ago, I remember my dad reading Black Sunday, a novel by Thomas Harris (who also wrote the Silence of the Lambs and the Hannibal Lecter series). In that, sort of like the 24 hours at the Munich Olympiad, a blimp runs into the stadium hosting the Super Bowl due to terrorist activity. While no terrorists were involved, a similar event took place in 1989. During the third game of the Major League Baseball World Series -- coined the Battle of the Bay as it featured Oakland and San Francisco teams -- the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, registering 6.9 (7.1 surface-wave magnitude) on the Richter, during warm-ups for the clash. I still remember hearing Al Michaels stuttering about the earthquake. For ten days, the World Series was postponed. In the Iraq crises, NFL football games were postponed, but aside from Munich, I can't remember a more riveting sports stoppage.

Robert Bork's wasn't the only Supreme Court nomination to have its share of calamity. In 1991, George H.W. Bush's nomination of conservative Clarence Thomas, after celebrated liberal Thurgood Marshall retired from the bench, brought another round of pressure groups trying to upend the nomination. And with that, the bizarre circumstance of Anita Hill testifying before the Judicial Committee regarding her personal, as alleged, sexual harrasment by Judge Thomas, and then Thomas' firy counter. The proceedings were a spectacle that brought about one of the funniest SNL skits that was ever acted, but for Thomas and Hill, there was nothing humorous, whatsoever.

The last image I'll post is that of the Iraq conflict, the Shock and Awe offensive. I'm not a veteran, so these were the closest images of war I'd ever seen. I spoke with a parent on one of the baseball teams that I coached, and he had lived and worked over in Saudi Arabia when Saddam Hussein was firing Scud missiles that direction. He talked about the evacuations and how no one could work -- most folks just drank -- and some of the fear involved. I can't even begin to imagine. Personally, I'd prefer to never see anything like that again, but reality being what it is, I most likely will.

Catastrophic events, nightmarish occurences, calamities, bizarre politics... probably not the trip down memory lane you'd want to read about, and certainly not one you'll often find here in The Realm of Possibility. Apologies, I suppose, but lately I've just been thinking of all these types of events, and how they seem to be cyclical every few years. Not that I'm waiting for the boot to drop -- sorry to be so cynical.

What indelible images of the past do you have? I know I've missed a few what with space shuttles exploding and genocides on different continents and volcanoes erupting. Points given for any happy ones. Many, many points. I think I could use a coke and a smile now.

Better Days Ahead - Realm Submissions

Brainstorming at lunch yesterday, Ken and I -- and when brainstorming, it's usually more Ken than I by a lot, and yesterday was no different -- struck on a thought of how to add some value to the site, to make it more fun and interesting for everyone, and hopefully make the folks that make a daily journey to The Realm or even just passersby, enjoy this site all the more... or at least some. Certainly, one of my hopes when I visit sites around the blogsphere - especially ones I want to return to - is additional content. Everyone is limited by time and circumstance, and most of us that create these websites know that it takes some effort to merely keep the blogs going, and all the more to try to make them exciting places to come. Which is one of our major goals with The Realm of Possibility -- we want this to be a stop in the blogsphere that people really look forward to enjoying. Not an easy task, but such is our endeavor. Content, especially thoughtful or thought-provoking, humorous, fun, adventurous, or illuminating, is the key to making The Realm a magical experience.

All that said, the best one attribute of our site has been our readers. You. Without the comments, suggestions for posts, witty banter, differing opinions, willingness to let go and play along, etc. from all of you, all this space would be is a place for Ken and me to shout into a vacuum. What's the fun in that?

With all that in mind, we want to open up the site a bit more, to allow any of you, wanting or willing to do so, opportunities to add content to this site. Now, we can't just hand over the keys to the kingdom per se... but we want to come as close as we can to that line without going over. In that vein, we want to put out this e-mail address of ours:

realmsubmissions@gmail.com

We realize that not everyone that comes here has a blog or wants one. Yet, they may have some tales, anecdotes, or humorous insights they'd like to see posted and commented on sometimes. Some people have a blog or multiple blogs, all of which have themes, and some posts they may want to write might fit better here at The Realm than at their own blogs. And it's always a good idea to have a suggestion box, and this e-mail address allows for that. We'll probably tack up this e-address somewhere around here before too long. Some of our better posts and ones most commented upon have been suggested by others (i.e. Thirteenismic, Bad Writing Well Done both from Wanda V.), and there's plenty of room where posts like those can go right here on our site.

We'd especially love to hear any original writing that you'd be brave enough to allow us to post and upon which others can comment. Humorous anecdotes are always welcome, as are personal stories, and clean jokes. Counter angles to something one of us might have posted (for example, I like Bono and wrote a post on him once; maybe you don't like him and want to give another side that's longer than a typical comment - write a post and send it our way) will certainly be considered. Movie or music reviews may well fit in. Make suggestions, advise us of interesting links, send prayer requests you'd like us or readers of the blog to go to God with, submit a meme or game. Really... we'll take a look at any post you write and send to our e-mail account, and if it fits The Realm, we'll put it out there with your name on it.

While I'm sure no one's going to be beating down the drawbridge to have a crack at the first non-Rich-or-Ken post that enhances The Realm, I really hope over time, you guys will take this seriously (in a fun way). Invite your pals to do the same; the more the merrier. Hear's hoping we hear from you!!!

[Ken, if you want to add -- or more likely subtract -- from anything I've written, please feel free to edit. Then, erase this last comment. Many thanks.]

Roddick/Federer - Wimbledon 2009 - Classic Tennis

Just got finished watching what is yet-another (third-in-a-row) Wimbledon Final classic. Roger Federer just became the all-time major championships winner in tennis with a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 win over Andy Roddick in what was arguably Roddick's best match he's ever played, albeit in a losing effort. Fitting that Federer claimed his 15th slam and 6th Wimbledon title in such an awesome match. While this year's final probably won't match last year's as one of the greatest tennis matches ever played with Rafa Nadal over coming Federer 9-7 in the final set, the 2009 men's title lacked none of the suspense, high level, and great tennis of its predecessor.

Tennis is a sport in which I think it's pretty hard to judge who is the greatest player of all time across the eras for several reasons - the competition at the time, the technology of the rackets, the changes in tournament play, and the changes in surfaces. Am I ready to say I think Roger Federer is a greater champion that Bjorn Borg or vice versa? No, probably not. However, one could make a pretty compelling case for Roger Federer at this point for being the best men's singles player ever, and I'm not sure how that argument could be dispelled. Certainly, it wouldn't be easy.

Today, Federer, once again, showed why he's such a great champion. Roddick brought his A-game, and this was an A-game I had never seen from him before. Aside from one point - and a HUUUUUUGE point it turned out to be - in the second set tie-break ahead 6-5 where he choked on a relatively easy volley that would have given him a 2-love set lead, Roddick was nails until the final game of the match. His serve was on, and until the last game of the match, Federer never broke him. Nonetheless, it was Roger Federer with more aces (50 total), more winners, and more overall points in the match. Federer's return of serve... simply tremendous, and how he can take that and go from defense to offense, it's a huge part of his magnificence. Plus, he has supreme confidence in his ability to make shots, and he displayed that today over and over in the points that became rallies. Roddick was as good as I've ever seen him in rallies, and his improved backhand was a large part of that, but Federer was better. Roger Federer is as great a champion as tennis, and any sport really, has ever seen.

One of the things I really like about Federer, because it's easy for me to dislike gloating champions, is that he manages, for the most part, to stay humble in winning. It'd be impossible and false to not take some credit for your ability when you've won multiple championships, much less fifteen grand slams. Somehow, for me, Roger Federer walks that line. He credits his competition, he's grateful and shows some humility when interviewed, and he's got an amiable personality. I also enjoyed how he mentioned that it didn't escape him that Nadal missed the tournament, and he did it in a way that didn't discredit Roddick. The tennis world is fortunate to have a champion like Federer.

The more interesting character study in this match, without a doubt, though, was Andy Roddick. Roddick entered this match winless against Federer at Wimbledon and in major championships and with a 2-18 record versus Federer overall. And anyone who's watched Roddick's career knows that when events start spiraling against him in matches with Federer, he's cracked. Today, I waited for that over and over. The aforementioned second set tiebreak where Roddick was ahead in the breaker 6-2 and then proceeded to lose the next six straight points - with the easy volley he choked on ahead 6-5, that sort of mishap would usually do in Roddick against Federer. Not against everyone, but certainly against Roger. Not this match. Andy Roddick hung tough the next few service games, and he was back in the match. The third set went to another tiebreaker, and this time Federer went ahead 5-1 and 6-2. In a role reversal, Roddick brought it back against Federer to a similar point as Federer had in the set before, 6-5. Being the great champion he is, Federer hit a service bomb that Roddick couldn't answer, and now Federer had a two sets to one lead. One might think, that would be enough to finish Roddick. Roddick didn't have a lot of points on Federer's serves, but leading 2-1 in the fourth set, he managed a double break point and converted on his second chance, taking a one break advantage. Federer challenged him a couple times over the rest of the set, but Roddick held tough, both physically, especially after a spill on Federer's serve at 5-3, and more importantly, mentally. That was the fascinating aspect of Andy Roddick today - mentally, he never gave in. He simply didn't. Even when he won the U.S. Open a few years ago, I never was sure about Roddick's physical shape or his mentality to get over hurdles when the chips were down, especially against great players. This morning/afternoon, he played Hall of Fame tennis. John McEnroe commented early in the match that Roddick had a Hall of Fame career. Now, I'm not sure what it takes to get into the tennis Hall of Fame, but my mind lingered on that assertion. Roddick has one major title, and then several runner-ups. I think for many tennis observers, "runner-up" is probably how they view Andy Roddick. Not as a champion. Today's match, for me, he was a champion. As the final set went to 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, probably most tennis fans watching today didn't count on this when they tuned in or watched at the stadium for Breakfast at Wimbledon. A Roger Federer three-set victory - after all, he had only dropped two sets in the tournament - was much more likely. Until the 11th game of the first set, the course had been set. Roddick had won two points on Federer's serve up until then, but out of nowhere game two break points, and suddenly Roddick had the first set. In the fifth, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, they had played two sets in one at 12-12, and neither fellow had blinked. In fact, Federer at points seemed to be the one wearing down. He saved two break points, himself, down 15-40 in one of the next games. That would be Roddick's last best chance. At 14-15, I'm not sure what happened. Roddick finally looked off when he didn't win his serve. He went down love-thirty, but he quickly erased that deficit with good serves. When Federer got balls in during the last game, however, Roddick appeared lost. He had played more long matches than Federer over the course of two weeks, and maybe the amount of tennis finally got to him. Nonetheless, when he shot the last ball wide giving Federer the match, anyone who could question Roddick's fortitude this week and in this match would be mistaken in my opinion.

After the match, the pain in Andy Roddick's features was apparent. It'd be easy to look at the 2-19 record against Federer and say a lot of things. This day, however, isn't the day to say them. This day, Andy Roddick played like a champion. Unfortunately for Roddick, so did Roger Federer. For tennis fans, those two greats served up yet another fantastic Breakfast at Wimbledon. Hats off to both men.