February 14, 2008

GOAT Valentines Day

You Fixin My Chocolate Fix?
Today is the "loveliest" day of the year. Romeo's are running around at the last minute making dinner reservations, gathering cards, buying chocolate, and delivering flowers. Most people accept that flower prices will increase dramatically over the weeks leading up to "the big day." But now it appears that the heart shaped box with all those morsels that mama always said "You never know what ya gonna get,"may have been priced artificially high.

There have been recent raids on company headquarters of some of the largest food manufactures in the world. Allegations run that these companies were conspiring with each other to raise the price of chocolate worldwide. I do not doubt that with the rising cost of fuel and dairy products, the cost of chocolate will/should go up to meet these costs. But to conspire with each other to gouge their faithful customers really makes this a bitter bite to follow. It will be interesting to track in the next few days/weeks/months to come.

GOAT is Gone
No, I do not own a goat or did I lose a goat. The plot of grass in front of my apartment could not possibly sustain a goat, nor would the landlords allow such an efficient means of grass control to roam the property. I'm referring to the Greatest of All Time, Maurice Greene of the U.S. who announced he is retiring from track and field.

In a testament to how 3-sport centered the US really is, the passing of one of the greatest sprinters hardly made a blip on the radar screen. None of the major news outlets reported this story up front (that I know of). If someone great like Joe Montana, or Jordan, we would have had news press on this like crazy. But, unlike Europe, track and field is only an afterthought till the Olympics. Then it makes a brief appearance and is again forgotten faster than any sprinter alive.

Sprinters, however, are the diva's of track and field. They are some of the biggest braggers and sorest losers in the sport, modesty need not apply. They usually have a couple of good seasons with a marquee race or two and then, like a good thoroughbred, is put out to pasture. Mo Greene, though boastful at times, was consistent enough to back up his claim as GOAT, or greatest of all time, and I like consistent runners.

Maurice Greene, it can be argued, was one of the greatest sprinters to ever step foot on a track. His resume is impressive, with 5 World Titles, Olympic Gold in 2000, a Bronze in 2004. He also held the 100m world record, the 50m indoor record, and still holds the indoor 60m world record.
He has run under 10 seconds for the 100m 52 times, more than anyone in history. In the end though, it was the nagging injuries, of having legs so powerful and tightly wound, that ended Mo Greene career. Its a shame to see such grace and power succumb to the inevitable results of aging. Only time will tell to see if GOAT (also a tattoo on Mo Greene's arm) really was the greatest of all time!

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