Sad note...
Ralph Wiley died today of heart failure. He was 52.
I was just learning to love this longtime sportswriter. I think it was his May 27 column for ESPN's Page 2 that did it:
You think Ben Wallace cares? You think Ben Wallace will shrink in front of Shaquille O'Neal and say, "Please, sir, may I have another?" Ben Wallace is one of 10 children of poor sharecroppers from a little spot on the map called Benton, Alabama. Ben Wallace has gone up against cotton gins and giant threshing machines and nine brothers and sisters for food. Do you really think Shaquille O'Neal is going to intimidate him? You better play on.
Thanks for the memories, Ralph. I, for one, will miss you.
I was just learning to love this longtime sportswriter. I think it was his May 27 column for ESPN's Page 2 that did it:
You think Ben Wallace cares? You think Ben Wallace will shrink in front of Shaquille O'Neal and say, "Please, sir, may I have another?" Ben Wallace is one of 10 children of poor sharecroppers from a little spot on the map called Benton, Alabama. Ben Wallace has gone up against cotton gins and giant threshing machines and nine brothers and sisters for food. Do you really think Shaquille O'Neal is going to intimidate him? You better play on.
Thanks for the memories, Ralph. I, for one, will miss you.