An Ode to Jim Murray

Okay, so where am I?

It's been crazy lately. Why do you ask? Loyal readers already know that I started this moonlighting gig with a Los Angeles Kings blogging site*, so I am at Staples Center to see the Kings and their new coach. The pay isn't great, but I feel like I could be some type of Jim Murray columnist. A renaissance in my fifties...that kind of thing.

Jim Murray (center) with Tommy Lasorda (left) and Fred Claire (right).

Most of you don't know who Jim Murray is, and really, that's a shame. Just over 20 years ago, the greatest sportswriter who ever lived passed away. That was pretty much the time I stopped looking forward to reading the Los Angeles Times every morning. His words floated off the page and were instantly carved into your mind. He was magic with the typewriter. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I mean, he was one of only four sportswriters (at the time) to win a Pulitzer Prize for goodness sakes.

When I heard the news, I remembered reading this years before about a time he spoke with a very sick and blind Jackie Robinson before the Dodgers legend left this earth:

"Jackie, it's Jim Murray," Murray said when they touched.
"Oh, Jim," Robinson replied, "I wish I could see you again."
"No, Jackie," Murray responded, "I wish we could see you again."

More from Murray:

On the 1989 earthquake that disrupted the World Series:

"God put the World Series in perspective here in San Francisco Tuesday night. 

"He shook the ballpark, like a dog would a rag, just minutes before the start of Game 3. 

"A baseball game is about as trivial a pursuit as you can imagine when nature is in a rage. The earth growled, heaved and, suddenly, a World Series that had been as deadly dull as a chess game in a firehouse became more wildly exciting than you would want."

On the historic Wayne Gretzky trade:

"Gretzky will fill the seats. If he can fill the nets, too, he'll be the biggest bargain since Babe Ruth. The game needs glamour more than goals. He's already pulled the hat trick. He's put hockey on Page 1. In Los Angeles. In August."

On the death of Loyola Marymount basketball player Hank Gathers:

"Death should stay away from young men's games. Death belongs in musty hospital rooms, sickbeds. It should not impinge its terrible presence on the celebrations of youth, reap its frightful harvest in fields where cheers ring and bands play and banners wave."

At the Indy 500:

"Gentlemen, start your coffins!"

On Muhammad Ali:

"He lay on a sofa in white shorts and gray socks with an exhausted but mystical expression on his face. No crowds in mink, no loud music, no sounds of sycophants. The man who had just won his way into sport's richest vault was lying there just staring as if he couldn't believe what had happened. 

"Ali (then Cassius Clay) spoke like a man in a trance that night. He wept, whispered, marveled. I have kept my notes and my column from that remarkable night because it was an Ali the public was never to see--withdrawn, staring at something only he could see."

On Elgin Baylor:

"Nobody ever made me want to be a basketball player until I saw Elgin Baylor. The poetry, drama, and meaning of the game eluded me until he made it all clear."

On tragedy and terror at the Olympic Games:

"They are 2,500 miles, three time zones--and 24 years--away but I think I know what my colleagues are going through in Atlanta this weekend. 

"Rage, frustration, helplessness, resentment, sadness and, if not despair, something close to it. 

"Here they were covering an event that is an expression of all that is best in mankind--the youth of the world entering on fields of friendly competition, mingling, enjoying, laughing, exchanging pins, rings, addresses, a world of hope, happiness and heroism. 

"And then the merchants of death and hate crash the party with their engines of murder and mayhem. 

"It was 1972 when our little world of non-winning times, golden fractions and golden medals came crashing down on our heads. . .  

"Has the cost of the Games gone up too much when it starts adding up to human lives? I think not. We already have enough bars on our windows, locks on our churches, parties we cancel. You don't change the world by hiding from it."

So who knows where this will take me. All I know is that I doubt I can every live up to the greatest. But I can sure try.

-30-

* - ICYMI...here are my first columns from the hockey assignments:

GAME RECAP:
Anaheim Ducks @ Los Angeles Kings Game #14 Recap: Kings Undefeated in the Willie D. Era
Nov 7, 2018, 10:45am EST

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CHEAP SEATS:
See Ya, JS…Welcome Willie D.
Nov 5, 2018, 10:37pm EST

GAME RECAP:
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Los Angeles Kings Game #13 Recap: Gluten-Free
Nov 4, 2018, 11:30am EST

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CHEAP SEATS:
Brownie the Leader
Nov 2, 2018, 3:45pm EDT

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CHEAP SEATS:
FINALLY!
Oct 29, 2018, 9:30pm EDT

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CHEAP SEATS:
Pitchforks and Torches
Oct 22, 2018, 9:30pm EDT

GAME RECAP:
Buffalo Sabres @ Los Angeles Kings, Game #8 Recap: Lost at Staples Center
Oct 20, 2018, 10:30pm EDT

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE CHEAP SEATS:
What Do We Do Now?
Oct 18, 2018, 11:00am EDT