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Still A Winner

November 27, 2024 by Peg Leave a Comment

Photo by Peg Redwine

Gentle Reader, if you read last week’s Gavel Gamut column you know I predicted Indiana University would win last Saturday’s football game against Ohio State University; we didn’t. On the other hand, I.U. has already won 10 games this season and, I predict, I.U. will defeat Purdue November 30, 2024 in Bloomington, Indiana. I am ever hopeful when it comes to I.U. sports.

 O.S.U. played an excellent game. Their victory was not due to bad calls or untimely injuries or the weather. They just out played us in all phases of the game. However, we were competitive in the first half and evidenced the elements of a future Big Ten champion. Who knows? Next year? Five years from now? In my life-time? The most important elements this year’s team has displayed on the football field are a belief in themselves and a will to win.

Beat the Boilers! Photo by Peg Redwine

But, what about now? Indiana has never before had a 10-game season and, when we beat Purdue, it will be 11. On top of that, if I.U. does win against Purdue there is an excellent chance it will be selected as one of the 12 teams playing in the College Football Playoffs. Should we lose to Purdue there is probably no chance. But I.U. could make the CFP and have a chance to win more games with a win this Saturday (November 30, 2024).

Regardless, I.U. has already won 10 games this season including teams such as Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Washington, UCLA, Wisconsin and Illinois. While several of the games have been close, that simply shows character and an ability to compete when games are challenging. You may recall, Gentle Reader, that last week’s column exposited some of Indiana’s past teams of character such as the teams of 1945 and 1967. This team of 2024 can lay claim to that same mantle.

We did not beat O.S.U. last week but this year we have shown the character to beat them in the future. This team is a winner no matter what 2024 score was predicted.

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Filed Under: Football, Gavel Gamut, Indiana University, Sports Tagged With: College Football Playoffs, football, Gavel Gamut, Gentle Reader, Indiana University, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, Ohio State University

The Sweet Science Revisited

November 7, 2024 by Peg Leave a Comment

Ray Stallings. Picture taken by Peg Redwine.

For those few of you who might miss reading my weekly column, Gavel Gamut, I will point out to you that this past week I fractured my shoulder while working around JPeg Osage Ranch. I feel I must rely on past columns for a while, such as, those that have dealt with my interest in amateur boxing. The following column appeared the week of September 4, 2006 and involved Peg’s and my friend Ray Stallings from Burnt Prairie, Illinois. I will rerun it as it appeared almost 20 years ago. I hope you enjoy reading, or perhaps rereading it.

 “Amateur boxing has fewer fatalities and far fewer serious injuries per participant than high school baseball or football.  It is a sport like wrestling where the participants are matched according to size and where bouts are won based on the number of legal blows landed on the front, top-half of the participants.  The force of the blows is not a factor.  For example, a punch that knocks a boxer down counts no more than a punch that simply lands in the scoring area.

Boxing is called the sweet science because a student of the game who can apply the lessons of boxing when actually in the ring can defeat a superior athlete who relies on brawn. As the old adage goes, “The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.”  Of course, the related adage is also true: “But that’s the way to bet.”

In other words, the science of boxing is only a factor in the equation.  Such elements as experience and physical abilities are often more determinative than theory. And whereas it is often true that it is not the size of the boxer in the fight but the size of the fight in the boxer that matters, it is also true that heart alone may not be enough.

Such was the case with our young protagonist, Ray Stallings, from Burnt Prairie, Illinois, in his match against Calvin Brock in 1996.  Should you have read this column last week, you may recall that we left Ray all alone in the ring with one of the best amateur heavyweight boxers in America.

In round one, the left-handed Brock came out confident that the gawky, red headed Ray was just there to validate Brock’s status as champion.  From my position in Ray’s corner I thought Brock was almost indolent as he kept Ray off balance with his powerful right jab, then occasionally came back with a straight left to Ray’s head.  This display went on for about the first two minutes of the round until Ray’s nose was bloodied and his back was bleeding from being forced into the ropes.

 But with about a minute to go, Ray, who is also left-handed, came up from his position doubled over in a corner with an awkward looping left hand that caught Brock square on the chin.  Even with the protective headgear, I could see Brock’s eyes roll up for a brief second as his knees slightly buckled.  From that point on, Ray’s character and Brock’s experience were at war.

When Ray returned to our corner after the first round, Peg, who was working the corner for the first time, could not bear to look at Ray’s bloody nose or his back and arms that matched his red hair.  She handed me the spit bucket and water bottle with her eyes locked on the canvas of the ring.  Peg later told me she was wondering what we were going to tell his parents, who were also our good friends, if Ray got seriously hurt.

Ray was gasping for breath and pleading for me to pour water on his head.  It took the first half of the one-minute break just to stop the bleeding.  When Ray could finally talk, he said, “Jim, he is really good.”  I almost said the truth that was on my tongue, “You’re darn right he’s really good!”  Instead I said, “You got his attention with that straight left.  From now on just keep throwing it as much as you can.”

Round two was a coming of age for Ray and an awakening for Brock.  I could see the puzzlement in Brock’s eyes and the hesitancy in his punches.  I could almost hear him thinking, “Who is this kid?”  Ray pounded his straight left for the whole three minutes and the spectators who had gathered to watch Brock’s coronation begin to yell for Ray.

When Ray struggled back to our corner after round two, I sneaked a peak at Brock’s corner and saw his trainer giving him a tongue-lashing.  Peg and I could only pour more water on Ray as I told him to double up on his right jab and keep throwing that overhand left.  Ray could barely breathe and he could not talk.  As the bell for round three rang, it was anybody’s guess as to who would win.

Brock came out firing and Ray was too tired to block the blows.  At first it looked like Brock’s superior skills were just too much for the skinny red head from Burnt Prairie. But about halfway through the final round, Ray figured out how to move to his left, which was away from the left-handed Brock’s power.  Then Ray figured out how to throw his left straight into the taller Brock’s solar plexus.  Brock began to wilt and Ray’s new found fans began to chant: “Red, red, red.”

When the final bell sounded, Ray had nothing left, but that was more than Brock who had to be helped to his corner by his worried trainer who caught my eye and put his thumbs up: “Great fight!”

Well, you remember that amateur boxing is scored by the number of proper blows, not the stuff that dreams are made of, and the judges gave the razor thin decision to Brock.  But the seeds of Ray’s current quest to be an Olympic champion were sown that night in 1996.

Next week if you are available, I’ll bring you up to date on where that odyssey stands. For as you may recall, Ray had that little inconvenience of thyroid cancer to deal with between 1996 and October, 2006. That is when he climbs back into the ring in Oxnard, California, once again against the best amateur heavyweights in America to win the right to compete for the honor of representing his country in the Olympics.

After Ray got sick, but before he knew why he tired so easily after the first round, he kept trying to box but kept losing.  Many of Ray’s friends and some of his family were more afraid he would get hurt than get to the Olympics.  But as Rudyard Kipling wrote in his poem, “If”: “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you…you’ll be a man, my son!”  Ray did, and Ray is.”

 

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Filed Under: Friends, Gavel Gamut, Personal Fun, Sports Tagged With: amateur boxing, Burnt Prairie, Calvin Brock, If, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, Ray Stallings, Rudyard Kipling, the sweet science

Respite and Nepenthe

September 7, 2023 by Peg Leave a Comment

Photo by Peg Redwine

Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven holds out little hope for relief from the memories of the lost Lenore. Poe seeks respite in the mythical ancient Greek beverage, nepenthe, that causes forgetfulness. In those Dog Days of summer where August made the fires of hell sound inviting, respite and nepenthe finally arrived in September on the wings of the forward pass. Gentle Reader, allow me to quote my favorite author on our salvation from the hades of 100℉ temperatures:

“The crisp autumn air. The dry brown grass. Sweaty pads and the exhilaration of combat without weapons.
The kind of battle where one can experience the thrill of having been shot at and missed without even being shot at.
Football! Ersatz war. Clashes of pride, power and cunning.”

Echoes of our Ancestors: The Secret Game, p. vii
By James M. Redwine

Football has returned and the grass is going dormant. The experts may assert there is no connection but I say the frequency of mowing is inverted to my several favorite teams’ re-emergence in game day uniforms. Somehow the same weather that keeps me from doing outside chores does not hinder me from sitting in the heat for four hours watching boys and men shoving an inflated pig bladder covered with cowhide back and forth.

Perhaps it is because I no longer have to endure the two-a-day early morning and evening practices nor the inane exhortations of coaches who themselves also no longer must do so, but watching others play football sure beats working in the heat. In fact, Peg and I have already been jiggling our schedules so we can follow the Hoosiers, the Cowboys and the Sooners on Saturday. Our new season hopes are high but any disappointments can be assuaged with guacamole, chips and cold beer. Besides, even though we may have the occasional opportunity to attend a game in person, normally we will be sitting on the couch in 72-degree air conditioning while others entertain us with their sweat and blood and give us an excuse to leave the lawnmowers put away. I would not want you to think Peg and I have not had to make our own hard choices during the football season. For example, we had to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to watch the 2023 Super Bowl when we were in the country of Georgia; it was tough.

Anyway, thank you to all those who have sacrificed their August sweating and preparing and now their autumn struggling for our relief. We truly appreciate it and will frequently raise a parting glass in your honor.

Photo by Peg Redwine

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Filed Under: Authors, Females/Pick on Peg, Football, Gavel Gamut, Indiana University, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma University, Personal Fun, Sports Tagged With: cowboys, dog days of summer, Edgar Allan Poe, football, Hoosiers, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, Lenore, Sooners, The Raven

Name, Image, Likeness

January 6, 2022 by Peg Leave a Comment

As of July 02, 2021 the NIL of collegiate athletes are no longer the property of their school and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Each student athlete, depending upon many factors such as the laws of the state where their school is located, may sell his or her fame to the highest third-party bidder. Colleges may provide stipends designed to “enhance education” but may not pay athletes to play. However, third parties such as wealthy boosters as well as corporations may.

Until six months ago it was an unpardonable sin for amateur athletes to be caught acting as though they owned their own financial souls. In the land of the free and the home of individual liberty, beginning in 1906 when the NCAA was founded, Big Brother was in charge of amateur athletics, especially at the collegiate level. Of course, Americans being Americans, countless ways were found to transgress the rules without paying any price. The unpunished sins of many were paid for by the examples made out of a few, the greatest amateur athlete in the world for one.

Jim Thorpe was a Native American born on the Sac Fox Nation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1887. Thorpe was taken from his family when he was ten years old and sent to Haskell Indian Institute in Kansas then at age sixteen to Carlisle Indian Institute in Pennsylvania. During parts of the summers of 1909 and 1910 Thorpe was paid $2.00 per game to play semi-professional baseball. In the Olympics of 1912, where baseball was not an event, Thorpe won gold medals in both the pentathlon and decathlon. The 1912 Olympics were held in Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden’s King Gustav V in awarding the medals to Thorpe said to him, “Sir you are the greatest athlete in the world.” In 1913 the Olympic Committee took Thorpe’s medals away from him and expunged his records because of his semi-pro baseball participation. The medals were returned to Thorpe’s family in 1983, thirty years after Thorpe’s death. I guess it is true, “Timing is everything”. Had Thorpe won his medals after July 01, 2021 no sin would have been assessed. In fact, under the new NIL rules Thorpe would have probably made millions, legally, while still an “amateur”.

The management of NIL and amateur athletics in schools now falls under the same entities that have been charged with addressing COVID. The federal government, each state, counties, cities and schools have a say and a role. What could go wrong?

While it is the right thing to finally put the ownership of an athlete’s Name, Image and Likeness where it belongs, with the athlete, there will undoubtedly be much to consider. Some will be good. For example, my alma mater, Indiana University, has labored in the football vineyards unsuccessfully for years. But one of IU’s alumni is billionaire Mark Cuban who is a rabid IU fan. I say “Go, Mark!” And Harvard, not known for football for a hundred years, has celebrated drop-outs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Do you think the honorary doctorate committee may take note? Then there is Princeton alum, Jeff Bezos, America’s wealthiest possible booster. What Jeff did for Amazon perhaps he can do for Princeton athletics. After all, Princeton played in the first college football game against Rutgers in 1869. Renewed glory may await if NIL swag can be offered and the transfer portal can be properly greased.

And please let me say I am fully in favor of everyone being the sole owner of their own NIL. If athletes can market themselves, my only objection is that my high school sports career was of no value to anyone. I believe capitalism and individual liberty is a good system. And if chaos at the top of college sports caused by NIL is good for college sports and if money in the hands of alumni is the mother’s milk of NIL, the future of college sports looks exciting.

My position is athletes should have control over their own images. And call me cynical, but I believe imaginative schools and boosters can find ways to categorize practically anything from books to private jets as “educationally enhancing”.

As for regulating NIL and putting that regulation in the hands of the same people who for the past two years have attempted to address COVID, I say, “Please leave it alone, let the free-market system work it out”. However, I am a little concerned with the effect collegiate NIL laissez-faire competition might have on amateur sports below the college level. When Tee Ballers start threatening to enter the Little League Transfer Portal unless their parent coach provides a new bicycle, we may need some way to reign things in.

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Filed Under: Baseball, COVID-19, Gavel Gamut, Indiana University, Native Americans, Oklahoma, Sports Tagged With: Big Brother, Bill Gates, Carlisle Indian Institute, COVID, Haskell Indian Institute, Image, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, Jim Thorpe, King Gustav, Likeness, Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Name, National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA, NIL, Olympic Committee, Sac Fox

© 2025 James M. Redwine

 

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