Hard to come up with a better headline than the one AOL News just threw at me: “Family Feud Contestant Charged With Murdering Wife.” I guess the feud got a little out of hand.
And so can sports celebrations: Ouch! The Mets lost their ace reliever Edwin Diaz for the season on Wednesday when he tore a tendon in his right knee celebrating Puerto Rico’s victory over the Dominican Republic. He pitched the ninth inning, hugged his brother who is also on the team, and started bouncing up and down with his teammates in what the NYT described as a fairly tame celebration. But something happened and he crumpled to the ground.
At least no one got killed there, like in Georgia. That’s what happened in January after U. of Georgia won the National Championship (in football). A day after the victory parade, Jalen Carter, a defensive tackle for the Bulldogs competed in a drag race with Chandler LeCroy, a recruiting analyst for the team, who had been drinking. Both cars were going about 100 miles an hour and darted into oncoming traffic. LeCroy’s car left the road and hit a pole, killing him and Devin Willock, a team member.
The Diaz injury is devastating for the Mets. He was pretty much unhittable the past two years, and they had just signed him to a $105 million contract. Yadi Molina, the manager of the Puerto Rican team, said it was God’s will. That makes sense. It’s not clear if that goes for the two dead people in Georgia too, but probably, right?
You know those little Drake’s cakes, with the crumbly stuff on top? They’re delicious. Let’s give one to every member of every winning sports team from now on and that can be enough celebration. You can get them individually wrapped so if there are extras they won’t go to waste. Problem solved.
In its 1943 holding in Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools can’t force kids to recite the pledge of allegiance. Justice Reggie Jackson wrote the opinion. [Note: It was Robert Jackson, but I like the thought of Reggie on the Court.] It states: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”
In Pamela’s Paul’s Op-Ed piece today in the NYT, she wrote about Marisa Barnwell, a 15-year-old Black honor student in Lexington, South Carolina, who was inspired by Colin Kaepernick, and is refusing to participate in the Pledge. Her parents are suing the school because she was assaulted by a teacher over it. And on Facebook a comment urged her to “go back to her monkey cage in Africa if she doesn’t like to recite the pledge to the country that’s doing her and her retarded family a favor by letting them live among decent humans.”
And, speaking of decent human beings, Simone Segouin died on February 21, at age 97, in Courville-sur-Eure, France. Her nom de guerre was Nicole Minet, and she was a simple, pretty farm girl, 17 years old, who learned how to use a submachine gun, joined the Resistance, and killed Germans.
Nicole was introduced to the Resistance by Roland Boursier, a lieutenant and local Resistance leader, with whom she later had six children. She started out with small jobs, e.g., serving as a messenger, but soon was involved in major operations like blowing up trains. She was one of a trio of partisans who personally killed a pair of German soldiers in an ambush. She was featured in an article in the Sept. 4, 1944 issue of Life magazine.
After the war, she received the Croix de Guerre, a military honor for heroism in combat. She worked as a pediatric nurse. A street in Courville-sur-Eure was named after her.
Rest in peace, pretty farm girl.
Today’s puzzle was a first for constructor Carter Cobb and it was terrific. Everybody’s favorite was at 17A: “Join a boxer rebellion?” It had nothing to do with boxing or dogs. The boxer is underwear, and the answer was GO COMMANDO, which is a term that means to not wear underwear. Joey gave it some notoriety on Friends but it actually derives from the military. Commandos in the field for great lengths of time just couldn’t always take care to have fresh (or even tolerable) underwear so often did without. It applies to both men and women.
At 40A, “Ones calling across the ocean?” was BLUE WHALES, the largest animals ever known to have lived on earth. They can be 100 feet long and weigh 200 tons. They are carnivores and live 80 to 90 years. Our intrepid Owl Chatter photographers really went the extra nautical mile to get this shot:
This was cute too: “Retirement plan whose prospects are looking good?” The answer was BEAUTY REST. Get it? — retirement plan.
And “Staples of horror movies?” was JUMP SCARES. Remember that great one in Wait Until Dark? Audrey Hepburn. Alan Arkin.
“Slangy lunch fare,” was a SAMMICH.
Good puzzle!
Thanks for wasting some time with us! We’re celebrating friend Dan’s birthday tomorrow with dinner in Somerville. Can’t wait!
The Wellington Files 