As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
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6 comments:
We need somebody to preach, cut down your swing with two strikes and do not stand there with the bat on your shoulder.
The 1998 Yankees were sorely tested by the pointing of Chuck Knoblauch's finger as Enrique Wilson rounded the bases. They were tested, but never broken, as they came roaring back to beat the Cleveland Indians in that series. The point being (pun fully intended) that champions overcome mistakes and impose their will on their adversaries. That's why their champions.
There's an old adage that there is only room for one mistake in duels to the death between competitors of the highest skill. Only one mistake, because that mistake will be the last mistake ever for that competitor. And yet, if you're good enough, even that won't keep you from becoming the King of the Mountain.
So will the 2026 Yankees be champions? It's only the divisional series, but you have to win to advance, so we'll find out tonight if they've got what Tom Wolfe called "the right stuff".
Courtesy Ronnie James Dio:
We'll know for the first time
If we're evil or divine
We're the last in line
"That's why they are champions." Sorry, I fucked that up - I don't know how to fix these mistakes.
I guess the point I'm makin' is that, if they're good enough, they'll win. Not exactly genius level logic, but there it is.
Nothing we say or do will do anything to change that. Unless you're in contact with someone on the Yankees, in which case you might be able to say something that might give them a kick in the ass to get them going. But otherwise, no, we're totally irrelevant.
Norman Mailer, in his great book about "The Rumble in the Jungle", I think it was titled "The Fight", wrote about how he did a little magic to help Ali win. (I don't know if it would be considered white magic or black magic. It probably should be classified as "white magic", but then Ali might get angry. Ali didn't want anything to do with the color white. Hell, he even changed his religion to avoid a white connotation.) Anyway, Norman Mailer says he climbed out outside of his hotel balcony because he thought it would help Ali win the fight against Big George Frazier. The stepping off his balcony was a really dangerous, perilous stunt. He could have been killed, but for some crazy reason, he thought that was related to the upcoming Ali fight.
So if you believe it, feel free to do something insane that you think will help the Yankees win tonight, but do the world a favor and try not to kill yourself.
Hoss has done his part. He wrote about King Henry's pre-battle speech. I've done my part. I've written here about Norman Mailer's white magic that helped Ali. (Sorry Muhammad, I hope you find this funny, now that you're in Heaven.) And I've written about how champions get it done. So there, if that don't do it, then they're not fit to be champions, eh?
From the movie "Kingdom of Heaven":
Balien (the Blacksmith): Is it true, that in Yankee Stadium, the Yankees will beat the Rays? Is it true?
Baron of Ibelin: We can find out together.
I will say this about Tampa's starter tonight, Freddy Peralta. He's a lot better than his stats. He sucked on the Mets, but when he got traded to the Rays, he has rejuvenated his career. That's how good the pitching coaches are on the Rays. They're better than the Mets coaches, who are pretty good themselves.
So the Yankee batters have their work cut out for them tonight. They'll have to do some good work to bang out some hits and score some runs off Peralta. Will they score a fucking run tonight? That is the question.
My favorite monologue from Henry V.
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