By wpengine
The father-son relationship is arguably the strongest known to mankind. Fishing, camping, and watching football on a Sunday afternoon — these are activities that draw two generations of males together. Apparently, you can add running onto the field and assaulting a first base coach to that list. If you missed it, William Ligue, Jr. and his 15-year old son hopped a fence at Comiskey Park and attacked Kansas City coach Tom Gamboa from behind in the ninth inning of last Thursday’s Royals-White Sox game. The two men proceeded to pound away at the helpless 54-year old before Royals players left their bench and returned the favor. After the incident, Ligue claimed that Gamboa had instigated the attack with an indecent gesture. Apparently the coach “got what he deserved.” Now, I’ve been told many times not to judge a book by its cover, but I really can’t get myself to believe a shirtless, tattoo-adorned drunkard. Hey, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think opening that book will be all that necessary. Like many others, I was disgusted when I initially saw the replays on ESPN. The playing field is a sanctuary reserved for the lucky few who play, coach, or umpire a game. Any spectator violating that holy ground and making contact with personnel, nonetheless, should undoubtedly be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But with every one ostracizing the two assailants, I decided to look at it from Ligue’s perspective. Hey, he probably just wants to be a good dad. Like any other father, he wants to build a strong relationship with his adolescent son, for whom he holds unbounded hopes and dreams. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? For Ligue, what better way to bond with his 15-year old than a game at the old ballpark? And let’s not forget, he was also accompanied by his other son and several nephews. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a family man. Growing up, every kid wants to be to be on TV, to be famous, and to be popular. And as a father, you want to make your child’s dreams come to fruition. And in a way, Ligue delivered. Was Ligue’s son shown on television? In fact, many times over. And is he now famous? Well, we might say infamous, but at least millions of people around the country have either watched his antics on replays or heard of him. Will he become the new Mr. Popular? In his first day back at high school, he’ll receive more attention than Britney Spears wearing a midriff-baring top at an all-boys junior high school. Young man, welcome to the “in crowd” and take your seat over at the “cool” table in the cafeteria. Heck, it makes me wonder why my dad never encouraged me to jump onto the baseball diamond. I could have been that popular kid! Let’s not forget, Ligue’s no dummy (contrary to what you might think). After all, blindsiding an old coach is much easier and safer than attacking Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney, who’s 6-3, 225 pounds. In an age in which fathers are leaving their kids to fend for themselves, shouldn’t we praise a man who planned an activity with his boy? Should Ligue win the Father of the Year Award? Well, maybe we should keep the champagne on ice for the time being. After all, there are apparently still a lot skeptics among the general public. But he’s my front-runner, and it’s not too late for all of you to get on the bandwagon. And when that award is handed out, we can all applaud his fine work. Certainly, he’ll cordially give his acceptance speech thanking us all for our support. Most likely, though, it will be via a conference call from his brand new residence — a prison cell. Maybe his son can participate in a simulcast, though. That, of course, would be contingent upon the approval of the officials at juvenile hall. Archived article by Alex Ip
By wpengine
For those who waited in line last weekend for hockey tickets: the time you sat in the Ramin Room was not in vain, or at least according to the ECAC coaches and media polls. Both named Cornell the preseason favorite for the 2002-03 season. The Red received seven first-place votes among the 12 coaches, barely beating Harvard for the top-spot in the poll, 116 points to 115. The media poll also favored Cornell, choosing it by a larger margin than the coaches — the Red had 16 first place votes, followed by the Crimson with four. Listed No. 3 in both polls, Clarkson received a single first-place vote from the media. Senior co-captain Doug Murray was also honored as a member of the ECAC Preseason All-Conference Team. The defenseman was one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award last year, college hockey’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. In addition, he was the Ivy League Player of the Year, an ECAC First-Team selection and a First-Team All-American. After being pegged to finish third last year, the Red dominated the conference with a 17-3-2 record (25-3-2 overall) and was ranked consistently within the top 10 in the nation. The team played in the ECAC championship game but fell to Harvard in double overtime. Nevertheless, it snagged an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. In its first NCAA game since 1997, Cornell beat Quinnipiac 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals where it would meet then No. 1 UNH. The Red earned national respect in its close 4-3 loss to the Wildcats, but ended its season with unfulfilled aspirations of playing in the Frozen Four. The coaches poll picked last season’s biggest surprise, Brown, to finish fourth. St. Lawrence, Yale, Colgate, RPI, Dartmouth, Union, Princeton and Vermont round out the rankings in that order. Other members of the preseason all-conference team were Crimson forwards, Dominic Moore and Brett Nowak, Yale forward Chris Higgins, Dartmouth defenseman Trevor Byrne, and Brown netminder Yann Danis.Archived article by Sun Staff