I’m going to forego the megalinks for one week only. I spent Friday attending a memorial service for my mother’s close friend. I wrote my thoughts about her on Twitter, but I’ll expand on them here.
Even though my mother’s friend wasn’t a blood relative, she was close enough for me to call her “Auntie”. From the first day my parents met when we moved to Rhode Island, she was so nice to us. Always smiling, always thinking of others, she always made sure you felt welcome. She raised three wonderful children, foregoing a career and allowing her husband to work.
Over the last six years, she had gotten sick, but during that time, she never complained, she never asked for anything. She kept going to church, she kept teaching Bible class. Even though she was just five feet tall, she remained a pillar of strength.
In fact, when I took my mother to see her in the hospital, the first thing she did was ask me if I had a girlfriend (no, LOL) and she also told me to take care of my mom. Here she was, not feeling well in her last days, but still not thinking of herself.
At the memorial service, it was amazing to see the church she attended filled with all of the people she had touched over the years. I had not seen her children in a long time. They have grown up to have children of their own. To see them fully grown carrying her values, well, you just can’t ask for anything better as a parent. So I’m thinking about her and her friendship with my mother on this day.
So you can understand why I didn’t get to the megalinks on Friday. My apologies to you and I’ll get to them next week.
To the links for today.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell interviews UFC Iron Fist Ruler Dana White about tonight’s UFC100 event in Las Vegas.
Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch says the Boston Herald has hired a new Patriots beat writer.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times has NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol none too pleased about the US Olympic Network.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that MLB Network is surpassing ESPN as the fan’s destination for baseball. I agree with Ken. To see last night’s no-hitter by Jonathan Sanchez, I went to MLB Network over ESPN.
Ken has ESPN’s Thursday Night college football schedule.
Laura Nachman has one very interesting anecdote from the Gary Papa memorial service this week. And she has details on those who were in attendance.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner previews this weekend’s baseball action.
Brian Van Ochten from the Grand Rapids Press writes that Matt Millen could be back in Michigan this season with ABC for college football coverage.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News reviews HBO’s documentary on Ted Williams.
Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has Fox Sports’ Joe Buck crowing about the silly All-Star Game format.
The Sports Media Watch says the Federer-Roddick final at Wimbledon was a big ratings draw. However, the women’s final between Venus and Serena Williams was not. SMW has some various ratings news and notes.
Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has a big project that he’s undertaking. Despite recent layoffs, Chris notes that ESPN is indeed hiring.
That’s it for now.
