January 30, 2007
A long goodbye for Barbaro
Barbaro feisty before running the Kentucky Derby, above, and triumphant after, below.
The Barbaro saga reminds me of a very tough interval we had after we got a diagnosis of our cat Oliver's illness ("Goodbye to a fine grey boy"), in conjunction with murky guidance on how to proceed from the two vets involved.
You could basically look at the next three months as a waste of thousands of dollars to nobody's benefit, or ...
You could say we gave Oliver medical treatments that gave him at least a chance of recovery, and moments where he continued to be a happy part of our clan, sitting contentedly on the arm of one of our chairs as we watched DVDs.
Barbaro's owners were in a similar boat.
They knew, as we also sensed in our more trivial situation, that Barbaro had very little chance of surviving. But with some hope extended by the vets, they were not ready to say goodbye without at least giving their Thoroughbred a chance to heal.
I had the same decision to make with Oliver when he was sick and I took him to the Chesapeake Veterinary Referral Center. As I wrote at the time, after receiving a whopping great price estimate for our cat's care from a tech:
She left me alone in the room with Ollie. He seemed perked up by his surroundings, curious and engaged in his gentle way. "Do you think we should try this?" I asked him, rubbing his ears.
After an expensive four days of treatment, Ollie came home and required very intensive nursing, through which he was a willing, docile and winning patient. As I wrote:
Over the next two months, Ollie became restored, and then he began to seem better than new. Now I kept him strictly on Royal Canin S/O. His coat for the first time in his life grew glossy and thick. He lost a few pounds and seemed more active. All in all, he had a vibrant renaissance.He began to prowl around and to chase Casey in a way he had not done in years. I put his old collar and bell on him to kept track of him during his recuperation. He would jingle from the kitchen, and I would call out from my office, "Ollie, watcha doin'."
When Oliver got sick the second time, he was out of reprieves. In hindsight, we bought him a long goodbye instead of a wrenching brief one.
Barbaro's owners similarly were within their rights to give the champ at least a chance of recovery. In his final months, Barbaro appeared to enjoy some happy moments nickering at mares in the next pasture, signaling to his nurses when he needed a rest by shaking his sling, and making friends with a Swiss cow named Mocha in the next pasture at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.
Some wonderful commentary:
Diminished Body, Persevering Spirit: Nurturing Medical Staff Keeps Barbaro Alive by John Scheinman
Barbaro, The Heart In the Winner's Circle by Jane Smiley
A 'Bottomless' Heart by Sally Jenkins
Barbaro's final moments came not in shock on a track during a race, but in his stall after months of visits from his owners, his trainer, his jockey, the vet and devoted nurses. It was a gentler road for a noble animal. His owners detected in him a powerful will to heal. Despite his will and determination, he just couldn't overcome the frailty that is a Thoroughbred's ankle.
A Swiss cow named Mocha tries to give Barbaro a kiss as head surgeon Dr. Dean Richardson walks him.
- posted by jbelliveau at 2:17 PM in Sports
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January 21, 2007
Problems with book tours
Here's the latest wrinkle in book tours -- tours that do not set foot in book stores (hat tip: my travel writing buddy Beth Whitman).
From Authors on the celebrity circuit, in the Seattle Times:
When Mitch Albom, best-selling author of the new novel "For One More Day," came to town two weeks ago, his was not a typical visit of an author on a book tour.Albom began his day reading to about 600 employees at Starbucks' corporate headquarters, then answered questions from more than 250 fans at the Starbucks at Madison Park and finally read again at a candle-lit literary salon at the swanky Palace Ballroom in Belltown. Instead of folding chairs and shelves of books at the local bookshop -- the customary accoutrements of book readings -- these events boasted free lattes, a velvet-skirted stage, and a catered crostini bar, not to mention the presence of Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, whose chain of thousands of coffee stores is selling Albom's book.
Albom's day of book readings, during which he never stepped foot in a bookstore, is emblematic of the way -- for better or worse -- that the bookselling world is changing.
Bookstores depending on a mega-author to come sign and help them make money are not pleased with this development.
But book tours can be quite problematic, as I wrote of my tours undertaken in 1997. See here for a trip down this memory lane.
- posted by jbelliveau at 2:07 PM in Books, Music, DVDs
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January 10, 2007
One of National Geographic's travel experts
It's time for a little brag, but here goes ... I was invited by National Geographic's sustainable tourism director Jonathan B. Tourtellot to be one of 419 experts on world travel to help National Geographic Traveler rate World Heritage destinations.
Probably I was nominated to participate based on my first book, 
An Amateur's Guide to the Planet.
The results of the survey are found at World Heritage Destinations Rated.
Some background, from Tourtellot:
The World Monuments Watch List is compiled biennially in order to call international attention to cultural heritage sites around the world that are threatened by neglect, vandalism, armed conflict, or natural disaster. An independent panel of experts reviews the nominations, and a final World Monuments Watch: 100 Most Endangered Sites 2008 list will be released.The World Monuments Fund defines a monument as any of the following: archaeological sites; residential, civic, commercial, military, or religious architecture, including vernacular architecture; engineering or industrial works; cultural landscapes; historic city centers; and townscapes.
I filled out extensive questions on the following places, all of which I have visited:
Minor difficulties
United Kingdom: City of Bath
France: Versailles and environs
Italy: Siena
France: Loire Valley
Brazil: Pantanal
Italy: Cinque Terre
In moderate trouble
Italy: Florence
Tanzania: Serengeti National Park and environs
Brazil: Historic center of Salvador (Pelourinho)
China: Suzhou town and gardens
Indonesia: Borobudur and environs
China: The Great Wall
Mexico: Chichen Itza
Greece: Acropolis, Athens and environs
Belize: Barrier Reef
- posted by jbelliveau at 10:29 AM in Love, Sex, Romance and Travel
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January 2, 2007
The high price paid by NFL players
Now that I'm in my 50s, my body gives me a lot more argument than it used to. After rolling a roof coating on my deck last summer, a pinched nerve in my left armpit and elbow had me in agony. MRIs revealed problems with some of my neck vertebrae, and a chiropractor counseled rest, ice and gentle exercise.
Now when I watch NFL players getting hammered in mid-air, and falling awkwardly, or drilling others helmet-first, I realize with my newfound appreciation of the complexity of the spine and the nervous sytem, that they shouldn't really be doing all that! If rolling a brush on a roof in 90 degrees is bad, how risky is helicoptering to the ground after a hit by a toned man weighing in excess of 300 lbs.?
On Sunday, Tiki Barber (photo, right) was interviewed after his last regular-season game as a Giant. Of course, the commentators made much of the fact that he has gone from an average running back to a superlative one, based on adding 40 lbs. of muscle via weight training.
They made more of the fact that he was retiring with "three or four more good seasons left in him."
In the Nov. 13 Sports Illustrated, Rick Reilly has a nice column, A Barber Who Won't Cut It Close, on the criticisms of Barber.
In America, you do not quit at the top. You do not quit when you're the leading rusher in the NFL. You do not quit when there's millions left on the table. But Tiki Barber, a 31-year-old Giants running back, is retiring at the end of this season, his 10th in pro football -- and the country wants to sue.
The column goes on to take us down memory lane with some veteran NFL Hall of Famers who wake up in the middle of the night, plagued by assorted pains. Reilly describes how Earl Campbell, the OIlers RB, had to be helped out of a golf cart at a speaking engagement, how Jim Plunkett, Jim Otto and Paul Krause are virtual cripples. Here's the story on Dan Dierdorf:
Meet Dan Dierdorf. Lineman, Cardinals, 13 seasons, also in the Hall. Uses a cane when he walks, if you can call what he does walking. Blocking with his head first has left him two inches shorter than he was in college. He's already got two artificial hips, and he's planning to have a second knee replacement. His ankle needs fusing.
Reilly quotes Barber's critics, who say he is quitting, not retiring. He notes:
Tiki Barber has his money, his memories and most of his cartilage. What he doesn't seem to have is the right to live his own life."When I get home from work," says Barber, "my [two- and four-year-old] kids
come running at me. They make me get on my knees, and we play tackle football. On replacement knees, that's not happening. I saw this video of O.J. Simpson once, and his kids came running at him and he couldn't even pick them up. So I can see that if I play three or four more years, like everybody wants me to, that could be me. But when I'm 50 years old, and I'm having trouble just getting down the stairs, will they be cheering for me then?
Good for Tiki. Other players should realize that they are very lucky, and not just granted a strong constitution, if they are not cripples at the end of their NFL career.
- posted by jbelliveau at 6:51 PM in Sports
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