It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. (Theodore Roosevelt)
7 comments:
Truth.
Screw Steinbrenner, but I love Teddy Roosevelt.
Maybe the family had money, but, in many ways, he was the prototypical american man of his time - reformer, American cowboy, Colonel of the Rough Riders, President of the United States.
And what he said is the real deal.
Teddy Roosevelt, George Steinbrenner and Donald Trump are all of a piece.
I can go with TR and Trump; take your word on Steinbrenner.
But consider a lot of the men in '76 were of the Trump/TR stripe - family money but called to something greater.
The leaders of plebeians are often men of means who turn against their own class to champion the people. Teddy was a trust buster. A reformer. He fought against the crony capitalists of his day. Against the established order. For the benefit of America first.
George fought against the established order of his day. He scorned conventional wisdom. Instead of relying on the reserve clause he championed free agency and using every aspect of the game to help his people. The Yankees and their fans.
The three of them have a lot in common.
Lest we forget, Teddy was a big government man who thought constitutional restraint an impediment to his American version of imperialism. No modest republic for him!
FDR was a "Traitor to his class" and so is Trump.
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