Question is: Why us?
THE NANCY KERRIGAN-Tonya Harding soap opera is now a musical opera. The figure skating saga that captivated the country 11 years ago – with the ubiquitous video of Kerrigan crying “Why me?” after being attacked and hit in the knee – is the basis for “Nancy and Tonya: The Opera,” to be performed at Tufts University next spring.
Kerrigan became a household name when an associate of Harding’s clubbed her on the knee with a baton as she left the ice during practice at the 1994 U.S. championships in Detroit.
The attack prevented Kerrigan from competing, but she recovered to win a silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer a few weeks later. Harding finished out of the running.
“This is the classic envy story and it was just so strange and got stranger by the day,” said Elizabeth Searle, who wrote the opera’s libretto but did not consult the two skaters about the one-act performance.
“Tonya and Nancy was the first completely insane scandal that took over the country,” Searle said.
Later rather than Sooner
Darrell Royal, the winningest football coach in Texas history, is from the state of Oklahoma and played football at Oklahoma.
Asked by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram whether Longhorns fans have forgiven his Oklahoma roots, Royal said, “I’ve lived in Texas 48 years now. Yes … I’ve been vaccinated and dipped.”
If I want your advice …
Reggie Jackson, in an interview he taped for FSN’s “CMI: Chris Myers Interview,” said this about his role with the Yankees: “My title is adviser to the managing general partner and owner, which means I don’t do much advising or give much input to our boss.”
Yeah, that qualifies
Tiger Woods, asked by the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman if it were true that he was a neat freak, said, “I make the bed in my hotel rooms.”
Role models?
High school football referees in Texas have been unusually quick to call penalties for excessive celebration and Brice Cherry of the Waco Tribune believes they’re spoiling the fun.
“Besides,” she writes, “if a high school player catches a long TD pass and then breaks out a Sharpie and autographs the opposing defensive back’s jersey while simultaneously chatting with his mom on the cell phone and performing the opening act of ‘Riverdance,’ how can we blame him? All he’s doing is acting like a professional.”
The last word
From Jay Leno: “Last weekend there was a three-day sumo-wrestling tournament in Las Vegas with 20 of the top sumo wrestlers from Japan. And the crowd was overheard saying, ‘I’ve never seen people so fat.’
“And those were the sumo wrestlers talking about Americans.”