Swam Song

Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, died Sunday at the age of 98. The Roaring Twenties were a time of great stunts and feats of endurance, and Ederle's swim was a stroke of genius. She seas-ed the moment on August 6, 1926 - rough weather meant her circuitous journey of the 21-mile channel actually took 35 miles. Still, her time of 14 hours, 30 minutes was two hours better than that of any of the 5 men and buoys who had previously traversed the channel, and her time wasn't beaten or tide by another woman until 1950. She had actually first floated the idea of a channel crossing in 1925, but was disqualified when she was touched by one of her coaches. After her feat had passed from current events, she remained a competitive swimmer for a number of years, but eventually receded from public life.

Putting the exclamation point on her 2003 George Harrison Invitational victory, Kirsti notches a solo hit with the empty net goal, her 8th hit of the year, adding 20 points to give her a total of 98.44444444 points.

Gertrude was on two lists in the 2004 George Harrison Invitational, so we'll wait for replacements to be named before the list will be circulated.

But back to the 2003 GHI -
And the winner is……
Congratulations to Kirsti, who rebounds from her 14th place finish in 2002 to take top honors in 2003 with 8 dead, riding the Slightly Sentient Centenarian strategy to victory. To the victor go the meager spoils: $70. Results are not official until Dec. 5 to allow neighbors time to investigate that smell from the upstairs apartment, but I really doubt it will affect the winner.

As he did for 8 years in office, Ronald Reagan keeps fooling us all - 7 of us picked him, and he's still hanging on. Maybe he just forgot he was supposed to be dead by now.

Bad year for Twilight Zone guests as three stars of classic episodes: Art Carney - "The Night of the Meek"; Charles Bronson - "Two"; Jack Elam - "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" passed into a dimension not of sight or sound.

The rest of the leaderboard:
2nd Greg's Wily Veterans – 6 dead (And don’t think Greg isn't regretting dropping Hockey Hall of Famer Roger Neilson from last year.)
3rd Keith - 5 dead (43.88888889 points)
4th Conni - 5 dead (26.11111111 points) (And Conni takes the big oops this year, dropping Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Elia Kazan and Strom Thurmond from last year's list. Conni also got boned last year when Billie Bird died 4 days before the start of competition.)
5th Me - 4 dead (33.88888889 points) (And don't think I don't regret not picking more people who died this year.)

I'm not dead yet division
6th Mark - 4 dead (19.44444444 points) Back-to-back 6th place finishes. There's something to be said for consistency.
7th Me again - 3 dead (Really glad Warren Spahn allowed me to move up in the standings all the way to 7th rather than wait 1 damn week. Not that I'm bitter or anything.)
8th Greg's Fresh-Faced Rookies - 2 dead (22.22222222 points) Correct picking is half the battle; proper placement is the other half.
(tie) Michelle - 2 dead (22.22222222 points) (Wishful thinking about the deals with the devil that explain the Reagan Administration doesn’t pay off.)
10th Joan-Marie - 2 dead (6.22222222 points) (Not a bad showing after 18 months of goose eggs. Three or four more years, and we may have a title contender.)

I'm getting better brigade
11th Christine - 2 dead (4.44444444 points) (Well, you got the ones who everyone else got…..)
12th John - 2 dead (4.44444444 points) (Excellent effort, boss man.)
13th Mark 2 - 1 dead (4 points) (Kirsti thanks you for the donation)
Last Shawn - 1 dead (2.222222222 points) (How's the red jacket fitting, Mr. Lanterne Rouge?)