I.
JAMES BLACKSTONE:
Circa: 1905.
Bowled an almost perfect game,
except one last wooden pin
split in half and wobbled but stood.
The stupid judges refused
to allow a perfect game.
gave him a score of 299.5,
which is the only reason we
know about Mr. Blackstone
and his lucky or unlucky break
depending if you want him to go
down in history.
II.
Dr. JAMES NAISMITH:
Circa: 1891.
Went down in history
and now we pay millions
to watch his minions
speed up and down courts
to shoot a ball into a basket
to cheering crowds.
Oh yes, the stupid thing.
When you have a basket
with a net which we do today
and the ball goes in,
the ball falls through the net
and Newton is proved right again
and again and again.
But in Canada when the Dr.
invented this game to help
young men stay fit,
he used a peach basket
and after every made shot,
someone stupidly
(don't know if they had refs then)
had to climb a ladder perched
beside the basket and retrieve
the ball stuck in the bottom.
We would say now:
It disrupted the flow of the game.
It took five years, legend has it,
to figure out if they cut out
the bottom of the peach basket,
the ball would fall through.
It's all right to be stupid.
We all are at some time.
You can surely add your own
as we figure out why the world is the mess it is
or just to feel better about ourselves.
Originally published in Fleas On The Dog