What’s it called? ‘A sharp intake of breath?’
Reading, in the Daily Post, about “a proposed hotel development” that “might alter the viability of a warm water wetlands in the heart of downtown Pagosa Springs,” I was experiencing a sharp intake of breath.
Mainly because there are wetlands all around us, here on the peninsula, 23 miles south of San Francisco, and at times, someone or other is proposing to do something or other that could impact the wetlands, and wildlife, in some way or other.
And you get worried about that.
I had a couple of other sharp intakes of breath, that same morning, hearing some sports news on TV.
Bear with me, I’m relying on memory, recounting the news on the tube.
Brian Flores, until the other day, was the Honduran-American head coach of the Miami Dolphins. His team had some rough times, this past NFL season, but the team was getting better.
But coach Flores was fired, anyway.
Then, he was interviewed by the New York Giants football team.
Then, Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots head coach, “accidently revealed the Giants intended to hire former (Buffalo) Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll” for the job, according to stories in other media.
The interview with Mr. Flores might have been “a sham and an empty effort to appease the NFL’s Rooney Rule”… that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for a head coaching position.
Apparently, coach Belichick thought he’d emailed someone other than Mr. Flores.
Oops!
I’m reminded of other sharp intakes of breath, involving pro sports athletes, with quarterbacks threading the needle with sharp passes… making big plays that, in the final seconds, won big games… for example.
Years ago, Colin Kaepernick, who threaded the needle at times, when he was quarterbacking the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee during the National Anthem, to protest social injustice against minorities…
… and then, later on, when his playing time with the ‘Niners was over, it was everything happening to the QB, that was giving me sharp intakes of breath.
Sports media were hinting that QB Kaepernick, possibly, would be able to join another NFL team… that some team needing help at the QB position would reach out to him.
But according to a story in the Bleacher Report, “NFL teams had ‘fake’ interest” in the former 49ers star.”
Only that: fake interest.
That’s when I was having those other sharp intakes of breath.