There’s nothing I like better (well, except actually settling in to read a Harry Potter novel) than stumbling across a reference to J.K.’s magical world in places where I least expect it. These kinds of surprising discoveries remind me forcefully just how much of an impact Ms. Rowling’s works have had on the world and how many people are out there who, like you and me, see the world through a Harry Potter lens.
Today, my happy surprise came in the form of a column on the National Football League (NFL) written by Ann Killion, one of my fave sports/football writers, for Sports Illustrated’s website (SI.com). Ms. Killion writes of the return of one of the NFL’s all-time great (and most diva-like) wide receivers, Randy Moss, to the league after a brief retirement.
Ms. K. begins her “Inside the NFL” column today with this:
Randy Moss arrived in the Bay Area in 2005 with sirens blaring and a police escort.
Seven years later he's come back with an invisibility cloak.
“Did she just say ‘an invisibility cloak’?” I wonder to myself. “Could that possibly be a RowlingRef” (as I call all references to Harry Potter and his world)? “No,” I decide. “Not possible. Not in a football column. Must be a reference to the more general idea of a cloak that makes a person unseeable.”
So I read on. After a well-written para or two explaining what Randy Moss is up to now, Killion then writes this:
The 49ers -- whose lack of standout wide receivers may have been the difference between a good season and a trip to the Super Bowl -- signed Moss to a non-risky one-year deal and have been raving about him ever since.
San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh has made him sound like a cross between Hermione Granger and Vince Lombardi.
By this time, I’m howling with glee. And moving Ms. K. up even higher in my pantheon of great sports writers. I mean, she’s smart, she’s eloquent and she apparently has at least some level of Harry Potter knowledge.
Cool. Cool cool cool cool.
Randy Moss as Hermione Granger. Perfect. And perfectly funny. Not that Hermione ever displayed even the least interest in sports. I mean, her antipathy for Quidditch is the stuff of legend. But she does pack a mean punch. And Mr. Moss could no doubt learn a thing or two from her about how to manipulate and control the media.
To read Ms. Killion’s column in full, head here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/ann_killion/05/23/randy-moss-niners/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a0
No comments:
Post a Comment