Classics in Contemporary Culture

Persian Invasion Awareness

Out in hiatus-land, I missed (darn it!) the 2500th anniversary re-enactment of Pheidippides' "Marathon" run (although the "culmination" of the celebration, on 31 October, is still to come) [Reuters--thanks to rogueclassicism].  A humorous take on the event is offered by Mark Remy at Runners World Daily--and it even includes some Greek.  He first sets it up with some flippant skepticism:

As everyone knows, Pheidippides or Phidippides or "P. Dippy" (as he was briefly known) was the Greek who… um… ran 26 or 140 miles to Sparta or Athens or somewhere, and announced victory in the battle of Marathon or else asked for reinforcements or possibly something cold to drink and then dropped dead. Or didn't. Assuming that any version of this occurred at all, which it may not have.

Honestly, everything about this story is hard to pin down. It's like a riddle wrapped in an enigma shrouded in a toga. [sic]

..and then launches into Pheidippides' diary-style "race report"--here's an excerpt:

WOW! That's all I can say. Praise the gods, I finished my Marathon run in one piece. Hooray! Some blisters on my left foot, but nothing major. Not sure if I'll do it again, but it definitely was a Life Experience. At least now I can cross that off my Grecian urn List. Plus, I've raised almost 500 drachmas for Persian Invasion Awareness. Awesome!

Anyway. I was soooooo excited last night, I could barely sleep. I laid out my sandals and my Team Victory Over Persia tunic (see right; no, I didn't run with the sword!), and set my clepsydra for first sun. My room was okay, but a little Spartan.

Etc.

Pindar Still Plays in Athletics

Sean Diffley (Independent) is moved by sports to quote the arch-poet of competitive athletics, Pindar:

Pindar, a Greek poet of ancient times, came out with a statement that "the sun warms more than any lesser star, and no festival outshines Olympia". Fair enough, I suppose, but sometimes a dark cloud enshrouds the brightest star...

More impressive, however, was the quotational virtuosity exercised by student athletes Chris McGinn (this year) and Ben Saccomano (recently) at the "Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner", as recounted by Mike DiMauro (TheDay.com):

He mentioned Aristotle. Not Shaq, either. The real one. You know. Greek guy. Student of Plato. Him.

I nearly hyperventilated.

Specifically: Aristotle's theory of predictable and unpredictable change - and how it relates to football.

I nearly wept.

Then he thanked his parents. A teenager actually thanked his parents, forgoing the teenage anthem of “feed me, fund me, leave me alone.”

I nearly wept again.

Then he thanked his coaches. Gasp. Turns out they actually knew what they were doing.

I needed a hankie.

...

It was the greatest captain's speech at the dinner since former Ledyard quarterback Ben Saccomano quoted from Pindar, the Greek poet, Gen. McArthur and from Shakespeare and the Battle of Agincourt. He applied each quotation to something he and his peers had learned through their athletic experiences.