雜談莎士比亞

在香港長大及就讀中文中小學的我，對西方文學的認識遠不如中國的，甚麼大文豪數來數去只數得出馬克吐溫、海明威等等小說家，至於會寫詩的，就只識得莎翁，其實他的詩我一首也沒讀過，他的劇也只從電視或歌劇得知皮毛。不過最近他的姓氏在傳媒曝光率飈升，那是因為應屆英超聯冠軍李斯特城剛辭退助他們奪冠的神奇教練雲尼阿里，頂上的新教練就是姓莎士比亞！而英國足球的評述員似乎均飽讀詩書，在莎士比亞剛上任就用了很多莎翁名句來評論李斯特城的賽事。今日李城出戰歐聯十六強次回合，總比數落後一果，我看到李城入了第一球後就轉了台，不敢再看下去。到了球賽結束後，手機上彈出了我足球專家朋友武拿的訊息，興奮地說：『莎士比亞又贏了一仗！今日的莎士比亞，就如同上季的雲帥般創造了奇蹟！上任只有短短的三場，不但三場全勝，每場贏兩球，而且其中兩支球隊是上季歐霸決賽的對伍！』成功晉級八強後，評述員繼續以莎翁開玩笑，指李城如能過關斬將入決賽，那真是一場仲夏夜之夢！

無獨有偶，打開Netflix，竟然向我推介一套（文豪）莎士比亞的紀錄片，原來他的爸爸是製造業商人（懂手製皮手套）也參與本地政治，卻因買入一批羊皮惹上官非欠下巨債，莎翁小時候就見證了家庭這個難關。至於他本人的戀愛史也值得一提：他十八歲結婚，太太比他大八年！相信那個年代頗為罕見。

題外話：我一直以為我讀過莎翁的十四行詩，其實我讀過的是以前中學教材入面的馮至十四行詩之十六，今天重讀頗有印象。

Sports highlights: another walkoff (the first by the Giants' Joe Panik), Chicharito scored

Just wrote about a walkoff hit by the former Giant (current White Sox) Melky Cabrera earlier this week. Now I'm writing about a walkoff hit (a sac-fly) by the current Giant Joe Panik in bot 9th last night. And it happened at the game we attended on Wednesday (club level seats thanks to Jenny!) Unlike the lopsided 12-0 A's vs Mariners game, this one was a nail-biter featuring the best-of-the-best pitchers in the game: WS MVP Madison Bumgarner and regular season MVP/Cy Young Clayton Kershaw. Both teams indeed pitched really well in the game, giving up only 2 runs each for 8 innings. (Dodger's 2-run homer was pretty much the only mistake made by MadBum) My son was particularly impressed by Santiago Casilla, who kept throwing strikes in the beginning of the 9th.

Also happy to see the A's beating their SoCal rival Angel's with another lopsided victory: 9-2. And the White Sox earned its victory earlier in the day as well. Seems like both Samardzija and Abreu responded to my criticism earlier. The former pitched a good one and the latter hit a homer. Go Giants, A's and White Sox!

Last but not least, the former Man U forward (though mostly on the bench) Chicharito got a rare start at his new team, Real Madrid (who is even more star-studded than Man U, especially for his position) in the very important Champions League quarter-final match against rival Atletico Madrid because of injuries to the regular starters. According to the stats quoted by sports websites, he scored 1 goal per 105 min on average given how rare he plays. I joked that he might be able to score in this game if he played many minutes and he did! Good for him!

Sports highlights: Champions League semi, Stanley Cup playoff, NASCAR

Who would have guessed it is Bayern vs Inter in the final 3 months ago? Most of our friends didn't even give Inter a chance 3 weeks ago! In order not to jinx the team I root for (like I did so many times on this blog before,) I am not going to mention which team it is.

I haven't watched much of Stanley Cup playoff so far. So glad that our local team, the Sharks, at least made it to the 2nd round, unlike last year. They won the President's Trophy (best regular season record) but lost in the first round so unexpectedly. Well, this year another President's Trophy winner got eliminated in the first round. I am not a fan of the Canadiens but it was exciting to see them beating the high-powered Washington Capitals. (In fact, 3 out of the last 5 President's Trophy winner were ousted in the first round! I guess no one wants to win it in the near future >:)

Last but no least, what an exciting finish for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega last Sunday. As expected, there were a few big wrecks. And Kevin Harvick barely beats Jamie McMurray at the finish line, literally, at the 3rd green-white-checker restart. It is race like this that gets me addicted to NASCAR. For every boring race, you get something like this. Not a bad deal!