If I'd drafted the second paragraph of this article, I think I would have given up and started over. It doesn't make much sense to start with, and it doesn't make any by the time you get to the end of it.

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I don't get it....what's wrong with the article's astronomy. It says that she's the most well known star (which one could argue Polaris is.....(aside from the sun of course)).....and it says she's been shining "brightly".......which Polaris certainly does do. If it had said "brighest"...perhaps there could have been a problem....but I didn't really find anything all that off about the article's astronomical references.
(except the speed thing...it says the other lady is making a speedy ascent into the sky.....although I guess the ascent of a star is pretty much a constant with the earth's rotation and the star's relative position to it.)

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
--Bertrand Russell

Mmmm....Hamm.

"Aly Wagner of the Spirit, meanwhile, is a new star on the horizon just beginning her ascent with blazing speed and luminosity

Uhhh...this is just wrong in so many ways. Does the writer mean to indicate that new stars are born on the horizon before streaking across the sky, brightening as they go? That sentence is so horrible that I'm having a hard time finding the words to rip it apart!

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"Is that a laser pointer? Well...that's fantastic! I mean...wow..that's just...GREAT!"
-Donald Rumsfeld before a Nov. 2001 speech
(His enthusiasm was muted, however, when he learned he could not guide a bomb with it.)

She married Red Sox shortstop Nomar (NOMAHHHHHHH!) Garciaparra over the winter. Tough choice; do you stick with the laughable Hamm, or adopt some monstrosity like Mia Hamm-Garciaparra. Yeesh.

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"Is that a laser pointer? Well...that's fantastic! I mean...wow..that's just...GREAT!"
-Donald Rumsfeld before a Nov. 2001 speech
(His enthusiasm was muted, however, when he learned he could not guide a bomb with it.)

Well, I don't think "Polaris" is the ideal metaphor to start with. It might work if you're talking about a guidepost or something around which everything else rotates, but that's not the implication. Then you get into stars rising, and the whole analogy falls apart completely.

Btw, Mia and Nomar aren't married yet, just engaged. But there are some bizarre hyphenated names amongst some of the female players: Baumgardt-Yamada and Yankowski-Montgomery, to name two. I don't know how these fit on the jerseys!

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Are you sure about that? Hamm was the player said to be the Polaris, Wagner was the rising star on the horizon.

Does women's soccer revolve around Mia Hamm? I think there could be a good case made...

That analogy is getting better and better--thanks for explaining it ToSeek!

It's still a fairly bad mixed metaphor. They don't mention the fact that Polaris is the star that all other stars whiz around at night, rather it's implied that its staying power and its brightness are what makes it recognizable. That just ain't the case.

But of course! Didn't you know that stars don't exist when they're below the horizon? They're born when they rise, last a few hours as they transition across the sky, and then fizzle out and die when they set. Duh. I mean, even the ancients knew that.

("But what about stars like Polaris, that never rise or set?")

Be quiet, you! Can't you see I'm grandstanding here?

I think it's not a mixed metaphor so much as a strained metaphor. A mixed metaphor would mix two metaphors, like...help me out.

And I'm not sure it's fair to criticize something like this for what we deduce from it. Sure, there are folks who think that Polaris is the brightest star, but it's definitely an important star. The same could be said for Mia Hamm, especially with her injuries keeping her from making much of a contribution.

Like I said, I'm liking the metaphor more and more.

[quote="kilopi"]She must be doing better because she had a heck of a game on Saturday, and in your state, I might add. (I was there, btw.)

I don't know, if I had to come up with a metaphor to relate two people, one of whom is an established notable and the other who is just emerging, I'd like to think that I'd either come up with something better or not even try.

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But the article was written before then. Anyway, I saw Hamm carried off the field when she played at Carolina, only to have her come back and score goals.
Give me an example.

I'm often annoyed by football announcers' almost fetish-like obsession with momentum; John Madden is a perfect example. Everything is about "keeping up the momentum." They've obviously never taken a high school physics class. Momentum is always conserved. The team doesn't have to do any work to keep the same amount of momentum. They have to be sure to avoid outside, unbalanced forces which induce changes in momentum, like the other team.

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Damien Sorresso

So you're saying they can lose momentum to the other team???

With Mia in the crowd at Camden Yards in Baltimore yesterday, Nomahhhh came within a triple of hitting for the cycle!

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"Is that a laser pointer? Well...that's fantastic! I mean...wow..that's just...GREAT!"
-Donald Rumsfeld before a Nov. 2001 speech
(His enthusiasm was muted, however, when he learned he could not guide a bomb with it.)

Maybe a plant or a tree or something: the established growth versus the new growth. Or, if you want to stick with stars, perhaps an established main-sequence star that's been around for a while versus one that's just starting to fuse hydrogen. Not that soccer fans are going to comprehend that one.

Or, better yet, just take out the whole paragraph (which contributes nothing to the story) and get straight to the point.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Well, sure, the hardest one to get.
I think that would be expecting too much of sportswriters. Maybe they could lead their stories with abstacts? Naw, they'd just make 'em into teasers.

Like pulling teeth from a baby.

I almost said "This ain't rocket surgery," but I figured you'd find something to nitpick about that one . . .

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SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2008 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

Actually, he had the triple but couldn't get a single.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

We'll burn those bridges when we get to them.
Burning the midnight oil at both ends.
She knocked the socks off the ball.

Or, my wife's favorite (said by one of her college instructors): "Not until h*ll freezes over and the cows come skating home over the ice."

If you need more

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.