Thursday, March 6, 2008

The good, the bad and the ugly

A study in contrasts:

Exhibit A, the good: This wonderful eagle-owl post at Fretmarks, with video from Finnish television of a football/soccer match delayed for about ten minutes by, yes, an eagle-owl. It seems that a pair of these giant birds nest on or very near the stadium, and have become very acclimated to human activity. The owl in the video displays no fear, no aggression—just curiosity about the goings-on at field level. Much to their credit, the players, officials, and fans mirror the owl's behaviour perfectly. No one panics, no one tries to chase the owl off the field; in fact, the fans start chanting and cheering for the owl. The prevailing attitude is one of patience and mutual respect.

Exhibit B, which is both the bad and the ugly: Professional golfer Tripp Isenhour faces charges of killing a red-shouldered hawk by hitting it with a golf ball. Apparently he was irked that the noisy hawk (Buteo lineatus can be quite vocal) forced a re-take while he was shooting video for a television program. He reportedly hit not one but several golf balls toward the hawk, finally landing a fatal shot.

I have no idea when the eagle-owl video was taken. The killing of the hawk occurred this past December. But both came to my attention today. Synchronicity?

This may call for the revision of some stereotypes. Obviously, not all European soccer fans are hooligans. And clearly, golf is not necessarily a sport for gentlemen.

1 comment:

Matt Mullenix said...

Well said. I was thinking to comment on these two contrasting instances, but you've done it sooner and better!