Word: nolan
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Sport is too often a cruel reminder of life's diminishing returns. Fans watch an aging hitter's creaky swing, or a runner's lethargy on the base paths, or a pitcher's loss of velocity and feel the beer breath of mortality on their own necks. Nolan Ryan, whom sportswriter Thomas Boswell has called "the Act of God," is the wondrous exception to this melancholy rule. The Texas Ranger hurler is 43 years old now, and he has more major league records than candles on his next birthday cake...
...early years, the contest was fairer. Young Nolan Ryan was the typical flamethrower: all power, no control. His fast ball could zip across the strike zone or into the twilight zone. Years before he became the strikeout leader, he was the all-time walk king. As Bob Feller notes in his new autobiography: "Walks by a power pitcher like Ryan or me are like strikeouts by a power hitter. If you swing hard, it's more difficult to control the bat. If you throw hard, it's more difficult to control the ball." But in recent years Ryan has taught...
...received a congratulatory call from the team owner's dad. No big deal -- except that the owner's dad is George Bush. "It's a great symbol," Bush, 66, later said, "for kids around this country that love baseball as much as I do." Forget the kids, Mr. President. Nolan Ryan's never ending glory is inspiration for the geezers, for those folks of a certain age whose hairlines are ebbing (like Ryan's, bless him) while their waistlines spread. When the pitcher appears on TV in an Advil commercial and drawls, "Ah feel ready to go another nahn innin...
There are, of course, dissenters from the idea of greater disclosure. Los Angeles psychotherapist Nancy Kless, who specializes in treating crime ( victims, contends that the "secondary injury" of being named can impede patients' recovery. Irene Nolan, managing editor of the Louisville Courier- Journal, wishes her paper could name rape victims but concedes that such a move might deter some women from reporting assaults to police. "I would like to change the paper's policy, but I don't think our community is ready for it," says Nolan...
When her cancer was diagnosed three years ago, Diana Nolan did not need much imagination or prophecy to know what lay ahead. The disease had killed both her parents. Surgeons removed part of her lung, but the cancer spread. Her physician next suggested that she try a potent chemotherapy but warned of the potential side effects -- hair loss, nausea and vomiting. "I wanted a full week to think and pray," she recalls. "I am a person who wants to have a part in the treatment. Let me know what my options are." In the end, she told her doctor...