Hawkeye
As I watched Serena Williams’ final appearance (?) @ the US Open tennis championship, I realized my life had morphed into a TV cartoon — Jetsons of course.
I looked around the US Open Tennis court @ the Billie Jean King Tennis Center to confirm what had appeared to be a half dozen less people around the the court’s perimeter, than in Serena’s 21 previous US Open Tennis appearances.
And then I Googled it.
And yes Virginia (an ode to the Virginia Slims tour, which helped build the professional women’s tennis tour) and to Virginia Wade, a great tennis player who won the 1977 Wimbledon (100th Anniversary) title in her own country, with Elizabeth II in the royal box. Pretty cool.
The Hawk-Eye electronic line calling technology has replaced those sedentary adults, dressed nattily in their Ralph Lauren garb who barked “OUT’ when the green fuzzy ball ventured outside the lines of one of the matches in one of tennis’ Grand Slam events.
The Hawk Eye is an electronic “eye” that now judges if the ball is in or out. An example of technology replacing humans. First, self driving cars and now electronic beams calling tennis balls out. Where and when will it end?
I did get some comfort when this new Hawk Eye, gave me pause and I reminisced about the Hawk Eye character from MASH, my favorite TV show of all time. Based on the successful movie, the TV show ran for 11 seasons and won multiple EMMY’s and Alan Alda won 5 Emmy awards for his portrayal of Dr. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce.
And then there’s the 69,000 capacity Iowa Hawkeye football stadium, (which when full makes it Iowa’s sixth biggest city) where this football season brought back the “Kinnick Wave” to cancer stricken children, who watch the game from the hospital’s Press Box Café, adjacent to the stadium.
Following the first quarter of each game the crowd faces the hospital and waves to the patients and their families from the Hawkeye’s Kinnick football stadium (the only stadium named after a Heisman Trophy winner).
What ESPN calls, “college football’s coolest new tradition” started in 2017, when the hospital opened. Every other season, I look forward to when Penn State, my nieces’ alma mater plays @ the Hawk Eyes. It warms my heart and suggests that Mid-Westerners do have a kind soul. And hopefully some pediatric cancer patients who on game day will have a smile on their face, whether the home team wins or loses.
