1030568 quotes found
"Jay: My son's the lead scorer. How's your boy do?"
"Tom: I don't have a boy."
"Jay: Oh. Really? And you're coaching? Why bother?"
"Tom: Love of the game."
"[Huffer shakes his head sympathetically as he glances at the ragtag group of children from Elma]"
"Jay: What's the story on your team? They sure look young. My heavens, you've had girls out here. In our league, the girls have their own teams."
"Tom: We don't have enough children for that."
"[Huffer laughs heartily]"
"Jay: I'm afraid you haven't heard. We won the league championship last year. We were undefeated!"
"Tom: Might be different this year."
"[The game is about to begin, and Jeffrey finds himself looking down at a soccer ball that the Austin referee has just rolled to his feet. He looks up, puzzled. The referee has to explain to Jeffrey that he is supposed to start the game with a kickoff from the center spot on the field. No sweat, Jeffrey thinks]"
"[The Knights are assembled downfield in three neat rows. They look eager and ready to pounce. The Elma children, on the other hand, are loosely scattered on the field in no particular order or formation. In fact, a few look as if they'll rather be someplace else. Even Elma]"
"[Anna has briefly explained the rules of the game to the children before they leave Elma. There are two goal nets, each on separate ends of the field. Players have to maneuver the ball into the opponents' net to score a point. But they have to do this without using their hands. The only players allow to use their hands are the goalies]"
"[Anna has assigned positions. Jeffrey, Nick and Sophia are forwards. Sue, Lou and Newt are midfielders. Kate, Polly, Evan and Tak take up the rear defense. Larry, because he can't run and can't kick, is assigned to the goal net]"
"[Anna has run them through some basic practice drills, as well. First, they learn the offensive moves. Dribbles, chip passes, back passes. Then the defensive ones. Marking and tackling. Eventually, Anna shows the children how to shoot and volley the ball]"
"[Unfortunately, by game time, the Elma children have forgotten most everything Anna has taught them. The children wander around the field aimlessly. They can't remember their positions on the field]"
"[BLEEEE!!!! The ref blows his whistle, and almost immediately Anna moans. Jeffrey, instead of passing to a teammate, has kicked the ball straight to a Knight]"
"[The surprised Knight player lofts the ball into the air with his foot and passes it to the striker. Then a left midfielder goes running past the center spot into Elma territory. The striker pushes the ball to the running midfielder, who swiftly gains control of it. He dribbles in and around the Elma defenders with ease as he races for their goal]"
"[Larry grows fearful as he watches the midfielder running toward him. His imagination takes over. As if by magic, the Knight midfielder is transformed into a real knight full of chain mail armor. And he is galloping toward him on a huge horse]"
"[Larry panics and covers his eyes with his hands. Then he feels a gust of wind whip among his head. As he opens his eyes, the knight is a midfielder again. He has just kicked the ball past Larry's head and scores the first point for Austin]"
"[The Austin Knights cheer]"
"[Forty-five moments later, the Knights are yet cheering. The first half of the game is over, and they are ahead 10-0]"
"[Jay Huffer gathers his team around him]"
"Jay Huffer: Men, we're ten to zip. What have we done if we are clearly superior to the enemy?"
"Knight: Go for the throat! [Huffer looks at the boy and grins appreciatively. It is his son, Jay Junior]"
"Coach: Exactly. We do not back off! We go for the murder! Make them pay for even thinking of playing against the Knights!"
"[From the other side of the field, Tom watches Huffer exhort his team. He remembers his own playing days as a star quarterback on a championship team. Winning has felt so well. Then he turns to face the Elma children, who are huddled around Anna, and sigh heavily. These children look as if they have just gone ten rounds with George Foreman, he thinks]"
"Anna: This is a learning experience."
"Jeffrey: Why? We already know how to fall down."
"Polly: My feet hurt."
"Tak: My shins hurt. They keep kicking me."
"[Everyone is in the dumps except Newt. He is grinning]"
"Anna: Newt, are you alright? [She concerns that he would have been kicked in the head]"
"Newt: I just can't believe you asked me to play. Nobody ever asks me to do anything."
"Tom: You're all doing grand. Sort of. Kate, you could go after the ball more."
"Kate: I've been watching them eat turf for the last half hour. I'm not doing that."
"Anna: Let's just get back in there and have a nice time."
"Jeffrey: Hey! We may not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but we know the difference between a best time and a worst time!"
"Larry: And this is certainly not a brief time."
"[Fashions only get worse for Elma in the second half. The Knights, merciless in their play, score point after point after point]"
"[It is a comedy of errors, and the Elma children are the big stars]"
"[On one play, Nick tries to block a Knight striker as he crosses the center spot, but as Nick tries to steal the ball he goes sliding across the grass and misses it]"
"[On another play, a Knight right winger dribbles in and around Elma's loose defense. Evan, on the defense line, tries to act as a stopper and mark the player. But the Knight counters. In one move, he flicks the ball up and head-butts it at Evan. The ball smacks Evan in the forehead and knocks him backward onto the ground. Then the Knight casually retrieves the ball and destroys it into the goal net for yet another point]"
"[Newt, playing midfield, has tried to stop a Knight who is dribbling toward him. The Knight doesn't even bother to sidestep Newt. Instead, he bears down on Newt like a sixteen-wheeler diesel truck and Newt goes flying. Oomph!]"
"Newt: Cool! Playing with the big boys!"
"[Kate has not been so anxious to have her limbs rearranged. In fact, she has spent most of the game avoiding any contact with the Knights. Positioned in the backfield, she lingers as close to the sidelines as possible. On one play, however, a Knight has dribbled downfield, right toward her]"
"[All except Tom]"
"Tom: Cookie! Get the young lady a beer."
"Anna: Bottled water's fine."
"[Cookie has never heard of bottled water, where he improvises. He takes an empty beer bottle, fills it with tap water and hands it to Anna]"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.