THE TWO SWEETEST WORDS IN SPORTS

 GAME SEVEN

There they are the words that mean that two teams have  forced each other to that last decisive  game in a Seven Game Series.

And that  is what happened  when the Bucks stood up to the Brooklyn Nets and even went into overtime to decide which of them would go onto the finals.

Now we are watching the duels in the Playoffs. I love the fact that if I can't stay up and watch  at night, I can see the game the next day in the afternoon. Very thoughtful of the Basketball Gods to  give us all a second chance.

Of course, the outcome does not change, but I  do not let myself  read the morning Sports pages in the news paper  (YES WE ARE OLD AND WE STILL GET A DAILY NEWSPAPER)

So, on with the playoffs. I am not going to tell you which  team I favor because that might jinx them.

YES THAT WAS ONE OF MY CHILDHOOD NICKNAMES  JINX INSTEAD OF JENCKES.

IRISH FREEDOM FIGHTER KEVIN LYNCH

 YOU ARE INVITED TO A ZOOM SESSION  ON THE TEN  HUNGER STRIKE  IRISH PATRIOTS

Time: Jun 25, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

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KEVIN LYNCH

ONE OF TEN MEN WHO DIED ON HUNGER STRIKE LED BY BOBBY SANDS IN 1981

When lauding the memory of INLA hunger striker Kevin Lynch – one of three republican socialist prisoners who died in 1981, we must not forget the complex history of the group he chose and the cause he died for. The simple facts of the life of Kevin Lynch can be told in a minute.

 Born on May 25th, 1956, Kevin Lynch was the youngest of a family of eight, in the tiny village of Park, eight miles outside Dungiven. His father, Paddy, and his mother, Bridie, whose maiden name is Cassidy, were both born in Park too, Paddy Lynch’s family established there for at least three generations, but they moved to Dungiven  after the births of their children.

Paddy Lynch, a builder by trade, like his father and grandfather before him – a trade which he handed down to his five sons: Michael, Patsy, Francis, Gerard, and Kevin himself, who was an apprenticed bricklayer. Three daughters in the family: Jean, Mary, and Bridie.

Kevin’s great passion was Gaelic games, playing Gaelic football from very early on, and then taking up hurling when he was at St. Patrick’s.  He excelled at both.

Playing right half-back for St. Patrick’s hurling club, which was representing County Derry, at the inaugural Feile na nGael held in Thurles, County Tipperary, in 1971, Kevin’s performance was considered a key factor in the team’s victory in the four-match competition played over two days.

The following season Kevin was appointed captain of both St. Patrick’s hurling team and the County Derry under-16 team which went on in that season to beat Armagh in the All Ireland under-16 final at Croke Park in Dublin. He was a champion hurler.

 He was also a boxer with the St. Canice’s club, once reaching the County Derry final as a schoolboy, but not always managing as easily as he achieved victory in his first fight! Just before that match was due to start , his opponent asked him how many previous fights he’d had. With suppressed humor, Kevin answered “thirty-three” so convincingly that his opponent, overcome with nervous horror, couldn’t be persuaded into the ring.

Kevin never lost his sense of humor and his athleticism.

  As a member of the INLA,  Lynch was tried, convicted and sentenced to ten years for stealing shotguns, taking part in a punishment shooting and conspiring to take arms from the security forces. He was sent to Long Kesh in December 1977. He became involved with the blanket protest, joined the 1981 hunger strike on 23 May 1981 and died 71 days later on August 1, 1981.