Well, maybe not such strange bedfellows after all ~ Jane Austen did, as we all surely know, invent baseball [and here], so why not give her a well-deserved mention in Sports Illustrated?
I write this because my son went out of his way to drive over to my house just to show me what he assumed would be a glorious surprise – a Jane Austen siting that I surely couldn’t know about! But alas! I had to tell him the truth that I already did know about not only the sale of The Watsons manuscript, but also the Sports Illustrated mention! – he is now more impressed than ever with my literary detective abilities, my ceaseless knowledge of everything and anything on Jane Austen [thank goodness for google alerts!] – but I felt that his efforts deserved a blog post, so here it is:
Go Figure
$1.4 million
Price fetched at auction by Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest soccer club, for its printed and handwritten versions of the game’s original rules, which were drafted in 1858.
$1.6 million
Price fetched at the same auction for the original draft of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons.
Click here to see it on the page in SI: Austen Sports Illustrated
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Now I realize the SI editors were just following the same auction and wanted to show the comparison between the value of some old soccor rules and classic literature, but can this mean that Jane Austen in the Swimsuit issue will not be far behind?
- ‘Mermaids at Brighton’ – William Heath, c1829
[Image: Wikipedia]
Jane Austen in Vermont 
Oh NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!
Soccer rules, the original manuscript!!!!
Bloody hell, Deb. That is so important.
We are talking the equivalent of a religious manuscript here, the Bible, The Koran, Shakespeare’s complete works..
Yes, well Ok Jane’s manuscript is sort of on the same level but you have just got to understand Deb , the RULES, they are about life, love, passion, the very soul of millions and millions of people, the essence of life itself to over half the planet. It’s peoples whole life’s purpose.
All the best,
Tony
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Ha! – yes, Tony, I knew this would get a response from you! – and of course I DO understand – you must know that I am surrounded by basketball, soccor, hockey, baseball, golf, and all manner of biking, running, and working out – a man-cave of every sport imaginable [though I do not mean to be gender-specific – my daughter does all these things too, including yoga!] – even my dog [a boy] prefers soccor to reading! – but one has to uphold the other aspects of life – the literary, the mindful, the book-obsessed – I LOVE that Sports Illustrated put this item about Jane Austen in there – it gves me hope!
Thanks as always for stopping by!
Deb
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No Jane Austen bit can get under your radar!
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Nor can the juiciest bits of 18th century news escape your notice! [and re: Austen, I really find that there is no keeping up with it all, and some days my radar is just not in good working order – good for my sanity I find!]
Thanks Heather for stopping by,
Deb
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