liz cox

Fargo native. Iowa captive. Advocate for kids, music, nature, art, and fun.

[Eric Hunley @hunleyeric]

🇺🇸 Happy Independence Day!

Before cable news, there were Saturday morning cartoons. "No More Kings" — Schoolhouse Rock's very first America Rock episode — taught a generation how we fired a king and built a free country.
Some lessons never get old. 🎆
#IndependenceDay #4thOfJuly

[Todd Spence @Todd_Spence]

In 1982, Robin Williams did a routine as the American Flag for the Norman Lear produced tv special "I Love Liberty" created to bridge political divides - and it's one of the greatest pieces you'll see 🇺🇸

[Insurrection Barbie @DefiyantlyFree]

In September of 1814, America was once again in trouble.

The young republic was only thirty-eight years old. The War of 1812 had gone badly. British troops had marched into Washington, burned the Capitol, set the White House ablaze, and now turned their sights toward Baltimore. If Fort McHenry fell, the harbor would be open, the city would likely follow, and another devastating blow would be dealt to the fragile nation.

Amid this uncertainty, a young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key sailed under a flag of truce to the British fleet. He had come to negotiate the release of a friend, a physician the British had captured.

He succeeded.

The British agreed to free the doctor.

But there was a catch.

Because Key and his companions had seen too much of the British fleet and learned too much about its plans, they were not allowed to return to shore. Instead, they were detained aboard a ship in the harbor and forced to watch the coming battle from behind enemy lines.

On the morning of September 13, the bombardment began.

For the next twenty-five hours, British warships unleashed somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 bombs and rockets upon Fort McHenry. These were the “bombs bursting in air” and the “rockets’ red glare” of the song—not poetic embellishments, but terrible realities.

Key stood on the deck through the endless day and the long, terrifying night. Every explosion lit the darkness for a fleeting instant before the smoke swallowed everything again. Somewhere beyond that wall of fire stood the fort. Somewhere beyond it flew an American flag if it still flew at all.

He could not see.

He could only listen.

As long as the guns continued firing, there was reason to hope. The British would not waste ammunition on a fort that had already surrendered.

Then, just before dawn…

The guns fell silent.

For the first time all night, there was only stillness.

It was the most frightening sound of all.

Had the fort finally fallen? Had the defenders surrendered? Had the flag been torn down in the darkness while no one could see?

There was nothing to do but wait.

As the first light of September 14 slowly pushed back the smoke, Francis Scott Key strained his eyes toward the distant fort.

Then he saw it. Not a British flag.

The American flag. Still there. Still flying.

That flag was no ordinary banner. Months earlier, the fort’s commander had commissioned a Baltimore flagmaker, Mary Pickersgill, to sew a flag so enormous “that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.” It measured roughly thirty by forty-two feet, carried fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, and was so large it had to be assembled on the floor of a brewery because no ordinary room could contain it.

That was the Star-Spangled Banner.

The very flag Key saw through the morning mist.

The very flag that still survives today in the Smithsonian.

Overcome by what he had witnessed, Key reached into his pocket, pulled out an envelope, and began writing. The words came from a heart that had spent an entire night fearing his country might disappear with the dawn.

He first titled the poem Defence of Fort M’Henry.

Within days it was printed and circulating throughout the country. Before long, people began singing it to a melody they already knew—an old British tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven,” originally written for a London social club. There is something beautifully ironic in that: America’s most beloved patriotic song borrowed the melody of the very nation it had just survived. It also explains why the anthem is so notoriously difficult to sing. It was never written for ordinary voices gathered in stadiums or school assemblies.

The song spread quickly and became one of America’s favorite patriotic hymns, but it would wait more than a century before receiving official recognition. Not until 1931 did Congress declare “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

[Christine Brennan @cbrennansports]

Caitlin Clark is 2nd in the WNBA in assists per game and T-4th in points per game.

A year ago, her fellow players ranked her as the 9th best guard in the league.

This year, they dropped her to 11th.

This really is one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever covered.

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

Same could be said for other sports. Fans don't want perfection - they want consistency. My guess is players do too.

[SethOfficial @UTD_Seth001]

🚨 Zlatan Ibrahimović on the inconsistency of VAR after Folarin Balogun’s red card compared to the earlier Lionel Messi challenge against Algeria:

🗣️ “Now we see the inconsistency. One player is protected, another is exposed. That is the biggest problem in football today.”

“If Balogun’s challenge is a straight red card, then people have every right to ask why similar incidents are judged differently. The rules should not change depending on the name on the back of the shirt.”

“This decision exposes the rigidity of VAR, but also its inconsistency. VAR was introduced to remove controversy, yet too often it creates even bigger arguments.”

“Football cannot have two standards—one for the biggest stars and another for everyone else. Either the law is the law, or it means nothing.”

“The fans don’t ask for perfection. They ask for consistency. They want to know that every player, whether it’s Messi, Balogun or anyone else, is judged by exactly the same standard.”

“When supporters start questioning whether reputation influences decisions, that’s dangerous for the credibility of the game. Trust in officiating disappears.”

“VAR should make football fairer, not make people wonder why identical situations end with completely different outcomes. That’s the conversation everyone will be having after this.”

[CT Smith @scaryman42]

Fastest player to 1,200 points/ 600 assists

1. Sue Bird 102
1. Sabrina Ionescu 102
3. Danielle Robinson 122
4. Lindsay Whalen 123

Caitlin Clark 70 games
1,343 points
591 assists

[katsu @katsuxbt]

Caitlin Clark says being the face of the WNBA is so mentally taxing she works with a sports psychologist to handle it

“I try to distance myself from everything online the best I can. When I get into the heat of the season, I’m very locked in on what we need to do, what our team’s about, our locker room”

“I do a lot of meditation, a lot of breathing work. I journal a lot. I have a sports psychologist that I work with”

“And doing everything I can to make sure my mind’s in the right place because you have all the physical skills, that’s why you’re one of 160 players. This is a really hard league to play in”

“Sometimes that’s the harder part of it.
I feel like a lot of people don’t probably understand how taxing the pressure and the spotlight can be sometimes”

“But I would never change that for anything. I’m very blessed, and it’s brought me a lot of really amazing things”

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@espn This, my friends, is how a toxic culture is built - gaslighting, deflecting, minimizing, and blaming. Well done Mercury! You have the right coach. 🤦‍♀️ 🙄

[Bri Lewerke @brilewerke]

Caitlin x Kate 💛🖤

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@JeremyGiggy Love this. Would it be possible to grade refs on fouls/violations called that were overturned and foul calls missed ???

[Leigh Lewallen @leighlew3]

lmaoooo

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@TheAthletic - Clark did not 'get tangled up' with AT -- PLEASE STOP minimizing what happened.
https://t.co/yPxev4Gmn8

[Shraddha @Shraddhaszn01]

WNBA referees are giving out techs to Caitlin Clark for CLAPPING while not even reviewing this or calling a common foul on this at all

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@KinnickNorth23 My point exactly!!! Thanks for calling this out. 👍👍

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@NBCNews Hopefully @WNBA also considered the knee to Clark's groin - also a non-basketball act causing physical harm to a previously injured area that kept #22 out of most of last season.

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@TheAthletic Minimizing the victimization by a @WNBA professional as a "skirmish" between two players is not only inaccurate, it implies both parties participated equally. @theatlantic you are part of the problem

https://t.co/PCF3LYpYxZ

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@TheHerd @colincowherd Please also notice the knee to the groin - the initial attack just before the throat punch. THAT's the injury - targeting the area that took her out of season last year.

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@NewsHour Please also notice the knee to the groin - the initial attack just before the throat punch. THAT's the injury - targeting the area that took her out of season last year.

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@usatodaysports Please also notice the knee to the groin - the initial attack just before the throat punch. THAT's the injury - targeting the area that took her out of season last year.

[liz cox @LizCoxWDM]

@Delta - good morning. I can totally see why we all had to check our bags - totally no room for carry-on's.