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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Oh by the way...

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Apr 17 2009, 10:00 AM ET Comment

Was looking for some old Madden calls, and came across this gem. How many of Cowboys remember this? I'm embarrassed to say that I actually cut this game off in the the third quarter--we were just getting mauled. And then the Cowboys come charging back in the Fourth. There's so much poetry here, starting with the fact that Boys were supposed to get Rocket anyway, but he went to the CFL and we got Russell Maryland. Dig Dave Lefluer in there too--who we took over Tony Gonzales (gah!!!). This OT bomb had actually been tried earlier in the game, and The Rocket dropped the ball. I remember thinking it was crazy because it was third and short and we had Emmitt. It's one of those "great call if it works" things.

This was probably Troy Aikmen's last truly great game. It was also likely the last truly great Aikman/Irvin/Smith peformance. This was also the first time I saw Champ Bailey, who was able to stick with Michael Irvin in a way that Darrell Green never could. But if I recall correctly, Bailey got hurt in the third, and the game shifted.

I watched this clip, and it was suddenly 1999 again, and I was back in Chocolate City, shit-talking all my Redskin-loving friends. Football is incredible that way. It really transports.



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