Posted by
Rix on Friday, January 18, 2008 10:27:07 AM
When I heard the news this morning of the passing of Bobby Fischer I had a flash of nostalgia. For awhile he was the poster child for the us vs. them battle between the U.S. and Communist Russia. They had spent time and money breeding a champion in an attempt to prove that their way of life was better than freedom, and then along comes a kid, and he was really just a child at the time, who grew up in the United States that was everything that the communist hated. Bobby Fischer wiped the floor with their champion, which was enough of an accomplishment to make Americans overlook his quirks.
In all honesty, I am not old enough to remember Bobby's first grand win, but I am old enough to remember the constant competition that went on. During the Olympics it wasn't how many medals you won, but how many times you beat those "Ruskies" . I am of the generation that was looking for "the next Bobby Fischer". My brother wanted to be that person, as did the boy up the street, and I'm sure my husband had dreams of it at one time. I don't think any of us really knew who Bobby Fischer was, just who we wanted him to be.
As an adult I became very curious about who he was and where he went. I've always been intrigued by mysteries. What I learned was to never read the biography of childhood heros.
Bobby Fischer the legend was a grand master of chess, he was a child prodigy, and he was a champion of the free world. Bobby Fischer the man was a sad empty man who hated his country to the point of legally rejecting it, he cursed the very people he was descended from, and in the end had put aside the one thing that had ever made him remarkable. The truth is that when the man ceased to entertain us, we ceased tolerating his rantings. He was always an anti-sematic egomaniac, we just didn't care to see it.
I wonder how many of today's celebrities and pseudo heros are really crack pots hiding in an entertaining package. Johnny Depp comes to my mind.
Who do you suspect?