Sullenberger, Sullenberger, Sullenberger

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Now that we’re in the week after the miracle, let’s try to avoid letting that surname fade from memory.

Repeat: Sullenberger . . . Sullenberger . . . Sullenberger.

In fact, the name ‘Sullenberger’ that belongs to US Airways Flight 1549 pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger ought to hold a regular place in the American vernacular. Anybody who pulls off a feat of a remarkable level-headedness in a time of untold duress should be said to have achieved a ‘Sullenberger.’

And with sports always contributing mightily to vernacular, we shouldn’t avoid Sullenberger’s name just because games will always be so trivial next to landing an Airbus A320 on a river in a metropolis and calmly saving 155 human beings. As long as that understanding is clear and the language is wry and not literal, it should be fine to say that a quarterback leading a winning drive from nowhere ‘went a little Sullenberger’ on the other team, or that a relief pitcher who makes sure the bases stay loaded and not emptied ‘had a dash of Sullenberger in him tonight.’

Sure, that could lapse into overpraise if uttered with full seriousness, but it would achieve the more important function of helping keep in national consciousness the name ‘Sullenberger,’ which reminds us of our best selves, of how human beings are capable of astonishing skills and feats.

-- Chuck Culpepper