Kids In Different Times

A few weeks ago, I was visiting with one of my younger grandkids who, like all the other grandchildren is very computer savvy. Not far into our conversation the youngster made a correct observation and candidly shared it with me when she said, "Boompa, you sure don't know much about computers. Perhaps feeling sorry for me she added, "But you know other stuff."  I grew up watching Art Linkletter's television show, "Kids Say The Darndest Things," therefore I am not surprised what comes forth from kids' lips.


As we parted that evening, the youngster put down the handheld gadget long enough to give the old man a goodbye hug. As I drove home that night, I recalled my adolescent years and instead of cell phones and electronic devices, I remembered: One large black telephone and when you picked it up off the receiver, you might hear a conversation taking place; we had 'party lines.' If the line was open a real live telephone-operator said, "Number, please!" She then 'plugged' you into a truck and soon you were talking with your friend. Of course, I knew more about 'anti-anti-over', Mother May I, Newspaper Boys calling out the headlines, Street Cars, Automobile Running Boards, Drive-In Movies, Car Hops, Poodle Skirts, White Buck Shoes, I.D. Bracelets, Character Notebooks, Whitewall Tires, Console Radios, Wax Records (45's & LP's), Grocery Store Deliveries, ice box, Family (Together) Supper-Dinner Time, Butch Wax for crew cuts,  Catfish Tubing, Neighborhood street-light games and chatter. I do recall when we did get rotary-dial telephones; we could then telephone a taxi-cab for an unsuspecting neighbor.
I conclude that my grandchildren are are both smarter and more productive than I.

She Made Her Point

My wife and I were watching television news when the announcer presented a new medical finding. It seems a study involving thousands of men concludes that those men having intercourse with 20 or more partners were less likely to develop prostate cancer. Evidently reducing semen (spermatozoa) reduces prostate cancer risk.


Before I could comment, my wife said, "Men can accomplish the same outcome if they pretend they are 14-years old once again and grab a Playboy magazine on the way to the bathroom!"

Making Sense Of It

I remember at a young age hearing my father say to mom, "I want our boys to have a better life than we did." Over the years, I often recall that comment and imagine that most parents share similar sentiments. Surely, we would agree that such a parental mission is most noble.


As I review the lives of my parents, my generation and that of my children and grandchildren, I simply wonder if 'a better life' truly resulted. Without condemnation, I do take note of one early childhood drastic change; the day care school impact on children. I contend that the 'womb-to-room' concept does not replace 'good' parenting. This cannot be better.


 Personally, I never got in that parenting-parade of making a better life for my kids. I believed my life to be just fine and good enough for my children should I re-create the format. My wife and I always kept things simple so we could understand what the hell we were attempting. We expected our kids to be accountable, respectful, well mannered, maintain personal hygiene, achieve to their respective abilities, understand consequences and pursue something for which they had a passion.

Always a Good Morning

A few things I know a lot about; regarding most things, I am clueless. I know zero about electronic devices, and less about peoples' thinking. I am certain, however that my day begins better than most people! I often wake of my own accord because some arthritic conditions blow the morning alarm-whistle. Perhaps equal to that particular 'wake-up-call,' is the A.M. actions of my toy poodle, Yodie who gets the morning off and running. Yodie sleeps at the end of our king-size bed. He falls asleep each night with his front paws wrapped around the neck of a stuffed bear with his mouth clamped on the Bear's nose.


Sometime between 5:30 AM to 6:30AM, Yodie begins to stretch while looking my way. After his stretch-routine, he then meanders towards the old man to begin smelling my hair and wagging his tail from the rear hips. Each morning is the same, he acts as if he is  totally surprised that I am there. His excitement to renew our friendship bond is contagious with uncontrollable wiggling and squirming.
Scientific studies confirm that Yodie lowers my blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rate. He reduces my stress and tension. I also know that this kind of human-pet-bonding relationships results in both human and dog living longer.


Recently, I learned our 24-year old granddaughter, Lindsay and her 2-year old Shih-tzu-Bichon are nearing therapy-dog certification. Imagine a young woman getting it.  She has a special dog with the potential to give precious  moments to the young and old who are facing difficult times and will find joyous-relief from a puppy's boundless love. I must stop now. Yodie needs his teeth brushed and then I'll get on the floor and wrestle with him over his rubber duck...he really needs this moment...well somebody does!

Those Sinful Businesses

I recall, in the 1950's, a popular cigar store on Missouri Avenue in downtown East St. Louis. Perhaps, I was in the store a dozen times during my teen years. The store was near a city bus stop I used after high school basketball practice. I went in the store for a bottled soda to drink during my bus ride home.

The cigar store was always packed with men and smoke; never saw a woman in that cigar store. Once I used the bathroom and walking by the back room, I saw several card tables where guys were playing poker; lots of money on the tables. There was a couple of illegal slot machines against one wall and everybody in East St. Louis knew that the cigar store was an illegal betting joint and headquarters for the numbers racket.

I remember local people bemoaning the fact that the illegal business operation was ignored by the local law enforcement. The speculation was the police were paid-off to 'walk-on-by.'
Finally, the illegal operations did bite the dust...the State of Illinois shut them down; the State now 'runs' the gambling business...casinos, numbers game (lottery), etc. Of course some State officials are still 'skimming.' Now the State is moving into the drug business (marijuana); perhaps one day the government will operate brothels; interesting how morals changed over time...hey, business is business!

In The Sand is No Place For a Head

We all know the proverbial teen myth, 'It ain't gonna happen to me.' None-the-less, my nightly prayer has one repeating line; "Dear God please be with my grandchildren and help them to make GOOD choices."
I observe outrageous college campus behavior driven by the power of alcohol, the promiscuous attitude towards sex and a general theme, "I am a bigger idiot than you!"
 Once the tattoo identified the male but no longer; body markings and piercings are the order of the day along with pretentiously showy and tasteless behavior accentuated with sloppy attire. Hardly a week passes that some pretty young girl goes missing only to be found dead and some creepy looking bastard is 'a person of interest.'
Subscribing to the belief that God helps those who help themselves, I encourage my children to be proactively involved in their children's lives, offer the answer "No" more than "Yes" and never apologize or explain their skepticism about their kids' activities.
I established parent-teenage relationship parameters many years ago with my kids and I land the same punches with the grandkids. I recall saying to my teen daughters, when driving them to and from those endless middle school parties, "What shall we talk about while we have this moment together, 'French-kissing or alcohol-drinking?.' My message?? Kiddos, you ain't the first to experience the carnival-circus and we are going to chat about the larger picture!!!

Who's Your Boogieman?

Put your head around these numbers: Military vets make up 11% of our population and 25% of our homelessness. Many of those vets were kids struggling in high school and going nowhere when they were recruited for the military. After likely fighting a corporate war, they came home with nowhere to go except a park bench.
Another story had easy to connect dots: Some toys produced with cheaper China labor is found in America toy stores and they contain chemical poisons. Homeland security worries about terrorists while communist China poisons our kids. Those outsourced toy manufacturing jobs sure enough have a 'big price' for the American consumer yet a huge pay day for corporations that bitch about taxes while attempting to 'break the labor unions.'
Wanna guess whose kids don't fight wars and don't sleep on park benches.

A Principled Man

Every election year, I always recall a political lecture I got from my father when I was sixteen years old. Several of my friends were getting much better summer-paying jobs through political connections and I knew that I could exercise that through my sports' involvement-connections and friendships. I told my dad of my intentions to tap that resource. I was somewhat surprised at his adamant refusal to allow that process to unfold.
He told me, "You accept those kinds of favors from a politician and soon they will tell you who to vote for and how much money you should contribute to a person's campaign." He went on say, "I'll be damned if any kid of mine is going to owe something to a politician. Therefore while many of my friends were making $2.85 per hour 'holding ' a highway road sign, I was sweating my ass off in a St. Louis factory raking in a whopping $1.65 per hour. The years?? 1956-57.

Easily Fixed

People of my parents' generation spoke often about having to 'walk good distances to school' when they were youngsters. With the building of more neighborhood schools, my generation perhaps walked five or six blocks to grade schools and a little farther to the junior high school. I confirm that as my history. I jumped on a city bus for the lift to the downtown high school site.
Of course, today's state laws require school children living a mile and one half from the free lunch program to be transported by one of the 'large-yellow-tin-cans,'i.e. school bus.
A recent 'letter-to-the-editor' from a Decatur school bus driver caught my attention. The driver was bemoaning the circumstance that he and his fellow drivers needed support from the school administration. It seems that overcrowded buses find students harassing one another and the driver as they yell vulgarity, throw objects, engage in horse play and fights, which often necessitates the driver to pull off to the roadside and address the behavior problems.
I heard gubernatorial candidate, Bruce Rauner recently say that should he be elected Governor, he'd turn more public school decisions over to the parents. This underscores the fact that politicians will say anything to be elected. The growing problems in public education are caused by parents. They want to send their little turd-blossoms from womb to room, have the schools teach manners, feed them, have after school programs that coincide with parents' work hours and deliver the little shits back to the door step sporting good grades and some awards.
The bus-behavior problem is easily solved: The driver identifies the misbehaving child. No questions asked, the child is banished from the bus until the next semester.

Who's In Charge?

I heard one of those parenting-experts on television last week talk about the need for the parent to recognize in that moment just before a child begins to throw a temper-tantrum. The parent can then offer distractions to take the child's mind off the tantrum. Seemingly, parents should be versed in the skills to deflect potential bad behavior forthcoming from their kids. The expert continued by showing various 'tools' to equip the parent.
The larger question is: How do we equip and prepare all the people with whom our child will interact in life so those folks may identify our child's mood thus offering the 'tools,' which will keep him from destroying the office or killing a co-worker.
My dad was one screwed-up parenting-dude. The first time I showed my ass throwing a temper tantrum in public, he took me aside and whipped that ass and told me, "Straighten-up boy!" Going forward, I TRIED TO FIT IN with others and PLEASE my parents.
Today, I feel as the fella who knelt at the Church alter for a long time one Sunday morning. The Priest asked the gent, "What's troubling you my son?" The grown man replied, "I worry about the day when our country is run by those who were never spanked and got trophies for participation."

Strongly Considering

I've decided to make some changes and approach things differently:
*   I'm not going to worry about repeating stories; I may tell them better the second time.
*   This year I'm going to do all my Christmas shopping at Cracker Barrel...before I eat.
*   I'm not going to bend over anymore to pick up things that I drop.
*   I'm going to begin embracing doctor appointments as 'social events.'
*   I think I may stop fighting back 'farts' in public places.
*   I will no longer worry about boring people talking about my grandchildren.
*   I am going to start dunking my donuts in restaurants.
*   Attempt to figure out how to dismiss 'socialism' as the politics of Christianity.

Can I Get An Amen ?

This Ebola disease presents super-serious concerns. It appears that it spreads expeditiously in places like Liberia. The 'experts' are saying within months Ebola could increase world-wide at a rate of 10,000 cases per week. Those so-called well-versed Doctors appear frequently on television with the obvious 'talking-points-mission' to reassure folks that things are going to be just fine; we Americans are all over this crap. Well, excuse me but I'm not so damn sure about that 'company-line.'
One Ebola patient is dead after walking into a major hospital sporting all the Ebola symptoms plus West Africa plane ticket stubs hanging from his shirt pocket and the nurse told him to go home and take an aspirin. He died within a week but not before he infected others.
President Obama recently said that a number of Nations have not been proactive in fighting the disease and "They need to step up." I suspect those are the same Nations who are waiting for the USA to take care of the world terrorists' groups. Lot's of luck waiting for that 'back-up' Pres!


On a personal note, I never get a flu shot. I had the flu once in my adult life; that was the 'only' year that I got THE shot. I do wash my hands more than any person suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). That said, I need to speak to my Preacher. He insists on those congregation moments of hand-holding during prayer. I find myself praying that the person in the pew who blew their nose during the entire sermon and whose moist hand is now clutching my hand suffers only from allergies!!!

My god Can Whup Your god !

A few weeks ago, I listened to a debate between a fundamentalist Muslim, a fundamentalist Jew, a fundamentalist Christian and an Atheist; the Atheist did not say he was a fundamentalist but I think we would assume that to be the case. I believe that anyone claiming they are a 'religious fundamentalists' means that they embrace literal interpretation of their 'holy book' scriptures while dismissing any other scriptures.
After listening to the over-the-top rhetoric and pompous claims, I concluded that these four folks had two things in common: (1) intolerance and (2) assholes.
I am a Christian but not a fundamentalist. I wish not to suggest how others should believe or worship. I only ask the following:
You can choose any road map to Heaven you desire or you can go to Hell. Just don't try to govern my country from your fundamentalist pulpit and stay off my grass!

It Ain't Over Till Nero Fiddles

My next-door neighbor is a long-time Decatur Fireman. He pulls those two-on two-off shifts. It's a good feeling knowing that several manned fire stations around the city are 'on-duty.' The police force is very visible throughout our city and likewise, I feel good that their constant patrolling-protection is intensified simply dialing 911 in a personal emergency. Down the street from my home, I notice a truck that advertises it's company's 24/7 emergency service with furnace, air-conditioning and or plumbing problems. I suppose there are several such companies offering those services. I hope I don't need to call on the aforementioned folks but it's good to know they 'stand-the-watch.'
On another emergency matter, I am one who always votes in every election. All those elected officials were 'sent' to Washington D. C. to act in the best interest of our Nation's needs. When an emergency happens, I expect those elected Congress folks to 'be on the job.'
HOWEVER--- as you read...
Those politicians are back in their home district campaigning for the up coming November 2014 election. I'm not an alarmist but our Nation face a big terrorist issue in the Middle East, a highly infectious disease (Ebola) is on the verge of a pandemic and a myriad of economic and social problems beg for joint government leadership.
Somebody pull the fire alarm and wake up Nero!

Communication Challenges

My thirty-nine year coaching career ended before 'social-media' became an issue carrying potential negative impact upon my basketball program; not the case facing today's coaches. At last Friday's educational conference presentation before middle school and high school coaches, I asked the question regarding the manner in which the coach addresses negative/critical 'tweets,' 'blogs' and Facebook comments by their players and the players' parents. A successful team depends upon a spirit of comradeship , enthusiasm and devotion to a common cause embraced by group members. I am sorry but unchecked the negative use of the social media can destroy the team.


I believe that a mandated pre-season meeting with parents and student-athletes should clearly state expectations of parents and athletes with regards to the 'social media' team comments with consequences outlined should violations happen.


My parents and grandparents would have no idea of today's meaning of the words 'tweet' and 'blog.' Of course, I recall in recent years when I told my daughter-in law that some little league baseball player had 'three dingers' and she thought I was absolutely crazy. It seems, in their immediate family a 'dinger' is reference to the 'penis.' A dinger to me meant 'homerun.'

Fortunate-Blessed-Humbled

This Friday morning, I am en route to Vandalia, Illinois where I will be one of dozens of educational presenters at the annual (three county) Professional Development Conference. I have presented more than six times at this educational institute and look forward to sharing a message today.
I began this 'speaking-thing' in the mid seventies and the frequency escalated while serving on various Illinois High School Association Advisory Boards in the 1980's. The IHSA endorsed my speaking presentations, placed me in the role of basketball analyst for two consecutive State Tournament and promoted my books. The IHSA also installed me as its national liaison to the American Sport Education Program. I was fortunate and blessed. I traveled extensively throughout Illinois presenting hundreds of times to administrators, coaches, student-athletes and parents. I offered three staple presentations: "Me, My Kid and Sport;" "Coaching Beyond The X's & O's" and "The Wish VS. The Will." After the release of my book, "99 Answers for the Sport Parent," the speaking engagements expanded across the country...did I state that I was fortunate and blessed?
It is said that should attendees at a conference pick up just one worthy idea the time spent was worth it. I would like to believe I will impart more than one worthy morsel of info...that is surely my intention!
I am humbled by the opportunity.

Ain't Nice To Fool The Experts

 Since my playing background was in both baseball and basketball, I developed a deep love for both games. I chose to coach basketball because more lucrative circumstance was available for my family than had I coached baseball; just the way it has always been in high school athletics.
My fanatic interest in Cardinals' baseball explains why I have the MLB television package and Sirius Radio with MLB stations. I will listen to stations and programing 'in-season' and Hot Stove League talk year-around. That said, I am always amused at the perceptions and predictions offered by the so-called experts hosting those aforementioned media shows. Naturally, I am chuckling over those loud-fast-talking baseball gurus as they attempt to explain just why Clayton Kershaw is so inept in post-season, especially when pitching against the St. Louis Cardinals. Likewise, I note the absence of follow up pontification about 'how' the Angels with Albert Pujols would be frequent World Series participants.
I suppose it is too much for the mind to process when 'pondering' just why the two highest paid MLB teams are not even 'alive' in respective league finals and a potential World Series ticket. Maybe the answer is in Lindbergh's airplane's name?? Then perhaps it has something to do with Los Angeles Dodgers' management as it ignores the team-demoralizing bad behavior from the Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez while those Hollywood impostor baseball fans giggle.

Leadership Failure

This week an East Coast high school cancelled its remaining football season. The freshman, sophomore and varsity teams will forfeit  approximately18 combined games. The sport season termination comes during an investigation into alleged hazing and bullying activities within the football program. This administrative decision is a blatant failure of adult leadership in that school district. The program stoppage is an example of cowardly leadership demonstrating a fear to address kids with negative behavior while ignoring the participation enjoyment and entitlement of 'good' kids in the program.


This reminds me of a time while coaching at Jacksonville high school when I went to our administration and asked why we no longer have sports' pep assemblies, which saluted the positive representative efforts of athletes. I was told that the general feeling amongst administrators and teachers believed such assemblies became problematic for faculty attempting to 'deal' with jerks, bums and clowns, which are found in most schools. Thus once again the well behaved 'good' kids were denied support and fun because of disruptive students.
I recall one year when that same high school partnered with a fast food restaurant and gave away sandwich-coupons to documented truant students if they attended school five days consecutively. I knew many 'A' students who were outstanding school citizens and never missed school; they got ZERO...jack shit for their attendance. Check out most public schools and you will discover 90% of rules are implemented because of 3% of the jerk-population.

Gibber-Jabber

My 47" VIZO television, which is supposedly hooked up to Comcast XFINITY high definition was experiencing a blank screen periodically so I telephoned Comcast to set up a 'service appointment.' The lady at the other end of my Comcast telephone call spoke broken English and I labored explaining to her that I WAS NOT going to 'follow her telephone instructions to see if my problem could be resolved by her reading directions from a manual and me doing some technician's job.'  I had to use some East St. Louis street jargon to make my point and obtain a service date.


The Comcast service guy came out yesterday at 8 AM. Nice fella who seemed to be extremely well-versed in cable service technology. I listened to him explain what was wrong with my reception and what I could do should the problem arise in the future. He said, "Your HDM1 cable seems loose...perhaps you need a new cable or then maybe the HDM1  port in the TV has an issue." He continued, "Some devices may output a 1080/24p or 1080/30p video signal, but some TV's can only accept a 1080/60p video signal. Connecting the device may resolve the issue."


I found myself 'cocking' my head like my poodle, Yodie when the dog is trying to hear a key word like, treat, bye bye cars, and outside. Nothing helped me understand what the hell the service fella was saying. I said, "Can you explain that in simple terms?" He said sure and offered this: "Try using a different HDM1 cable. If possible, try a different device using the same connection. Hit the power reset button. If no picture comes on the television turn every thing off and allow every device to be without support-power for 30 seconds and repeat procedures."
Not once did I hear that sum bitch say anything about the rabbit ears or aluminum foil!

Kilroy Was Here

It is somewhat funny but yet poignant that the walls in peoples' homes often give off great clues regarding the life lived and hobbies embraced. When entering some homes, I notice animal heads mounted on walls, family photos and oft times awards and or commendation recognitions.  I suppose we all attempt to make sure people know that we did 'something' in our lives that was notable for a brief moment-in-time. Perhaps we also wish to have those extrinsic reminders 'out there' in view realizing that memory lapse is lurking around the next bowl of oatmeal.


In recent weeks, I have taken down several 'wall-items' with intentions to give away these once perceived keepsake reminders. I am aware of some stuff that my three kids might wish to have and a few former basketball players have made it known to me that they would like to receive certain items.
All these 'things' will one day become discarded items...I'm just passing that decision on down-the-line. As the old gospel song says, ...'till my trophies at last I lay down.'

Some Stuff Sucks

I don't care for some circumstances. I find myself attending weddings of my nieces and nephews' kids because their parents attended my kids' weddings. That's not right. I think MY kids are on the hook to attend these weddings; it's their 'payback.' I never get any mail worth reading. Along with regular invoice-bills, I now have over one thousand return-labels from cystic fibrosis, March of Dimes, Heart and Cancer organizations and Alzheimer's International. Recently, I get mailings from senior living-homes, hearing aid businesses and  funeral homes with an occasional Casino post card telling me that they 'miss' my money and I have a free room; it's not stated that I should bring some more money but it is understood.
I also receive annual notices from the Masons, Scottish Rites and Temple that my dues are needed. I pay the dues and support many of those organizations' causes but I never attend any meetings. Those meetings are too much like the Cub Scouts and I never could get into secret pass words and merit badges.
I did buy some hearing aides and discovered what I suspected; there's not much worth hearing, especially today's pop songs, which really suck!

Everybody's Gotta Be Some Place

I thought it important to share with our three grown children what their parents are 'thinking' about down the road. We are not in denial; we know the day may arrive when we must make 'other' living arrangements. I explained to the children that their mother is straight forward with her game plan, she wishes to live in one of those assisted-living places or a nursing home. I DO NOT. Whereas, I am not above those living accommodations and I am sure that I can get use to 'strange odors' and institutional cooking; I am not going to live any place where 'keepers' tell me it's time to do crafts or I must play bingo.
Therefore, I have told my children that when I can no longer paddle solo, I intend to live with ONE of THEM. I am confident this news creates great excitement amongst my kids as they anticipate winning the lottery. Meanwhile, I just bide-my-time and allow the kids to placate the old man as they 'jockey' for inside position.

Happy Days Ahead

Recently, I read a study about corruption.  'Has society become more corrupt?' It appears the study findings reveal a resounding YES. General population corruption is 'up' 50% while corporate corruption is 'up' 80%. The study offered no government corruption numbers...probably best.  I am not surprised by the study findings regarding corruption; I'm waiting for the study that gives insight to apathy because no one seems to give-a-crap about corruption in the first place.  Most folks bitch about corruption but appear to accept it as matter-of-fact.
Another study I came across gave me more hope for life. This study finds that the older we 'get' the 'happier' we become. Once a person reaches age 65, they begin to enjoy life more fully. The study concludes that happiness increases with each five-year increment. Come to think of it, at seventy-five, I notice myself a tad bit giddier and at this rate by the time I hit 95, I'll be a dad gum incoherent, laughing goof ball.