Priorities?

Often when people cannot explain 'why' they dismiss their frustration simply saying, "It is what it is." I find this type of response sometimes to be nothing short of a 'cop-out.' When I hear, 'It is what it is,' I think of the line used by Ted Kennedy when giving brother Bobby's eulogy; "Some people see things as they are and say "why."  I dream things that never were and say "why not."

I, perhaps as you, scratch my head wondering about either the illogical or disenginous thoughts expressed by many Americans.  There is one such debate about pro-life and pro-choice. Then there are those who believe the (Christian) Ten Commandments have a rightful place in the public square but no other religious faith should be so embraced yet we claim freedom for all not one over another.

I keep waiting for the debate that settles this issue: How in a Nation that calls itself 'a Christian Nation' allow one in four American children to go to bed hungry tonight while paying hundreds of millions of dollars to American farmers NOT to grow some crops this year in order to keep the market price up?

 I do believe in the American spirit enough and the teachings of Christ to beg that debate.

The Scribe /The Coach

I had an early introduction to the 'sports' writer' from the now defunct East St. Louis Journal. Growing up in that river city, I experienced extensive sports' coverage in Jaycee Baseball Leagues (Youth Leagues) 10-17 years old, Legion Baseball and a multitude of high school sports teams from numerous conferences. Suffice it to state that East St. Louis youth who played sports dealt with the sports' writers early and frequently.

I suppose the first time I was aware that there could be tension between scribe and player was when Hall of Famer and Boston's great hitter, Ted Williams and sports' writers aired their differences in news print. The 'Splendid Splinter' never backed off an opinion and truly embraced those opinions, which were at odds with the baseball media. Sports writers at the Journal, St. Louis Post and Globe and later the Bloomington Pantagraph were kind to me as they covered my playing days. The relationship seemed normal as my role changed from athlete to 'coach.'

As 'Coach,' I always shared with my local sports media (newspaper/radio) pre-season and pre-game approaches. I was not looking for their endorsement, I simply wanted to give reasons 'why' before the fact.

I always viewed the sports writer with two perspectives: (1) He likely already had a 'story slant' when approaching me in person or via the telephone. That said, it behooved me to be quick asserting 'the slant' of his storyline and then to take my desired slant by giving quotes that changed the direction. (2) I always believed that a respectful relationship with local scribes would ultimately be beneficial to building my program.

Reflecting on those bridges, I can state unequivocally that the Jacksonville Journal, State Journal-Register, Bloomington Panatgrapgh, Post Dispatch, Alton Telegraph, Chicago Tribune, Champaign News Gazette, Decatur Herald/Review, Decatur Tribune and others 'sold' many of my books while promoting endless speaking engagements.

On a local level, the late Jerry Symons (WEAI Jacksonville) and Buford Green (Jacksonville Courier) willingly teamed with me to establish The JHS Hall of Fame, West Central All Star Basketball Game, Rotary Scholar-Athhlete.

A wise coach views the sports media as potential partners and a smart sports' writer doesn't coach but promotes amateur sports.

Weather Or Not

It appears to me that today's meteorologist have a plethora of weather forecasting tools and models in their arsenal, however they sure enough struggle in Central Illinois to 'get-it-right.' Okay, I am not going to turn this rant into a slam-job on television weather persons. First, it's too easy to do that and secondly, I never did care much for second-guessers.

I did notice some time ago that my local weather-guy is now giving a forecast referencing two different 'models.' There is the U. S. Model and the European Model. Since I've been watching television weathermen dating back to the early 1950's what was once a 3-minute T.V. Gig is now about seven minutes of the 30-minutes news-weather & sports programming. I can't say the 'predicting' factor has improved but they sure do have a lot of fancy colorful charts theses days...and we seem to 'measure' everything. We have temperature, wind-chill, heat index, rain gages, snow amounts, baramoter, wind speed, pollen counts, i.e. Mold, tree and grasses. Just this week, I saw a new chart for the coming summer months: The 'muggy meter.' I suppose the weather guy wishes to rate our degree of humidity toleration. One chart broke it down into three categories: (1) slightly clammy,  (2) uncomfortable and (3) 'don't tell me fanning makes me hotter!'

I believe the best weather description I ever hear over the airways was from the late great Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, Dizzy Dean when he was broadcasting St. Louis Browns' games during the Second World War. Because our country was at war the government made it illegal to give verbal weather conditions of any major American city. Well, sure enough the Browns were hosting Cleveland in 1943 when there was a thunder storm causing a game delay. Old Diz said, '"Folks, we got ourselves a little interruption in play now but I can't tell ya'll just why that is. So I'm gunna tell you to get up out-the-chair and mosey to the back door and stick your head out...you'll soon finger it all out."

Bulletin, Bulletin, Bulletin!

There is 'bad news' & 'good news' coming out of the Hillary Clinton political campaign camp. First the BAD news: The State Department has found Hillary "at fault" using a private email server for government business while she was Secretary of  State.

The GOOD news: It is rumored that Hillary recently received a 30% off Kohl's coupon and with the $30.00 Kohl's 'cash-monopoly-money,' which she already had and must spend before Memorial Day, Hillary can now buy a 'purple' polyester pant suit she has eyed since Easter. Her savings on the purchase will be $72.00.

One other news note: Republican presumptive Presidential nominee, Donald Trump took notice of the attendance snub by New Mexico Governor Susan Martinez at a recent Trump Rally. Donald said that the Republican Governor Martinez is "Doing a terrible job and he (Trump) may run for Governor of New Mexico." Trump did not specify if he intends to abandon the Presidential run to pursue this governorship or wait until after he serves his two terms as President. It's not always clear Trump's 'direction.'

"Tha-tha-that's All Folks!"

Who's on 1st, What's on 2nd and I Don't Know is Doing Surgery

At 6:15 AM this Tuesday past, I stood anxiously waiting in a long line of 'same-day' surgery candidates in the DMH out-patients' registration line. Noting the early morning line was fifteen people deep and at my noon discharge hour that line was twenty-one folks long, I am thinking health care and mass production are strange bedfellows.

Once processed, I stood butt-exposed in my little curtain-cubicle waiting to be 'hooked' to machines and tubes. Registered nurse, Amanda was skillfully doing her needle things as my wife stood nearby in loving support. Suddenly, a rather small-framed Asian gentleman carrying an over-the-shoulder leather bag, sporting a white coat with his 'Physician' lapel tag walked into the small space. This was NOT my surgeon. I had met my surgeon earlier in the month as I quizzed him about the gall bladder and my candidacy to dispatch. This Korean Doctor approaching my bedside in pre-op was unknown to me, nurse Amanda and my wife. Without any introduction the chap spoke, "Which side do you have your pain, the right or left.?" Immediately, I'm thinking, holy cow this is a joke...that John Quinones TV guy on 'What Would You Do' and his cameraman is going to pull back those curtains and ask me if I would stop a total stranger from performing surgery on me? I began laughing and suddenly the good doctor said, " Oh, wrong patient " as he turned to leave.

Soon my surgeon showed his face and we were off to the colder room. Before they wheeled me from my wife's side, she leaned near me and said a beautiful prayer. I'll never forget her last words..."And Dear Lord bless the hands of whomever shows up to performs Mel's surgery."

More Folks Lose Than Win

Many major department stores are closing up shop due to slow retail sales on site. Of course, this results in a whole bunch of sales clerks looking for other employment, filing for unemployment or food stamps.

Uber transportation service company's CEO, in cooperation with the State of Arizona will soon be testing 'autopilot' cars. This means in the near future a person will hit his smart phone Uber app and a driver-less automobile 'taxi' will pick up the patron and deliver to a destination. Unfortunately, No more driver to 'listen' to the passenger's woes.

Just a few days ago, Wendy's fast food company announced it will be installing self-service 'food dispensing' kiosks, on a trial basis to determine if the restaurant chain can fire more serving-employees to offset the oncoming minimum wage hike.

Obviously, our advanced technology, the consumers' desire to have life at the finger tips and corporations' efforts to keep costs down/profits up is problematic.

I'm still scratching my head wondering 'why' I cannot purchase Gulf Coast shrimp at my local grocery store but must settle for shrimp shipped from Asia. And also, I cannot grasp the growing number of restaraunt patrons on every given week night.

 Be careful going out of doors, you run the risk of being hit by a driver less cab or struck in the head by a drone delivering your pizza.

The Fox Sixty Years Later

My wife, Gerry and I attended the Jersey Boys' show this past Satruday night at the Historical St. Louis Fox Theater. Son Steve ( wife-Kathy) and daughter Pam (husband-Tim) were part of the entourage along with 4,500 other Four Seasons' fans. This is the second Fox Theater production we've attended this past year. The previous show was Gladys Knight and The O'Jays. Both shows were absolutely terrific; both presentations 'sold out.'

Steve took care of securing tickets and he and his wife treated us to dinner. Steve and his daughter, Loren came directly from the Cardinals-Arizona afternoon baseball game joining the group for dinner at Vito's Italian Restaurant on Lindell Boulevard, two blocks from the Fox. Steve was dressed in very casual attire for the ball game and planned to change into 'more theater-like-togs' for the Jersey Boys.
Earlier in the day, Steve showed (wife) Kathy where his clothing-change was and asked her to bring it when meeting for dinner.; Steve's first mistake. (He should have taken the clothing-change with him)
After finishing eating and while others had dessert, Steve retried his change of clothes only to discover he had no trouser belt. He debated the 'fault-factor' with His wife; Steve's second mistake.

Food and drink depleted, the gang headed to the Fox. Spending some photo taking moments in the theater lobby and admiring the beautiful Siamese Byzantine architect, Steve excused himself to use the restroom before the seat-searching began. Returning from the restroom, Steve immediately thought it would be wise to assume all 'belt forgetting blame' by apologizing to his wife for not bringing the the leather in question. At that moment, he pulled his shirt up above his chest exposing his healthy, robust mid-section where partially hidden by protruding flesh was a BELT.

My question: "Boy, when was the last time you SAW YOUR shoes?"

Sixty-years ago, Gerry and I were high school sweethearts who frequented the Fox for a special date night. I recall seeing the movies, 'The Vikings,' (Kirk Douglas/Tony Curtis),'No Time for Seargents' (Andy Griffith) and 'Home From the Hills,' (Robert Mitchum). Ticket s ranged from .75 to $1.50 over the years. There was free parking on the nearby streets. The Jersey Boys' tickets were $100.00 each and parking was $10.00. That's the American economy looking for its 'belt' to holds its britches up..