BALTIMORE, Maryland April 25, 2016 - There is a political commercial running frequently during this nasty political season in which a group of seemingly well-meaning modern feminist women rant on and on about the evils of Donald Trump. And believe me, if politically incorrect statements about women by Donald Trump gets your ire, you will not search long for fuel. Nevertheless, this is the most absurd rant of the political season because of all the things the ad leaves unsaid.
Most obviously left unsaid is the obvious endorsement the ad swings at you with all the subtleness of a porcupine for her lowness, Hillary Clinton. Do these Ladies really want to impune Donald Trump in favor of the most dastardly and sinister candidate of these many years of American Political Gamesmenship? Please! Hillary, no matter how you argue it, is directly responsible for the deaths of four Americans while she kissed up to Obama during his last campaign. Ladies, can you say Benghazi? Four Dead Across the Sea. Four Dead Across the Sea. One more time! Four Dead Across the Sea. All Because of Hillary.
And while we're on the subject, might we inject Hillary's Husband into the conversation. Granted, Bill doesn't say the kind of things that Donald says. But he has done all of the things to women that Donald never has. Just sayin', Ladies. And, lest we forget: Four Dead Across the Sea.
Go Burnley! Claret in 3-Way Tie for First With Two Games Left in Championship Struggle
With two matches left for Burnley, Brighton and Middlesbrough, and with each having 87 points, the only thing differentiating the trio is Goal Differential, and that could, in fact, be what lines the three up at the end. And that line-up is more important than 'real important,' because only two of the three will earn the automatic promotion to the Premier League that all three covet. The third place team will find themselves thrust into a tournament with places four, five and six to decide the third Premier Promotion, and what a dogfight that will be.
Right now, if you are a betting man or woman, you'd want to place your money on Burnley to earn one of the two automatic promotions. That is because the Claret play 13th place Queens Park at Turf Moor and 23rd place Charlton on the road, while Middlesbrough and Brighton play each other on the season's final day. What that means is that if Burnley is able to win its final two matches, it is going to be promoted. Sky Sports is offering day, week and monthly passes in case you are interested in seeing the final games live.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Boneheaded Umpires and Boneheaded Presidents: An Essay on These Subjects
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 13, 2016 - The Orioles have won seven straight. As I write this, they lead Boston in Fenway, 9-4, and have another rally in progress in the top of the 8th. So, I suppose, I shouldn't complain about the umpires and their buddies in New York who review replays. But I am.
Here is what just happened. Ryan Flaherty bashed a drive to left with one out in the top of the 8th. He rounded first and raced to second, arriving at the end of a head-first slide. He was safe. As the replays confirmed, he beat Dustin Pedroia's tag with a bit of room to spare. But the witless wonder at second base; i.e., the umpire, called him out. He was not out, but was called out. And then, when Buck Showalter appealed, the call was confirmed. Explain it to me. The replays were not close. Not even one of them was debatable. Each replay showed Flaherty beating the tag with room to spare. He didn't come off the base or break contact with the base or anything else. Wasn't the replay supposed to help curb the rising number of boneheaded calls? Or is the replay becoming, as many of us suspected it would, a means of defending bone-headed calls and the boneheads who make them?
The baseball official who reviews calls appealed by either team during any MLB game is a regular MLB umpire who is rotated into New York, where all in-game appeals are directed. In other words, the man asked to over-rule the umpire is another umpire, somebody who might be in the same crew a few days later. Terrific. I don't want to cast aspersions, but I am casting aspersions. How else do you explain what just happened in the Oriole-Red Sox game? Give me another way to look at this. The on-field ump blows a call. The manager of the agrieved team files a timely appeal. All of the replays confirm the fact that the call was erroneous. But the replay ump upholds the bad and incorrect call. Why?
Think it through. The umpire-friend who upholds the bad call by the fellow umpire-friend is not subject to any further appeal or questioning. At least in the NFL the replay official isn't ever in the on-field crew. He doesn't have to live with the guy he just embarassed. The one and only job of the replay ref is to get the call correct. But in MLB, with friends not wanting to embarass friends, another motive is mixed in. Who gets hosed?
I'm starting to smell a rat.
And Talk About Boneheaded, Who Was Obama Fooling?
Had somebody said to me that President Obama or any other government official said that Hillary Clinton was an Outstanding Secretary of State, I would replay with the maximum amount of incredulity. Nobody could make a statement like that and hope to be taken seriously. Hillary Clinton, by any means of measuring, was about as bad a secretary of state as one could be. She completely bungled every single diplomatic effort she was involved in. Now, somebody might say she was doomed to failure, what with whose foreign policies she was charged with handling. Obama had no real foreign policy except to the extent that sticking up for Islamic Terrorists as much as he could without being thrown out of office was a policy. What was Obama's policy when it came to Europe? "Ignore, insult, de-emphasize, disengage." What was the Obama policy when it came to Africa?" Ignore, Insult, Disengage. How about South America? Start Dialogues with Dictators like Hugo Chavez, Engage with Communist Insurgents whenever possible (See Columbia, El Salvador, and, of course, Venezuela. How about Mexico? Do everything in his imagined power to erase and ignore the border between the two nations; otherwise, ignore and disengage. Canada? Who? Russia? Emphasize to Vladimir the importance of letting him know in advance of all international adventures. China? Haven't we given them enough? Cuba? Praise Castro Brothers while making sure that Raoul is kept far away from his children. Iran? Open the bank and send contents to Tehran. Ignore large pro-Democracy Contingent. Sell soul to get Islamic Leadership to Sign so-called treaty, then send more money in that direction. Who have I left out? To her credit, Hillary implemented this policy, I guess.
Maybe you can make an argument that none of this is Hillary's fault. I wouldn't make that argument in a million years. It's a loser. Hillary and Obama deserved each other, they were comrades. If Hillary ever had an enlightened idea about foreign policy, she forgot to mention it. Or, maybe, if you are one of her supporters, she whispered it to you and you are the one who forgot to make it public. Suffice to say, all of Hillary's good ideas about foreign policy, added together, are also the answer to the equation, 0 + 0 = 0. That is, if you take my meaning.
Here is what just happened. Ryan Flaherty bashed a drive to left with one out in the top of the 8th. He rounded first and raced to second, arriving at the end of a head-first slide. He was safe. As the replays confirmed, he beat Dustin Pedroia's tag with a bit of room to spare. But the witless wonder at second base; i.e., the umpire, called him out. He was not out, but was called out. And then, when Buck Showalter appealed, the call was confirmed. Explain it to me. The replays were not close. Not even one of them was debatable. Each replay showed Flaherty beating the tag with room to spare. He didn't come off the base or break contact with the base or anything else. Wasn't the replay supposed to help curb the rising number of boneheaded calls? Or is the replay becoming, as many of us suspected it would, a means of defending bone-headed calls and the boneheads who make them?
The baseball official who reviews calls appealed by either team during any MLB game is a regular MLB umpire who is rotated into New York, where all in-game appeals are directed. In other words, the man asked to over-rule the umpire is another umpire, somebody who might be in the same crew a few days later. Terrific. I don't want to cast aspersions, but I am casting aspersions. How else do you explain what just happened in the Oriole-Red Sox game? Give me another way to look at this. The on-field ump blows a call. The manager of the agrieved team files a timely appeal. All of the replays confirm the fact that the call was erroneous. But the replay ump upholds the bad and incorrect call. Why?
Think it through. The umpire-friend who upholds the bad call by the fellow umpire-friend is not subject to any further appeal or questioning. At least in the NFL the replay official isn't ever in the on-field crew. He doesn't have to live with the guy he just embarassed. The one and only job of the replay ref is to get the call correct. But in MLB, with friends not wanting to embarass friends, another motive is mixed in. Who gets hosed?
I'm starting to smell a rat.
And Talk About Boneheaded, Who Was Obama Fooling?
Had somebody said to me that President Obama or any other government official said that Hillary Clinton was an Outstanding Secretary of State, I would replay with the maximum amount of incredulity. Nobody could make a statement like that and hope to be taken seriously. Hillary Clinton, by any means of measuring, was about as bad a secretary of state as one could be. She completely bungled every single diplomatic effort she was involved in. Now, somebody might say she was doomed to failure, what with whose foreign policies she was charged with handling. Obama had no real foreign policy except to the extent that sticking up for Islamic Terrorists as much as he could without being thrown out of office was a policy. What was Obama's policy when it came to Europe? "Ignore, insult, de-emphasize, disengage." What was the Obama policy when it came to Africa?" Ignore, Insult, Disengage. How about South America? Start Dialogues with Dictators like Hugo Chavez, Engage with Communist Insurgents whenever possible (See Columbia, El Salvador, and, of course, Venezuela. How about Mexico? Do everything in his imagined power to erase and ignore the border between the two nations; otherwise, ignore and disengage. Canada? Who? Russia? Emphasize to Vladimir the importance of letting him know in advance of all international adventures. China? Haven't we given them enough? Cuba? Praise Castro Brothers while making sure that Raoul is kept far away from his children. Iran? Open the bank and send contents to Tehran. Ignore large pro-Democracy Contingent. Sell soul to get Islamic Leadership to Sign so-called treaty, then send more money in that direction. Who have I left out? To her credit, Hillary implemented this policy, I guess.
Maybe you can make an argument that none of this is Hillary's fault. I wouldn't make that argument in a million years. It's a loser. Hillary and Obama deserved each other, they were comrades. If Hillary ever had an enlightened idea about foreign policy, she forgot to mention it. Or, maybe, if you are one of her supporters, she whispered it to you and you are the one who forgot to make it public. Suffice to say, all of Hillary's good ideas about foreign policy, added together, are also the answer to the equation, 0 + 0 = 0. That is, if you take my meaning.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Comes A Small Child
BALTIMORE, Maryland April 8, 2016 - When he was born Tuesday evening, he weighed all of 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Surprisingly, he arrived with a head full of dark hair. He also arrived screaming, as they say, 'blue murder'. It is the one time in a person's life when those around him or her want to hear such a cacophony. The next evening, he was presented to me. I am his grandfather.
I remember, vividly, when his mother was put in my arms less than a minute after she was born. She was also screaming. She was my first born and was the most incredible and beautiful person anywhere, ever, at least to me. She was and is, also, precious beyond compare. Such are the feelings of a father. Through the years I tried extremely hard to be the best father that ever lived. If love and effort guaranteed success, I would have succeeded. But love and effort do not guarantee success, and now, these many years later, I know that I failed early and often. But I did not and have not given up. If you are a father, you know all of this. You never give up. In most cases, thank the Good Lord, it is not in our make up to give up. We continue to try.
Now, as I hold my grandson, it occurs to me that his birth is, no doubt, a not-so-subtle flyer from the Good Lord that keeping up the effort, keeping up the fight, is all he expects from us. It is in our nature to fail, being human guarantees it. But the love and the effort to hang in there, to fight the good fight, to love constantly and unceasingly, is noble. This small child, precious beyond measure, is the Almighty's way of telling us we are doing his work.
I am holding him gently against my chest, against my heart. I am talking foolishly and then I am humming "O Holy Night." I know it is not Christmastime. But "O Holy Night" is a song that celebrates the birth of Christ as a small human child. We are told that the Good Lord created humans in his divine image. I see that, now, in my arms. I saw it those many years ago when his mother lay in my arms.
He is still now. As I hum, his eyes miraculously open. They are a dark blue with a touch of green. A look of unmitigated wonder covers his small face. It is the look of someone taking in the world for the first time. He is trying to see where those sounds are coming from. In a short time my wife takes him into her arms; like me and everyone else, she has not seen him with his eyes open. But as he lands in her arms, his gaze is still on me. Right now, he doesn't know who I am or what I am. He doesn't know about the music I am trying to hum. He doesn't know about the Almighty I am praising. I promise him he will have many chances to find out.
I remember, vividly, when his mother was put in my arms less than a minute after she was born. She was also screaming. She was my first born and was the most incredible and beautiful person anywhere, ever, at least to me. She was and is, also, precious beyond compare. Such are the feelings of a father. Through the years I tried extremely hard to be the best father that ever lived. If love and effort guaranteed success, I would have succeeded. But love and effort do not guarantee success, and now, these many years later, I know that I failed early and often. But I did not and have not given up. If you are a father, you know all of this. You never give up. In most cases, thank the Good Lord, it is not in our make up to give up. We continue to try.
Now, as I hold my grandson, it occurs to me that his birth is, no doubt, a not-so-subtle flyer from the Good Lord that keeping up the effort, keeping up the fight, is all he expects from us. It is in our nature to fail, being human guarantees it. But the love and the effort to hang in there, to fight the good fight, to love constantly and unceasingly, is noble. This small child, precious beyond measure, is the Almighty's way of telling us we are doing his work.
I am holding him gently against my chest, against my heart. I am talking foolishly and then I am humming "O Holy Night." I know it is not Christmastime. But "O Holy Night" is a song that celebrates the birth of Christ as a small human child. We are told that the Good Lord created humans in his divine image. I see that, now, in my arms. I saw it those many years ago when his mother lay in my arms.
He is still now. As I hum, his eyes miraculously open. They are a dark blue with a touch of green. A look of unmitigated wonder covers his small face. It is the look of someone taking in the world for the first time. He is trying to see where those sounds are coming from. In a short time my wife takes him into her arms; like me and everyone else, she has not seen him with his eyes open. But as he lands in her arms, his gaze is still on me. Right now, he doesn't know who I am or what I am. He doesn't know about the music I am trying to hum. He doesn't know about the Almighty I am praising. I promise him he will have many chances to find out.
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