What if someone opted out, and nobody cared?

Does the term narcissistic come to mind? I have a hard time even writing his name, but a certain third baseman seems to be so very out of touch with the world. Maybe that is the only way to get his name mentioned in a World Series. Or as one sportscaster said, maybe there IS a reason Justin Pedroia and Mike Lowell are in the series and he isn't!

Hats off to Tito, Brad and the crew. Great series for traditional baseball. Good pitching, good defense and timely hitting. We in Exeter are proud of our native son in Beantown.

And the answer is, Why Not?

My wonderful wife posted the following on her blog. http://fotosbymeg.blogspot.com/ Each time I read Ben Stein I realize I'm missing something by not reading him more and if I am missing things what is the rest of the world missing. Here is the what he wrote:

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
Here with a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife. Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession:I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.


So many levels to this and done so succinctly. Why have we as a nation moved away from tolerance? Is it because it is easier to poke our noses and point our fingers at others than it is to look inside ourselves? And maybe correct some of our own flaws? Introspection is difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible.
Or is it that we have become so used to doing what we want, when we want? Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do something. Why do I have the right to tell someone else how they should live and how they should eat and how they should exist? "Let he who is perfect cast the first stone." Maybe if I live my life in a way that isn't disparaging to others or if I worry about other's pain before mine, someone will ask, Why do you live like that?
And I would answer, "Why not."

Yee, Haw! It's the Rocks vs. the Sox

I have to say this is the combination I was looking forward to watching. Two teams that play baseball in an exciting way. Neither is afraid to bunt and both have pitching and can hit for power. This will be fun. And cold to boot.

I have to say I have personal ties to both teams. The Boston bench coach, Brad Mills, and I graduated from high school together and played together in HS and at the local JC College of the Sequoias. Our coach at COS was Bert Holt. My family has known Bert and his family since I was about 5. It was an absolute joy to play for Bert. He is a scout for the Rockies. Bert is a baseball lifer and there isn't a much better a tag for someone. He and his wonderful bride, Sue, will be sitting in a suite watching the series in Denver. I wish both teams could win.

PS. Bert got me started coaching while I was at COS. I had trouble hitting the fastball, let alone the slider. He put me in the first base coaches box and I was on my way. I also learned to pitch a pretty decent batting practice.

Boring Baseball Playoffs?

Say it ain't so? I read in the local paper recently that a certain columnist wasn't excited about the baseball playoffs and the potential Colorado-Cleveland World Series. That was before last night's spanking by Josh Beckett and the BoSox. It's alright to celebrate the Sox winning in 2004 for the first time since 1918, but not the Indians for getting to the Series since 1948? How about celebrating an organization working and getting it's ship righted? Cleveland is doing things well andbuilding from within instead of buying a good team. That is real baseball.

And the Rockies have finally learned that hitting homeruns and waiting for that lightning to strike doesn't always pay off. Nothing wrong with bunting and catching and throwing and good pitching is there? If these two teams get to the Series, it will be about playing baseball as it was intended. Though for me, I'd like to see a Colorado-Boston series.

I've been thinking about cars. . .

Cars, can't live with them, can't shoot them. I've been driving more than normal for me, which means I've been driving, period. While I'm driving, I've been thinking about cars and trucks. It's kind of difficult to get around the hinterlands of central CA without a vehicle. In the early 1900's this area had an electric railroad. Trips to the river, to cool off before air conditioning; trips to the city, if you can call 10,000 people a city and even high school athletic trips were taken by train. But those tracks have been pulled up or are infrequently being used, certainly no passenger service except Amtrak. This summer our family was in San Diego for a week. We, all six of us, drove there. We have traveled by train as a group and it can get expensive for long trips. That is why we drive. I guess if we ditched the van, then more train trips could be possible. While in San Diego we used their light rail system. We rode down to Tijuana one evening. The rail cars were full of people commuting home to TJ and in places we could see the freeways, they were congested and even stopped. The rail system seemed to be working and it made me think of what central CA could be like.
I've been accused of thinking too much, so that shouldn't be a surprise. Our two oldest, they aren't children, are driving and the third could if we'd sign him up for driver's training. I remember those heady days driving for the first time and the car lust in the '70s that was a carryover from the '50s and '60s. The older two have had collisions and we have been dealing with insurance companies and car repair and them sharing rides to the local JC and more vehicle purchases. I'm thinking about the role of cars in our world and more specifically how my view of cars has changed from when I was my children's age to now. Cars are a tool to me. It's taken me decades to get to that place. I need to remember not to try an impose that idea on others overnight. But, I'm wondering if we have, out of convenience, been misusing our tools. Have we been using a kitchen knife as a screwdriver, because it is inconvenient to walk outside to get a real screwdriver? 'Heck the knife is here and it's just one little screw.' The convenient thing to do has become more prevalent than the correct thing to do.
I recently read the obituary of an auto dealer from Fresno. He was the biggest dealer in Fresno for many years. He had to drop out of school after the eighth grade because of the Depression and after WWII he returned to Fresno and became quite successful selling cars. Something that was said in the obit stood out to me. One of the gentleman's granddaughters told how her grandfather would talk about how the car changed the valley and how it became possible for people to not have to live in the city to work in the city. He talked about how cars literally changed the landscape of the area. More and bigger roadways changing the rich farmland. It was so convenient to drive 20+ miles to Visalia or even 50+ miles to Fresno to make purchases. I think the time of that kind of change has passed us.
A new change has to happen. The valley is the second worst place in the US to live for air quality. Last year we were the worst, even worse than LA. I am not blaming that gentleman or others like him for the air problems. I'm not going to even blame cars for all of the problem. It is a complicated issue that will take years and many changes to bring about. It will take all of us to accomplish the changes. How do cars fit in this equation? Maybe it is good that we have congestion and traffic jams in the valley now. Maybe it is good for us that the roads are less convenient than they used to be. Maybe instead of building more and bigger roads we try something else. Maybe the time of using the knife to turn the screw is over. Lets go back to using our screwdriver.

What are the Six B's?

I suspect it might be a good idea to explain the Six B's. I coach baseball at the high school level and have for over 25 years. Baseball is a game that teaches life lessons. Effort is rewarded and punished, just like life. Nothing better than walking on fresh-cut grass between white lines.



To requote a wise man, Grant Petersen, "Bicycles will help save the world." In reality, I just like riding bicycles, any time. The feeling of gliding through the wind on a frosty morning or the blast furnace of a 110 degree afternoon or the exquisite sound of rubber on asphalt, these all make me feel alive.



The Bible has everything you need. How to live, great literature, wonderful language. I hope to live long enough to understand it more.



Bellowing is probably a strange choice to explain that when I speak, I am loud and deep. Think Barry White with volume. If you want a group to quiet, I'm the one to get everyone's attention. Great to let an outfielder know that he needs to move 3 steps to the left or a class of prepubescent freshman that they need to quiet down for class instructions.



Building describes the acts I perform on an eighty year old house that we inhabit. A few other things apply, but now isn't the time to elaborate.



Balderdash applies to everything else in the world. Kind of Jethro Tull for the new age. (That really dates me.)

As much as this seems fun to write; my family, House and dinner call.