Let the "King" be.

I as much as anyone, I wanted the Heat to lose in the NBA championships.   To me they embody everything that is bad in professional sports.  They are about stars & not team or team play.  The "Decision"  and the promise of 7 NBA championships showed such arrogance. It's all about me.  Lebron's behavior in this regard is anything but as a good role model.

But, is it arrogance or is it immaturity?  Afterall, since he was a young teen, he has been touted as the next Michael Jordan. Today he is called the Greatest Basketball Player in the World & maybe ever.  Millions of dollars and media attention were thrown at him.  What "Kid" wouldn't be engulfed by all of it!  How much of what we saw was really him or what the media painted him out to be.  Who is the real Lebron James? 

What if any counseling was he or any of the young athletes out there given.  Will Bryce Harper of the Nationals fall under the same kind of money & attention King Jamnes received?  How will they or any future young star deal?  Do the professional sports gurus owe it to these Kids to counsel them in how to deal with all the attention.  Should these Kids be protected in some way so that they continue to grow up before they are put under such scrutiny? 

The NBA says that they do give their draftees counseling.  But why do we continue to hear of the kind of behaviors we are hearing? If we want our stars to really be good role models & if they are allowed to live some type of normal life, then we owe them help in doing this.

Funny, we offer young professionals in many lines of work a mentor to help them learn & deal.  But we think money will be all these young professional athletes need?  Many of them come from almost nothing.  I suggest we give them a mentor and counseling so that maybe future Lebron James can avoid the kind of first 9 years King James has had to deal with.  I sincerely hope that winning his first title is the beginning of better times ahead for this young man.  Maybe now we will get to see the real Lebron James.  Afterall, he's still only 26. 

Character & the Hall of Fame

The government has spent millions of dollars trying to connect pro athletes & drugs.  The recently concluded Roger Clemen's Purgery trial was yet another failed attempt by the government, following in the footsteps of the Bobby Bonds & Lance Armstrong cases.  We can argue the merits of these trials & the money spent but I would like to discuss just baseball & it's Hall of Fame entrance guidelines as they pertain here, especially the "Character" piece.

The "Character" piece has been used to keep Raphial Palmiero and Mark McQuire out of the Hall of Fame thus far and I'm sure will be the topic of discussion this December when Bobby Bonds, Sammy Sosa, & Roger Clemens are eligible for entry.   

Roger Clemen's "Not Guilty" verdict may help him a bit but many feel he's guilty of something & his lawyers just did a great job of creating reasonable doubt.    The question for the voters just seems to be....Do these men belong in the Hall?  Do their accomplishments on the field warrant their entry? 

Will the voters use the "Character" piece to keep these men out?  Many might argue that there are those in the Hall with questionable character so why keep these men out? Ty Cobb supposedly is guilty of man slaughter & Babe Ruth of excessive drinking. Are all of the Hall of Famers Perfect people?  Cheating has been going on ever since sports began.  Athletes looking for ways to improve their performance.   Are steroids just another way to do this?  Should we put astericks or have a separate category for the "Steroid Era"?

I don't know?  And I don't have any answers for the voters come December.  All I know is that a Hall of Fame without the leading home run hitter & one of the games best pitchers doesn't seem right.  Maybe they need to take out the "Character" Piece.  I do believe that Character matters but maybe sometimes it's just All about the Numbers!!!!!!

What's up with Public Pensions?

I see where they are after public pensions.  How dare those public employees keep getting paid after they retire!!!! Funny how for years no one cared.  You see many of us public employees, with similar experience & skills as those in the private sector, took positions that paid less then in the private sector.  Why?  Because of benefits like our pensions.   My family of four qualified for federal assistance back in the 1980's.  No one cared for years because for years the money set aside for these pensions was invested and did so well, that up until 4 years ago, the public paid less then a half a percent annually through taxes into those pension funds.  But with the downfall of Wall street due to the greedy actions of  the rich, those pension funds have needed a greater input from public taxes putting us in the mess we are currently in.  A case of Money goes where Money is.  The Rich getting Richer & the gap between the Haves & the Have Nots getting greater basically eliminating the middle class. 

Therefore the need to go after Public Pensions.  I say...go ahead but be sure you compensate public employees well to make up for this loss.  They shouldn't have to work 30 years to finally make what most private sector workers with similar experience & skills make after 5 years.  Then, they could start their own 401 K's & whatever so that they will be secure after retirement instead of needing federal assistance.

Public Employees are Not the enemy.  Try & survive without them.  Let's find a fair and equitable way to dig ourselves out of the financial mess we are in.  We have a definite problem when 90% of the money in this country is in the hands of 10% of the people!!!!!!  When we pay ball players & entertainers 100's of millions of dollars and CEO's get billion dollar bonuses while their companies are going bankrupt.   The little guy gets sacraficed for the benefit of the guy with all the money.

So, what do you think. Are Public Pensions a problem?  If so, tweek em...fix the issues.......just be fair & make sure that EVERYONE pays their Fair Share!!!!!!  Maybe my 5 cents worth!!!!!

Team Chemistry...WHY it's important

Today, all the "talking heads" are pointing the finger at Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra for their game 5 loss to the Celtics.  Why didn't he play Chris Bosh in the 4th quarter?  Tearing apart his post game comments.  These so-called experts know basically nothing about a coach's role.  I coached for over 30 years and can tell you that I saw my role as two fold:  1.) Giving all my players opportunities to succeed and 2.) Creating an atmosphere where that can happen.  Just having the best players doesn't guarantee that success will follow.  In 1970-71 Bishop Gibbons High School had arguably the 4 best player's in Schenenectady County on it's roster yet managed to only win 4 games. 

The Heat have arguably 3 of the top 10 players in the league on their team including NBA MVP Lebron James and are on the brink of elimination by the Team Oriented Boston Celtics.   What the Celtics have and the Heat don't have is Good Team Chemistry.  Team Chemistry can not be overlooked.  The ability for the players to play together, sacrificing personal gain for the team.  The Celtics care about each other.  Watching them play, that is obvious.  There is only one ball & the Celtics know how to share it for the good of the team.  The Heat don't.  Just watch the 4th quarter of game 5 and you see it. 

Blaming the coach is easy.  Afterall one of his job is to build Team Chemistry.  I agree that it is.  However, you just can't put all that talent on a team and expect Team Chemistry to happen.  It's only been two years.  These aren't high school kids who really know each other.  Team Chemistry may happen for the Heat and then again it might not. 

As far a playing Chris Bosh in the 4th quarter?  Did anyone notice that with Bosh on the floor the Heat were a Minus 11?  His defense was awful.  He's not in game shape.   So stop blaming the coach & put the blame where it belongs.  A lack of Good Team Chemistry.   Players & coach are both to blame for that.

Why Vote Yes?

School Budget Votes are an interesting thing.  They affect your taxes.  Why would anyone vote to raise their taxes?  You don't get to vote on your income tax, property tax,  sales tax, or any other tax for that matter.  Yes, you do get to vote for people who will represent you & create these other taxes but the School Tax is the only tax you get to directly vote on.  So why vote YES?

The school tax is dependent on the school budget, the cost to run an affective school.  Much of that cost is mandated by the state & federal governments.  The biggest piece of the budget pie is "people".  Salaraies of all the people it takes to run your school & all it's programs.   Included in their are salaries, insurance costs, retirement costs, and pssibly some other incidentals involving your employees.  Then there are costs for supplies and programs.  There are mandated programs & unmandated programs.  Programs like Sports, Music, the Arts, & even kindergarten are NOT mandadated.  Imagine kids entering school for the first time at age 6?  Imagine trying to create a well rounded individual without music, sports, and the arts?  Then the state adds all this mandated testing & doesn't pay for it. Add to all the issues & costs escalating the fact that the governor got the legeslature to put into place a 2% tax cap.  School Districts throughout the state struggled to put together budgets that fall within the cap. 

Was there Fat?  3 or 4 years ago, there was Fat.  But over the past 3 years that fat which, by the way made for a better educational experience for our kids, was cut.    Cuts have occured over the past 4 years which are hurting our children's educational experiences and challenging our schools to do More with Less.  So, why should you vote Yes?   I think it's obvious.  The alternative is even more disastrous. 

For years the state has said it should look for better ways to fund education.  What happened to the hundred of Millions spent on the Lottery?   The state can not continue to mandate more & more & fund less & less. It's time they found a Better Way.

The Church & Christianity....One in the Same?

I spent the day today visiting the Aurieesville Shrine of Martyrs with my mom & brother for Mother's Day.  We used to spend Sundays there as a kid with my family going to church & then picnic.  It holds many fond memories.  It is also a historical site.  In walking the grounds, museum, gift shop, & Collesium, I got to wondering " What is it to be a good Christian?"  Is it going to mass every weekend? Is it believing in ALL the policies of the church?  Our new pastor has made the weekly mass a bit unbearable.  Mass has gone from about an hour to anywhere from 75 to 90 minutes. Do the extra minutes make me more holy...more Christian?  He loves to PUSH the church's policies.  Did you know that my church is against: Gays; Birth Control, Priest's Marrying, & Nuns thinking too much?   How Christian is that?  I thought God Loved Everyone.  That being a Good Christian meant just that. I thought to live a Good Christian Life was what God wanted out of all his flock...his people.  My father-in-law was one of the most Christian Like people I ever have known & yet he never stepped foot in a church.  Our new pastor is discouraging non regular church goers from taking part on our annual Festa Committee.  Does going to church regularly make you a better Christian & therefore a better committee person? 

In a time when the church is losing members hands over fists and the sight of anyone under 50 in church, a minor miricle, it's a wonder the church doesn't recognize their need to "Change" some of their ways of thinkiing & embrace ALL Good Christians & maybe even change the way they look at what a Good Christian looks like.

I'm thinking the martyrs at Aureesville would love to see the church open up their eyes & hearts to all people.  They died trying to convert the native Americans without reservations.  Christianity & the Church need to look more alike.

What do you think?

Sports Does produce Character..Le Grande Jesture!

In a time when the sports world is deluged with stories about "bounties" on players, players punching lockers after losses, players head hunting, college coaches molesting young children and such awful stories like these and more, it is a 'breath of fresh sir" when we hear a story  involving a sports figure who just Does the "Right" Thing.  Actually in this case this person was a coach.  Greg Schiano used to be the head football coach at Rutgers University where he coached Eric LaGrand.On October 16,2010 Eric broke his back in a game against Army.  They thought he'd be a quadriplegic living on a ventilator for the rest of his life.  Eric has gained movement & can stand with assistance.

His college coach hasn't forgotten him.  Greg Schaino in his roll as  the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers  recently signed Eric to a pro contract.  Yes it was symbolic & he won't be paid a penny but  remember.....It's the Thought that counts.

Eric resumed his college classes & graduated.  He had always wanted to sign a pro football contract & this being his draft year, his old coach decided to do a nice thing....The Right Thing.  Proving that Character can & does exist in the Pro Sports World.