Not about the debates, but it is sad and mad time…

…sad and mad time.

I know that the media has and will give us debate overkill here in the next few days so I will let you sort through your thoughts. You do not need my little bit of arrogant thinking to distract you from whatever is about to happen. The only pre debate or debate comment for now is:

Nowadays, it seems logic and common sense are four letter words in our society and words that no one wants to utter or practice.

So why the big gloom here on the early first debate eve you may ask. Well two reasons and one involves this blog. It has come to my attention and I do not know all the details, but some porn sites are feeding off clicks to this site or are redirecting to something else. As I have confessed many times I am a tech neophyte even to this day so I do not know how all the ins and outs work on setting up social media or whatever else you call my blogging. I just know somehow someway this blog has something that I have no idea how to correct or rid.  This seems to be on the google version of the blog. I do not think wordpress or tumblr is experiencing the same problem. Or nothing has been brought to my attention.

If any of you that read this blog and have an idea of what might be happening I would definitely appreciate some feedback or info of what you have run across. I do not think everyone is being redirected and I have no idea why porn sites are attaching or redirecting to me. That seems weird to me. Instead of going to hell viewing porn, they are being sent to blog hell coming here. Ha ha ha

Anyway I hope you are not misdirected here or there and hopefully maybe it was a fluke that someone ran across. Again, any info to help out is seriously appreciated.

The second sad and mad is a common complaint among either casual sports fans or non-rich sports fans. Yes, I am talking about the disaster in trying to buy tickets to a sporting event, if you do not know magically in advance the one day before the season starts that you may go to a game. There just seems to be one day where a fan can get regular priced tickets before the season starts for the actual event without having to go through ticket vendors or ticket exchanges once that day has passed and all the tickets are bought.

I know the teams love the vendors since it helps them sell out tickets so they get their revenue. Yet the casual fan or someone who cannot afford season tickets get stuck having to purchase tickets at a premium and then whatever system you are on tacks on a service fee. I wish I had a good answer to remedy this situation. Sometimes if the team isn’t doing well or for sports like baseball or basketball where there are enough games that sometimes last minute prices come down you get lucky. If you want to get football tickets to any popular or winning team you can forget about it. Prices are up significantly and wildly different from seat to seat.

In any case though all sports exist because of the fan, yet corporate American prefers to shove down our throats how they want to do something versus helping out their customers and in this case fans.  Sad, but true the one people who really matter the most when it comes to sports are treated the least. I know many of you are probably already well aware of the problem, but today I had to vent. Actually I have been wanting to vent for a week. We have friends who are serious fans coming in town and one of my offspring is having a birthday so it was a perfect time to decide to go to a game yet to buy five tickets to sit next to the moon and watch the game was still extremely burdensome financially. Well at least for those of us who live in “the middle class”. 

I hope your experiences are better and if you watch the debate feel free to add your thoughts to this post or any post for that matter or email me. I am really curious to what the rest of the world thinks about tonight other than the media talking heads, who like the two political parties haven’t said anything new in decades. You can also vent about sports or even concert ticket prices, too.

And this evening it was actually a tad chilly here in North Texas. It will not last long, but for right now a nice refreshing break from the humidity and heat. Change is coming eventually though.     Salud

Some sports comments (mostly Dallas)

If people want to know why Americans drink, then they are unaware of College allegiants and then watching games like the California-Texas game.  Sheesh 68 points in the first half then none in the third quarter.  Those two turnovers are killing Texas.  Still watching this game so may have an update before I finish this post.

Well, all the Dallas teams are about to be playing at the same time.

First of all I am a fan of soccer so it surprises me that I do not follow FC Dallas more. I know they do well, yet I just do not keep track. I watch the World Cup (men’s and women’s); Premier league games on occasion; and the Mexican league, but just do not tune into the Dallas team. And I am such a homer for home teams it really amazes me I have no idea exactly how they are doing. I do know they tied tonight only because their score came across the bottom banner on ESPN while watching Texas. Shame on me.

Also same for Stars. I have a rudimentary understanding of hockey, but only keep track of them if they make the playoffs. And my understanding is they have a good chance of doing well this year.

So let’s get to what I have some understanding about and first of all that will be the Texas Rangers. I am a bit worried even though their record is so strong. I saw an article in the local press that mentioned and showed the stats how well they have done against the Houston Astros and this actually makes a difference. If the overall record had been a bit more equal Texas would not be in contention for the best record in the AL.  Overall this could affect how well they do in the playoffs. If they aren’t the best team in the AL then they are more susceptible in the playoffs which may mean an early exit that some people will not understand. I think they can still make the World Series but they need to play their best every game to have a chance. The last couple of games does not bode well. As you head into the playoffs you need to be hitting on all cylinders and first Cole Hamels struggled two nights ago and they just go blown out this past evening. I am hoping this is just one of those situations where they slipped a bit since the other team is out of the race.

Well the Cowboys should have beat the Giants. I went to Mass so missed much of the game, however, based on sports coverage and what I saw they should have won. I am still optimistic even with a rookie quarterback. And some how the defense held up some of their own against Eli so they really should have won. Dak is impressive, yet he has much to learn so any close games must be won. 

Tony Romo is probably done. I know they want to bring him back and I think he can still play and throw, but after all these injuries he is just too fragile. We have to have Dak come through on a regular basis because he is not the future, he is looking like the present and the future. He looks good so let us hope he grows up fast and becomes what we need. Zeke is the perfect compliment to him as a young runner so we can be optimistic. The offensive line is still a beast so can the defensive line become comparable. It is still a young season, but this game against Washington is important and almost a must win.

Everyone talks about the Mavericks needing to rebuild. I think they have snuck rebuilding in this year under the radar. For the last five years they have relied on bringing in seasoned veterans hoping to find a strong mix with Dirk and it has just been a tease. They say they want to stay competitive for Dirk and overall they have had some success. The Rajon trade could have been something, but turned out to be a disaster against Houston in the playoffs. Last year was just another one of those years where we needed more especially health and it fell apart at the end of the year. This year though there are some changes that could make a huge difference now and in the future. And it has only a little to do with Barnes signing and everything to do with Barnes signing.

Okay just for a moment think about a starting line up for the Mavs where there is no one anywhere near 30 years old.   Yes no where near 30.  Seriously you say. This would mean a true rebuilding year.  And right now we are almost there even with Dwill, Bogut, and Dirk in the starting line up.  

I am not saying they are about to win a championship with youth, but think about this situation. They have a second round draft pick at center the Mavs say should have been a first round pick. Justin Anderson is in his second year and had improved well in his first year. The other Curry has played three years technically, yet…. Dwight Powell may not be a starter, but how much potential is there. Barnes is 24. Wes Matthews is under 30. All of a sudden Dallas is one or two young superstars away from making the post Dirk transition and building a whole new team and with the current pieces a damn good transition. Barnes may become a superstar, Matthews is a proven talent so if he is 100%, Anderson and Curry could become serious up and coming players and finally that second round center AJ Hammons if he develops all of a sudden we have a very young team that has super potential. By themselves maybe not enough, but add a strong piece or two and this team has a very strong future.

And for this year, heck if this youth develops now, Dirk may have his best team in years. Bogut is definitely a strong center (health is the issue); if DWill stays consistent and healthy:  and if Dirk has a reasonably good year this team could surprise many.  If Carlisle manages minutes well for the older three starters and keeps them healthy, I am very optimistic.

Texas just loss and it sucked bad since there were many mistakes made by Texas, Cal had a great receiver who blew us up, and the last non touchdown should have been Texas ball.

This is somewhat old news, but I have to comment. There are now more sports players starting to chime in by sitting down or kneeling for the national anthem and Kaepernick is the poster boy for dissonance.  I know many people who have served our country are upset with him. What I want to say is that Kaepernick has a right to sit down or kneel or whatever. If he honestly thinks we can do better he has a right to find a way to make a statement. I prefer other ways and if you read me regularly you know I try to find ideas to make us better. This does not say he can’t kneel. What I want to say is to all who have served, it is your right to be upset at him, yet I want you to stand taller because he does kneel. Why you may ask? I say because what makes us great is our ability to say we want to be better. Whether you feel he is right or wrong is important, but what is more important is you have served for the Constitutional right for people to speak their mind. No where else on this planet does this happen. So for all who have served whether you agree with him or not, please stand a bit taller today because you have done more for our country and our planet to allow him to disagree or protest. You have done more to protect our Constitution when he can protest and yes be proud. Disagree if you want, but stand proud and tall because you have done your job which allows all of us to have an opinion. Making our country better takes much work and most of the time there will be disagreement, but that disagreement is one of the primary reasons our country is great.

More about the Press (and sports press)

My thoughts on the press from my post I wrote the other day didn’t stop there. I have been thinking more and more about our wonderful fourth estate and the conclusions just aren’t favorable.

In fact, I have come to the conclusion the sports press does a much better job of following a story, following up to a story, and addressing and attacking an issue when necessary. And this is about tone, content, and quality.

There may be as many words or more on a webpage or piece of paper about the Presidential election as any sports issue such as deflate gate, yet the actual depth of the story is found much more in the sports section. Yes, there is tons of fluff in the sports world and maybe more fluff overall, but when a real story hits, the sports press is significantly more thorough.

For example, today is Saturday and there is a plethora of college football games being played and many on TV. It is possible for a mistake a 19-year old might make to get more in depth coverage than any of Mr. Trump’s or Ms. Clinton’s actual policy issues will for the whole week.  And right now, who knows how much coverage is going to be produced about the mistake the officials made in the Oklahoma State game. Probably since the game ended I have spent five minutes watching TV and thirty reading on the internet and there are more stories on this one call than I saw last month on actual policy discussions of what Mr. Trump or Ms. Clinton have proposed. Okay okay, maybe bad comparison since I was on vacation for two weeks. I think you get my drift.

And I am not talking about all the noise Mr. Trump receives over his tax returns or the Florida AG political donation or Ms. Clinton’s email scandal or whatever you want to call it. I am talking some kind of idea what these two people will do as President. And I have already criticized the one chance last week where Matt Lauer apparently blew that opportunity. Does anybody actually know what either will do as President? Anyone other than the campaign staff? And do they? This is what I am talking about. The press should be hot and heavy every day drilling down on the issues and this should be at least front page news if not headlines every day. They are going to be President. Yet the Oklahoma State coach has to admit he made a mistake by not properly running the clock out on the last play and this is going to be overanalyzed and over criticized all evening on the Sports Channels. One play! One play will get more noise than any true law and order policy from Mr. Trump or free college discussion from Ms. Clinton this whole weekend. Absolutely crazy and just goes to empirically prove one of my fears: we seriously got our priorities back end backwards.

There was a story on sex trafficking this week, truly one of the worst ways to degrade another human being, yet there is no noise from either candidate about this issue; even from Mr. anti-immigration himself, Mr. Trump. Think about it, people are brought here illegally for the perverse pleasure of a few yet he has said nothing about this horrible form of immigration. The press should be pounding him on the issue.  I cannot think of a comparable issue off the top of my head for Ms. Clinton right now, but I know there are many where we need more information from her. Or maybe we just haven’t heard enough of any policy ideas from her to even have a clue as to where to start. So….maybe the work really needs to begin.

And to be honest I love sports and will try and catch some more college scores and highlights before the evening ends, but there is a markedly different scale of effort being made between what the sports press will do to get to the bottom of a story versus what our national press has been doing on the campaign trail so far. Let us hope the debates produce much better work.

And on a side sports note and this probably won’t matter a hill of beans to you, but the Texas A&M announcer just ticked me off disproportionately to what truly matters in the world. I only listened to the last part of the game since I was running around all day, but heard this part on the radio while driving around. Yet…. I have to get it off my chest. Texas A&M is up 67-0 and there is 1:40 left in the game. Prairie View just got clobbered with a safety so you know they really want to go home. They punt to give A&M the ball. Instead of taking three or four knees to end the game (Sportsmanship here, adding points to a 67 score is not style points anymore for AP or Coach’s poll voting, it is running up the score) A&M decides to run some plays. Now it is up to Prairie View to stop A&M. Basically the Aggies are making Prairie View play the whole 60 minutes of the game. A bit much if you ask me in this situation. The Aggies even threw a pass one play which really isn’t the best way to run out the clock. And kind of smells like trying to do something.

The third play A&M fumbles so Prairie View gets the ball back with five seconds so they have time for one play. And normally I would say okay take the knee and go home because well, just well. Now back to the announcer, the whole time he was okay with the Aggies running plays and carrying on about the game. Did not once mention, take the four knees and end the game. Yet when Prairie View gets the ball he was like they should take the knee and end the game. So this got me mad. I was like throw the bomb Prairie View. I was hoping they would score. They did run a pass play and it ended the game. I don’t know why he got me so mad, but I got the feeling it was okay for his team up by 67 points to make the other team play the full 60 minutes, but didn’t think his team needed to when the other team had the ball and his team WAS UP BY 67 POINTS. Sheesh! The Aggies should have kneeled, but he had no right to say Prairie View should have kneeled when the Aggies didn’t. Again probably matters to no one, but that ticked me off so much I am still spitting and spouting about it. 

Can’t we be more creative than….

…liar liar pants on fire

Seriously folks you would think with all the posts on each of the two candidates all the hater trolls would do a much better job of insulting the candidates.

As regular readers know I am not a fan of either Presidential candidate so I will forgo talking about them tonight and talk about (complain) how sad the posts are in all the news stories. Yes, I keep promising I will avoid reading them like the plague, but you know I also keep saying I am going to cut back on coffee, Dr. Pepper and ice cream. No, I haven’t lost that 20 lbs. yet.

It is a sad state of affairs when hundreds if not thousands of people spend infinite amounts of time posting all sorts of hate on the internet and yet the creativity day after day is seriously lacking. It is juvenile name calling and both sides saying the other candidate lies. Well occasionally you read the well written piece of satire on the particular story, but way too few and far between the other inordinate garbage. And yes I am not one to complain about this since I am not any better of a writer, yet there is so many posts you think the law of averages would allow for at least a reasonable minimal amount of decent humor or satire. No! It ain’t happening.

So let us hope that sooner or later as we get closer to the election a larger crowd will contribute to the madness and the overall quality of condescension will increase. Otherwise reading over and over again that Donald and Hillary are liars will probably do me the favor of actually quit reading all the posts due to the extreme amount of boredom and repetition. Come on America I have faith in you.

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And on another election topic I will be posting my humble, or maybe not so humble, opinion about what I would like to see in the debates and I will do that a bit closer to the first one, however, after Matt Lauer’s apparent disaster with the special he hosted with Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump that I thought I would discuss a bit about the press. To be fair I did not see the show yet the amount of criticism in the news makes me want to comment. Nothing decent about it, just want to jump on the complain about something bandwagon.

Seriously though I hope we see some pretty good preparation by the moderators and are able to address any conflicts in information or follow up with inconsistencies. One criticism for Mr. Lauer was he did not address Mr. Trump saying he never supported the Iraq war. That piece of information would be pretty common knowledge even though it has been over ten years ago so he probably should have pushed back on this information. I do not believe the press will be able to push back on any and everything the candidates say. There will much discussed and hopefully new info or a new position, but like I mentioned I do hope they are much better prepared or willing to address the inconsistencies.

Is it too much to ask that these debates produce some worthwhile discussions? Some of the responsibility for this falls on the candidates and some on the press/moderators so tonight I stress the need for the press to do their part. Again I will broach this subject in a week or two with more about my expectations for the candidates and the press.

And as mentioned in a previous post, I am very willing to represent the “other” vote in the debate or be a moderator representing the “other” constituency. All it takes is $250,000 for each debate. See I am not too greedy. (okay maybe I am hoping for book royalties ha ha ha) I will be glad to step up to the plate and show America some real ideas about how to make America great again.

Cheers all. And for all the young people, back in the day we use to say way back when for back in the day.

sunset/sunrise

                                          Somewhere overlooking the Pacific Ocean


It happens, it happens to parents everywhere. Sooner or later all your kids are gone and you are left wondering what happened. So it is the end of one time and the beginning of another time. And yet as I sit here typing they are all texting as to something or another.

Yes the better half and I have come back recently from dropping the last one off at college. It causes some reflection.

I have loved having children. There is no better way to enjoy life. I can think of all the wonderful times together. And I could list a thousand at the drop of a hat.

Some people say all is great and you have your grandchildren. And yes this is so and I am looking forward to being a grandparent. Actually we have been grandparents for over a decade now. Our children are many years apart so this is inevitable. There was some crossover. And still it means something different when the last child moves on. Our youngest is at college so in some ways it is not completely over, but in reality the last child has moved on. We moved the child into the dorm room and bought all the extras that are needed. We spent the last weekend at the college going through parent orientation and yet it felt all strange. There is no one to tell you how to feel. There is no one to put into words all the mixed emotions you are feeling. It just happens. And then the last day of the trip happens and you get in the car and drive back home. The child starts school and begins a new life. And you wonder how will your new life begin now that this one has ended.

We spent time at the beach, yet this time it was just the two of us. Our child was going through the orientation for students, meeting new friends, adapting to the roommate, and settling in. Our days were left with finding things to do for ourselves. We got lost a couple of times, we spent afternoons at a beach, we took hundreds of pictures of all sorts of craziness, we commented and critiqued everything, yet when all is said and done we are ourselves.

There will be no more getting up at 7 on a Saturday for some sort of competition or child being sick at midnight or a sprain ankle two hundred miles from home or any of a multitude of things that happen when you have a household full of children underneath your feet. We have lived as paupers and as royalty and I mean that literally and figuratively. We have eaten dinner in a palace and we have eaten dinner for less than $10 as a household of 6. We have enjoyed some of the most amazing moments in amazing places and we have had the craziest of times right in our own living room. I would not change anything.

I have watched my children succeed and have watched things not go so well. One day it is all about one of the children and then the next is about another. And as we celebrate the success of one, we have to give the same amount of attention to the others in that moment. There is a strange equality of having four children that must be met. And as a parent you feel it deep in the night if you have not met the needs of all your children.

My wife and I have always had children. Now the house is empty except for the dog. Some people use pets to replace the feelings of children or supposedly to keep the house full. I do not buy it. The last child has gone and it is different. I miss having children. I miss the yelling and screaming, the laughter, the I didn't do it when something is broken, the banter at the dinner table, the sleepless nights for whatever is happening at the moment, or being surprised at what your children can do at the strangest of times.

I remember one time when we went to Mexico and for some reason we had to travel in two separate groups. I arrived late and one of the kids comes up to me and takes me by my hand and says Dad come here and eat this. I had just arrived and hadn't even gotten my key to one of the rooms, but most everyone else had already eaten at the buffet. I looked down and was staring at an octopus. The whole octopus with eyes and everything. Honestly there was no way I was going to even try to taste it, yet here was a 11 year old child of mine who had tried it and liked it and wanted me to share this experience. Yes folks I wimped out and didn't try it. I had octopus when I was a kid and didn't like the texture, but I couldn't retry it with one of my children. I do not regret it though. The child enjoyed it and that is all that matters to me.

Again there are thousand of moments like this, soccer games, volleyball games, basketball games, football games, mock trial competitions, speech, drama, even library clubs and much more over the years I have experienced. I have coached many of the sporting events at the younger ages and watched at the high school level and all the time watching them play or compete with both admiration and joy. We have traveled a good part of the United States. We have seen fireworks on the fourth in Washington D.C. and fireworks on the border with Mexico. I have survived huge tantrums thrown in public and hours of complete silence sitting side by side either in the living room or on a beach. One child called the waves on the beach the water with bumps the first time they had gone. Another is there now celebrating Labor day before classes start up again tomorrow.

The better half is delivering a special food treat to some of our children we brought home from our trip. Over the years you just have those things that mean everything to the whole family no matter how simple.

So if you ever wonder why I get so crazy about the future of our country or what is going on in this world you might now get a feeling as to why. I want wonderful things to happen. I feel strongly that great things can happen yet I know it takes much for us to get there. Yet not trying to have the best world possible for my children and grandchildren is unthinkable.

And now we see what the future may hold for the two of us. I sit here thinking why the old Beatles (John Lennon) tune " two of us" wasn't our theme song on the road back home. It just came into my head as we drove up to our front door


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a couple of side notes that have nothing to do with nothing:

I am tired of people selling Christian trinkets. Yes I understand there are somethings people want, but just going to a store and seeing a bunch of items that really have no true religious value drives me crazy. Or the inordinate amount of self help books saying they are based on Christian values is just bonkers to me.  This will upset some members of my family yet there are some items and some stores that make me want to scream. I thoroughly understand why Jesus got so upset and threw the money changers out of the Temple. Some things no matter what label you put on them have nothing to do with God. Again you can have certain items and I understand, but the enormity of junk out there is driving me crazy. And yes if you knew exactly which religion I subscribe to, you would even laugh more.

California drivers are insane. Yes I said insane. And what moronic legislator let motorcycles drive down the middle of lanes. Sorry folks, you may say I am old fashioned, or a hater or whatever, but how many cyclists have died over the years cutting between traffic and someone didn't see them. I do not know how many times cyclists raced through stalled traffic in just the few days I was there. You can say, well watch out for them, but that is not always possible when you are trying yourself to get somewhere in a hurry and bam out of the blue here comes three or four cyclists racing through traffic and coming on your right when you are looking left. It is crazy.

Did you see the Notre Dame vs Texas game? Wow!!!

I still enjoy reading. Support your local library.

We didn't drive straight home from leaving the last one off at college. There are some pretty intense places in our desert southwest that must be seen to be believed. I enjoyed greatly driving through the desert even though sometimes it felt a bit off balance to be way away from "civilization". Always, always appreciate Mother Nature and also people like T Roosevelt for stepping up to the plate and creating the desire and appreciation of our National Park Program.

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Happy Labor Day. In our crazy times, we seem to have forgotten why we have Labor Day. Some people who call themselves capitalists will say this is a communist holiday. It is not. Just like our fallen soldiers who gave all in defense of our country there have been people who have died sometimes for no reason to give us, the the average Joe, a respectable life. Let us not forget that this country was built and built by the work of men and women, not carved out of some algorithmic trading program on Wall Street or company's board room. I hope you got to enjoy the day, but always remember there is a history to our country that we cannot ever forget.

And again please read.