The Tragedy Of Our Dreams

All of us see the winners in what ever sport we are watching and of course for every winner there is a loser. There are many reasons why one side wins and the other loses and all involved would say that they were happy to be able to compete on a grand stage, but what about those who never get there. We often don't get the chance to see those working so hard and giving all they have just to reach their grand stage but in the end fall short of their dreams.


Nobody can argue to feel sorry for any competitor that either loses on the grand stage or never realizes the dream of playing on such a stage it is the risk one takes for following the dream. I guess one can say luck has just as much to do with winning and losing as all the hard work and practicing to improve on ones skills. That is a very scary concept for competitors that in some cases it might not matter what they do if none of the breaks go their way, from my own personal it can be pretty disheartening. Well like I said earlier it's a risk that one takes to chase the dream and needless to say there are no guarantees on the field of play.


One of the biggest reasons for this post is that PGA Q-school and there can at least a hundred different stories of heart break with players from all over chasing their dream. The only thing I can say that give any comfort for those who won't make it on tour is at least they had to courage to step up try when many others only give excuses for why they didn't make it big. After saying all of this I don't know what would actually be worse to make to within sight of a major championship and falling short or to never make to the big show at all.

Go Blue!... No Wait, Where Are You Going?... Come back!

For all of us sports fans that grew up with the traditional football powers like Michigan, Nebraska, and Notre Dame I have to ask what happened? Sometimes the expectations of having to be on top coupled with the attitude that it is ones right to be number one can lead to very rash decisions. It is not yet known whether or not Michigan will share the same fate as Nebraska or Notre Dame two other traditional powers that made hasty moves at the head coaching position and are now mired in college football limbo. Sometimes you just have to be careful of what you ask for.

Last year Michigan started their season with such high expectations at No. 5 in the country and very quickly fell on their face with aloss to Appellation St. and then promptly fell out of the polls all together. After that game Michigan fans began calling for Lloyd Carr's job, later loses to Oregon, Wisconsin, and again to Ohio St. sealed his fate. Carr lead the Wolverines to victory over SEC power Florida in an absolute thriller; ending the season with a over all record of 9-4 and still being seen as an absolute disaster. Soon after the decision was made to part ways with Carr the University of Michigan proceeded to go into a public relations nightmare of a roller coaster ride by batching the hiring of LSU's Les Miles a Michigan alumnist. In the end they wound up with West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez and this season under the new head coach has been less then stellar so far with a 2-4 record.

You would like to think that Michigan would have learned a lesson watching Nebraska remove their head coach Frank Solich in favor of ex-Raider coach Bill Callahan. The Callahan era was a unmitigated disaster and that is being nice; discontinuing time honored traditions, poor recruiting, and the biggest sin of all becoming a doormat to Missouri and Kansas. College programs go through up and down cycles and if universities continue to want to change directions at the drop of a hat they risk becoming another Nebraska.

There is another school out there that could have shared in the same fate as Nebraska that being Penn State. It certainly seemed the Nittany Lions would take their place in college football limbo which left many fans calling for long time head coach Joe Paterno to step down. I think it is safe to say they are glad that Paterno stayed, now the ever youthful Joe Pa has the Lions relevant again sitting on top of the Big Ten conference with a undefeated record. When things go bad with our teams it is easy for us to want to go in another direction but I think it has shown with enough proof that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

I Wish McCain And Obama Could Give Us A Reason To Laugh

On Thursday night the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York where Senators Obama and McCain traded some pretty funny jokes, with all the bitterness in the campaign it was actually refreshing to see. I know this dinner was for a great foundation but I could not help but see the irony of these candidates at a white tie affair with our economy teetering on collapse. On the other hand we had a chance to see a glimpse of the campaign that we were all promised without all of the negativity that has managed replaced an actual debate on the issues. I wish the people involved in the campaigns as well as its supporters could take a look at how the two candidates conducted themselves and at least try to emulate the manner that the two senators held themselves to without all the volatility.

I don't see anything wrong with calling your opponent on to mat for his or her vote on policy when it comes to the issues actually affecting us as a people, but for one I am done with watching campaign surrogates beating irrelevant topics into the ground. Waking this morning and watching Gov. Palin go on and on about issues that Barack Obama has already answered for and offer nothing else in terms of any policy improvements. Seriously what can one do but roll my eyes in disgust.

Why can't the candidates give us a reason to laugh, a reason smile, or just a reason hope that tomorrow will be better? Well if anybody wants to get away from all the gloomy news I suggest that they find comfort in friends and loved ones because it does not seem like there will be anything else to do for a while, well at least until November 4Th.

A Reason To Have Faith In Our Fellow Man

It has been a tough few weeks for all us watching the economy dive and not know where we are going to be at the end of this violent ride. Small businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water, big companies falling by the wayside, and 401ks evaporating quicker than steam in the wind. One awful effect from all this financial chaos is all the home evictions, many people losing their homes due to bad home loans and we can argue who was at fault with the loans but what about the renters who did nothing wrong and are still being evicted. Last week Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart took a stand and ordered his deputies not to evict renters on the 11 hour of the eviction process without proper notice from the banks.

“When we’re doing this, and we’re destroying peoples’ lives, we’ve got to make darn sure we’ve got the right people,” Dart said. Renters in many cases were being notified of their landlords building being repossessed when officers show up to their homes removing then from their homes. I remember seeing Sheriff Dart on TV saying he was not going to one of those people in history that were saying that they were just following orders and lacking all sense of humanity. Wow, it's about time we got to hear of someone following his conscious in a mess started by people suffering from the lack of moral character.

I don't see the financial situation getting better in the near future but there is some hope that we will get through these rough times with the help of people like Sheriff Dart. We hardly ever hear of people doing the right thing, it seems like only the bad, gruesome, and the bleak news make their way in front of us. Thank you Tom Dart for doing the right thing.

The Great Torre...?

After four World Series titles it is hard to argue with anything Joe Torre does and for the future Hall of Famer he almost always knows what strings to pull... almost. There is no doubt about the calming influence he has on a club house, watching him pull together a divided clubhouse in the LA Dodgers and deal with all injuries including one big outfield signing that never showed up this year. But asking him to handle a bullpen, you had better bring a firetruck to put out the fire.

At the end of last year the Dodgers were a mess and certainly anybody hired to take over the job was going have their hands full with a divide between the veterans and the younger corps of players. All year it has been a give and take with Torre, he will give you hope in getting the most out of the players and then take the joy away with his calls during the game that will leave you pulling out your hair. Torre gives you players pitching with all the confidence in the world to take on any one and batters learning swing the bats; but then have them taking pitches on green light counts and yanking pitchers too early leaving himself trying to mix and match the roster for the rest of the game. Often just giving games away. The Dodger manager is the ultimate players coach and the most compulsive over thinking manager in the game today.

Some would say to Dodger fans you should just be happy to be there if not for Torre and one Manny Ramirez the team would not be there. But I also say once we get to the playoffs we should not waist this opportunity. We all know he will have his players loose and well motivated to take the series back to Philadelphia it is just a matter of whether or not will he shoot his team in the foot with another lesson in mismanagement. Let's go Bums!

The Man Who Should Have...

It is very hard to imagine that John McCain could fall so far from grace in the minds of so many independent thinkers. To those of us who still try to hold McCain in high esteem seeing this incarnation of the man as simply sad. It did not matter whether you leaned to the right or the left for those independent thinkers has he been a champion for us all, where nobody thought he represented one ideology and he was well respected on both sides of the isle.

For me my problems started when John McCain to courted the religious right whom McCain has never been fond of and vice versa, and to hire the very same people crucified him in South Carolina in 2000 all I can do is scratch my head. McCain once said of the campaigners that hehas know hired, they deserve a special place in hell, I'm paraphrasing. I and others have been disheartened to see McCain running the same type of campaign that he had once spoke out against. When this campaign is finally done I would like to think that could still hold the Senator in high regard but as of late to have his campaign inflame the worst of our society as a minority I can only stand back and watch in horror with my head in hands.

I might think that I have a diverse spectrum friends in my life from the flaming lefties to the staunch conservatives all of whom have a deep respect for. Again nobody felt McCain represented them point for point but they felt they could sleep well if the Senator was in charge. Even now the only conservatives that I can find to vote McCain are only doing so because of R next to his name. Whether over the wars in the Middle East and the fear of another draft, the lack of competency over the economy, or the lack of judgment in picking Sarah Palin as his VP pick; conservatives all around are finding reasons for not to vote for McCain. One can't help but notice that in his own party Senator McCain has even lost the confidence of his own supporters and I can't help but wonder if well ever get back.

When I first became interested in politics my two heroes were Sen. Biden and Sen. McCain, they have called it how they seen it and have been the most intelligent statesmen that I have known of in the senate. There are many reasons why I no longer have confidence in the Senator from the campaigns inflammatory tactics against Obama or the lack of follow up on such things as the closing of the Enron loop holes. I hope to meet John McCain some day but as for today I have no reason to vote him.