Than you can win an Earthquake.--Jeanette Rankin
Everyone has a story about September 11, 2001. Everyone can tell you where they were, what they were doing, who they were with. For my generation it is the event that will define us. It is our assassination of JFK or bombing of Pearl Harbor. (FYI, I was in a Chemistry lab during the 9/11 attacks, heard about it on the radio in Ovid's Cafe, and then watched the coverage on the TV in the lobby of my dorm.)
That was 7 years ago. And since then, we have been at war. But I forget sometimes that we are at war. I think sometimes we get so used to seeing pictures, hearing the numbers, that we forget what war really is. We forget that it is more than numbers and maps and exit strategies. War is people.
We had a seminar today at work about TBI being one of the most prevalent injuries in the Iraq war. The speaker talked about the various ways that our soldiers sustain traumatic head injuries (mostly from IED explosions). He talked about explosions going off while soldiers are riding in convoys, about marines jumping on top of bombs to save their friends, about suicide bombers and car bombs and mortar shells. And somewhere in the middle of all that, while he was showing us photos of bombs and cars and soldiers, it sank in just what we were talking about. We were talking about human beings.
It is easy to think of the numbers. This many dead, this many injured, this many still on the ground. It is even easy to think of the stats. But when you realize that each of those numbers is a person--someone with a mother and father, a family--it becomes much harder. When I start thinking about these guys (and girls) most of whom are about my age, and what they see and do on a daily basis, it makes you stop and think.
Whether or not you agree with the war, whether or not you think we should send more troops to Iraq or bring them all home, you have to admit that the cost of this war (as with all wars) will extend far beyond the dollar value attached to it. You can't put a value on human life. So the next time you see a report on the news, try to think beyond the numbers. Try to remember that all those numbers are people.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Whatever Happened to the Golden Rule?
So last Saturday was the home opener for the 2008 edition of the Kentucky football team. And, unlike in previous years, we actually have some expectations for this team. And, also unlike in previous years, they haven't let us down yet. But apparently, for some fans, this isn't enough.
I know that Mike Hartline is no Andre Woodson. I know that he hasn't played all that great in his first two games. But in his defense, the kid has sat behind Woodson for a couple of years and now he is asked to follow one of the best quarterbacks in recent history at UK with very little experience and a receiving core that lost all but one major player from last year (thank god for Dickie). He may not have played brilliantly, but he hasn't played poorly either. He has, in fact, played just about the way you would expect an inexperienced sophomore quarterback with a group of fairly inexperienced receivers to play.
I also know that freshman Randall Cobb played lights out in the first half vs Norfolk State. I was there. I saw the spark he gave coming off the bench and how he had the defense totally off balance as he moved the ball down the field. I saw how he got 3 touchdowns and lifted the crowd out of its stupor. But I also saw his second half interception and a fumble in there as well. He is, after all, only a freshman (and one that was expected to play much more wide receiver than QB this year).
While I was confused at first by why Cobb was in the game at QB (I think I was on a concession stand run when he got inserted) and why he played QB more than just 1 or 2 series, I was also happy about the job he was doing. I was expecting him to open at QB in the second half. I was expecting that Hartline might be a bit upset with how small his playing time was going to get. But what I was not expecting was the chorus of Boos that met Hartline as he took the field to start the second half.
My father taught me that it is great to cheer your team. You should cheer loudly and often, even at the TV. However, it is not okay to Boo. You can choose not to cheer. But you should never boo the opposing team or coaches. And it was just understood that no matter how badly they were playing or what they did, to boo your own team or coaching staff was to give up your right to be a fan. (Ironically, he never mentioned the officials, so I've never had the same aversion to booing them that I do to booing players/coaches.)
So you can imagine that when a percentage of the stadium (less than half, I would say, mostly in the student section) began to boo Hartline, I was flabbergasted. No matter what the kid had done, there was no need to boo him. If for no other reason than at some point this season we will need him and you can't tear him down like that and then expect him to be able to come up big when you need him to. And because he hadn't done anything all that bad! It was one of the worst shows of sportsmanship I have ever witnessed from UK fans, and I was ashamed to be a part of that crowd. Maybe we all just need to take a step back and remember that it is just a game and these are just kids. And save the boos for the refs. We haven't gotten to SEC play yet, that's when you will need them.
I know that Mike Hartline is no Andre Woodson. I know that he hasn't played all that great in his first two games. But in his defense, the kid has sat behind Woodson for a couple of years and now he is asked to follow one of the best quarterbacks in recent history at UK with very little experience and a receiving core that lost all but one major player from last year (thank god for Dickie). He may not have played brilliantly, but he hasn't played poorly either. He has, in fact, played just about the way you would expect an inexperienced sophomore quarterback with a group of fairly inexperienced receivers to play.
I also know that freshman Randall Cobb played lights out in the first half vs Norfolk State. I was there. I saw the spark he gave coming off the bench and how he had the defense totally off balance as he moved the ball down the field. I saw how he got 3 touchdowns and lifted the crowd out of its stupor. But I also saw his second half interception and a fumble in there as well. He is, after all, only a freshman (and one that was expected to play much more wide receiver than QB this year).
While I was confused at first by why Cobb was in the game at QB (I think I was on a concession stand run when he got inserted) and why he played QB more than just 1 or 2 series, I was also happy about the job he was doing. I was expecting him to open at QB in the second half. I was expecting that Hartline might be a bit upset with how small his playing time was going to get. But what I was not expecting was the chorus of Boos that met Hartline as he took the field to start the second half.
My father taught me that it is great to cheer your team. You should cheer loudly and often, even at the TV. However, it is not okay to Boo. You can choose not to cheer. But you should never boo the opposing team or coaches. And it was just understood that no matter how badly they were playing or what they did, to boo your own team or coaching staff was to give up your right to be a fan. (Ironically, he never mentioned the officials, so I've never had the same aversion to booing them that I do to booing players/coaches.)
So you can imagine that when a percentage of the stadium (less than half, I would say, mostly in the student section) began to boo Hartline, I was flabbergasted. No matter what the kid had done, there was no need to boo him. If for no other reason than at some point this season we will need him and you can't tear him down like that and then expect him to be able to come up big when you need him to. And because he hadn't done anything all that bad! It was one of the worst shows of sportsmanship I have ever witnessed from UK fans, and I was ashamed to be a part of that crowd. Maybe we all just need to take a step back and remember that it is just a game and these are just kids. And save the boos for the refs. We haven't gotten to SEC play yet, that's when you will need them.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
This is why I love swimming....
This is why I love the sport of swimming. Yes, we do have our characters (Gary Hall Jr, I'm looking at you) and the occasional jerk, but for the most part swimmers are a standout bunch. How many NBA players would give up $1million to do something for other people?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26506320/
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26506320/
Just call out my name.....
So, unless you have been living in a cave for the last few days, you've probably heard about Hurricane Gustav. He was supposed to be the next big thing after Katrina, but it turns out that while he still packed a punch, his bark was bigger than his bite. But still, I wouldn't have wanted him to run over my house at full tilt (although if he wants to head this way now and give us a bit of rain, that would be fine).
And while it appears that the government (at all levels) learned their lesson from Katrina and did a much better job this go round of being prepared, the thing that I want to point out is this: Americans are a generous bunch of people.
I spent the Labor Day Holiday Weekend at my Dad's house, and on Monday when I was driving back to Lexington along I-65 I noticed 4 convoys of large trucks heading south along the interstate. Two were made up of bucket trucks that looked to belong to a phone or electric company, one was made up of some kind of trucks with big drill looking things on them, and the other was full of trucks pulling trailers labeled with PortaClean or something along those lines. I can only assume the last one had something to do with mobile showers or bathrooms. But what struck me was just how many trucks I saw in a very short distance (only about 50 miles or so). It just goes to show that, in general, Americans are a helpful bunch and while we may see the news and think that there is no one out there anymore who cares about his fellow man, all you have to do is look at something as simple as a convoy of trucks on the interstate to see otherwise.
And while it appears that the government (at all levels) learned their lesson from Katrina and did a much better job this go round of being prepared, the thing that I want to point out is this: Americans are a generous bunch of people.
I spent the Labor Day Holiday Weekend at my Dad's house, and on Monday when I was driving back to Lexington along I-65 I noticed 4 convoys of large trucks heading south along the interstate. Two were made up of bucket trucks that looked to belong to a phone or electric company, one was made up of some kind of trucks with big drill looking things on them, and the other was full of trucks pulling trailers labeled with PortaClean or something along those lines. I can only assume the last one had something to do with mobile showers or bathrooms. But what struck me was just how many trucks I saw in a very short distance (only about 50 miles or so). It just goes to show that, in general, Americans are a helpful bunch and while we may see the news and think that there is no one out there anymore who cares about his fellow man, all you have to do is look at something as simple as a convoy of trucks on the interstate to see otherwise.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Ah the smell of rulers and tape.
It's that time of year again. The time of year when my nice lazy summer schedule comes to an end and I have to start getting up at the crack of dawn to make sure that I can find a place to park in the same zip code as the building where I work. This time is also known as "The Students are Back".
When the students come back, it means that parking once again becomes tight. It means that traffic in the morning, evening, and pretty much all day is horrible. It means that you have to eat lunch before 11:30 or after 1:00 if you want to get into any restaurant including the Delis on campus. It means that driving down Nicholasville Road is like playing a real life game of Frogger.
But it also makes me just a little nostalgic for my college days. I really enjoyed college and every year as I watch all the students move into the dorms and start back to class, I start to miss those days. There was just something fun about the excitement of starting new classes and meeting new people. The first of the semester fun of sorting out the best way to get from class to class and where to spend your down time.
It was one of those times in life when you don't realize how good things are until much later when you are looking back. These days I would kill for a schedule that didn't start until 9am and was done by 2pm with a two hour lunch break and Friday off. Even with the homework and exams and my part-time job it still felt like I had more free time then than I do now.
I also miss that laid back life-style. That sort of in-between time where you aren't a kid anymore, but you aren't really an adult either. You are just kind of stuck in the middle and no one really expects all that much from you. Of course I still don't really feel all that grown up. I wonder when you finally start to feel like an adult and not like a dumb kid? Because really, most days I just feel like a kid pretending to be a grown-up.
Anyway, that was a little more rambling that I thought when I started out, but oh well. I'm trying to keep this updated more, and hope to post at lest once week soon. I'm starting a pretty cool project on my birthday, but I'll have more detials on that later.
When the students come back, it means that parking once again becomes tight. It means that traffic in the morning, evening, and pretty much all day is horrible. It means that you have to eat lunch before 11:30 or after 1:00 if you want to get into any restaurant including the Delis on campus. It means that driving down Nicholasville Road is like playing a real life game of Frogger.
But it also makes me just a little nostalgic for my college days. I really enjoyed college and every year as I watch all the students move into the dorms and start back to class, I start to miss those days. There was just something fun about the excitement of starting new classes and meeting new people. The first of the semester fun of sorting out the best way to get from class to class and where to spend your down time.
It was one of those times in life when you don't realize how good things are until much later when you are looking back. These days I would kill for a schedule that didn't start until 9am and was done by 2pm with a two hour lunch break and Friday off. Even with the homework and exams and my part-time job it still felt like I had more free time then than I do now.
I also miss that laid back life-style. That sort of in-between time where you aren't a kid anymore, but you aren't really an adult either. You are just kind of stuck in the middle and no one really expects all that much from you. Of course I still don't really feel all that grown up. I wonder when you finally start to feel like an adult and not like a dumb kid? Because really, most days I just feel like a kid pretending to be a grown-up.
Anyway, that was a little more rambling that I thought when I started out, but oh well. I'm trying to keep this updated more, and hope to post at lest once week soon. I'm starting a pretty cool project on my birthday, but I'll have more detials on that later.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow....
So, the Olympic are finally over. And I watched as much of them as I possibly could (even while I was at the beach on vacation). But now I have to go back to regular TV, which doesn't seem to have quite the same drama as the games.
And oh, was there drama:
Plenty to go around in Gymnastics with Nastia and Shawn battling it out in the All Around as well as on the Floor Exercise and Balance Beam. And don't forget the drama of the team competition or the absurdity of Alicia Sacramone's finishing behind the Chinese gymnast on the Vault final.
Or you might like the drama of Men's Gymnastics with the US team, injured and inexperienced, winning a bronze medal when no one thought they could. Jonathan Horton on the High Bar was great to watch as was Sasha Artemev on the Pommel Horse (even that final routine where he fell was spectactular).
Track offered it's own drama with both US relay teams dropping the baton (literally) in the 4x100 meter relay and Jamacia's Lightening Bolt winning both sprints in spectacular fashion (while Lexington's Tyson Gay failed to make the final in the 100). But the US made up for it's short commings with the Men and Women winning the 4x400 meter relay (the women with a great come from behind victory).
And Men's Volleyball had a great story line with the coach dealing with the death of his father-in-law at the start of the games and the team going on to win gold.
My boy Tayshaun Prince helped the US men's basketball team to a redeeming gold this Olympiad after the disappointment of Athens, but there was little drama there since they blew out everyone in every game until the final.
But perhaps the most drama was at the pool.
Michael Phelps' stunning 8 for 8 Gold Medal performance will forever be known as the highlight of the Beijing Olympics. It was, perhaps, the greatest feat in all of sports. And I don't know if it will ever be equaled. And while his great run was full of great moments, the greatest thing which will come from his performance isn't tangible.
What Michael Phelps did for the sport of swimming can't be measured in Gold Medals or World Records. He took a sport that habitually languished in obscurity--relegated to the late night tape delayed status in Olympic years--and made it a prime time event. They were cutting away from Women's Gymnastics to show swimming! He had his own heading running at the bottom of the ESPN crawl. He was the lead story on the news! These are things the swimmers just don't do. You don't have an entire stadium full of NFL football fan stay after the game to watch a live feed of a swimming event half a world away. You don't have a swimmer as the final image of the Olympic games. You don't find a swimmer doing commercials for Rosetta Stone, VISA, and Johnson and Johnson. But Phelps changed all that.
I grew up swimming in a town where swimming wasn't all that popular. Our high school swim team was a meager 10 strong. We had to furnish our own uniforms and, until my senior year, our own transportation to the meets. We got no funding and even less support from the school system. In fact, several years when I had to miss a day of school because I qualified for the State Championships, I was told that I would not be allowed to make up the work I missed since that counted as an unexcused absence. I missed 2 days of class a year for swimming--the football team missed every Friday from August until November. Our team didn't get a yearbook page. The teacher in charge of the yearbook committee told me that since "swimming wasn't a real sport" it wouldn't get the same 2 page layout that every other sport got. Instead we got a tiny 2x4 group photo along side the Pep club, the History club, and the Astronomy club (which only had a 5 members). I wonder what that teacher would say to me now? I know what I would say to her: "If swimming isn't a real sport, they explain to me why the most talked about athlete of the Olympics was a swimmer?"
Yes, Michael Phelps did something amazing in Beijing. But what he did for swimming will extend far beyond the closing ceremony.
And oh, was there drama:
Plenty to go around in Gymnastics with Nastia and Shawn battling it out in the All Around as well as on the Floor Exercise and Balance Beam. And don't forget the drama of the team competition or the absurdity of Alicia Sacramone's finishing behind the Chinese gymnast on the Vault final.
Or you might like the drama of Men's Gymnastics with the US team, injured and inexperienced, winning a bronze medal when no one thought they could. Jonathan Horton on the High Bar was great to watch as was Sasha Artemev on the Pommel Horse (even that final routine where he fell was spectactular).
Track offered it's own drama with both US relay teams dropping the baton (literally) in the 4x100 meter relay and Jamacia's Lightening Bolt winning both sprints in spectacular fashion (while Lexington's Tyson Gay failed to make the final in the 100). But the US made up for it's short commings with the Men and Women winning the 4x400 meter relay (the women with a great come from behind victory).
And Men's Volleyball had a great story line with the coach dealing with the death of his father-in-law at the start of the games and the team going on to win gold.
My boy Tayshaun Prince helped the US men's basketball team to a redeeming gold this Olympiad after the disappointment of Athens, but there was little drama there since they blew out everyone in every game until the final.
But perhaps the most drama was at the pool.
Michael Phelps' stunning 8 for 8 Gold Medal performance will forever be known as the highlight of the Beijing Olympics. It was, perhaps, the greatest feat in all of sports. And I don't know if it will ever be equaled. And while his great run was full of great moments, the greatest thing which will come from his performance isn't tangible.
What Michael Phelps did for the sport of swimming can't be measured in Gold Medals or World Records. He took a sport that habitually languished in obscurity--relegated to the late night tape delayed status in Olympic years--and made it a prime time event. They were cutting away from Women's Gymnastics to show swimming! He had his own heading running at the bottom of the ESPN crawl. He was the lead story on the news! These are things the swimmers just don't do. You don't have an entire stadium full of NFL football fan stay after the game to watch a live feed of a swimming event half a world away. You don't have a swimmer as the final image of the Olympic games. You don't find a swimmer doing commercials for Rosetta Stone, VISA, and Johnson and Johnson. But Phelps changed all that.
I grew up swimming in a town where swimming wasn't all that popular. Our high school swim team was a meager 10 strong. We had to furnish our own uniforms and, until my senior year, our own transportation to the meets. We got no funding and even less support from the school system. In fact, several years when I had to miss a day of school because I qualified for the State Championships, I was told that I would not be allowed to make up the work I missed since that counted as an unexcused absence. I missed 2 days of class a year for swimming--the football team missed every Friday from August until November. Our team didn't get a yearbook page. The teacher in charge of the yearbook committee told me that since "swimming wasn't a real sport" it wouldn't get the same 2 page layout that every other sport got. Instead we got a tiny 2x4 group photo along side the Pep club, the History club, and the Astronomy club (which only had a 5 members). I wonder what that teacher would say to me now? I know what I would say to her: "If swimming isn't a real sport, they explain to me why the most talked about athlete of the Olympics was a swimmer?"
Yes, Michael Phelps did something amazing in Beijing. But what he did for swimming will extend far beyond the closing ceremony.
Friday, August 15, 2008
How's the View from the Top?
So last night (or really, I suppose it was this morning in Beijing) the US had a stellar day. At the water cube, there were 4 Finals. The US won 3 and collected a total of 6 medals overall (3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze). Michael Phelps brought home another Gold in the 200 IM bringing his total to 6 gold medals and 6 world records in 6 swims. Only 2 more to go. The 100 Fly and 4x100 Medley Relay.
But probably the best thing about last night was Nastia Liuken and Shawn Johnson going 1-2 in the Women's Gymnastics All-Around Final. It is the first time in history that the US women have won the Gold and the Silver medals in that event. In fact, Nastia joins a very short list (Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson) of US women who have won the Olympic All-Around Title. It was billed as an epic battle, and it was. I should know. I stayed up until 1am watching it. A great moment for the US.
Anyway, here are a few articles about this year's Olympics that I like:
But probably the best thing about last night was Nastia Liuken and Shawn Johnson going 1-2 in the Women's Gymnastics All-Around Final. It is the first time in history that the US women have won the Gold and the Silver medals in that event. In fact, Nastia joins a very short list (Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson) of US women who have won the Olympic All-Around Title. It was billed as an epic battle, and it was. I should know. I stayed up until 1am watching it. A great moment for the US.
Anyway, here are a few articles about this year's Olympics that I like:
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