A VIEW FROM THE BENCH

AS A PARENT, occasional coach, and educational administrator, I often heard parents complain to anyone who might listen that their son/daughter was forced to sit on the bench, in spite of perceived  superior athletic ability, because the coach just couldn't recognize his/her talents and capabilities.  It just never seemed to occur to these angry folks that their child might actually be benefiting from a valuable learning experience.  I offer the case of Matt Cassell, quarterback in residence of the New England Patriots, as a big league beneficiary of just such an experience.  As you know, Cassell is replacing Tom Brady who was injured and is out for the season.   When he was in college, Matt sat on the bench behind All-American and Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.  When Palmer turned professional, Matt again sat on the bench behind another All-American and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.  Turning pro himself, Cassell was drafted by the Patriots where he sat on the bench for four years behind All-Pro Tom Brady.  Was he discouraged?  Did he quit?  Absolutely not!  He took advantage of the situation, educated himself, and learned well.  As a result of his positiveness and willingness to learn, Cassell was not just  ready to replace Brady,  he was so well prepared that he recently was honored as offensive player of the week.  Surely Matt always had ability, but he found himself behind those who had superior ability.  He had to work and work hard to add to his repertoire.  It was the equivalent of making the most of being on a debating team behind Franklin Roosevelt and then Winston Churchill.  As in athletics, America is a meritocracy where the best are ultimately recognized. Whether in sports, business, law, or any place in the world of work at large, we need to stop complaining that our talents aren't being recognized, take advantage of what opportunities we have, study, re-learn, and fully prepare ourselves to be better at what we do. Watch Matt Cassell this season as he works himself into a position to earn a multi-million dollar contract next year.  Sitting on the bench has paid off.

CLEANING OUT THE RIGHT-HAND DRAWER OF THE MIND

I've been thinking!  Some might say, "Uh-oh!"  Others might say, "How novel!"  I say, "It's about time!"

I like Sarah Palin.  There - I've said it.  I like Sarah Palin.  I think she's bright, compassionate, and capable.  Tina Fey and all of the governor's detractors aside, I think she's able to handle the vice-presidency.  Al Gore did it.

What has happened since Radovan Karadzic was arrested and was scheduled to appear before the international war crimes tribunal?  How about his buddy General Ratko Mladic?  These guys roamed around eastern Europe for over a decade after they had been identified for arrest for their role in the Bosnian ethnic cleansing?  Why was that allowed to happen?  Why have they not now been brought to trial?  Why has that been allowed to happen?

In the 1940's we had leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, and George C. Marshall among so many others.  Excepting Truman, they led by nobless oblige.  Wealthy, they served out of a sense of obligation.  Either wealthy by birth or wealthy by industriousness, they turned from comfort to government to offer their services.  Today the practice is the opposite.  Government workers first serve in an administration and then leave in order to act as lobbyists, make substantial money, and to live in comfort.  Could it be that our present-day patricians choose not to participate in governmental leadership in order to avoid undue public scrutiny and undue publicity placing their families into glass houses?

Why was Olympic drug cheater Marion Jones allowed to leave jail early from her already-lenient six month sentence?  She cried and lied for years before she was finally caught and convicted.  I had always presumed her innocent.  Silly me!  Feeling foolish, I vindictively want her to serve her full time.  Who let her out?  The president of the USA Track and Field Association wrote to President Bush asking that she not be let out of Jail.  "I have a moral and practical duty to make the case (against her request for early release)"  Who let her out?

Why is it that in our eyes Israel can never do wrong?  They are in huge part the reason that we are having so much trouble with Arab nations and, by extension, Al Queida.  I do believe that they need our overall protection, but not a rubber-stamped OK for all of their actions.  Read Jimmy Carter's book on the Middle East and their building of the wall that sections off huge chunks of Palestine separating neighbor from neighbor and family from family.  See who you think is responsible for much of the tension in that area of the world.

On a final, more mellow note, Italy's agricultural minister announced that some of that country's finest wines will receive permission to be sold in boxes.  Boxed American wines have an image problem somewhat similar to "white lightning".  However, wine in boxes makes a lot of sense.  It not only last longer, but decreasing transportation costs from the west coast to the east coast not only benefits the economy, but it also benefits the environment.  Figuring the saving on greenhouse gasses, transporting the lighter weight boxes would save the equivalent of taking 400,00 cars off the road.  That's each year!  Bottles are romantic.  Packages are practical.

   

Teddy Roosevelt and John McCain

        Mornings on Horseback, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, River of Doubt, TR the Last Romantic - all admirable biographies or partial biographies of a currently popular past president from a prominent American Family, Theodore Roosevelt.  As an aside, Teddy was a Republican while his equally famous cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, was a Democrat - an interesting story in itself.  However, Teddy has become an icon of the Republican party featured on posters at Republican fund-raisers, and referred to frequently by party leaders.  Indeed, John McCain has stated that Teddy is his political idol.  Senator McCain is a longtime conservative and current Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States, running against his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.  McCain is an admirable man with an admirable history proclaiming a populist program "...for the great citizens of this wonderful country."  An admirable agenda.

        However, I'm wondering just how much Senator McCain has read of his idol.  I'm wondering because Teddy was a President who advocated positions that are the antithesis of the positions staked out by the current Republican platform.  During his presidency, 1901-1909, Teddy Roosevelt dismantled some forty monopolies.  He advocated for and attained regulations for foods, drugs, railroads, and labor unions.  Additionally, being sworn in after the assassination of William McKinley, he took the oath of office without benefit of a Bible.  

        After initially refusing to run for a third term in 1908, Teddy changed his mind and ranin 1912 against his originally hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft.  President Taft advocated positions remarkably similar to those put forth by today's Republicans, causing Teddy to advocate for a platform similar to that of today's Democrats.  Losing out on the Republican nomination, Teddy created the Bull Moose party and ran for the presidency against Taft and Woodrow Wilson.  Similar to 1992 when Republican Ross Perot ran as an independent against Republican George H.W. Bush, dividing the vote and electing Bill Clinton.  Teddy's third-party run resulted in the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.  

        In another venue it would be interesting to analyze Teddy's platform.  Among its many planks were the call for women's suffrage, limitation of campaign contributions, and the registration of lobbyists - all liberal points to the extreme in 1912.

        It would seem prudent that Senator McCain analyze a previous Arizona conservative senator's political positions. Barry Goldwater's brand of conservatism, "Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything that you have,"  would seem a better fit than Teddy's, "The most successful politician is he who says what everybody is thinking and says it the loudest."  A most un-McCain tendency.

        

        

GREED IS GOOD

     My wife Carol and I went to an Antiques Roadshow held in Hartford recently.  Most interesting.  Thousands upon thousands of us carrying, pushing, and wheeling our treasures for assessment of their history and verification of our new good fortune.  We all had dreams that our items would bring us well-deserved, long-overdue wealth.  And I noticed that no one else's items seemed as valuable as ours:  Two watercolors, one a view of a local mansion's garden, the other a view of a seacoast marsh, one Neapolitan style platter or charger, and an autographed photo of a deceased President of the United States.  After receiving our evaluations, we were pleased and feeling a bit smug - not wealthy but feeling pretty good about ourselves.  However, while departing, we heard the story of a woman who had brought in a rather ugly avant garde modernistic painting by a generally unknown artist that was evaluated at $500,000.  She was shocked.  We were, too.  Suddenly we didn't feel so smug.

    The trip was a success in regards to meeting nice people, but it was even more successful in realizing how folks, perhaps, over-value our material goods and how we all strive to rise above the crowd, hopefuly fortuitously.  The saying, "Greed is good!" seems far more cynical in reality than it did when spoken by the actor Michael Douglas. 

EMPTYING MY MIND'S DESK DRAWER

There are times when right hand drawer of my mind's unused and unprocessed information needs to be emptied out in order for new clutter to begin accumulating; when non-sensical, sometimes valueless data impedes the memory bank process.  This is one of those times.  I press DELETE.

JACK KEVORKIAN, Doctor Death, is running for Congress.  What runs through this guy's mind?  What runs through his veins?  Has he no introspective abilities at all?  Also, who are the people who have encouraged his candidacy?  What are they like?  Will anyone actually vote for this convicted murderer?  What would be their political views?  

CONGRESS' approval rating is less than 10%.  It has completed, perhaps, its least efficient session in some 30 years.  Harry Truman had his "Do Nothing" Congress.  What should we term this one?  Maybe the "Do Something, Anything at All" Congress?  I know I plan on voting for the Senate and Congressional challengers this fall.  I don't even care if they're not millionaires!  So what if my state and district lose seniority?  They have little to show from the incumbents anyhow.  I'm going to do my small part in trying to change Washington's political deadlock with the emphasis on dead.  How about you?

I HATE to think of the day when books will all be digitized, and I won't be able to physically turn a page and feel the crisp paper between my thumb and forefinger.  I won't have shelf after shelf of wonderful bindings and colorful dust covers in my library.  I'll just have a "device" on the corner of my desk.  I hate to think that it might end up in the right-hand drawer.

I DON'T have much of a "yen" (sorry) for the upcoming olympic games.  I see China's political agenda powerfully overshadowing all.  Its search for world class respect smothering in smog the world class athletes that will compete in the games.  That's all it seems to be to China is a game - to be used as a vehicle so that it can wear a laurel leaf on the middle stand of the podium of world opinion.

BRETT FAVRE seems to have taken to heart too many of the lauditory editorials written upon the occasion of his retirement.  Mr. Niceguy needs to understand that the Green Bay Packers are not simply going to allow him to unretire and to continue his career where ever he may choose.  He has value as a player, and Green Bay wants compensation for that value.  Favre started this brouhaha with the Packers.  He needs to understand that the situation has passed him by.  If he wants to continue his career, it needs to be elsewhere, out of the conference, and with due compensation for a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ should be more than thankful that he is a New York Yankee.  The New York City environment can take in stride his off-field antics and still appreciate his considerable baseball abilities.  No other city, except perhaps Washington, would endure this type of public posturing and questionable behavior.  From a distance I don't much care whether he strikes out or scores with Madonna.  Because I do care about the affect of all this on his children, I hope he takes a walk from the current stupidity.

THE TAMPA BAY RAYS are the feel-good story of this baseball season.  From last place to first with no respect for the Red Sox or the Yankees.  Check them out.  They're young, exciting, and they believe in their achievements.  The antithesis of Congress.

I admire the French for their honesty in dealing with their orthodox muslim population.  They haven't avoided the situation nor abrogated majority responsibility to a minority viewpoint.  Several years ago they banned religious garments from public schools, and recently they denied a muslim woman French citizenship because she had not assimilated herself appropriately into French society.  The woman insists on wearing a niqab, layers of clothing covering her completely from head to foot with a narrow slit for her eyes.  The basis for the legal decision was that the niqab was representative of suppression and narrowness of thought. While there is a delicate balancing act between freedom of religion and the government's restraint on interfering with that constitutional right, the French attack the problem head-on.

More than likely, we in the U.S. would come down on the side of, "Let her do her own thing."  If one analyzes that late '60s philosophy, it becomes the single most destructive element in evading civic responsibility, a cornerstone of our country's strength. 

We continually allow minority groups to express their beliefs and practices and to ignore the majority.  There once was the philosophy of a melting plot, the assimilation of small groups into the greater whole.  Now that has changed into a tossed salad, where each entity retains its full identity at the expense of the whole.  There is no assimilation.

While I still order Freedom Fries because of my dislike of the Gallic view of the United States, I reiterate my admiration for their dealing with situations that we continue to avoid.

My wife Carol and I have recently returned from a visit to Colorado to meet our newborn fifth grandchild and second grandson.  "Tenny" is a great little guy with a developing personality and an insatiable appetite.  We are so pleased to have finally met him, and we miss him greatly.  

For My Grandson, Tennyson Parkhurst (with apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Bald-headed grandson whose name is one

with mine.

Filled with laughter and babble and earth's

new wine

Now that the time of more than a month

is thine

O little man of mine and David

of mine,

Smile, for the name at the head of this

verse is thine.

May you always take pride in your name

and of mine.

Oh, Willie! Look What You've Done Now!

Sometimes in this world we see tragedy invoked upon an individual through circumstances completely beyond one's control.  Death by terrorist might be a contemporary example.  Death in an airliner through pilot error, or death at the side of the road because of a substance-using driver.  However, it seems that self-destruction is the more common American tragedy these days.  The embezzler, the druggie, the sop.

Take Willie Andrews the now former defensive back of the New England Patriots.  Willie had shown some on-field promise by accumulating many special teams tackles, and this last season he even ran a kick-off back for a touchdown.  Willie reached the pinnacle of his profession by playing the last January's Super Bowl - a high attainment.  But Willie Andrews (not Willie Loman) couldn't handle his life.

In February, just two days after the Super Bowl, Willie was arrested locally and charged with possessing a half-pound of marijuana and some $6800 in cash.  Oh, Willie!  Just last week Willie was arrested again!  He was involved in a domestic dispute in that he took a fully loaded, high powered Glock pistol and held it against his girlfriend's temple.  Now he's in jail for possessing said pistol without a permit and assault with a dangerous weapon.  Oh, Willie!

Andrews had also been arrested and jailed in his native Texas for for gun possession while out on bail for some sort of criminal activity.  Oh, Willie!

Willie has also caused social tragedy to his girlfriend of three years and their young child.  What do they do now that Willie will be out of commission for some time?

Even though no one was killed, one assumes that could easily have happened.   Through stupidity, criminal activity, and neglect of others, Willie has not only lost his chance at the brass ring, but also he has hurt two others through no fault of their own.

Oh, Willie!  You're a central figure in a social tragedy, but I don't feel sorry for you.  Could my loss of feeling and empathy for you be another casualty in the social process.

Oh, Willie!

OVERHEARD


This morning in a coffee shop I heard a man say to his server, “I don’t care who’s president. I only care about the gas…” Are you listening Hillary, Barrack, and John? He doesn’t care about you – at all. He’s worried about his wallet and the economy both in shabby condition these days.

While you three poke holes in the air with your digit fingers, trying to out-shout, out-scheme, and out-vote each other in order to be elected president, this working-class man doesn’t care one bit about you – at all.

“As the Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill used to say, “All politics is local.” I think the geography has moved even closer; I think it’s in his back pocket, inside his wallet. That $20 bill used to buy a tankful of gasoline. Today it buys half a tankful. All other price increases, and they are global, can be traced to the price of gasoline. Yes, driving less will help the greenhouse folks to ease-off, and the earth day advocates will have their day. But what about the truck driver who must pay over $1000 every time he fuels up? What about the frequent flier? What about the electric bill, and on and on?

President Bush has just returned from Saudi Arabia where he was rebuffed, however pleasantly, by the ruling powers of Baghdad – “If we add more oil to the market, who will buy it?” Check that to read, “We like prices the way they are.”

Even though they didn’t ask me, I suggest to the three candidates for president that they emphasize alternative energy. Alternative modes of processing that energy. Alternative ways of utilizing that energy without danger to the environment.

If they do successfully spearhead alternative forms of energy and transportation, the man in the coffee shop will return to caring who is president because his money will have meaning again. The worldpoilitik stage will return to the United States, local if you will, and the Saudis can then go pump sand – literally.