Still the Same...

I think that was the title of a Bob Seger song, but I have a different thought in mind.

After running a few miles on the trails this AM, we joined some others and walked a few laps around the nearby ball fields.  I was comforted that things seem to be "still the same."  Of four fields, eight teams, one routinely ran on and off the field.  Routinely?  No, I should correct that.  Only one team ever ran on and off the field.

Are kids tired, too tired to play?  Where are the coaches?  I suppose my thought is, even if you can't play, at least look like you want to play.  Back when I was a head coach, at the high school and even with my sons, teams ran on and off the field.  Even the pitchers usually did, although I didn't require that.  Or did I?  Individuals who didn't, well they didn't play.  After all, if they are too tired, maybe they should rest--over by mommy and daddy.  I've tried that since I've been a coach's helper with my grandson's teams.  It doesn't work if the head guys don't buy into it.  And they don't.  Walk in and walk out.  It looks pathetic.

Even my grandson's freshman team games saw most teams walk in and walk out.  In one game, I was initially concerned that Michael wasn't in the game, at third base.  I blurted out, "Where's Michael?"  My buddy just said, "He's at third.  He ran out there, the only one who did."  And coaches, even at the freshman level at the high schools, mostly let their kids walk in and out.

Besides kids being unenthusiastic, that they don't care about playing, and just plain looking bad, there is another reason for running in and out, for having pitchers and, esp, catchers with their gear ready to play--it saves time that could be used for playing.  Regularly, in the little league games, between five and ten minutes are taken between innings or, rather, half innings.  Kids walk in and out. Catchers don't have on their equipment.  Games are scheduled for six innings.  Over the course of now nine or ten of Michael's seasons, I'll bet the number of games that went six innings can be counted on one hand.  Let's put it this way.  The number of games that lasted three innings (time limits) was far greater than those that went the full six.  Do the math.  For two half innings/one full inning, with all of the dawdling, about ten to fifteen minutes are consumed.  Multiply that out for just three innings.  Now we're talking half an hour to 45 minutes.  How many innings, more innings, can be played in half an hour or 45 minutes?  At least one, maybe two.  I've tried to explain this to the head coaches, but they don't listen.  They played little league and watch games on television (with the interminable television commercials between half innings!), so they know everything.

Why don't umpires make the kids speed up?  They could you know.  All it would take is after three minutes is a loud "Play Ball!"  But why would umpires want more innings?  OK, they are still out there for the two-hour time limit.  But they only have to actually umpire three or four innings, not five or six.  Uh huh......

I see Muhammad Ali died.  He was an enigma to me.  While I don't usually like the antics like he constantly pulled, his didn't really bother me.  His brashness didn't upset me.  I guess I realized they were all for show, a game to get interest (money?) in his bouts.  His skills were just breath-taking, a heavyweight doing things middle- and welterweights couldn't do.

Now I pulled for him to win, like most people.  I remember listening to one of his bouts on the radio (There wasn't the incessant TV coverage of all things sports back then.) in the basement of our fraternity  (TD) at Amherst, in '70 or '71 (?).  A keg had been tapped and the place was packed, but everyone was quiet enough so we could hear the broadcast.

Maybe it was because he stood up to authority that was attractive.  It and he came at just about the right time for that.

I wasn't too fond of his membership in the Black Muslims and I found his claim of "conscientious objector" (I ain't got nothin' against no Viet Congs.") as a draft status during the Vietnam War to be disingenuous.  Of course, the courts disagreed with me. But, I wondered and still do, how can one be such a pacifist, yet get in the ring and pummel opponents?  Maybe it's not the same thing, killing in war and boxing in a ring, but I still found (and find) it puzzling.

I still remember two stories/quotations and cite them on occasion.  "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'."  And, once on an airplane, the stewardess (Can I still use that term?  Or is that a microaggression?) walked past and asked him to buckle his seat belt.  He didn't.  She walked passed again, reminding him to buckle up.  He didn't.  The third time, somewhat exasperated, she more forcefully told him to fasten his seat belt.  He just smiled and said, "Superman don't need no seat belt."  The stewardess, not missing a beat, came back with, "Superman don't need no airplane."  He buckled up.

Great headline on an op-ed in today's newspaper:  "November comes down to liar vs liar."  Yep, that's nothing new.  I keep telling myself, "We can't let Clinton win."  Then I realize what I've said and tell myself, "We can't let Trump win."  What a dilemma.  My mantra remains, "If given a choice between two evils, choose neither."

I see more and more Establishment Republicans are folding their cards and supporting, however tenuously, Trump.  Paul Ryan is the latest.  Of course, he sold us out on the budget bill/debt ceiling immediately upon being selected Speaker of the House.  So, his endorsement isn't really a surprise.

But I notice the protesters are lining up for permits to demonstrate at the Republican Convention in Cleveland.  Some are suggesting that the number of protesters might be two or three times the number of delegates inside the convention hall.  However, I wonder if the Democrat Convention in Philadelphia will have an equal number (or any?) protest groups.  Clinton and the Democrats who are nominating her certainly deserve to be protested every bit as much as Trump and the Republican Establishment.

I wonder if Trump's recent diatribe against the Hispanic judge (second generation?) has finally hit home with Trump supporters.  (Actually, the judge has a record of anti-illegal immigration that is stronger than Trumps.  As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up.")  Trump is a loon.  And maybe Americans deserve to know the truth behind Trump University, just as we deserve to know the truth behind Clinton as Secretary of State--e-mails, Benghazi, etc.

But, I suspect we won't get either.  Oh, the media might jump all over Trump and his record, but the LameStreams treat Clinton, like her husband, as an untouchable.  "She who shall not be smeared!"

BTW, a recent Congressional hearing demonstrated that there are not dozens, but hundreds (or was it thousands?) of illegal immigrants in the US who have committed felonies who have been released from custody and who have committed other felonies, including hundreds (or was it thousands?) of murders.  And, our Senators and Congressmen talked a big game, pointing fingers at the Justice Dept, the courts, ICE and other federal agencies.  But, I'm sure that's all it's going to come to--talk.  "We have important things to do here."  (Isn't that what Alcee Hastings said of criticism that members of Congress were voting to pass ObamaCare without reading it?  "Read the bill?  We don't have time to read the bill.  W'ere trying to do important things here!"  Or something like that.)  So, they don't have the time (or interest or guts or......) to deal with illegal immigrants who have committed felonies who have been released from custody and commit more felonies (like homocides!), but they have plenty of time to force us to buy health insurance, certain flush toilets, light bulbs, television sets, shower heads, and the list goes on.  Show me, again, where in the Constitution the federal government specifically has the power to do all this stuff.  I can show you where the Constitution requires the federal gov't to "insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic]......"