Gayle Force Press

One Thing I Really Like Is...

 

Being the parent of a teenager who still wants to watch Rudolph and the Grinch every year. 

 

Merry Christmas. 

 

FDO

 

NBA 2011-12 preseason predictions

 

MVP:

1. LeBron James

2. Kevin Durant

3. Zach Randolph

Rookie of the Year:

1. Kemba Walker

2. Kawhi Leonard

3. Kyrie Irving

 

Most Improved Player:  

1. Greg Monroe

2. Derrick Favors

3. Mike Conley

 

Coach of the Year:  

1. Rick Adelman

2. Lionel Hollins

3. Erik Spoelstra

 

Pacific Division Champion:  Los Angeles Clippers

Northwest Division Champion:  Oklahoma City Thunder

Southwest Division Champion:   Memphis Grizzlies

Southeast Division Champion:  Miami Heat

Central Division Champion:  Chicago Bulls

Atlantic Division Champion:  New York

 

Western Conference Champion:  Memphis Grizzlies

Eastern Conference Champion:  Miami Heat

 

NBA Champion:  Miami Heat

 

This year will be the kind of regular spring that will allow for the players to have more control over games than coaches. That’s  a substantial shift from the past decade plus when tight reined coaches have attempted to dictate every element of gameplay.

 

This year, many games will be decided by depth, continuity, energy and intensity.  Young teams with intact cores and excellent playmakers will triumph over defense and system oriented teams. I’m looking forward to seeing a few 130-128 games and the changing of the guard portended by last year’s playoffs.  Can anyone say- Grizz/Heat Finals?

 

 FDO

 

Christmas Crossing

I haven't written a better Christmas poem yet. So I'll keep celebrating with this one. Merry Christmas.

 

Christmas Crossing

 

It’s Christmas Eve and my wife is napping

At the other end of the couch

Dreaming in a Santa hat

 

Tonight when she wakes

And after tomorrow’s presents

I’ll try my best to remind her

That my life is more complete

Better and more real

Than I could have imagined for myself

 

Her presence animates my life

Not in a slavish sense of duty

But through the constant commitment of love

Densely defined and elaborate

Telling as the Rubicon, broad as the Nile

I have fully crossed over

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2006

 

 

Losing Weight

 

This is the first time in my life when I’ve used a scale on a regular basis. It’s become a tangible measure of success and failure for me. I can already begin seeing why some folks become obsessed with weighing. Every day you get a chance to win something! (Or lose something but I’m a half-full person so I pay much more attention to the victories than the defeats.)

 

I weigh less now than I have at any time since my first term in college. It’s hard to believe now but during the stretch from about Labor Day to Thanksgiving that year I gained 40+ lbs. My whole life seemed to change in those 12 weeks including this radical physical shift. I went from a thin person to a chubby person in one autumn. (I just wrote ‘chubby’. What an odd word. Chubby.) 

 

While I’ve lost weight recently, I haven’t exactly gone from chubby to thin. In the past few months I’ve lost around 25# and it’s peculiar to notice how perceptions of me have changed so quickly. Look, I’m a big guy so it’s not as though I appear sick, drugged or destitute. Still, there’s no question that things are different.

 

Sometimes the differences are about other people- I get more smiles; people flirt with me more often; people seem to think I’m taller than I am (I’m just above 6’ but I’ve had a couple tell me that they thought I was 6’ 3“ in the past few weeks. Weird.) and I’ve had a couple clerks express surprise at my age when they see my photo ID.

 

Other times, the differences are about me- I actually do feel better physically with less knee and back pain; I spend less money and time at restaurants and I don’t have as high a tolerance for alcohol. I suppose those changes are all positive but I wonder what it means that I’m writing this only after having lost some weight. If I gain weight, will I spend this time and energy writing about it? If so, would I make that writing available for anyone to see?  

 

I started writing this post in early November and held off from finishing and posting it because I wondered if the holiday season and cold weather would become my excuses for eating more and exercising less. So far, that hasn’t been the case.  I’d also been worried that I’d begin obsessing over the scale. I think I’ve satisfied myself that the scale is a tool only. My refusal to give it any more power feels like a very good choice.

 

 

FDO

 

PS- Since I started on this post, I’ve had a great new weight loss connection. I am no longer a diabetic! That’s a clinical distinction based on long term blood sugar levels and it doesn't mean I'm planning to change my diet or exercise habits.  I am fortunate enough to have responded well to medicine and I can afford spending the time and money to give myself a better chance at healthfulness. Ultimately, weight loss is not the only important factor in this shift away from diabetes but it is an important one.

 

And a happy one. 

 

 

Free the Libertarian!

 

It was reported last month that Gary Johnson had decided against creating a 3^rd party candidacy as a Libertarian. I was surprised that Johnson would rule out that option because it seemed clear that Johnson’s one chance at a prominent national position is creating a 3^rd party campaign. Now, apparently, that’s all changed and Johnson will run after all. It’s going to make the 2012 election more interesting to have Johnson involved.

 

Gary Johnson won’t win the Presidency this year but that’s ok. What he needs is not a win but relevance.  As a 3^rd party candidate, Johnson will have a chance to receive increased media attention, substantial fundraising, a debate presence and the potential to launch a 2016 GOP candidacy with a chance of success.

 

I’m convinced many Ron Paul supporters will shift their allegiance to Johnson (and that Paul will encourage them to do so) as a Libertarian and he will gain more than 5% of the national vote next November. If that happens, Johnson will be the primary frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2016 (followed up by Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio/Bobby Jindal), a position impossible for Johnson to achieve without making this run.

 

Now, Johnson’s run will cement Obama’s re-election bid next fall but will also supply the GOP with a ready made excuse for failure.  The GOP will be so desperate to regain the White House in the 2016 election cycle that Johnson will be warmly welcomed back into the fold. At this point, there’s virtually no downside for Johnson and lots of potential gain.

 

I imagine Johnson’s candidacy will also help enhance the 2012 campaign conversations involved in determining the direction of national issues like human rights, education initiatives and drug policies. Considering the present likelihood of personal attacks and partisan views in one on one debates, I’ll be excited to have Johnson’s voice moderating the tone of the political conversations.

 

Well, I can hope at least!

 

FDO

 

 

My Gold

 

Fools gold is a misnomer

I feel fairly certain

The gold we claim for our own

Without thought to its purity

Is exactly what we need it to be at that moment

And without another’s eyesight

And judgment

The gold remains

Perhaps it’s only our desire

To please others

That reveals us as fools

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2008

 

 

Some Bonds Can’t Be Cashed In

 

Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in the BALCO case. Apparently our government has spent something like $50 million on this effort. It’s stunning on multiple fronts. Bonds won’t have to serve any jail time and isn’t banned from working Major League Baseball. Typically, a player with his pedigree would have his pick of jobs but that won’t happen for Bonds.

 

ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian says that the taint of steroids is too strong for baseball teams to take a chance by hiring a player who is associated with the drugs. That’s why Barry Bonds won’t be employed by a major league team again. I disagree strongly with his reasoning.

 

Mark McGwire's job as the hitting coach in St. Louis is evidence that it's not about steroids; it's about personality. If you're beloved, you're more easily forgiven. In ‘98 McGwire lied repeatedly about his use of PEDs but he's been given a chance to work in MLB again. He never demonstrated any attempt to give back any gains he made from his drug use. He never donated the money he made or asked to be removed from the record books. Nope. He just apologized.

 

And that was enough apparently to gain a high level of forgiveness. There were virtually no fans who were abusive to him as the Cardinals traveled this season and his history only came up a couple times during the teams unlikely run to a World Series championship. Big Mac is back!

 

The contrast could not be clearer when it comes to Barry Bonds. As much as some people would like to see Bonds back in the game, it won't happen simply because he won't a) put on the cape of public contrition or b) have the fan support to allow a team to hire him without issue. The Giants know that he (and they) would be publicly vilified as soon as he wore their uniform again, even as a hitting coach just like McGwire. 

 

Ultimately, Kurkjian is right and Bonds is likely done with MLB.  (Rather, MLB is likely done with Bonds.)  But don’t believe that it’s because of what he did. After all, we now know that scores of players knowingly, willingly and deliberately took PEDs. It’s not the what; it’s the who. And that’s the last sad chapter of this entirely sad story.   

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Really Like Is... Serendipity (Part 2)

 

I wrote about serendipity a couple days ago and had another wonderful experience of it today. I stopped at a brewery to sample a few beers and made the acquaintance of two gentlemen who are old friends, Dave and Michal. These two guys happened to have a little space at a table and were friendly when I asked if I could join them.

 

Both men seem like great people and Michal will likely be a helpful professional contact. I have been considering what new textbook to use for US History classes and Michal is almost certainly to be of great assistance in that endeavor.  There's a real possibility that my future students will have a more beneficial classroom experience because of this chance meeting. All just a few steps removed from my choice to pick one table instead of any other. 

 

I really like serendipity. 

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Really Like Is...Replacement Names

 

NBA Nicknames that Replace Given Names

Here’s the corollary to the original post about nicknames.

The NBA has had a vast number of players whose given names have been virtually replaced by their nicknames. Replaced to the point it would seem more peculiar to use their given name. These are the ones I can think of right now although there are probably many others. I’m not even counting the guys who often have their nicknames used but not always. That means there’s no Bones Barry, no Cat Mobley and no Clyde Frazier here. Even without them, this is an awesome list.

 

Magic Johnson

Pearl Washington

Tree Rollins

Tiny Archibald

Moochie Norris

Bimbo Coles

Muggsy Bogues

Doc Rivers

Spud Webb

Boobie Gibson

Slick Watts

Buck Williams

Mookie Blaylock

Pooh Richardson

Sleepy Floyd

Fat Lever

Cornbread Maxwell

Flip Murray

Rip Hamilton

Speedy Claxton

Truck Robinson

 

Yep, this is quite a list. I repeat myself. I love nicknames.

 

FDO

 

Late Additions:

Fly Williams

Smush Parker

 

One Thing I Really Like Is... Nicknames

 

Nicknames.

 

I love ‘em. It’s probably because I like both pro basketball and pro wrestling but I’m not sure. Nicknames are just fun to me. I have had lots in my own life and there a couple I still hang on to.

I also enjoy giving people nicknames. Now, I’m not like George W. ‘Shrub’ Bush who apparently gives nicknames to everybody. To me, that cheapens the gift. Nicknames are reserved for people I love or at least love spending time with. Nicknames like ‘Nuprin’, ‘Mijo’, ‘Big Daddy’ Kane, ‘Duchess’ and ‘Mr. Incredible’ need to come from a place of love.

 

It’s great when nicknames become so commonly used that they virtually replace given names. Magic Johnson is the most famous example but the NBA is chock full of this phenomenon. This deserves a separate post actually.  

 

Some nicknames are funny even when there’s no context. I mean, I know why Darryl Dawkins is called ‘Chocolate Thunder’ but realistically does it even matter? Isn’t ‘Chocolate Thunder’ always gonna be funny? That could be the name of a movie, breakfast cereal, band, video game or bodily function and it’s still gonna work. Perfect.

 

There are also lots of nicknames that aren’t in common use that really should be. My friend, ABC, calls Eli Manning ‘Baby E’ and it’s perfect. Just look at him. The Anaheim Angels’ Torii Hunter should obviously be nicknamed ‘Big Game’. Obviously!

 

If Mitt Romney wins the GOP Presidential nomination I certainly expect folks on the left to start calling him ‘Glove’. Why wouldn’t they?  

 

Boston Celtics coach Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers’ son, Austin is a perfect candidate to be ‘Baby Doc’ but no one’s willing to go there. C’mon, they don’t look Haitian so it’s ok, right? 

 

Right?!?

 

FDO

 

 

 

One Thing I Really Like Is...

 

Serendipity. 

 

Sometimes it’s a person; sometimes it’s an unanticipated gift; sometimes it’s just the difference between my blindness and my sight. 

 

 

FDO

 

 

Thoughts on Writing- Nikki Giovanni's Resignation

 

Resignation 

by Nikki Giovanni

 

I love you

because the Earth turns round the sun

because the North wind blows north

sometimes

because the Pope is Catholic

and most Rabbis Jewish

because winters flow into springs

and the air clears after a storm

because only my love for you

despite the charms of gravity

keeps me from falling off this Earth

into another dimension

I love you

because it is the natural order of things

 

 

This is the first stanza of a poem I anticipate loving forever. My wife and I used this for a reading at our wedding and several years later, I like the poem even more than I did then. Giovanni is not generally perceived as a romantic poet but she has a deep vein of passion within her work that does, at times, take on a specifically romantic form.

Part of what I like so much about Resignation is that Giovanni reminds her reader that being in love should feel absolutely, perfectly normal.

 

I know many folks who don’t buy into Giovanni’s premise. Instead, they feel most comfortable with problematic, difficult and contentious romantic relationships. To an extreme, I know someone who ended a relationship because it wasn’t challenging enough. Things were too smooth for her liking. That’s an almost unbelievable concept to me. If you’re in love with someone, shouldn’t your standard experience with that person be pleasant and enjoyable? Shouldn’t trouble between you be the exception to the rule?

 

In Resignation, Giovanni defines love as the organizing principle of life in an amorous relationship. In the world she creates in this poem, love is the backdrop to how we live and who we are. Perhaps it’s only because I’m a hopeful romantic but I’m convinced that she’s on the right track. Whatever the reason, I’ll go with it. Joyfully.

 

I love you

because it is the natural order of things

 

Indeed.

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Don't Like Is...

 

When I type ‘E’, my computer doesn’t go to ESPN.com automatically. This is not a good sign. Let me explain. 

 

I love sports. I enjoy reading, thinking, watching and even writing about sports. Yet, my computer’s default for ‘E’ is Edline, a Website that I use to update grades, share resources and provide assignments for my students. What the computer is trying to tell me is simply that I use Edline more than I use ESPN. <smh> I repeat: This is not a good sign. 

 

It’ll be great to have Winter Break arrive so I can give ESPN the place of prominence it deserves!

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Really Like Is...

 

Hearing the variety of ways people say the word ‘tortilla’. These are the times I love living in Indiana. 

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Don't Like Is...

 

Green Bay’s coach Mike McCarthy took a few seconds on ESPN’s Mike and Mike show Thursday to consider what his team needs to improve upon in the remainder of the season.

His answer: forcing more fumbles. 

In this worst of all possible years to be both a Colts and Vikings fan, I was tempted to vomit. 

 

 

FDO

 

 

Average Obama

 

I liked President Obama’s Osawatomie speech and recognize the obvious resonances it has with Teddy Roosevelt’s  New Nationalism  speech. That connection has been made in multiple places and is well worth reading and reading about. I think Obama's speech was the start of something else too. Something with great potential for Obama’s re-election campaign against Mitt Romney in 2012*. I mean the re-branding of the President as “Barack Obama, regular American.”

 

I believe that in this campaign Obama will try to present himself as a typical American with a very American story. Even though he has often been defined as an outsider, I don’t think that Obama has ever believed that to be true. Obama considers himself to be quintessentially American. That belief will be easier to spread to the public at large if Obama is running against Willard Mitt Romney.

(Much in the way that Obama’s middle name became a campaign issue, I’m convinced that Romney’s first name will be tossed about and made the subject of jokes. I assume the story about Mitt being named after George Romney’s best friend Willard Marriott is true. That’s not gonna be helpful.)

 

Obama’s campaign will work hard to present Romney as the embodiment of America’s elite. Romney is, after all, the son of a governor and was born into a highly affluent family. His own professional career has placed him squarely in the 1% as defined by Occupy Wall Street. In 2000, those would have been helpful characteristics but in the midst of our Great Recession, economic privilege is no longer perceived as indicative of inherent merit. Instead, his extraordinary level of privilege is probably a major detriment to Romney’s candidacy.

 

Obama’s own American story is well known and his recent speech cleverly emphasized his rootedness via his family of regular folks from Kansas. His single mom spent time on public assistance rolls and Obama only became an elite himself through educational attainment. He legitimately is a contemporary Horatio Alger. Even as an adult, his South Side of Chicago bona fides are clearly intact. Describing his career as working for the people of his community as opposed to having the people work for him will be a winning presentation.

 

And while folks often describe Obama’s rise to national prominence as meteoric, he will be able to define himself as a political plugger compared to Romney. Obama’s political career began in the Illinois State Senate before moving on to the US Senate and then the White House. He has been an elected official since 1997. Obama can reasonably describe himself as having climbed the political ladder, albeit with tremendous speed. Romney’s sole electoral victory was his one term as Massachusetts governor. In just those four years, Romney made many choices he has since disavowed. While I personally believe Romney’s Olympic experience is very impressive, I doubt that he’ll be able to use that time as a proxy for holding office.

 

There will likely be one other interesting area in which Obama can define himself as average and Romney as exceptional: religion. Obama’s Chicago church experience was a problem for him in 2008 but in 2012 it’ll be a big advantage. Jeremiah Wright is old news and the President has so comfortably and consistently invoked God that his religiosity seems safe, normal and generically American. Romney’s Mormonism makes him suspect in the eyes of many and makes him an outsider in the eyes of many more.  I don’t want to link to some of the vicious portrayals of Mormonism in the world of mainstream punditry but it’s very easy to find scary talk about Romney’s church. The ham handed “I’m a Mormon” campaign might have helped had it begun several years ago but in the short term it will likely make Romney (and Jon Huntsman) seem even more suspicious to non-Mormon conservative Christians.

 

In terms of family, work and faith, Obama can claim common cause with ‘the American people’ in ways that Romney simply can’t. It’s a strange world wherein the half-Black guy with the Arabic name can present himself as more authentically American than the White guy who looks like middle age Superman but I think that’s what we will begin to see in the next few months. Perhaps even more strangely, I think it’s gonna work.

 

 

FDO

 

*- I've been asked if any of this applies to the President if Newt Gingrich were the GOP nominee.

2 responses- 1- If Newt's the guy, Obama won't have much to worry about anyway. 2- Yes! Obama's team will paint a picture of the President, First Lady and their two young daughters compared to Newt's 3 marriages, adulterous affairs, Clinton era sexual hypocrisy, the cancer-ridden wife divorce story and late in life conversion to Catholicism. That's a lotta grist for the campaign mill.

 

Combine that with the difference between making lots of money by writing books about your family and making lots of money by using your government contacts to (almost) lobby for corporations and it's game over. 

 

 

 

One Thing I Really Like Is...

 

The chance to remind students that every day they can choose to better themselves.

 

I don’t expect them to be perfect but I do expect them to get (and be) better. The truly awesome part comes when they decide they want to be better for their own reasons, not mine. Yep, that's awesome. 

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Don't Like Is...

 

How much I miss the NBA! 

 

Watching a high school basketball game tonight, I realized I was psychoanalyzing one of the players based on her free throw shooting. I got it bad, folks. C'mon, December 25, c'mon! 

 

FDO

 

 

Driving with Blinders

 

A few days ago I had an interesting reminder of how economically privileged I am. See, I couldn’t quite figure out the gas pump.

 

 

I drive lots of miles and buy gas at least twice a week. What I usually do is simply swipe my credit or debit card, pump my gas and leave.  Well, on this particular Saturday, I wanted to buy a couple extra items inside the store connected to the gas station.  So, I thought to myself, how about I pay for my gas along with the other purchases?

 

 

That was my trouble; I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I pressed the button to pay inside but the machine wanted me to pay inside then come back out and pump the gas. But how would I know how much the gas would cost?

 

 

I wasn’t interested enough to see if there were some other option so I just paid at the pump then went inside and bought the other items separately.

 

 

It was only then that I realized how long it’s been since I’ve had to decide to buy gas based on how much it was going to cost instead of how much I needed for my car.  There’s a big difference between those two thought processes.

 

 

I look for the lowest priced gas and when I find it, I simply fill up the tank. Until I finished grad school I always bought gas based on how much I was able to spend.  Often that $5 or $10 but sometimes it was $3.50 or even $2 on a couple occasions. Now that’s never the way I make decisions about gas. Really, I don’t even think about what I’m doing enough to describe it as decision making.

 

 

Many of the folks I saw in line Saturday had a very specific amount of money to spend on gas and make decisions based on that reality.  I had to have a reminder that there are even those decisions to be made.

 

 

How fortunate am I?

 

 

 

FDO

 

 

The Cowboys Get Poked

 

Oklahoma State has 2 great reasons to be mad that they’re on the outside of the BCS Championship Game looking in. 1- The other teams have already played. Ok, that’s just obvious.

 

#2 is the biggie. The only game Oklahoma State lost this year was played right after the crash that killed 2 coaches of the women’s basketball team. Many folks were surprised the game was even played. Doesn’t that unpleasant reality make a difference to anyone? The Cowboys have been extremely impressive for the rest of the year and have only had one hiccup. It was a bad hiccup in the midst of a horrible time for their university. That loss holds less weight for me than most others.

 

Think of it this way, would anyone feel cheated if we got to see LSU-Oklahoma State next month?

 

 

FDO

 

Obama’s Magic Number

 

This weekend is the most confident I’ve felt concerning President Obama’s re-election chances. The key element in this feeling is a single number, 8.6%.  That’s our current unemployment rate. It’s a clear, surprising improvement from all our recent numbers. There are lots of important caveats to consider and 8.6% is not ideal... but relatively speaking, Obama can point to this figure as a very clear indicator of positive movement in the economy.

 

In terms of foreign policy, I’d argue that Obama’s term has been much more successful than anyone could have reasonably asked. Unfortunately for him, America’s so tired of looking beyond our shores, the President’s team will have to work to remind people of his litany of accomplishment. We’re focused on home.

 

While the economy continues to sag and broad successes are hard to find, being able to tout a specific number like an 8.6% unemployment rate will give voters the impression that the economic climate is improving.  Considering the weakness of the GOP field, this kind of improvement will probably be enough to secure a second Obama term.

 

 

FDO

 

 

One Thing I Don’t Like Is…

 

When I walk into a public restroom to the sound of a splashdown.

<PLOP!> is not a welcoming sound. 

 

 

FDO