Josh Angel

by Bill Holmes

It has been a few days now since Josh Hamilton signed a $125 million, five year contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  I don't blame Josh for signing the contract.  That's an obscene amount of money and a long contract considering his age, past, physical and mental frailties.  In my opinion it is more than he is worth so I'm glad the Rangers didn't resign him at that price.  What I do find distasteful is the way the contract came about and his and his wife's comments.

The Rangers did everything to help Josh become a productive ballplayer.  Too much in my opinion.  They traded a top young pitcher to Cincinnati for Josh when it was unknown if he had truly kicked his drug/alcohol problems.  He had been through eight rehab sessions and missed 3 1/2  years of baseball.  They provided him with a full time babysitter-traveling companion-life coach-spiritual adviser to keep him on the wagon.  Then they forgave and supported him twice when he still managed to fall off that wagon.  They put up with his sometimes suspect injuries or when he lost focus.  They didn't bench him when he was in any of his numerous slumps.  They didn't kick him in the ass when he basically said the manager and coaches were full of shit when they suggested changes to him. They had ginger ale team celebrations when they won playoffs and pennants so that champagne and beer wouldn't touch his pure lips.  All of this while also paying him millions to play.

There is no doubt that Josh Hamilton is a top five ballplayer, when he decides to show up.  He was the 2010 American League MVP, he is a lifetime .300 hitter, he has averaged over 90 RBI and 25 HRs per year.  Those numbers look even better when you factor in that in six years he has averaged only 122 games played, 75%.  While that number of games played make his numbers look better, it also points out a major problem.  Hard to believe at 6'4" and 240 lbs., but Josh is fragile.  In his five years at Texas, he missed 163 games.  That's a full season.  So, for 100% salary you get 75% to 80% production.  That makes his new $25 mil. salary equivalent to about $30 mil.  The other secret to those numbers is how streaky and inconsistent Josh can be.  In 2012 his monthly batting averages were .395, .344, .223, .177,  .310, .259, .154.  His career playoff batting average is .227.  When he's hot he's hot and when he's not he can be terrible.  His fielding can go from highlight reel to t-ball also.  

I think Josh is basically a very gifted natural athlete who has always been head and shoulders better than the competition.  Sometimes he loses focus, maybe out of boredom, maybe because he has fried some brain cells during his lost years.  A Tweet by Jeff Wilson, Rangers beat writer for the FW Star-Telegram, reporting on the physical Josh took for the new Angels contract - ‏"Eye doc says Josh Hamilton has 20/13 vision. No word on how good his focus is."  is right on.  Because he is so gifted, I don't think he ever learned how to take criticism or coaching.  When he was in the midst of that wonderful .177 batting average for July it was suggested by the manager and coaches that he be a little more patient at the plate.  Maybe not swing at that pitch that is four feet outside and in the dirt.  His response was that is how he has always batted.  Basically saying to people who have been in the major leagues for decades that he, the Great Josh Hamilton, knew more than they did and wasn't about to change.  He threw the third base coach under the bus when he was injured on a play at home plate.  He looked shocked whenever the manager questioned anything he did.  Who could possibly question Josh?  When the media questioned him about problems or poor play one of his stock answers was basically that's just Josh being Josh, stuff happens.  At one point he couldn't hit in day games.  The doctors examined him and then made up some condition he has.  They did eye drops, sun glasses and a couple of other things to fix it.  I don't know if it was a real condition and real treatments or all a farce with placebo fixes.  Late last season he had more vision problems.  This time it was diagnosed as too much caffeine.  Really?  It kept him out of five games.  Some of his poor performance in 2012 he blamed on trying to quit smokeless tobacco.  Shouldn't you make major changes to your daily routine and habits during the off-season?  I've been following baseball for over 50 years and I've never heard this kind of BS.  There is one constant in the Josh Hamilton story - drama. 

The last thing that bothered and bothers me about the Hamilton family is their attitude about the Rangers.  Now they are saying that the Rangers didn't court or woo them enough during contract talks.  Some of these comments came from Josh's wife who has made negative and anti-Rangers comments in the past.  Josh said early in the 2012 season that he didn't owe the Rangers anything.  That's true.  In today's me first world that's how people in sports, both sides, think.  Later he backed off that stance and said that the Rangers would have a chance to match or counter any offer from other teams.  That's not what happened.  No last chance.  Despite the Hamilton's constant mantra about how God/Jesus is the most important thing, they don't feel they owe the Rangers anything and feel slighted because the Rangers didn't stroke their egos enough.  Very Christ-like.  Real Christians practice humility and gratitude.  This is another reason I'm not sad to see Josh leave Arlington.  I hate athletes and others who wrap themselves in faith and then don't live up to those standards.  I don't live up to those standards either, but I don't profess to do so and don't pretend that some higher being is responsible for all my actions and guiding my every move.  That's another subject for another blog.   

So, the Rangers will miss the Hamilton bat in the middle of the lineup.  I don't think they will miss the drama.  They should be able to use part of the $25 mil. savings to build a better team.  My predictions, I think Josh will have outstanding moments with the Angels.  Maybe an outstanding year or two but not five years.  He will also have real and imaginary injuries and funks and slumps.  The celebrity media in Southern California will be oppressive and far less kind than the D/FW media.  They don't care about anything but a juicy story.  TMZ would love another episode with Josh, shaving cream, booze and young women.  I don't think the Hamiltons are as tough or smart as they think they are.  They had a pretty easy time here with the Rangers.  $125 mil. for five years is about $50 mil. and two years too much.  

Good luck Josh but I won't miss you.

wjh

Bowled Over or Over Bowled?

by Bill Holmes

Saturday, December 15, 2012, we begin the division one (BCS) college bowl season.  This year there are 35 bowl games that run through January 7th.  To qualify for a bowl game, a team must win six games.  That's half the games of a normal schedule so we now reward those who win 50% of their games.  Isn't 50% a failing grade unless you're a weather person?  There are only 120 BCS football schools so it is necessary to allow mediocre teams into the bowls since more than half of the teams are needed to populate all these compelling games.  The final bowl of the season is a fake championship game.

This year we have food related bowls that celebrate potatoes, beef, pizza, Kraft, wings, chicken, more beef and Tostitos.  There are auto related bowls, MAACO, Meineke, Valero, Hyundai and Autozone.  There are financial company bowls and some sponsored by companies I never heard of and don't know what they make, sell or do.  We also have bowls that don't have a primary sponsor.  These unsponsored bowls are the invention of ESPN and/or a city that wants to stimulate tourism and economic activity.  ESPN always needs content to feed their 752 various channels.  Likewise there is always a mayor, tourist and convention bureau or civic leader who thinks a bowl game is a great idea.  Some cities even have multiple bowl games.  Here in the D/FW area we now have three games.  Most of these games would be financial busts without ESPN's money.  They are 98.6% TV events.  Watch some of the lesser bowl games and you'll see more empty than filled seats.

The first college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, was in 1902.  It was started to help fund the Rose Parade.  The game was so bad there wasn't another one until 1916.  It was the lone bowl game until 1935 when the Orange, Sugar and Sun bowls began.  The Cotton Bowl began in 1937.  The next one, the Gator Bowl, didn't start until 1946.  Those are the bowl games I remember growing up.  It wasn't until much later that other bowls began to spring up.

Each of these bowls was completely independent.  The Rose Bowl usually matched the Big Ten and PAC 12 champions and still does.  The other bowls didn't have any formal deals with the various conferences.  With fewer than 10 bowls, there was no problem getting good teams.  It also meant that several deserving teams didn't get a post-season reward.  As important to the bowl selection committees as a team's record was how well the fans would "travel".  Before big TV money, an undefeated team with little fan support didn't help the bowl or it's host city.  It didn't matter how compelling the matchup would be so much as ticket sales and hotel reservations.  This thinking often lead to some strange choices by the bowls.  The combination of several deserving teams missing out and the explosion of TV led to a large increase in the number of bowl games.  A dash of greed should be sprinkled in too.  Let's face it, college football, the NCAA, BCS and bowls are all big business.

Have we finally reached the saturation point?  I think so.  More than half the BCS teams, many with 6-6 records, now participate.  There is even a team with a 6-7 record playing this year.  Some of the lesser bowls committees are on the edge of their seats watching the last week of the regular season.  That's because they are not sure there will be enough eligible teams to fill all the bowls.  Most of the bowls now have agreements with the various conferences to supply participants.  How would you like to be the BBVA Compass Bowl?  They get the Big East #5 team vs the SEC #9 team.  Pretty special.  First of all what is a BBVA Compass and secondly how good are the teams going to be?  This year they are both 6-6 one of which won their last game to get six wins.  I'm pretty sure that if fewer than 70 teams were eligible the NCAA would figure out an exception.  The NCAA is always looking out for the student athlete and would hate to deny any of them a chance to play one more football game.  There is no chance that money would have any bearing on their decision.

Bowls used to be a reward, usually in a warm climate, for a deserving team.  Now they are pretty much a 13th regular season game for almost 60% of the college football teams.  I can't imagine that going to Detroit in December to play in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is a huge reward.  Oh wait, maybe the school, conference and NCAA get a slight monetary reward.  Of course the teams playing in it this year don't deserve a huge reward.

Times change and I'm a fan of college football so I'll watch my share of the 35 bowl games.  There are a few I'm looking forward to, a few that have teams I follow, a few others that should be OK and a bunch I don't care about.  I plan to miss the previously mentioned pizza bowl and BBVA Compass Bowl.  I think 35 bowls are too many and the original six is too few.  How about maybe 20 or 25 games and a winning record requirement?  

So boys and girls, stock the fridge, get the recliner ready, find the remote and check the TV guide.  Between now and January 7th there should be a bowl game most days and several on many days.  A couple of them might even be good games.

wjh

The BcS BS

by Bill Holmes

I'm a huge college football fan. Much more than pro football. But there is a major problem. I think the whole BCS football post season is a mess. It has been a mess since first implemented. It will probably still be a mess when the four team “playoff” goes into effect. Every time the extremely intelligent athletic directors and coaches and the even more intelligent university presidents try to tweak the rules it has had an unexpected consequence. Most of those rule changes have not been to strengthen the post season competition. They have been made to appease anti-trust, congressional or public opinion concerns. Now on to the current mess of this year's BCS bowls. Full disclosure, I'm a Florida Gator and SEC fan.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) continues to let the fans down. The BCS is in charge of the big four bowls plus the championship game. That's five bowls, ten teams. They usually get the championship game right although some years that has not been certain. It's the other four BCS bowl games that succumb to the ridiculous rules. This wouldn't matter to me except that the BCS bowls have extremely large payouts, large TV audiences and influence the final polls. The five BCS bowls will probably have close to $200 million in payouts this year. Last year the BCS bowls had a payout of approximately $18 million per team. The next highest payout was the Capital One Bowl at $4.2 million and it drops off from there all the way down to $500K. That is one hell of a drop off. It should be quite an incentive to have an elite top ranked team. Even after sharing with the conference, $18 million is a nice payday.

So you say, the top ten college football teams in any year would play in the five BCS games. Au contraire you silly savage, there is a complicated and convoluted algorithm to decide which undeserving teams will get to play in the BCS bowls. League champions from the six BCS conferences (SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12 and PAC 12) are guaranteed a bowl spot. It doesn't matter how good or bad that team is. Then it gets even crazier. If a non-BCS conference team finishes above number 16 in the final BCS poll they get in too. So now we have undeserving BCS conference champions and even more undeserving non-BCS teams automatically in one of the top ($18 million) bowl games.

This year the wonderful BCS rules decided that #15 Northern Illinois gets to play #12 Florida State (FSU) in the Orange Bowl. It also means that #21 Louisville gets to play #3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The venerable Rose Bowl has #6 Stanford against unranked Wisconsin. That is a disservice to Florida and Stanford. As a top ten team they are in a no win situation. If they beat the opponent that's expected and not rewarded. If they struggle or lose they drop like a lead balloon in the rankings.

There are two games that have top matchups. The Fiesta Bowl has #5 K-State vs #4 Oregon. The BCS championship game has #1 Notre Dame vs #2 Alabama. Two of five bowls, that's only 40%.

So, the excellence of the SEC is punished by the BCS rules. The final pre-bowl BCS rankings had Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and South Carolina in the top ten. Only the Tide and Gators are in BCS bowls. The reason? The BCS powers decided that only two schools from a conference could go to a BCS bowl. That means that four SEC teams in the top ten can not participate in an $18 million bowl game, but unranked Wisconsin, #15 Northern Illinois and #21 Louisville can. Last year the SEC could not host the Sugar Bowl (actually the January, 2012 edition) because LSU and Alabama were in the Championship game so that used up the two SEC representatives slots.

Of course the way to fix part of this mess is to have a playoff. Every professional league and every other collegiate sport has one. There are still a few inequities but not many. The Division One football leaders have blocked a playoff for years. There is a very limited playoff coming in a couple of years, but not a definitive one.

The BCS and their college presidential oversight committee is a joke. The university presidents thump their chests and tell everyone who will listen that they are in charge. They are protecting the concept of the student-athlete. The truth is that like most of us the presidents are whores. The big TV networks promise millions and Mr. or Ms. Academic Integrity decide it's OK to change a rule or two. College football teams used to play 10 games and then maybe a bowl game. They now play 12 games plus maybe a conference championship game and a bowl game. I can remember when there were fewer than ten bowl games, so it actually was an honor to play in one. There are now about 35 bowl games and it is hard for all of them to find a team that had at least a .500 season. Now if you win half your games you are rewarded with a bowl game. So, a mediocre team gets to take a bowl trip and maybe pocket some extra TV money for the school and conference. That's OK with me. What's not OK is when they hype the game as important and crow about student-athlete integrity. Until and unless there is a real Division One football playoff, hardly any of these games are meaningful. We have had years when there were three undefeated teams so one of them (Auburn) got eliminated from the BCS Championship game. We have had other years when several teams had the same record (ie. 2012, AL, FL, OR & KS) and only one gets to compete for the title.

Here's the convoluted season in the SEC. Texas A&M beat Alabama and lost to LSU & Florida. LSU lost to Alabama and beat South Carolina. Florida beat South Carolina but lost to Georgia. South Carolina demolished Georgia. So which team is the best? My point is that top ten SEC teams play each other every weekend. If the Gators lose to the Dawgs or LSU beats A&M, if the Gamecocks beat the Dawgs and so on it's just another week in the SEC. There is a reason six SEC teams are in the BCS top ten. There only loses were to other SEC teams in the top ten and the SEC is the top league in college football. Four teams have one lose. So, is Alabama the undisputed #2 team.

Although the four team playoff will be better than what we have now, it will still fall short of being definitive. I think you need at least eight teams and 16 would be better. I know, that's several extra games but only for a few teams. Now there is anywhere from three to six weeks between the last regular season game and the bowl game for a team. Plenty of time for a real playoff. A 16 team playoff would produce 15 must see games that ESPN would pay a fortune for and I would watch. It's also an opportunity for almost half of the current bowls to have a meaningful game. This year I plan to miss the Little Caesars Bowl (6-6 Central Michigan vs 7-5 Western Kentucky) and several others.

Let's get Division One college football into the 21^st century. Let's also give way less credit to the BCS, NCAA, athletic directors and university presidents.

Lastly, lets hope for at least a couple of good bowl games this season. Happy bowling.

wjh

Remembering Mom & November '63

It has now been 106 years since my Mom's birth. I wrote this six years ago in 2012, the 100th anniversary of her birth. Other than a couple of grammar, spelling or punctuation corrections, I have not changed the text. I still think of Mom every day. That's a good thing because she was a much better person than I am. She is still making me better. I'll wrap up this new intro now because I have a tear in my eyes and it's hard to type. Happy 106th birthday Mom. We all miss you. 

by Bill Holmes

November 22, 2012, was Thanksgiving. It was also the 49^th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Those two events don't go together. Being that I'm a little over 49 years old, I remember it very well. It happened down the road in Dallas. He last spoke even closer in Fort Worth. Anniversary doesn't seem like the right word to remember that kind of event. Anniversary to me usually means a more joyous event. Your parent's 50th wedding anniversary, the anniversary of a school graduation or any other happy milestone event.

I have many memories of the day JFK was killed and the following few weeks. It was a sad and tragic time in my life. I think I'll save the details for next year which will be the 50^th year since that event occurred. If I'm lucky, I'll still be around and cognizant and able to write my thoughts.

I am a big fan of Thanksgiving. Except for the mass quantities of food, there are no expectations other than getting together with friends and family to enjoy the day. It didn't seem appropriate to remember or discuss that day 49 years ago on a day we celebrate and are thankful for all we have and enjoy. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends, as it should be. No negative vibes.

The other event occurring around this time of year is the 100^th anniversary of my Mother's birth, November 25, 1912. Obviously, that was a much more important event in my life (pre-life) although I was oblivious of it at the time. Mom was born at home, none of that hospital nonsense needed. Home was a duplex in Winchester, Massachusetts. I wrote a blog in August about 100 years ago. That was more generic, this one is about my Mom. Besides Mom and Dad being born, 1912 was the year the Titanic sunk, the Olympic games in Stockholm and apparently when we discovered Antarctica.

If you knew my Mom, you loved my Mom. She was a gentle, proper, kind, caring, cultured and giving person. Like anyone born in 1912, she had some beliefs and ideas that probably wouldn't be considered modern or progressive now. She and I butted heads many times, but I always knew she loved me unconditionally and was on my side. I always loved her unconditionally too but was too young and too stupid to always show or articulate that love. I often disappointed my Mom and I regret that. She certainly didn't deserve a sometimes ungrateful son. Looking back, it wouldn't have been that hard to have reduced those disappointments.

I've always been thankful that my two sons got to know their Nana. She got to see her oldest grandson become a very successful adult and husband. He was the apple of her eye from the day he was born. When my youngest son came along, twenty years later, it was obvious that there was room for at least two apples in Nana's life. The younger son was in elementary school when Nana died but he was still devastated. The older son was devastated too since he had 30 years of her love. They both loved their Nana.

Mom lived until 2002 and was a few months shy of 90 years old. This is absolutely amazing. I know people live to be 90 but not many who went through what she did.  She had metastasized melanoma and lymphoma at a time in the late 1940s when people didn't survive any cancer. She went through experimental surgery, her choice, to save her leg when I was an infant. She wanted to be a two-legged Mom. Remember, they didn't have computerized prosthetic limbs 60 years ago. She had radiation therapy before the medical profession knew how to do it. That caused radiation burns and who knows what other damage. Her leg was saved and obviously, she survived the procedure. For the next 60 years she lived with the limitations, pain and a severely scarred body from that and other surgery. She didn't complain about that, she was thankful to be alive and have two legs. She pushed herself to the limit and refused to yield to a damaged leg and body. That caused problems but she powered through them. Because she was in almost constant pain she ate aspirin like candy. That eventually led to an ulcer and major hemorrhage when she was in her 70's. The only change was that she lost some weight because they removed 2/3rds of her stomach. There were other challenges along the way too. I think she had about 10 major operations. Then her eyes started to go but either the doctors screwed up or she just couldn't heal any more so she got to be half blind for years. No complaints at least about her health. If she could move and get out of bed, she was ready to go.

Way before the grandkids came along I got to be the apple of her eye. I consider myself a Florida guy, but I was born in New Jersey and lived there for six years. I went to kindergarten there but luckily spent the rest of my scholastic career and formative years in Florida. The reason I bring up the New Jersey connections is that after Mom recovered from her first cancer, she used to take me to New York City. We'd ride the bus from Kearny/North Arlington, probably a bus stop on the Belleville Turnpike into New York City. Maybe into the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a lovely place. I remember standing on the bus seat and looking out the window, not the least bit safe. I remember being curious about everything we saw on the way to the big city. I remember the stink from the pig farms when we rode through Secaucus.

After some other buses and/or subways or very rarely a taxi, we'd be at the Museum of Natural History (my favorite) or the Guggenheim or the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) or some other great place. We would also often stop by Macy's or Gimbels or Saks and on a few occasions FAO Schwarz. All those places were magical to a four or five-year-old. They were also huge. In later years I realized that those places were normal size (OK, a little bigger than normal) and I was small. Not that I'm big now, but not tiny. We also always had at least lunch and sometimes an early supper in an adult restaurant in NYC before the bus ride home. I was taught by my Mom how to behave in public and I did. It was understood that as long as I acted appropriately, I could do adult things and go to adult places. I can't remember her ever having to correct my behavior on those trips. Probably because I wanted to go to those places with her and I knew the rules. Those trips to NYC have stuck with me my whole life. I still love to go to museums and nice restaurants. I appreciate those finer things in life even though I can mostly only look from afar. I've been lucky to have lived or spent time in NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, DFW and other places that have great museums and other attractions. Just a couple of weeks ago I was at the Kimbell Museum (one of the great places) in Fort Worth with a dear friend. We both enjoyed the exhibition and each other's company but my overwhelming feeling was that I missed my Mom and wished she could share this with me. I knew why I was enjoying the museum. It was because my Mom exposed me to fine art at a very early age. One of the great regrets of my life is that Mom never got to came to visit us here in DFW. It wasn't her fault, that's another story. She would have absolutely loved the museum district in Fort Worth, I think the Kimbell would have been her favorite. We would have had to also go to the Dallas Museum of Art and Sixth Floor Museum. Oh yes, lunch at the Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus would have been on the agenda too.

I will be forever grateful to my Mother. She encouraged my curiosity and more importantly good manners and behavior. You can take a kid anywhere if they behave. That's not a common practice nowadays. Taking kids everywhere is common, it's the good behavior that is not.

After moving from the metropolitan New York City area to Florida our cultural outings were greatly reduced. That and as the little five-year-old grew into a little ten-year-old and then a little teenager there wasn't as much Mom time. We hit the museums, historical places and points of interest when we were on vacation but it wasn't the same. Mom kept up her cultural muscles by going to the symphony, ballet, and touring plays.

Mom also instilled in me my love of reading. She was a stay at home mom until I was about 12. When I was very young she read to me every day. She's the one who taught me how to read and write which I knew how to do before kindergarten. She taught me all the other proper behavior, manners, and etiquette that was so important to her. Of course, I thought many of those things were old fashion and unnecessary. In fact, many of those practices were from the nineteenth century, taught to my Mom by my Grandmother (born in the 1880's). My Grandmother was also a very gentle, proper, kind, caring, cultured and giving person. I had many great times with her too. She raised me when I was an infant and Mom was sick. Now I'm not saying all that training took. Most of my good behavior was limited to times I had to be well behaved but at least I knew the rules when I needed them.

Mom had another important job in my youth. She kept my Dad from killing me on several occasions. She would intervene when the punishment didn't fit the crime or better yet, keep my screwups a secret. She was also my cheerleader and supporter. She was in charge of giving me encouragement and Dad was in charge of the criticism.

She taught me to appreciate quality. It was better to have a few good quality items than several cheap things. A couple of good outfits were better than a closet full of inferior clothes. A solidly built piece of furniture was better than a house full of particle board. In fact, I have much of the furniture that my parents bought in the 1940s. My oldest son has several of those pieces too. My modern flat screen TV is sitting on a small chest that was in my Mother's house when she was a child. I still have the desk and chair Mom bought me when I was about 10 or 12. The second part of buying quality was to take care of your stuff. Now buying quality things is easy when you have a lot of money. Mom had to squeeze her weekly household money until it squealed in order to buy nice things. She was a master at that. She always had a stash somewhere that Dad didn't know about. Even until the very end, she squirreled away a few bucks.

During the last few weeks before her death, she was barely able to speak and was too weak and unsteady to write. Dad was almost deaf and also lacked the patience to figure out what Mom was trying to communicate. I wound up being the only one who could understand more than a simple yes or no or hand gesture. One day in the hospital she motioned me to her bed. I put my ear to her mouth, read her lips and eventually figured out what she was saying. She told me to look in the pocket off her white quilted coat that was at home in the closet and to keep what I found. What I found was a pill container that had a couple of hundred dollars rolled up in it. That was her mad money. She must have known she was near the end and didn't want that money going with the coat when we cleaned out the closets.

Even in the end, Mom was thinking of others. Her whole life she was giving her time or money to the church or some cause. She was embarrassed and apologetic whenever she was in the hospital or sick. She didn't like putting other people out. She reasoned that family and friends were spending their valuable time visiting and taking care of her. She was much more comfortable doing that for others.

Yes, like most people born in 1912, Mom was a little old-fashioned. She was also overflowing with love for her family and fellow humans. There's nothing wrong with being a gentle, proper, kind, caring, cultured and giving person.

She was a wonderful Mom, Nana, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, in-law, and friend. I regret that she didn't get to be a wonderful great-Nana also. She missed that by almost exactly two years. I think of her almost every day and I miss her every day.

If there is a heaven she is surely there. With a healthy body, endless museums to visit, Broadway shows and symphonies to attend, plants and flowers to tend to, shopping at the finest stores, attending an afternoon tea with finger sandwiches and a secret hiding place in a cloud for her mad money. She also has a perfect view of her beloved grandsons and those great-grandsons she never met.

Happy 100^th Birthday Mom. I love you.

wjh

Our Changing Holidays aka Black Friday Eve

by Bill Holmes

Our celebration and perception of holidays is changing before our very eyes. It gets worse and changes faster every year. Before long our calendars and national holidays will need to reflect the new reality.

The worst and most obvious change is Thanksgiving. I think we are in danger of losing this great holiday. There is an undeniable and disturbing reason for this. The retailers don't make enough money from Thanksgiving. With the exception of turkeys, cranberries, sweet potatoes and French's French Fried Onions (for the green bean casserole), we don't buy a lot of extra stuff for Thanksgiving. That means other than Kroger or Publix or Safeway there's not much more than the usual household spending. Maybe a little extra at the liquor store too for a better than normal bottle or two of wine or a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream for after dinner coffee. Best Buy, Macy's, Walmart and Target don't get a big bump in customers or revenue, so they almost skip recognition of the holiday. How many Thanksgiving decorations or advertisements did you see this year?

Before long we will observe the fourth Thursday in November as Black Friday Eve. We're close to that now. In fact, Black Friday itself is in jeopardy of becoming Black Thursday. Black Friday used to start the Christmas shopping season at normal store opening hours on Friday. Then a couple of stores began opening at 8:00 AM, then 6:00, then 4:00 and finally at midnight. Of course that is no longer good enough. Now major retailers are opening on Thanksgiving, some are open all day just like a normal Thursday. So you see, we are already close to eliminating Thanksgiving as a holiday where family and friends gather to give thanks, share time together, eat too much, watch football on TV and fall asleep on the couch. It's now primarily a shopping day or at least a planning day for shopping. Thanksgiving dinner will soon have to be a quick breakfast, maybe with turkey sausage or turkey bacon, so we can get to Walmart. Of course this won't last long. Some retailer, maybe next year, will start the sales on Wednesday night. You see where this is going. Hey, many folks are off work Labor Day, let's start the big Christmas sales then. Hell, why wait that long? Let's shop before the July 4th fireworks.

Whenever the retailers start the sales some people will try to be first in line for the big deal items. I'm sure you've seen the news reports of folks camped out at the big box retailers. A week or more before Black Friday there are tents, chairs, sleeping bags and grills outside the store doors. I saw mothers and grandparents, some with the kids, camped out on TV yesterday. Grandma was talking about what a wonderful Christmas the kids would have. More accurately she meant what a materialistic Christmas we'll have. So how great a Thanksgiving will the family have camped outside Best Buy? Let us give thanks for this tent and the good weather so we can get $100 off a TV and Nintendo Wii U. I wish it was about 30 degrees, windy and wet instead of the 70 degree days we're having here in D/FW. Maybe then some would stay home at least part of Thursday and celebrate the real holiday.

Thanksgiving is not the only holiday being changed by retailers and advertisers. Halloween used to be a kids night now it's a major retail event. It's not just selling more candy, there are now costume stores and Halloween decorations, lights, spook/horror houses, events and parties. Halloween stores pop up in malls and empty storefronts. My parents never dressed up for Halloween, never had a party, never took me to a spook house (there weren't any) or decorated the house. We had one pumpkin carved with triangle eyes and nose on the front porch. One parent would go with the little kids and one would stay home to hand out the candy or money or cookies or fruit. We weren't scared by news reports that our neighbors were putting razor blades in apples or arsenic in the homemade cookies. An eccentric parent might put on some extra makeup or a homemade witches hat. No full French Maid costumes from the Party Store. I'm not opposed to Halloween becoming a bigger holiday. I think it's fun and I know some very mature kids that enjoy it very much. Let's be clear though, millions of people didn't just all of a sudden decide to make Halloween a big deal. Retailers and advertisers saw an opportunity and pushed it. That's OK with me because no other holiday or tradition was pushed aside. The only downside is that retailers now go directly from Halloween to Christmas with no acknowledgement of Thanksgiving.

The Super Bowl was once just a football game. Now it's a reason to sell big screen TV's and everything related to the home entertainment center. We all need a new 60 inch flat screen TV, Dolby surround sound speakers, tiered seating, reclining chairs and a few other toys. We also need mass quantities of food and drink, team clothing and probably a new grill and/or outdoor kitchen. All that to watch a usually crappy football game with a bad halftime show. Old Navy tries to sell us a new T-shirt every year for July 4th. It's the same grey shirt with a flag printed on it but then they print the year on it too. You can't possibly wear a 2011 shirt in 2012.

I don't know what the retailers and advertisers have in store for Memorial, Independence, Veterans and Labor Days. I'm sure they have their best minds working on it. None of those holidays help the retail establishment that much. Again, you might get a spike at the grocery and liquor stores but no great push for the malls and big box stores. Maybe those holidays are safe as is for a few years since they're not surrounded by two major retail events, Halloween and Christmas, like Thanksgiving is. I do suspect that Super Bowl Sunday has eclipsed New Year's Eve and Day as the primary January, sometimes February, event.

I've had mostly good Thanksgivings my whole life. Although my small immediate family lived a thousand miles from most of our relatives we always spent the holiday with friends, usually less than 10 people. It was always a nice day even the times when there was a kitchen disaster and there were a few. In later life I became part of a much larger family and group of friends, more like 20-25 people for dinner. I still get to celebrate with that crowd which I enjoy and appreciate very much. Those who were once the little kids at Thanksgiving are now the parents of the little kids. It's a great tradition. I hope we can keep Thanksgiving as a non-commercial holiday where people just get together to enjoy each other, a little food and beverage, some football and give thanks that we can do all of that.

I don't plan to ever go to a Black Friday sale. I plan to rest after a full meal the day before, maybe go for a bike ride but not near any stores. For Thanksgiving, I plan to see friends and family I don't see often enough, eat and drink too much, watch some football and maybe play some board games. There will be no rush to get to Walmart for the start of the sales.

I hope you have wonderful a Thanksgiving (not Black Friday Eve) and I hope the holiday remains relevant for many years to come. At least until I'm too old to know the difference.

wjh

Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone -

by Bill Holmes

Once again we seem to have our priorities all wrong as our news media emphasizes the sensational rather than the important. I'm speaking of the uproar and indignation over the General David Petraeus “affair”. If you watch, read or listen to the news, this is the most important event in the world. As usual we not only get the alleged facts but the endless analysis from the talking head pundits. We have political, military, national security, CIA, relationship, sex and psychological experts plus the usual media blowhards weighing in on the situation. Forget that fiscal cliff nonsense, the ongoing recovery from Sandy, that little disagreement in Syria, the sluggish economy or a myriad of other real issues. We need to concentrate on two adults who had an affair. Probably not a great idea, but stuff happens. I'm sure it's the first time that has ever happened, particularly in Washington D.C. by a powerful person. Not satisfied with just dragging Petraeus and Paula Broadwell through the news cycle, we now have to also impugn the reputations of General John Allen and Jill Kelley based on possibly flirtatious emails. No proof of impropriety, just some pundits saying some of the emails could be interpreted as flirtatious. Sure glad I was never judged on that kind of evidence. I suspect the fact that it's TV sweeps month adds to the hyperbole.

Here is my take which is always the purpose of this blog. I don't care where Petraeus takes his pants off or for what reason. That's between him, his family and bosses. I can understand why the FBI investigated this when Jill Kelley brought the threatening emails to their attention. Petraeus was the CIA Director, one of the most sensitive positions in our government. The investigation was justified to determine if any secret or sensitive US information was being compromised. That's it. His private personal relationships are not anyones concern. One big mistake appears that the FBI or someone in the chain of command between them and the President failed to inform him of the investigation. I'm not naive enough to think this was an accident. The POTUS may have been secretly informed or wasn't so he could deny any knowledge during election season.

Obama could have refused to accept Petaeus's resignation and told him to go back to work at the CIA and do what he needed to fix or end his marriage. He also could have accepted the resignation if he wanted Petraeus out and still kept the reason out of the press. Many political appointees leave an administration in the second term. There is no reason any of this had to be made public. But no, those involved decided to throw Petraeus under the bus and virtually erase his outstanding military record. From now on the first paragraph written about General David Petraeus in any news story will refer to an adulterous affair that led to his CIA resignation. His good work as commander in Iraq, Afghanistan and US Central Command will be relegated to later in the article or report if at all.

My question is, do we have so many capable leaders in government that we can afford to throw them out because of a personal indiscretion? Why would anyone want to serve in government when every little detail of there life is under a microscope. Not only are they under constant scrutiny but they are held to impossible standards. One little slip of the tongue, brain or the zipper and we're ready to throw the bums out. It apparently makes no difference that they may have spent decades doing a wonderful job. Sure there are jerks that need to be run out of town but let's use a little common sense.

We haven't always conducted business this way. Just in my lifetime there have been rumors or more about Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton sexual activities. Countless members of Congress have had indiscretions. Over our 230+ years as a country there have been all kinds of scoundrels as leaders. There have been drunks, thieves, adulterers, mentally ill and a killer or two. Yes, Aaron Burr (VP at the time) killed Alexander Hamilton (first Sec. of Treas.) in a duel. Andrew Jackson killed a guy in a duel too. That didn't stop him from being elected president a few years later. Most of those guys skated because they were valued leaders. A few idiots tried to impeach Clinton, but he survived to have a very successful presidency and post term career. I suspect anything Congress could have done to punish Bill Clinton paled in comparison to the years of hell he's endured from Hillary.

I often hear that the US people are forgiving and that seems to be true if you are a celebrity or athlete that does drugs or abuses or cheats on their spouse. It might serve our country better if we extended that forgiveness to our leaders. I don't think we have enough good leaders in the public sector and with the current attitudes I don't hold much hope that we'll have an over abundance of them in the future.

From all accounts, David Pretaeus was an excellent general with 37 years of service in the Army. He had success in Iraq where several other commanders didn't. He championed and then led the US forces surge that seems to have turned the situation around. Sounds like the kind of person I might want on my team.

The title of this blog was Let He Who Is Without Sin... I hope we can be more tolerant and understanding of our fellow human beings. Those in the glass houses of congress and the press need a mirror, fewer stones and much less false indignation. I certainly can't throw stones and I doubt many of us can.

No stones here, just sadness that our country seems to have forgotten what is important. Thank you David for your service.

wjh

Election 2012

Election 2012

By:  Bill Holmes

Originally published on The View Point 10/01/12

Here we are once again in the middle of the presidential election season.  Some election cycles are exciting and in doubt.  Other years they are boring and predetermined.  Then we have elections like this year, boring and in doubt.  Actually boring, not media hyped exciting.  Even the boring ones are important.

I guess I've been following presidential elections to some degree since 1960.  I wasn't old enough to vote by several more years and not very politically aware but that election was special.  My parents were Catholic, Mom was from Massachusetts and I was enrolled in Catholic school.  For only the second time in US history and the first time since 1928 a Roman Catholic was nominated by a major political party for president.  Maybe even more compelling to me and my barely teenage peers was that the nominee was in his early 40's.  Although still old to us, he wasn't ancient like most politicians.  Catholic, young and vibrant got our attention.

Of course that candidate was John F. Kennedy.  He won that election and became our 35th president.  Looking back I still can't believe how close that election was.  He barely beat (or did he) Richard Nixon.  Even back then I felt Nixon was a sleazebag.  He proved my intuition right about a dozen years later.

Since then I've been hot, warm  and cold about different presidential elections.  I was for LBJ's civil rights push but against the Vietnam War.  Partly for selfish reasons because I was of draft age and partly because the war didn't make much sense to me.  The South Vietnamese government didn't seem much different than the North.  I escaped the draft but did lose some friends physically, mentally and emotionally.  I was excited in 1976 about Jimmy Carter.  I lived in Georgia at the time and he had done a very good job as governor.  Plus Nixon/Agnew/Ford had been a disaster.  What a disappointment Carter was.  He and his staff seemed completely overwhelmed by Washington and the job.  Oil embargoes, gas rationing, continued inflation, Iran hostages with a totally failed rescue attempt and general malaise sealed the deal.  Although not a big Reagan supporter, it was time to get Carter out of office by 1980.  At least Reagan was optimistic.  The Carter disappointment turned me off politics for awhile. I've been pretty noncommittal for several elections.  I eventually pick a favorite but I'm not invested in the campaigns.  Clinton was clearly a better speaker than GHW Bush and ran a better campaign, but was not a significantly better choice in '92.  In retrospect both Bush 41 and Clinton were pretty good presidents.  GW Bush ran a better campaign than Gore (how did he lose that election?) but again was not necessarily a better choice.  Last time in 2008 Obama had the advantage of a broken economy, no incumbent and a weak opponent.  How could McCain be such a boob when he finally got his chance?  He forgot what made him a viable candidate.  Does anyone think Sarah Palin was a good VP choice?  Does anybody think she was near ready to be president if McCain couldn't finish his term?  I know 12 year olds who were better informed than Palin.  I was also thrilled that we had a viable Black candidate.  A great milestone in our history, like in 1960 when we elected a Catholic and again someone in their 40's.

Now we come to this election in 2012.  I just don't know.  Once again I'm disappointed with the incumbent but unlike with Jimmy Carter in 1980, I'm not sure there is a better choice.  One of my big problems is that I am not a far left Democrat or far right Republican.  I'm mostly socially liberal and fiscally conservative although that definition doesn't always fit either.  I like Everett Dirksen Republicans and Mike Mansfield Democrats (I probably lost many of you with that reference).  The days when compromise wasn't a four letter word.  Reagan's entire two terms had Democratic Houses led by Tip O'Neill (a relative of mine).  Clinton, in his second term, dealt with a Republican House led by Newt Gingrich.  They still got things done.  The parties have skewed to the extremes in the past decade, particularly during the primaries.  I'm old enough to remember moderate and even liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats.  In fact up until about 1980 and Reagan the South was almost 100% Democratic, conservative Democratic or even Dixiecrat, but Democratic none the less.  For those of you who don't know why, it's because the South was still pissed at Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, for over a hundred years.  Fallout from that little Civil War skirmish and Reconstruction.  Around 1980 they figured out that they had really been Republicans for several decades.  Read the biographies of the Reagan Republicans and you'll find that many of them, including Reagan, started out at Democrats.  Almost every southern politician over 55 or 60, Rick (no cattle) Perry included,  switched parties when the conservative tide changed in their state.  That's OK with me since they didn't significantly change their views, just their party.

Partisanship is not new.  It was rampant in the 1930's and 40's.  My father hated Democrats and particularly Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR).  That was passed down from his folks who were "dyed in the wool" Republicans.  Some day I'll write about my paternal grandfather and certain Republican politicians he was in business with, some of them were even legal.  Mom was more a casual Republican.  Dad was such a hard-ass that when we moved to Florida in the 1950's he still registered as a Republican even though there were no Republican politicians or primary elections.  They were all conservative Democrats back then (remember the Abe Lincoln reference earlier).  Mom was way more pragmatic and registered as a Democrat so she would have a say in the local and state governments.  I'm not sure Dad ever forgave her for that.  He always voted straight Republican tickets including when Catholic JFK ran.  Even though Dad was totally Republican, his beloved party had some wiggle room and could actually compromise with the opposition.  It seems there is no longer any wiggle room.  You are either for or against.  Compromise is  defeat.  Both parties are guilty of this thinking and strategy.

I think Congress, the House and Senate, will still be divided at the end of the elections.  If Obama is re-elected will the House continue to stonewall legislation?  If Romney wins, will the Senate become the roadblock?  I sure hope not, whichever scenario plays out.  I want something to get done.  Reduce our debt, get the economy going, get the hell out Iraq and Afghanistan and fix the immigration mess.  Four  things, that's all you clowns have to work on.  Sure, there are a bunch of other issues but our esteemed representatives can't agree on anything so let's work on those four first.

As I write this in mid-September, the election is much in doubt.  The polls fluctuate day to day, but mostly within the margin of error.  Between now and election day, November 6th, they will continue to change.  That's the nature of our 24/7 news cycle and constant campaign environment.  Everything will be over analyzed by “experts” telling us what the candidates really meant and what they were thinking. Obama and/or Romney will put their foot in their mouth, a new economic or jobs report will come out, a foreign situation will erupt or some scandal (real or perceived) could come to light.  Any of these could favor or hurt one of the candidates a little or completely seal the election.

I wish we had a clearcut leader between the candidates, which is what the country needs, not just shades of gray differences between professional politicians.  I'm getting old enough that whatever happens in this election with the gridlock, the debt, the unemployment rates, the immigration mess and our wars will have very little effect on me.  Unfortunately and very fortunately, I have children, one in the Armed Forces, step-children, grandchildren, family and friends that are not in their final trimester.  For all of them we need leaders who will fix this mess.

I guess once again I'll make up my mind the day of the elections.  I hope between now and 2016  a real leader emerges and the environment in Washington changes.

wjh

Who's Persecuting You?

Originally posted on The View Point - 8/1/2012

By Bill Holmes

One of the latest examples of much ado about nothing is the Chick-fil-A vs gay marriage controversy.  It is an example of how every group feels that they are being persecuted or discriminated against.  It also shows that people really don't look at the full story or let facts get in the way of their reactions.  Knee jerk and immediate inappropriate response is the norm and gets all the media attention.

The controversy started when Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, madecomments about what a “traditional” family is.  His contention is that marriage can only be between one man and one woman (actual biological male and female).  That's probably not the smartest marketing strategy for the head of a company that has stores everywhere and all kinds of diverse customers but it is his right.  Chick-fil-A has always had a religious bent and is not open on Sunday's because of that.

The initial knee jerk reaction came from the gay community.  Outrage and calls for boycotting the chain were all over the news and Internet.  OK, that's their right.  Then came the reaction to the reaction.  Christians Fundamentalists called for support of Chick-fil-A and urged people to patronize the stores.  That's OK too.

Then the politicians chimed in.  Chicago and Boston mayors spoke out against the chain even to the point of threatening to deny approval for new stores.  On the flip side the conservative politicians supported the chain and encouraged everybody to buy chicken sandwiches.  My opinion, that is not OK.  Elected politicians do not get to threaten people or companies for expressing an opinion.  They can disagree but not wield power or threats

An opinion?  The remarks by Dan Cathy appear to be just that.  So far there is no evidence that Chick-fil-A is refusing to sell a sandwich to gays or discriminating in their hiring.  If discrimination were to be proven then the righteous indignation can begin.  The anti-gay comments put the spotlight on Chick-fil-A and I would expect discrimination complaints to surface if for no other reason than publicity.  If they arise then the allegations should be investigated.  Let's allow any investigations to proceed without all the rhetoric too.

So, pick your side, there is no right or wrong as long as it's just your opinion and belief.  Just don't discriminate on either side.  If gay marriage is against your religious or moral beliefs you have the right to speak your mind and be true to those beliefs.  If you are gay or support gay rights you have the right to say so and buy your chicken sandwiches at KFC or Church's.

What got me started on this story was the chatter on the Internet about how each side was discriminated against by by the media, the government and/or social sites.  Is it possible that both sides can be persecuted  by everyone?  The fact is that almost every group has been persecuted and discriminated against somewhere or at some time.  The Egyptians and Nazis oppressed the Jews.  The Romans and lions killed Christians.  The KKK hung Blacks.  Men controlled women.  The straight ridiculed the gays.  The Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Italians, Germans, Irish, Asians, Blacks and Latinos have all had to fight through persecution over the years.  Now that we have eliminated or at least reduced most of that persecution we are left with a fight between a guy who sells chicken sandwiches and the gay community.

In this situation I was amazed that the Christian community felt discriminated against.  Sure some news outlets and posturing politicians may side with the gays and condemn Cathy and Chick-fil-A but many others side with the conservatives and Fundamentalist Christians and some remain neutral.  I can agree that the gay community has been and is discriminated against in general but not in this case.  I also find it near impossible for the Protestant Christian community to feel persecuted in this country.  They may be the only group never persecuted since this country was settled by Europeans.  They have always been and remain the majority.  For the WASPs of our country that will change in a few years.  It may be prudent to back off the intolerance of some minority groups before you become one. 

I guess it's human nature that if we hear or see one thing opposed to our beliefs we extrapolate that into everyone against us.  We seem to thrive when perceived as the oppressed or underdog. Coaches, leaders and politicians have use this knowledge for centuries.  If you are a liberal and watch Fox News or a conservative and watch MSNBC you will be offended.  If you watch CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC news you can pick your side. They are either for or against you and you will mostly remember the news stories or commentary opposed to your  viewpoint.  If you want to ignore the other side of the argument you can find a media outlet or web site that exactly matches your views. Comforting but not very enlightening. 

I was also interested because I go back to the beginnings of Chick-fil-A.  Back in the late 1960's and earl 70's I was working night shift in Atlanta.  One of the few places open all night was the Dwarf House in Hapeville by the Atlanta airport.  They actually had a small door (maybe 3 feet) that kids could use.  They had a regular size door too for full size people.  I was able to use either.  The Dwarf House was more like an IHOP or Denny's where you could get breakfast, lunch or dinner.  They had takeout, counter service, tables and booths.  It was always full of airport workers when we went for lunch around 2 or 3 in the morning.   I remember the food being good but when it's 2 am and you're 22 years old the gourmet genes are not exactly active.  They did have chicken sandwiches like the fast food Chick-fil-A's serve now and were just starting the fast food stores.  Apparently they did better than I did over the last 40 years.  The same family owned the company back then so I guess they were closed on Sundays although I don't know.  I didn't usually work on Saturday or Sunday nights.  I assume that they were opposed to gay marriage then or at least would have been had they known about it.  I also don't remember if they discriminated against Blacks.  That was the minority just making their way into society in the 60's. 

To give you an idea of how perceptions and what is acceptable has changed over time just think of the names we used to call certain groups of people even just a few years ago.  Our parents or grandparents had slur names for every different ethnicity and those terms were used in normal conversation.  African-American or Gay were not in our vocabulary.  Mentally and physically challenged people were ridiculed and/or hidden away.  Before that we had slaves in this country and women couldn't own property or vote.  Thankfully we have evolved.  To be honest, I think the original Chick-fil-A restaurant name, Dwarf House, is no longer politically correct although it is still in business.

So the latest flak is because a chicken sandwich salesman said he doesn't support gay marriage. Hopefully like all the discrimination and prejudices we've seen in the past, this too will pass.  We now look back and wonder how could mankind support or at least allow slavery, persecution or discrimination of a certain group.  Perhaps our children will look back at controversies between gays and chicken sandwich vendors and wonder what was the big deal.

As I've said before, we all have the right to our opinions and beliefs.  We also have the right to champion those beliefs.  Support or boycott Chick-fil-A, but let's keep the self-serving politicians out of it.  A little thicker skin might help too.  Every comment should not create either a knee-jerk reaction or media storm.

wjh