Of course it's relevant!

I have been asked several times why I believe the study of the American Civil War is really relevant to Americans today. The questioners usually emphasize that the war happened 150 years ago and like to challenge my idea that history can teach us if we listen.

It would be easy to lean on the old (and accurate) lecture about the importance of learning from the past. That’s what I was told when I was a kid and it is as true now as it was when my parents recited that same lecture to me. There are lessons to be learned from the study of history.

Every grade school student has to study history sooner or later, but nobody ever seems to learn from it.

But, and here I return to the original premise of the blog, I have a very personal reason for studying the Civil War. The reasoning is so flawless that I am amazed that nobody else has thought of this before.

The reasoning here is a wad of stunning simplicity: Had the Civil War concluded differently in any way than the way it did, I would not have been born.

We will not debate here whether a SpeedyLee-less world would be a bad thing or not, although I am sure you can understand that my point of view is clear on the matter.

All of us have 16 great, great grandparents. Of the 16, eight must be great, great grandfathers. Check your biology books. You’ll see it’s true. You’ll also see that, without any one of your eight great, great grandfathers, you wouldn’t be here. That’s bad news because I’d hate to lose your readership.

Statistics in hand, we now turn to genealogy. Of my eight great, great grandfathers, three served in the military during the Civil War. All three survived the war, though two suffered severe wounds.

Further, one of my parents was born in the Deep South, a former Confederate state. For a variety of reasons that are unimportant here, it is reasonable to assume that my parents would not have met if the Confederate states had won independence from the Union.

I would challenge anyone that doubts the value of the continued study of the Civil War to do a simple self test: Check into your own family history. Discover whether you have an ancestor that fought in the Civil War. How might your family tree have changed with a different ending to the war?

And when you finish with all that, ask yourself if the study of the American Civil War is relevant today.

Thanks for reading.

The quickest way I know to start an argument is...

Kobe Bryant wouldn’t even make the starting lineup of my all-time Los Angeles Lakers team. He’s a great player, sure, and I suspect he’ll be elected into the pro basketball hall of fame as soon as he’s eligible. But my all-time Lakers team has two guys ahead of Bryant who made every player around them better.

The Lakers franchise has had a lot of championship teams and great players make champions. But the greatest Laker of them all never took the court for the club, yet went decades without missing a game. Chick Hearn, the play-by-play man, was the best there ever was at what he did. Hearn introduced the game to Los Angeles and explained it to generations of listeners. Simply a great communicator.

There is a statue of Hearn at the Staples Center. How many announcers get statues? That’s what he meant to the franchise. He’s gone now but I still miss the sound of his voice during basketball season. The Lakers will never sound the same to me. Heck, the game will never sound the same.

My point guard? No question about it, Magic Johnson. Best basketball player I ever saw, regardless of position. He lifted the players around him, made them better. They had to be alert when Magic had the ball because you never knew when the next sensational pass might be coming your way. The first time I saw him in person was during his rookie year. The Lakers were playing the Clippers when the Clippers still played in San Diego. I remember a fast breaking, one-handed push pass from half court. Johnson hit a streaking teammate for a layup and I had to admit the hype surrounding Magic might have been accurate.

The off guard on this mythical team is Jerry West. No room for argument here. Great defensive player, great clutch performer. Great scorer. West was so good, the NBA emblem is designed after him.

Elgin Baylor makes this team as the three spot, the small forward. I had a hard time with this spot because I wanted to put James Worthy here. But Baylor gets the nod.

The big forward is a tough spot to choose. I thought about cheating and dropping George Mikan’s name in this spot. Mikan is a Hall of Famer, a center when the Lakers won championships as the Minneapolis Lakers. He was such a tremendous player that I suspect he’d have been an outstanding power forward had he played in the current era. But I couldn’t cheat, so I had to go with a very different kind of player.

My power forward is Kurt Rambis. For hustle, selflessness and grit you can’t beat Rambis. Fans loved him. On this team, scoring is not an issue. Rambis would help with rebounding and attitude.

The post spot was the toughest call on the team. Most of the best postmen of all time have played for the Lakers and my favorite is Wilt Chamberlain. But, much as I liked watching Wilt play, I can’t choose him over Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Jabbar is the greatest scorer in the history of the game, played well on defense and rebounded efficiently. On top of that, when he played with Magic, Jabbar was simply brilliant at firing up the fast break with outlet passes.

So I’d start Johnson, West, Baylor, Rambis and Jabbar. The bench players are below:

Guards: Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Gail Goodrich

Forwards: James Worthy, Jamal Wilks, Michael Cooper

Center: Chamberlain, Mikan

I’d want Pat Riley to be the coach, with all due respect to Phil Jackson. Riley’s offense would work best with the team I have listed here.

West would be the general manager. Jerry Buss would be the owner. And Chick Hearn would call the play-by-play.

It starts with a 'T', and it rhymes with bubble

            I have a special talent for getting myself in trouble.

No applause, please.

Take, for example, the small matter of family birthdays. I have been out of town on my wife’s birthday for the last 11 years. The kids are grown and gone so, except for our dog and our cat (the terrorist), my wife has been home, alone on her last 11 birthdays. There were six years, run consecutively, when I wasn’t home for either kid’s birthday.

My own birthday? Not lately.

My mother recently celebrated her 80^th birthday. I called from half a continent away to wish her well. I live an hour’s drive from Mom, but I wasn’t even in the same time zone on her birthday this year.

So you can readily ascertain that, when it comes to getting in trouble, I have a head start on all of you. At dawn on any given day, I’m pretty much already in trouble.

I have learned to live with guilt. I’m in trouble, it’s my fault, I know it, and I know I need to do something in order to get out of the dog house. Even when I am not in any specific trouble, I work under the assumption that I am or soon will be on my way to the principal’s office.

Again.

Guilt is a powerful motivator. Let us examine, as evidence, my annual absence at the time of my wife’s birthday. My absence is work-related because I work for Goodyear Racing and I have to work at an NHRA drag race over the same weekend every year. Amy’s birthday is right around that time and I am simply never home that weekend. Can’t be.

Now, my wife Amy is one of the great people on this planet. She deserves better than to be alone on her birthday. I know it and I try to be proactive. We celebrate her birthday before I leave town. I always try to find a nice gift, something she wants, and take her out for a nice dinner.

The last two years, I have sent emails with photos (2010) and videos (2011) of people at the races wishing her a happy birthday. I’m in deep, deep trouble next year because I’m out of new ideas.

            Amy and I have been married for 25 years and I have to say that I’m the happiest guy you’ll meet. I’m a lucky man. I constantly pay attention to how lucky I am. Otherwise, I’d be in more trouble than usual.

            Thanks for reading. I’ll try to stay out of trouble for a while.