Dinner with my Guidance Counselor

             Many years ago I was required to meet with my high school’s guidance counselor. I don’t recall his name now and this blog is not about him. In a round about way, this is about my mother. It is also about how things can work when they go well.

            I began my high school matriculation with a low opinion of anything ending with the word ‘school.’ School meant rules and dogma and lots of people bossing me around. But my first high school class of my first semester was a ten-week class called Guidance. We took a lot of tests in that class and wrote stuff about our interests. My primary interest then was sports. That hasn’t changed. And while reviewing my score on a stanine test (I got an 8 out of a possible 9 for having a big mouth and the willingness to use it), I saw a list of occupations that might be fitting.

            One of the suggestions was ‘Broadcasting.’ I instantly transposed the word ‘Sportscasting.’

            Boom. My future was determined. I would someday become the radio play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Rams. The remainder of my high school matriculation was nothing but the marking of time. History classes? Pointless because I already knew the history of the Rams. Math? Unneeded because I could already determine average yards per rush and pass completion stats. Biology? I already knew that knees, elbows and shoulders are made up of bone, ligaments and cartilage. English? One of my high school teachers told me that it was clear that I had no talent, so it was hard to have much faith in that individual. Hell, broadcasters talk more than they write anyway.

            Okay, fine. I did my time. Finally, on that day three years later, I went to the office and saw the counselor. His job, I think, was to point students toward a college with good programs for their interests or perhaps reliable training programs for the trades. He asked what I wanted to do and I said I was going to be a sportscaster.

            “Forget it,” he told me. “You’ll need to know every statistic about every player and team.”

            I looked at the idiot (yep, I still carry the grudge) and I said, “I already do.”

            At dinner that night, I told my mother about the encounter with the counselor. I told her what he said and what I said. And my mother slowly raised her eyes to meet mine. That usually meant I was in trouble. A lot of trouble. The more slowly she raised her eyes, the deeper the trouble I was in.

            But what my mother said this time was, “You’re right, Lee. You already do.”

            My mom never stopped believing in me. She asked me to run through my decision-making process once in a while, but she never stopped supporting my choices. And she was perfectly happy with my desire to become a broadcast journalist.

This month I’ll observe the first month of August I’ve ever gone through without my mom. It hurts. But what I carry with me is the memory of the words from the dinner table that night all that time ago. They gave me the freedom to chase my life’s desire. Those words started me on the path I followed for the next five decades.

“You’re right, Lee. You already do.”

Thanks mom.

 

                I write to recommend Joe Zagorski’s book, The 2003-Yard Odyssey: The Juice, The Electric Company, and an Epic Run For a Record. This book tells a story that had to be told but hadn’t been until now. It tells the story of Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson’s run to a record during the 1973 NFL season.

            Any book about Simpson faces scrutiny. The controversial nature of Simpson’s post-football years can’t be – frankly should not be – erased from public memory. Zagorski addresses that issue, briefly, early in the book. “This is a football book, first and foremost,” Zagorski wrote, “And it should be kept in that vein of thought.”

            Joe Zagorski is a fellow member of the Professional Football Researchers Association and an author of several books. He has been awarded the PFRA’s Ralph Hay Award for Lifetime Achievement for Pro Football Research and Historiography. A respected researcher, Zagorski is currently working on a biography of Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman Larry Little.

            For Odyssey, Zagorski delved deeply into how the Bills and Simpson generated the first-ever 2,000-plus yard season for a running back. In 1973, NFL teams played 14-game regular seasons. The Bills did not reach the playoffs that season.

Using a wide assortment of first-person recollections and contemporary accounts, Zagorski uses the words of the players to bring the reader to understand how it all happened. Prince among the interviews was Zagorski’s 2022 conversation with Simpson. That alone ensures that Odyssey will be a prime source for researchers in the future. The reader will see that Simpson discussed a variety of football topics, including the effort the other members of the Buffalo offense had to make for Simpson to surpass the 2,000-yard barrier. Yes, Simpson was a controversial interview subject. But the story could not have been so effectively told without his participation and, as noted above, Zagorski checks an historic box.

            Odyssey is well constructed, and the research is top-notch. Zagorski devotes a chapter to each offensive position group; the line’s center and guards, the tackles and tight ends, the receivers, quarterbacks and running backs. Zagorski even includes a chapter about Buffalo’s defense. Each game is reviewed and each one of Simpson’s 332 carries are noted by down, distance, yard line, the type of play and the result. Those statistics are not stuck in the back of the book. They are included in the chapter which reviews each game, making this an easier book to read. Too often in today’s world, important information is noted at the end of books. That makes it unlikely that some readers will ever see the data. In this book, those stats are right where the reader is. When Zagorski wrote that this is a football book, he was exactly correct. Even the hard-core fan will gain a better understanding of what happened in each game, rush by rush.

            It is a tribute to Zagorski that Marv Levy, a Buffalo Bills legend who was not involved with the Bills in 1973, wrote the forward for this book. Levy wrote, “I mean, where else would you rather be, than right here, right now, reading this great book about Buffalo’s great past?”

            That’s how I feel about this book. I remember watching the highlight shows in 1973 to see how Simpson did each week as his yardage piled up. I wondered at that time how any back and any team could run the ball so well against NFL defenses every week. I’ve read Odyssey and now I know the answer.

I recommend that you do the same.

 

Lee Elder

Executive Director

Professional Football Researchers Association

 

WE HAVE LOST THE COMMISSIONER

 

One week, years ago, when I was the Sports Editor of a newspaper, I devoted my weekly column to the proposition that my mother should be named the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

          My pal and sometimes co-worker Mickey Dale liked the column. In fact, when we speak nowadays, he’ll ask my about mom. But what he’ll say is, “How is The Commissioner?”

          Mom, I wrote, was an uncompromising disciplinarian. As a retired second grade teacher, she had the right training to handle the modern athlete. I wrote about a theoretical meeting with a player appealing a suspension. The player would get no sympathy from ME, I want you to know. I’ve been with The Commissioner when she was riled up. In my column, that make-believe player served his COMPLETE suspension.

And friends, my mother knew baseball. Do you understand the Infield Fly Rule? Mom did. She explained it frequently to anyone who didn’t know the rule. Too bad the umpires didn’t listen. With mom on their side, they’d have won more arguments.

          Do you remember when the Dodgers moved to LA? Mom did. She was in the Coliseum for Roy Campanella Night. She said Campy was the best catcher the Dodgers ever had. Want to argue? It’s a little late now but you had no chance of winning anyway.

          In my column, I wrote that the then Commissioner was little more than a fund-raising yes man for the owners. That’s pretty much what they have now, come to think of it. But mom would have run the show. Judge Kennesaw ‘Mountain’ Landis served as commissioner from 1920 through his death in 1944. Landis was a stern overseer of the game. He did the game a great service during his tenure. But Landis would have seemed like a baby kitten compared to my mom. Leo Durocher once won an argument with Landis. Leo would have stood no chance against mom.

          None.

          Well, we lost The Commissioner this week. She was 92. I harbored a small hope that she might be game for one more season with the Dodgers, one more shot at winning the World Series. That was not to be. She may have watched as last year’s bunch floundered around and lost in the first round of the playoffs again. Mom may have said, “The heck with this.”

          Mom is with her ancestors now and I envy all of them, even as I grieve. They are joyously together. But I don’t envy Judge Landis. Sooner or later mom will track him down. She’ll chew the Judge up one side and down the other for not seeing to it that MLB was integrated before the end of World War II. She’s right, he was wrong and he’s going to hear about it.

          And then my mother will sit down and prepare her 5 X 8 index cards so that she can keep score of the next Dodgers game. Where mom is now, the Angels are the home team, but I’m sure she’ll find a way to watch out-of-market games.

          “At this level,” mom will say, “I’m sure I can watch my Dodgers.”

          The Big Cable Guy in the Sky had better get that squared away before the season starts. The Commissioner will be waiting impatiently.

 

2023 Speedyleeway Awards

The 2023 Speedyleeway Awards, as determined by Speedylee and a cast of many others. This year’s awards are late. So what?

 

NEWS MAKER OF THE YEAR AWARD: To Mad Vlad Putin for his failed invasion of the Ukraine.

THEY’LL BAN HUMANS NEXT AWARD: To the state of California, which has banned just about everything else.

WE WELCOME EVERYONE AWARD: To the state of Georgia for generously allowing Texas resident Hershel Walker to run for elected office in the Peach state.

THE WALL GANG AWARD: To NASCAR driver Ross Chastain for his last-lap, all or nothing charge at Bristol Motor Speedway. This award is named in honor of the famous Sit On the Wall Gang of Santa Monica, California.

THE FOLLOW THE ELDERS AWARD: To USC and UCLA for leaving the Pacific 12 Conference. The schools become the 15^th and 16^th members of the Big 10 Conference.

THE DON’T HIRE ENGINEERS FROM THIS CONFERENCE AWARD: To the 16-member Big 10 Conference.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT AWARD: To the Cleveland Browns for their very expensive contract with quarterback DeShon Watson.

BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD: Coach George Allen: A Football Life. Published by McFarland & Company Publishers.

TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD: The 2022 Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE TO DO? AWARD: The 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers.

THE REHASH IT ALL OVER AGAIN AWARD: To China for its end of the year outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

SCHOOL SPIRIT AWARD: To Natalie Davis and Callie Ramsey of Wewoka (Oklahoma) High School. Their school’s football team ran low on players, so these two young women stepped up and helped out. Both women played in the game. Davis punted and kicked off. She recorded a tackle on her kickoff.

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR AWARD: To Ventura (California) Raceway’s Jim Naylor for the tremendous trophies he builds for the annual Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC midget race.

TALK SHOW OF THE YEAR AWARD: To Paul Finebaum for his show on the SEC Network.

AWARD OF THE YEAR AWARD: To the Professional Football Researchers Association for its annual Hall of Very Good Awards.

THE LET’S GET OUT OF HERE AWARD: To the officiating crew of the Michigan-TCU national semi-final game for its failure to continue officiating in the final seconds.

A story of panels and plug-ins

 

          This is what is going to happen.

          Energy is the single most important question facing our planet and its residents. Finding effective sources of energy without harming the planet is the most difficult and controversial question before us. Combating the impact each energy source has on the planet is our greatest challenge.

          Generating electricity is a dirty process. The big push toward electric automobiles in the name of clean energy is laughable for that reason. We are not helping the planet.

          In order for electricity to effectively power cars, it must be stored in onboard batteries. The same is true in order to power homes. Want to power your own home? You’ll have to be able to store the juice somewhere.

          Therefore, the single most important thing we can do is to learn how to safely repurpose batteries. All batteries fail and they are environmentally filthy. If we look ahead, building batteries for safe and clean reuse is a science that will be very important. The resulting industry will be highly profitable.

          But how can we make generating electricity a clean industry? The answer, of course, is solar power. The science exists now to generate solar energy at your home. Put solar panels on your roof. The industry is constantly developing better and better panels. But creating enough energy to power both homes and automobiles in a home application will take a while. It will be expensive. It will probably have to be accomplished by private industry.

          Eventually, every family home will have solar panels on the roof. We’ll almost certainly go through an era where homes are powered by both traditional sources (read that to say ‘oil’) and solar. Generation and storage capacity will take a while to match need. But we’ll eventually reach the point where single-family homes are energy independent.

          We’ll also need to put solar panels on the roofs of every school, factory, governmental building and parking lot cover, that contribute to the power grid. Churches will need to have solar panels if they want to continue their tax-exempt status. Airport parking lots will start covering every spot in order to place solar panels on those covers. Southern California’s deserts will become solar farms and the landowners will rake in tremendous profits. Cities like El Centro and Brawley will become technical hubs.

          Sooner or later, someone is going to figure out how to infuse into windows the ability to generate and store solar energy.

          And the thing driving all of this will be science. Universities have drifted away from the engineering sciences in the last four decades. That will have to stop. Electrical and mechanical engineers are needed now to begin the research that will drive the development. That means math and the sciences will have to be emphasized in schools, starting with the primary grades. And that means teachers will need to get more training in the basics of those fields, which means more effort from the universities. Yes, I said effort from universities.

          The trades will play a significant role is all of this. When something goes wrong with your solar equipment, the local university won’t send a professor over to re-wire something. Electricians are going to be pretty important in this new solar society. Someone is going to have to install, maintain and repair all this equipment. Architects will have to design buildings that support panels on the roofs and can handle the increased electrical activity. The construction trades will have to adjust as well. Junior colleges used to be havens for developing tradesmen. That’s going to have to happen again.

          Yeah, yeah, you say. That’s in the future. Who cares now?

          Well, in order to make this stuff happen in the future, we’ll have to start now. We need a culture change. We need to think about building the future. That will not happen just by developing machines capable of running on electricity. It will happen by building an entire energy structure.

          Yeah, that means effort, lots of it. Industry, education and the trades will eventually take positions of leadership and drag us, kicking and screaming, into the future. But the first to make the needed advancement in each field figures to rake in the dough. As Steve Martin once said in a film, it’s a profit deal.

Americans usually respond to that.

 

 

         

Follow the Elders! We lead the way!

 

It is amazing what trend setters my wife and I have become. What is there to say? The last person to leave Los Angeles should turn off the lights, if there is any electricity left in the state of California by then.

          When we left my native land, we did so with the idea of achieving financial stability. It is cheaper to live in the Midwest after retirement than it is in Southern California and we knew that. My wife and I frequently brag that we sometimes to go the bank just to visit our money. What the heck, we don’t have much of a social life. Might as well visit all those dead presidents.

          Well, the world was paying attention. At least the sporting world was. Two institutions of higher learning followed the Elders. The University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles both noticed the financial pitfalls of living in California. The schools recently announced that their athletic departments would follow the Elders and begin playing their road games in the Midwest and even in New Jersey.

          Brilliant. The two Los Angeles schools obviously considered their surroundings and bailed. Bordered by the wastelands of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Hollywood, they felt hindered by the greater Los Angeles area business climate. The schools were hopelessly limited in their ability to raise funds. Forced to compete with the limitless funding available at schools in Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Colorado, the SoCal schools bolted for the pot at the end of the rainbow in the Midwest. Those two bastions of business education will send their teams east for the same reason we went: Money.

          The Bruins and Trojans can send their golf, tennis, track/field and beach volleyball teams to venture off into the splendor of New Jersey, where each can play against Rutgers. Imagine beach volleyball along the shores of the Atlantic in the bracing air of the northeastern United States. They’ll play tennis on ice skates and rake in all that money. It will be easy to judge the shot putting competition; all the judges have to do is look for where the shot went through the ice.

          And think of how inclusive home games will become for USC and UCLA! All the Midwesterners who have moved west will be able to attend and root, root, root for the visiting team. It’ll sound like a Rams game. If that isn’t inclusion, there isn’t any such thing in today’s world.

          Yes, my wife and I are proud we were able to show the way. We’re happy that the geniuses who guide those two proud schools followed our lead and headed east. That’s where the money is.

        Thanks for reading.

Tua Tagovailoa deserved better

 

                The images are disturbing. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered injuries in consecutive games played four days apart. Your Loyal Blogger was not the doctor on scene at either game. In fact, YLB is not a doctor at all. There is no point to pontificating about Tagovailoa’s physical condition before, during or after either game because we really don’t know what his condition was.

            Still, there are points to be made.

1.      It is time for the National Football League to face up to the reality that its players should not be playing on four days rest. Thursday games, including Thanksgiving Day games, should be stricken from the schedule.

2.      Tagovailoa’s first injury came on a late hit, a deliberate foul by Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano. That player was not fined. His team was slapped with a 15-yard penalty but there was no ejection nor post-game penalty issued by the National Football League. The National Football League Players Association also said nothing.

3.      Tagovailoa’s second injury, while vicious, came at the end of a perfectly legal tackle.

4.      It must be fairly stated that Tagovailoa’s first injury incident happened just before halftime. He only missed three plays but that was with the halftime interval included.

5.      Tagovailoa’s second injury, during a Thursday Night Football game, was suffered on artificial turf. While strides have been made with fake turf in terms of the potential for cutting the odds of suffering certain types of injuries, we wonder whether studies have been done regarding the fake stuff and head injuries.

6.      Tagovailoa’s injuries have allowed the NFL to give itself a terrible black eye. A star player received an apparent injury but was allowed to complete the game. Four days later, he suffered another dangerous injury in a league game. Much of the country did not see Thursday’s game. It was not on network television due to slipping television ratings. The game was carried a streaming service of some kind. But the video images of Tagovailoa’s two injuries will be with football fans for years to come. The league failed this player.

Thanks for reading.

Tanned, rested and ready...

 

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY

THE ELDER MANIFESTO

 

I sincerely hope that all of our friends will pause at this moment and send their best regards and prayers to my wife, Amy. Her greatest fear has come true: I have decided to run for President again.

Amy is afraid I’ll win this time.

After taking a look at the long list of Bozos likely to run in 2024, then at the two idiots likely to earn their disrespective party nominations, you can see Amy’s point. The nation is desperately looking for someone else.

“I don’t want to live in Washington,” Amy told me.

“Neither do I,” I replied.

“You do if you want to run for President,” said the would-be First Lady.

“Actually, my master plan is much better than you realize,” I said in a soothing voice.

My master plan is to secure the nomination (I’ll announce which party later), sweep my way into office by a magisterial voting mandate and take the oath. I’ll enjoy a few parties, take some selfies in the Oval Office and then resign after a few days. All I really want is the retirement package all former Presidents are entitled to. I won’t even need a Presidential Library. Think of the savings!

          With that in mind, I’d need to have a really top-notch Vice President. My top choice has said many times that she is not interested in returning to government service, so I can’t choose her. My second choice might not be available if she wins a return to her Congressional seat this year and I don’t want to interfere with that effort. She is too important to her state to waste her time in the White House.

          So my VP choice is a guy who has the time to do the job, is more liberal than I am on some matters and more conservative than I am on others. He has administrative experience, deep knowledge of many aspects of American society and, incredibly, knows how to herd cats.

          My VP choice: Buck Weber.

          And if Buck Weber is not elected to the Vice Presidency, I’ll serve my entire four-year term. Think about that one for a minute.

          Upon entering the White House, my first act as POTUS would be to start playing the theme song for our campaign on the intercom: Don’t Worry, Be Happy. I want everyone calm.

          What the special interest groups miss, what our foreign adversaries want us to forget, the thing our crazed social media has lost track of is this: We have the best nation in the world. Ours is the best constitutional government on the planet. If our elected officials shut up and listen, they’ll find that we actually are led by We, the People. We the People are tired of the mind-blowing pace, make that the MINDLESS pace of finger-pointing in all levels of government. The ones with the most to hide wag their fingers the most vigorously and We the People want that nonsense to end.

          Vote for Elder.

          We the People want leadership with a heavy dose of quality control. We don’t seem to have any quality control in government just now. We need that in abundance. In my one and only cabinet meeting, I’d tell all the Secretaries to shut up and run their departments like the administrators they are supposed to be. Run the departments so that those departments serve the American people and do it with a healthy dose of quality control. In other words, I want them to do their jobs. The job title is SECRETARY and what we need at the top of each governmental department is a competent secretary.

We want our borders secure, our military veterans cared for and our teachers stocked with the tools they need to teach. All of us want those things, we just disagree how to do it. Americans want the best government we can get with the lowest possible taxes. We don’t like the idea of hunger in this nation, we want farmers to make a fair profit and we refuse to be dictated to by the governments of other nations. We don’t even listen to our own government very often. People fought wearing masks at the start of the pandemic, remember? A skill like herding cats can come in handy in government.

We want to push the sciences in school so we can return to our role as the world’s leader in the scientific development. That way we can get a grip on global warming and figure out the best way to deal with it. That means serious investment in both the theoretical sciences and in the trades. Once we think the stuff up someone is going to have to make it all work. That means builders, installers, maintenance workers, logistical experts and repair people. We the People are going to need that stuff. Deep down inside, we all know it. So we have to push the hard subjects in school: Math and sciences. I almost flunked a shop class in junior high, so we’d better push that stuff as well.

Vote for Elder.

What we need is a calm reassessment of ourselves. We’re better than everyone else and that’s why so many other nations don’t like us. If we all concentrate on our own areas of responsibility and complete the daily assignment, we’ll be fine. Where we run into trouble is when we start telling everyone else how to do their job. Pretty soon, quality control goes out the window.

          Abraham Lincoln is alleged to have said that it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than it is to speak and clear the matter up. Sadly, the people we have in office now spend a lot of their time clearing things up. That is generally true at all levels of government and it has been for a long time. Remember Richard Nixon? He used to say, “Let me make one thing perfectly clear.”

          So you see my point, right? Vote for Elder.

I appreciate your votes. We’ll win, don’t worry. And remember to be happy.

Book review: Fly Girls

 

          Author Keith O’Brien’s book, Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds And Made Aviation History, covers the growth of aviation in the 1920s and ‘30s and the contributions of women who flew during that time. It’s about gender bias and history, racing competition, public relations and determination. Despite the title, this book is about more than just five women. In fact, it is about more than just women. It is about an entire industry.

          To be blunt, this is just a heck of a book. A great read, published in 2018 by Houghton Mifflin. O’Brien is a former newspaper reporter and has been a contributor to National Public Radio.

          The best-known female pilot from the 20s and 30s was Amelia Earhart. Her role in the growth of aviation and in the women’s movement in general is covered in this fine book. However, O’Brien makes it clear from the start that his book is about all of the women pilots of the time: Louise Thaden, Ruth Nichols, Florence Klingensmith, Blanche Noyes and lots of others. (Among those fliers chronicled in this telling is an Alabama-born woman named Ruth Elder. Elder is not a relative of my family, so far as can be determined.) All of the pilots mentioned struggled to be allowed to compete in the air races of the day. They were barred for years; the races were male-only events. Eventually, Thaden skunked everyone when she won a major cross-country race to Los Angeles and the boys had to wake up to a sobering fact: Women made good fliers.

          O’Brien is a deft storyteller and his research is outstanding. The writing flows at a very enjoyable pace. The story and O’Brien’s smooth writing pulls you right along. The only complaint here is the book follows its path without footnotes. If the reader wonders about a specific passage, there are notes in the back of the book, arranged by page number. This reviewer prefers the old school style with footnotes at the bottom of the page.

          Structurally, Fly Girls is composed of an introduction and 22 chapters. There are 35 images in the middle of the book. The Acknowledgments section in the back of the book is absolutely important to read. This reviewer values high-quality research, always reading this section of non-fiction books. The passage about O’Brien’s conversations with Thaden’s daughter tells the reader about the impact doing the research had on him. For this reader, it was the perfect ending.

          The story of women fighting for their place in the growth of aviation has direct application to today’s world. Even today, roughly a century after the point where Fly Girls begins, women continue to fight for equality. Look no further than the field of sports, generally, and automobile racing in particular. Women are winning championships in drag racing but they struggle to get major sponsorships or a chance to drive the best equipment in other forms of the sport. Some female racers reach stardom, like Earhart did, but others demonstrate great talent without getting the same recognition.

          This is a book worth reading. It is about history. It is about airplanes. Most of all, it is about people. What’s more important than that?

 

  

Golf's world: 2 ways to chase money

 

Professional golf is like tennis, figure skating or bowling: It is sporting’s version of a high-wire act.

          If you play well, you win money. If you play exceptionally well, you win even more money. If you win a tournament, you win a lot of money. If you play golf so poorly that you have to go home after only two rounds of play, it costs you money. Your travel, food and entry fees are all on you.

          For that reason, finding sponsorship is as important for golfers as it is for racing teams. The mid-pack players who don’t usually play among the leaders can continue to play each week with help from sponsors. There is no golf tournament or even a golf tour without the players who finish in the middle of the pack or lower. The stars have to beat someone to win, don’t they?

          Professional golfers are accustomed to the high-wire lifestyle. These elite athletes play with the pressure that comes from the play good-or-go-home reality that the game provides.

          For that reason, the new professional golf tour, bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, probably looks attractive to some touring pros. The new tour offers huge purses. The Saudis have extended big-dollar offers to the game’s top players; bonus pay on top of tournament winnings that could set some golfers for life. The new tour is offering the throw money around like kids throw sand at the beach.

          The cash has attracted attention. Greg Norman, once among the world’s best players and now a tremendous businessman, is the spokesman for the new tour. Phil Mickelson, who is among the game’s most popular figures, has indicated an interest in playing on the new tour, although he has seemingly waffled on the idea. Norman and Michelson are part of the old guard. A few younger players have indicated they will play on the new tour. Tiger Woods, who remains golf’s most popular figure, declined to jump ship. Jack Nicholas declined an invitation to serve as an administrator for the new tour.

          Norman has been exceptionally critical of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tour since the Saudi-back group was announced. The PGA will not allow players on the new tour to participate in PGA events. Players have requested waivers but none have been granted.

          So far, lots of noise with no real discussion of the actual point.

          Saudi Arabia is using international sports to get itself a better reputation among the family of world nations. The Kingdom hosts Formula One auto races and is active on the great stage provided by international soccer. While the Kingdom’s rulers feel free to murder some journalists, sports reporters are welcomed. Human rights is a subject sports reporters seldom worry about and those rights are an issue in Saudi Arabia. It is the Saudis’ idea that those issues might be covered over with the veneer of sporting competition.

          Norman has been asked about the human rights issue and the murder of a reporter by his employers. He does his best to blow those questions off, saying his only interest is in the future of golf.

          So, basically, professional golfers have a choice. They can follow likeable fellows like Greg Norman and Phil Michelson and play on a tour backed by a Kingdom that represses women and murders reporters. Or professional golfers can play golf in the rest of the world.

          It is true that the rest of the world is not perfect. There are problems everywhere you look.

Golf isn’t perfect, either, although it is a dynamic sport and has usually changed for the better. Most professional tournaments in the United States benefit local charities. The growth of the women’s professional tour (the LPGA) over the last decade and a half is a terrific indicator that the game’s popularity is growing.

Greg Norman’s idea that golf can be used to wallpaper over repression and murder doesn’t ring true here. There is no reason to believe that Norman supports the repression of women’s rights and the murder of journalists. But he’s taking money from people who do.

Speedylee supports the PGA and LPGA tours and their tightropes. The best players make the most money, the women’s game is growing and the reporters are not getting killed.

Thanks for reading.

A Park, an Institute and an opinion

 WARNING: The following blog expresses opinions.

Some very nice news crossed this computer screen last month: The Little Round Top area at the Gettysburg National Military Park will be open for visitors when we go there in June.

          The Park is in the midst of a major repair-and-expand project at both LRT and the Devil’s Den areas. LRT was expected to be closed by early June so the workers could continue their work. But now the closure is not expected until July. If you value the Park, then you understand how important the project is. Still, it would have been disappointing to visit the battlefield and not spend time on that famous, little hill. If you ever get there, sit on a rock and listen. You can learn a lot.

          The visit to LRT will be just the beginning of an extraordinary week in Gettysburg. Two days after we arrive, the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College will begin. The CWI is an annual conference, a gathering of the best-known scholars in the field and a lot of enthusiasts. The CWI will draw better than 400 attendees this year. Whether that’s a record or not, it’s a big bunch of folks. For many of us, it is the highlight of the year.

          One of the highlights this year will be a roundtable debate about Confederate General James Longstreet, the best general the Union side had. Yes, Longstreet was a Confederate. Yes, it says here that he was the best soldier of any rank the UNION army had. There are many who disagree with that assessment. The roundtable roster will include no less than four all-stars: Gary Gallagher, Carol Reardon and Jeffrey Wert are the panelists and Peter Carmichael will moderate. This panel and topic would attract 400 attendees if it was the only topic of a one-night argument. In fact, if it WAS a one-night event, a hockey game might break out over seating. Each year, parts of the CWI are carried live on one of the CSPAN networks. If this panel is part of that coverage, you don’t want to miss it on Sunday, June 12. Consult your local listings.

          Each year the CWI includes lectures, chances to dine in a small group with a scholar to discuss a specific topic and tours of both the Gettysburg battlefield and others. If you like history, especially Civil War history, you should at least watch on CSPAN.

          Gettysburg is an unusual place. The battlefield lends itself to photography, even though it is not a haven for artists. Its history is such that it draws millions of visitors. No American military event, save possibly the Battle of the Bulge and the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, has been researched so completely.

          So, add Gettysburg to your bucket list. Watch the CWI on CSPAN, especially the Longstreet discussion. American history is right here at home and it is waiting for you to come visit.

          Thanks for reading. 

Bonneski and Clydeofski

Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow Gang,

I’m sure you must have read

How they rob and steal

And how those who squeal

Are usually found dying or dead.

 

-Bonnie Parker

 

          Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are in the news again. This time the Depression-era killers and thieves were somehow featured photographically in Russia’s annual observation of the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. The theme of the celebration was to honor all Russians who suffered during the war against Hitler’s invasion of Russia.

This image of Bonnie and Clyde
was shown to a Russian audience
at a national celebration recently.

          A photograph of the bandit-lovers from Texas appeared among the images of Russians who suffered during the horrible conflict in the 1940s during the state-sponsored event this week. And the Russian people did suffer horrifically after the German army invaded Mother Russia. Look it up: As much as we owe to the Red Army for the destruction to the Nazi war machine, so too do we owe to the courage of the Russian people.

          The Parker-Barrow couple died as the result of an ambush in Louisiana in 1934, nearly a decade before the Germans attacked the Russians. Further, neither Parker nor Barrow had immediate links – to my knowledge – to Russia. The guns used by Fred Hammer’s posse that killed the outlaws were of American manufacturer. Clyde preferred the American-made Browning Automatic Rifle to all other weapons. That’s ironic, since one of the weapons used by the ambushers was a BAR.

          That begs the question: Why would an image of Bonnie and Clyde be inserted among those shown at a celebration of the Russian victory over the Germans? Assuming that every image shown on the big screens at the event was intentionally shown to the Russian people at the Victory Day celebration (Vlad Putin does not seem to be the kind of guy to leave things to chance; surely the right people had control of the images viewed), there had to be a message.

          Bonnie Parker wrote poetry. The words above were part of a poem she wrote about her life on the run, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde. That poem may supply the answers to our question. Take the stanza quoted above and note the words,

How they rob and steal

and how those who squeal

Are usually found dying or dead.

 

          From what we are given to understand about the Russian President, he formally led the KGB, Russia’s state police. Bonnie’s words could be interpreted as a threat to Putin’s people: What happens in Russia stays in Russia. Otherwise, squealers, you’ll be found dying or dead.

Bonnie and Clyde.

          A more uplifting stanza could be aimed at the Russian people, telling them that things are not so bad as they seem. Bonnie wrote:

From heart-break some people have suffered;

From weariness some people have died;

But take it all-in-all,

Our troubles are small

Till we get like Bonnie and Clyde.

 

          Bonnie Parker’s poetry has a philosophical bent. For example, she wrote that, “Death is the wages of sin.” But there is no more telling point than the one she made in her final stanza. Perhaps it sums up the life expectancy of all criminals, be they elected or not. Bonnie wrote:

         

Some day they’ll go down together;

And they’ll bury them side by side;

To few it’ll be grief

To the law a relief

But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.

         

          The infamous couple was not buried side by side. Instead, they were interred in separate cemeteries. But the Barrow Gang’s violent ways begat more violence and finally brought about the Gang’s fall. Partially because of Bonnie’s poetry and not a little because of the trail of blood they left behind them, the Parker-Barrow tandem has never really been out of America’s consciousness. It looks like they’re as popular as ever.

          Especially in Russia.

 

Getting an early start

 

          It was a grand May day. It was late in the month, a festive time of year. The sun was out but it wasn’t too hot. We were far enough inland that there was no fog in the air. We were close to the Pacific Ocean, but not close enough for fog.

          Fittingly enough, we were gathered on a football field and we had attracted a huge crowd. Much of my professional life would later be spent at football fields where crowds packed the grandstands. This time, nobody called “set, hut,” but I would have been much more comfortable if someone had.

          Instead of footballs, platitudes filled the air. It was my college graduation. Well, mine and a few thousand very close friends. We packed the joint. My parents, other relatives and even some friends sat proud and amazed in the stands while I sat down on the field somewhere.

          “Elder graduated,” the people scoffed. “This I gotta see.”

          Now, about those platitudes. I assume there were some thrown around. Isn’t that what you do when speaking at a graduation? The world has problems, speakers say, but this bunch of geniuses will surely solve all of them. With all of the experienced and learned instructors we have at this high-class university, this group of graduates simply must be capable of leading our society to victory.

          The keynote speaker for this event was the governor of a state in Mexico. I never learned – because I didn’t care – which state he was from. I am told he spoke in Spanish, but I don’t know that for a fact. Despite my four semesters of university-level Spanish classes, I completed my education knowing very little of that language. Of course, I only took four semesters of Spanish because I failed one of them and had to re-take the class I flunked. I got credit for three semesters. There was an interpreter at the graduation to explain what the keynote guy said to the masses, so my failure to understand what the guy said had nothing to do with my ability to speak or understand that language.

          No, the reason that I have no idea what might have been said during the ceremony noting my graduation from a great American university was that I had decided to take the first step in my professional development that day. There was no reason to delay. My parents, I was certain, would understand my decision. After all, I had completed the needed work to be awarded a diploma. I was in attendance at the ceremony. I had completed my obligations. I even wore a tie under my robe and funny cap. No one said I had to listen to the speakers, whoever they were.

          Instead, using a skill developed during my elementary school years at World Series time, I listened to the broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 on a transistor radio. Remember those? I had an ear plug jammed in one ear and a finger jammed in the other ear so I could hear the broadcast over the pitifully dull proceedings which I was attending.

          Rick Mears won that day, a terrific drive against a field that included three of the four men who finished their careers with four Indy wins. I told the story years later to a docent at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. He walked me down some stairs to a lower floor which is not always available to the public and said to me, “There’s the car you heard win that day.”

          Great moment.

          Even when I was still in college I knew that, somehow, auto racing would play a role in my business life. I knew I would become a sports journalist and I felt that my interest in and knowledge of racing would give me an advantage someday. It did. I eventually spent 25 years working in that industry.

          I often think about that day all those Mays ago. I love to tell the story. Mears and Foyt, the Unsers and Andretti. Janet Guthrie, whom I admired, raced that day. Many of the all-time Indy greats were in the field that year. And the race was more important to me than the ceremony I was a part of. But I will tell you something I have never admitted before: Bringing a transistor radio to the graduation ceremony was strictly against the rules. I don’t remember now what the reasoning was and I don’t care. What I do remember was that I was told not to do it. Breaking that rule made listening to the race all the sweeter.

          There were college graduation ceremonies all over our nation that day but there was only one Indy 500. And I heard it.

          Ladies and gentlemen: Start your engines.