GeneG's Journal

Tonight the Cowboys will play the opening game of their pre-season, these early games used to be called exhibition games. Each year the teams play four games each that don't count. However, there is a very definite reason for these games. A football team can only carry sixty players on their roster, but the teams may have as many as eighty players on their teams at present. The first three exhibition games give the coaches a chance to evaluate second, third, and fourth string players in preparation for the cutdown to sixty. The fourth game is generally played with the first string playing about 2 1/2 quarters and the second string playing 1 1/2. This gives the coaches and players time to work out any kinks in their player packages, communications and so forth prior to the start of the season. Quite often players on the second string will be involved in as many plays as the first string and they need the work both as a unit and individually with the first string so if they have to fill in for an injured starter they will slip in as smoothly as possible.

Tonight's game will feature the thrid and forth strings Cowboys players against the world champion Indianapolis Colts third and forth stringers. My heart goes out to them. The temperature on the field at game time will be at 37 C. and the humidity will be in the 85% - 95% range. They will really need to be well hydrated before game time and try to drink lots of fluids during and after the game. Cramping, especially in the calves is a real issue under these kinds of conditions. And, of course, this is a very violent game. Even though each player wears a space age helmet designed to protect against concussions, large cantilevered shoulder pads, pads on their thighs and knees and some even wear flak jackets to protect the ribs, players still get hurt. What teams hope for during the pre-season is that no one is seriously hurt. In my forty-f-ve years of watching football I've seen everything from season-ending organ injuries, to career ending broken bones including the worst injury in a professional football game during my lifetime , the hit put on Darryl Stingley by Jack Tatum, a guy with a reputation as a head-hunter. Stingley's neck was broken and he was left a quadriplegic. He just died on April fifth of this year mostly as a result of the hit he took so long ago. He was fifty-five. Stingley was a premiere receiver headed for the hall of fame when his career was cut so tragically short. Every year some player takes a good shot to the head or neck that raises the spector of Stingley's injury. The National Football League has taken steps both in rules modifications and in equipment to keep this from happening again, but no matter what they do, the nature of the game is such that it will happen again.

Troy Aikman, one of the famed triplets of Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin, had his career ended after just ten seasons because of eight serious concussions suffered over those ten years. The doctors told him the next one might do permanent serious damage to his cognition and personality. Michael Irvin's career was cut short after the same type of neck injury sustained by Stingley, although not nearly as severe. He was unconscious on the field for several moments and had no sensation in his extremities for several minutes after that. Fortunately, he has, over the five or six years made what appears to be a full recovery, but he never stepped on the sideline of another game in pads and ready to play.

Many of these football players are nearly seven feet tall and weigh close to and some over three hundred pounds. Others are around six feet and weigh less than two hundred. Everyone is fast, speed is essential in today's game, and strong. Even these big men can run 35m in under five seconds. When there are twenty-two men, some very large men, running at breakneck speeds toward one another, often leaving their feet, launching themselves at someone else in order to knock them down, people will get hurt.

American football is at a crossroads today. After Darryl Stingley's injury rules changes were implemented that took some of the danger out of the sport, but they also took some of the essence with them. I understand the need for the changes, but its a shame the way they changed the game. Just about the only pure part of football left is the ground game, the grind it out, pound it out, ground game. The passing game any more is for gazelles and badgers. The ground game is where football started, getting the ball from center and running it. This is the game Emmitt Smith was so effective at. The ground game, to be successful must have two components, An offensive line, those three hundred pounders, that can block, two guards that can pull and block, and a runner that can follow his linemen into the open and then fly like the wind while making defenders miss him. What made Emmitt so great was his ability to do all these things and then at the last moment, lower his shoulder and push his tackler four or five more yards up the field before the guy could get him down. Emmitt Smith was arguably the greatest running back to ever play the game. It's fairly normal for a runner to have two or three of the traits of greatness, usually speed and quuick feet, but no one ever came with the package of skills and stamina that Emmitt had.

Well, I've pretty much said all I'm going to say on this for today, maybe I'll check in tomorrow and let you know what I think about tonight's game.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Since George Bush and Dick Cheney are still running things I guess there's not much to talk about there Football (American style football, not this wimpy soccer stuff, gladiators in pads and helmets, the modern equivalents of knights in shining armor, American style football, is about to get cranked up. Once again, I'm anxious to see if the Cowboys can do anything this season. They showed some flash toward the middle of last season then their offensive line got banged up and defenses really got in Romo's face and they slud downhill their last few games.

The spell checker doesn't like slud as the past tense of "to slide". Well, I learned my Sports English (as opposed to say Music English, or Political English) from that great creator of baseball (another American Sport. Cricket is based on baseball) speak, The Ole Diz His own self. Years of listening to Diz and Pee-Wee calling the game of the week taught me what a blue darter was, and it ain't no fish. Of all the great baseball announcers I've listened to, and I've listened to them all, Diz and Pee-Wee were the best. Diz taught me what a Texas Leaguer was and called it so, if a runner had to slide into second, he slud. A lazy fly to the outfield was a can o' corn. It didn't make no never mind that none of this made sense, we all knew what it meant. It meant Diz and Pee-Wee were calling the game, and the game was baseball. Oh, the stories they would tell. He faced such players as Hack Wilson, the all-time RBI leader for a single season, and Van Lingle Mungo, the weirdest name to play the game. Sometimes Pee-Wee would tell a story about Jackie Robinson and Ole Diz, being the good ole boy he wuz, would just sit quietly, not saying a word. His mama always taught him, if you can't say nothin' nice, don't say nothin' atall.

He was just a good ole boy on the way to pitching greatness when he took a blue darter off of a toe and hurt his foot. Instead of taking care of his foot, he continued to pitch. The pain of landing on his foot with each pitch caused him to favor the foot and change his motion toward the plate. This change made hash out of his pitching career. A shame. He was the last National Leaguer to win 30+ games in a season. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1953.

Anyway, ole Diz was a real character. As the cognoscenti will tell you, if Dizzy Dean said the runner slud into second on that can o' corn, then by golly he SLUD and that's all there is to it.

I heard a story day before yesterday on All Things Considered about some scientists, always with the science, can't we get writers or painters, or sculptors, or janitors to do something like this, anyway, a team of scientists have invented a way to move captured sunlight from the roof of a building, via fiber-optic cables, into the living spaces of buildings. In effect flood your house with sunlight when the sun is out.

I wonder if they will be able to store the sunlight for long periods, allowing lighting at night, or for those in the Far Distant North, allowing them to bring sunlight indoors during winter when sunlight is scarce. Will science find a way to store sunlight on a portable device that one could plug into the sunlight transmitter system and play back a bright, sunny day over and over again. How much would this sunlight cost? Would it be the property of the person who originally captured it? The record company? a government agency?

Of course living in Texas, USA we have plenty of sunlight all year round. Would it be useful to the folks in Helsinki, or Nome, or any other cities close to the Arctic Circle, or would they prefer to muddle along with reduced sunlight during the winter.

Another benefit is this would allow for directed sunlight in certain areas of the home, such as the hydroponics room or the basement. I don't know. It seems useful on the surface of things, but in the end will we be complaining about sunlight pollution. Will people use it unwisely, developing melanomas and other skin-cancers? Who knows. I guess those who can will wait and see. those who can't won't.

I've been looking at other blogs with an eye toward improving mine. It seems the short, pithy statement is in order. Long, rambling opi just bore people. Oh, well. I guess I'm just not born to blog.

In the words of the singer described by Playboy magazine back in the early seventies as the greatest female rock singer since Janis Joplin, Robert Plant,  (Playboy was just too cool then) I'll just have to ramble on, sing my song.

On August 3, 1995 in an open letter to King Fahd, Osama Bin Laden called for a series of attacks against America for the purpose of driving the infidel American troops out of the Holy Land of Saudi Arabia. Following this letter there were at least three attacks on America by bin Laden's group, Al-Qaeda: the embassy bombings in Africa, the U.S.S. Cole and the World Trade Center. After the first two of these attacks, that noted American girlie-man, Bill Clinton, fought back and refused to be cowed, although those strong-on-defense, real Americans called it wag-the-dog.  American troops stayed in Saudi Arabia at the continued request of King Fahd. After the last of the attacks against America by Al-Qaeda, the World Trade Center, the ballsiest president of all time, George W. (Patton) Bush, amongst much fanfare and hoopla pulled the American Troops out of Saudi Arabia. Oh, I'm sorry did the fanfare and hoopla confuse you? The fanfare and hoopla was the U.S. driving bin Laden into the caves of Tora Bora  from which, with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, we promptly let him go. After all he is the son of one of the Bush families favorite billionaires. Never met a billionaire they didn't like. The troops left Saudi Arabia under cover of darkness. At least under a media blackout by our equally gutsy fourth estate, fresh from their investigative coup of the previous two years covering SIN in the White House and that lying son-of-a-bitch, Bill Clinton. fresh blood and Gore dripping from  their fangs. The troops left, their tails tucked between their legs being led by Mr. Balls as big as watermelons Bush. You say you didn't know that. You don't suppose it's because no one told you, do you. The U. S. has not been attacked by bin Laden's Al-Qaeda since. In case you can't figure this out on your own, let me spell it out for you. Mr. Tough Guy Bush capitulated to bin Laden's demands. Gave up. Chickened out. Cried Uncle.

Now, the U. S. had a problem. We and much of Europe are totally dependent on Middle Eastern oil. (Do I hear Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan tussling about energy policy in the background? Why, I believe I do, but that's ancient history from back in the day we could have done something about this particular weakness. Thank God we had Ronald Reagan to set us right, put us back on track to national dependence on one of the most volatile regions in the world. But that's another blog entry.) Without boots on the ground we had no way to protect the oil supply and jump into Saudi politics to protect our interests if the Wahabbist's came to power. After all, King Fahd was a really old dude not in the best of health and a real power struggle within the royal family between the Wahabbists and the Sheiks of the World was being fought under cover. Also, not having land troops in the region left Israel naked on all sides, except maybe Egypt, and that for only a little while longer. We had to have two things, an uninterrupted oil supply and a land base for our military to jump to Israel's aid should they need it. "What about that Hussein guy? We ought to be able to make him an international bogeyman and steal his country out from under him." said assistant secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz. Actually, he had been saying this for years but the Clinton administration, not having enough cohones between the ears, didn't bite. Vice President Cheney, on the other hand, had been listening to Wolfowitz as long as Wolfowitz had been saying this and said, "Oh, boy! Bush will eat this up. He can take revenge on Saddam for trying to assassinate his father, a plot foiled by that idiot, Clinton, I can have my oil along with a blue water port for the oil pipeline from the Stans of Central Asia, and Wolfowitz, Pearl, and the rest of them Kikes can save Israel from the Towelheads living on this god-forsaken sand dune. And, as a bonus we can outsource our military to Blackwater and Kellogg, Brown, and Root." (Boy, the subjects for future blog entries just abound). Upon hearing this, George Bush said, "Saddam who? It doesn't matter, I got balls for brains. Just point me in the right direction. I say Bring 'em on!"

It's about this point the media began to get the scent of SOMETHING BIG. Of course, it didn't hurt that the Balls brothers (Dick and Dick) pointed out to them there was going to be war. How much better our country works when the media gets its instructions from the government, than when they go off investigating stuff on their own. Why they just might get it all wrong. From here on the facts of the case are pretty well known. When you hear someone say, "It was about WMD." you can just smile, give them a wink and walk on, secure in the knowledge that you know the real truth about why we got into this disastrous war. The media and the politicians say WMD because they can't bring themselves to admit they slinked into this money-pit with both eyes open, saying, "Yessah, Massah, Anything you says, Massah."

We have achieved exactly one of our three goals, "WE GOT HIM". No, No, not that guy, the other one, the one who DIDN'T do anything to us. That guy. We are farther away from having permanent bases in the middle east than we were when we started. We may yet get control of the Iraqi oil, at least on paper. The oil deal the U. S. is so anxious Iraq sign allows Iraq to control 20% - 30% of the oil profits from their fields, while BIG OIL will control the other 70% - 80%. Sounds fair to me. It cost us more than 3,000 American lives, more than 100,000 American limbs, and enough treasure to finance China for another 200 years whether they lift another finger or not, I think it's only fair we get their only means of support. If they hadn't meant to pay us for our trouble they ought not to have asked us to fight their battles. Oh, wait, they didn't. We decided to do that on our own. After we leave, and we will, I hope the oil companies will be able to pump paper because something tells me no matter how many oil agreements Iraq signs with us, until there is a responsible government in Iraq that can enact and enforce laws, engage in making treaties, and make real contracts, that's all the oil companies will have, no matter how hard we yell that Iraq is not keeping up their end of the bargain. If your house was on a pot of Gold would you give it away?

Anyone out there still confused about why we went to war in Iraq?

Stay tuned to this space. Next up, We nuke Iran, thoroughly destroying any chance of coming to some kind of rapprochement with them while the Mullahs die off and they become a rational nation once more. And in the process we terminally piss off the rest of the world. But, hey, we're the U. S. of A., we can do whatever we want to and the rest of you suckers out there just have to like it. Booyeah!!

Rudy "Big Balls 2" Giuliani  in '08! Ah-Huh! Ah-Huh! I like it! I like it! Ah-huh! Ah-Huh! 9/11, 9/11 - BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!

 

Well, since this is supposed to be my thoughts on things as well as pictures, reviews, etc. Let me pass this on to anyone interested.

After more than twelve years of watching George Bush's political career from close up and watching him flail around with the Rangers for some years before that, I still don't know if he is the most cynical man in the world or just the dumbest. For now, I think i'll go with the latter. tomorrow I may think the former, who knows. I just can't make up my mind.

Congress is sending (has sent ) a bill containing continuing funding for the war in Iraq to George to be signed into law or vetoed. George will (or has) veto[ed] this bill and sent it back. The reason for the veto is the bill contains a date for the beginning of withdrawal of the troops from Iraq. George will not go for a time certain to begin withdrawal, hence the veto. Now, this is where the cynical vs. dumb comes into the picture.

George figures that there is a better than fifty-fifty chance the Democrats will control both congress and the white house in 2009. If he can keep the war going that long he can pass the buck for losing it, and the responsibility for whatever happens in Iraq, on to the Democrats. It's a pretty safe bet the Democrats will pull out within a couple of months of taking power. Iraq will descend into chaos, we will not be able to maintain any permanent bases, and we will lose control of all that oil. Not to mention position yet one more hostile Islamic Republic within a days drive of Israel. These are the three reasons we went to war, by the way. We had intended to build fourteen permanent military bases in Iraq from which to  actively support Israel and threaten her enemies, and insure a steady supply of Iraqi oil reducing western reliance on Saudi Arabia, while at the same time providing a sea port through which we could move oil from the Oilstans in the Caspian region. Why does Dick Cheney not want us to know the details of his secret energy policy? Because it involved aggressively overthrowing Saddam Hussein without provocation. 9/11 fell in the lap of this administration like a gift from God.

Now I personally don't believe George Bush is smart enough to think all this up, but he is definitely dumb enough to let people talk him into it. Now Dick Cheney on the other hand is both smart enough to think this up, and stupid enough to think he could carry it off. So, today, I think Bush is just dumb. In the meantime, he will continue to tell us that if we pull out Al-Qaeda (Be Afraid!! Be Very Afraid!!) will take over and turn Iraq into a training ground for terrorists and more and more American men and women will die or be damaged in various ways.

See this space in future for how dems can turn this whole funding issue back on Bush, but for some reason are too dumb to think of it themselves.

When I was a young lad, living in Philadelphia, I collected this set of bubblegum cards. They we produced by the Bowman Gum, Co. in Philadelphia in 1951. There were 108 cards in the entire set. I currently own two cards, my collection having dissapated over the years. Since I can't afford to buy the cards one at a time, I collect images of the cards. This is the first card in the set. Most of the cards cover the adventures of the Space League, but several of them are for futuristic jet aircraft. Of course in 1951 we stood at the threshold of the future and these cards reflect the feeling of the age. Oh how bright the future looked!

This my granddaughter Lauren Elizabeth. My only grandchild, so far. I've got my fingers crossed.

This is my daughter, Jennifer

Our Lady of the Irises. This was taken about a week ago. These irises are in bloom now. They have gorgeous light purple falls with golden beards and smell as sweet as candy. Just gorgeous.

One more flowering shrub. I don't know what this is, but it is absolutely gorgeous for about 10 days. This bush was nearly dead several years ago. but with careful pruning I was able to save it. Now it appears to be thriving.

A flowering tree of some sort. I want to say judging from its bark it is some kind of cherry, but I don't know that for sure. It may also be crabapple, but I'm not sure they can tolerate the summers down here.

This is a flower bracht of the Wisteria vine, a southern flowering vine that has beautiful purple flowers for about a week. This particular vine isw about 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide and at the time I took this was covered in these blooms. The vine is over a creek that runs just north of the park. As with most flowering things this vine is quite messy, You can see flowers that have already fallen off the vine. Spring is definitely creeping northward.

Our neighborhood park. Lots of sports activities take place here. Everything from baseball to single goal soccer and field hockey are played here. The pavilion has several picnic tables with seating for about 30 people. The walking trail is less that half a mile. I'm hoping some time the city will connect it to some of the longer trails. Alcohol is strictly forbidden.

The early roses are in bloom. The grass is greening quite nicely

This is my street. This photo was taken about a week ago. The trees have pretty much all leafed out.