To Roger Staubach, still Captain America

This editorial appeared in the Dallas Morning News SportsDay Forum on Sunday, May 30, 2010
The online version of this article (linked to above) was shortened so much as to loose it's effect. The article, in it's entirety, as it appeared in the paper appears below:

I've always admired Roger, but as a military (Navy) veteran himself, I am not at all surprised to read of his respect to other heroes.

Staubach's kindness benefits soldiers:

The week before last, my brother was sitting in first class on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Colorado Springs when a couple sat in front of him. He immediately recognized the man as Roger Staubach and said he looked great, very fit. They exchanged greetings, and Staubach said he was headed to Colorado Springs for the inaugural Wounded Warrior games, a competition for injured members of the military.

After 60 or 70 percent of the plane was boarded, a female Army soldier who had lost her leg boarded. Staubach insisted she sit in his seat; she said "no thanks," but he insisted. He took her place in the middle seat way in the back. After a few minutes, the young girl got tears in her eyes and said she wanted to go to her seat and have Staubach return to his.

The flight attendant overheard, and as the female soldier headed to retrieve Staubach, the attendant said she had a no-show and both could sit in first class.

The flight attendant returned with the female soldier, but Staubach sent a double amputee Army soldier to sit in his seat. Staubach remained in coach the entire flight and disembarked last. My brother asked for an autograph for my birthday; Staubauch said certainly. It's a great gift, but the greater gift is knowing Roger Staubach is still Captain America.

— Drew Werner, Addison, TX

Tis the Season of Orange

There's a lot of Orange in my life right now, and at our house that's a really cool thing.

The Texas Longhorns beat Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in the annual Red River Shootout propelling them to #1 in the National Rankings. So look out rivals, The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.

There air is filled with sincerity in the hopes that the Great Pumpkin will visit the Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night. (MJM's favorite holiday).

In another advancement in his Hapkido training, MJM tested for and was awarded his Orange belt. He has worked very hard for this achievement after taking a couple of months off his training due to a broken foot over the summer. But he's back at it now and is looking forward to his next competition in a couple of weeks.

And while not orange (red actually), MJM won 2nd place at the PTA Reflections Art Competition in the Photography category at his school.

So as we contemplate the season of "Orange", perhaps the Binary Sunset is a fitting fade out. A scene at which to ponder the galaxy, both near and far, far away; and think about heeding that "call to adventure".

A Permanent Reminder of a Temporary Feeling?

UPDATE to There Is No Dumbass Vaccine:

In a press conference today, Josh Howard finally spoke up about comments he made over the summer disrespecting the US National Anthem.

To wit: "I'd like to say that I'm truly and really am sorry for everything that's happened in the last five months. This is not the way I carry myself, not how I want to be portrayed. I'm sorry to everybody I've offended. I'm upset with myself and the way I've acted. It was me joking around," he said.

"Guys were out there making fun and I decided to get along in it. I wasn't using my head. I guess the valuable lesson I did learn is that words really do hurt. You're held accountable for what you say."

"That's not me. ... I went to military school. I have friends that served in the military. I know how it is to wake up and salute the flag. The national anthem every game, I have my hand over my heart."

While it'd be nice to believe Mr. Howard, I'm skeptical. Saying "this is not the way I carry myself" seems a tad disingenuous to me given his history, but time will tell. He had to say something eventually; we know that Mark Cuban defended him after his remarks were made public, and Maverick's Coach, Rick Carlisle, flew all the way to Howard's home in North Carolina to have a "come to Jesus" chat with him, so apparently that was enough of a shot in the, er...well, you know...to motivate him to have his agent write up an apology for him. :P

For the most part, Mr. Howard's statements sound remarkably similar to apology lines I've heard trotted out by other celebrities for various infractions over the years. Seems people get real sorry when they're caught.

And while it doesn't affect my personal life what Mr. Howard believes, his thoughtless comments were hurtful, inflamatory and representative of a damaging mind set in this country. Now that he has made a public show of contrition, I can only hope that he walks the talk....that would be a "valuable lesson" indeed.

I know I'm not the only one that will be watching, a lot of impressionable young minds will be, too.

There Is No Dumbass Vaccine

Color me stupid, but since when does being Black mean you shouldn’t respect the National Anthem?

I, for one, am tired of the arrogance of some individuals in this great nation that throw their race around as an excuse; seemingly wallowing in a victim mentality in perpetuity. Josh Howard exemplified this mentality (in spite of the fame & fortune he has achieved) in comments he proudly announced into a camera during Allen Iverson’s charity flag football game last July. Specifically, " 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this sh*t. I'm black. G*d damn Obama and all that sh*t.”

In the words of Don Henley & Glen Frey:
You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass
All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it.

Mark Cuban says that "Josh really is a good guy with a great heart. He just doesn't do a good job of showing that side of himself publicly. We will work on that."

Ohhh, I see. It’s not WHAT he said, it’s HOW he said it? Riiight.

I don’t want this to be about why Mark Cuban feels the need to make comments on Josh Howard’s behalf, but if it’s a communication problem rather than a character problem, I’d like to hear Josh’s explanation…no excuses.

Mr. Howard, I will be pleased to make my judgement on [sic] the content of your character, and not the color of your skin.

UPDATE 9/29/08, Josh Howard speaks.

See: A Permanent Reminder to a Temporary Situation?

Yes, It's Been Quite A Summer....

From Baseball, swimming, concerts, 4th of July in Kansas, playing in the hose, and broken bones it was a great summer.

I'll keep it brief, but MJM started the summer playing machine-pitch baseball on a team that ultimately won their Little League Championship. After a heartbreaking loss in the Championship game last season, the guys worked hard all season and prevailed against talented competition in a double header playoff elimination on a very hot Texas day.

In a daring attempt to defy gravity, MJM "did not know he could not fly...and so he did!" He jumped off the platform of a friends' backyard Fort - breaking his foot upon landing. He was most pleased with this "accomplishment", and enjoyed showing off his walking cast.

He’s one of those who knows that life Is just a leap of faith

Spread your arms and hold you breath

And always trust your cape

~Guy Clark

Other summer adventures involved the simple pleasures of playing in the yard. Keeping the plants alive became an adventure in water...er mud management as MJM enjoyed devising his own methods of keeping cool with limited resources.

Water prevailed as a theme, even when attending the Richardson Wildflower Arts & Music Festival where we listened to Jerry Jeff and Django Walker, Ray Wiley Hubbard and Roger Creager, though MJM would probably have preferred to play in the fountain all afternoon.

And last but not least, let's flash back to where it all began...
The summer began with a marathon party at the Frisco Feeding Frenzy 2, with friends from around the country coming together to celebrate and raise money (~$16,500) for charity due to the inspiration of a man who has made seeing the positive side of life a way of life. Fins up for Jimmy Buffett and all our Parrothead friends...every year.

We Are The Champions...

My Son’s Baseball team won their Little League Championship on Saturday. These boys played the Semi-Final and Championship Games back to back in 100 degree Texas heat and never wavered in their commitment and enthusiasm to achieve their goal (and redeem their loss in the Championship game last year).

While my son was unable to bat and field on Saturday because of his broken foot, he was determined to support the team from the dugout. He proved both to himself and his teammates that you don’t quit in the face of adversity; an important lesson for us all.

The Super Bowl

The New Year has officially begun.

The Daytona 500 is Sunday and this is Mardi Gras week.

You just thought that the game that was played on February 4 was the "Super Bowl".
The first Daytona 500 was in 1959 and the first "Super Bowl" was in 1967. Hmmmm...
43 drivers in stock cars racing at near 200 mph around a 2.5 mile super speedway is serious thrill seeking...and dangerous.

Now I know there have been accusations of "cheating" by several teams this week, but hey, I figure for the most part they are just testing the boundaries of the rulebook.
NASCAR is notorious for writing rules that are not specific, so the Crew Chiefs simply wiggle through the loopholes. It's a cat and mouse game to see who can squeeze extra aerodynamics out of their hot rod that might give them an edge on the track.
If it hasn't been specifically defined, then it isn't against the rules; even if it violates the "spirit" of the rules ~ that's the way most of the Crew Chief's look at it.

Now, there are those that say this gives a "black eye" to racing, but I'm not so sure.
These guys are being creative. Isn't that what Stock Car Racing is all about? The experiments learned from these cars, the aerodynamics, the accidents, etc...are taken back to the auto makers and adapted to vehicles that you and I purchase.


So, as far as I'm concerned, while NASCAR wants the teams to compete "equally", I encourage creativity.

Roll on, brother, in the wheel inside the wheel.

I'm hopping on board with the Krewe of the Crossbones.
Cheers.

8 Seconds

We’re hanging out inside waiting out the ice storm, and Kokomo is flipping the television between the Football playoffs and the Dallas Mavericks game. After getting distracted by his laundry and the Football game he quickly flips back over to the Mavericks game…thinking that he probably missed the finish, but nope. In the ~30 minutes he has been otherwise distracted only 8 seconds have elapsed off the clock. Wha??? 8 seconds???

It is absolutely amazing how long it can take to play a second of this game, especially as the clock winds down. They actually break the seconds down into tenths of a second. There are coaches time outs of varying lengths and commercial breaks, (otherwise known as "official time outs") in the last minute of the game that can draw out that minute into twenty. While they play the last 10 seconds of the game, I’ve got time to go to the bathroom, move the laundry from the washer to the dryer, fold the clothes from the dryer and still have plenty of time left over.

I’m a Texas girl, raised on Football. Basketball was never on my radar. What’s with all these different time outs of different lengths in Basketball? I asked Kokomo how many each team gets, and what lengths they get and he just looked at me with his eyes glazing over and said “I don’t know”.
(I’m sure he does, he just didn’t want me to make fun of it in this post.)

Kokomo also rolled his eyes at me when I told him I was going to blog about this, but he wonder’s why it’s hard for me to watch 82 regular season basketball games even if the Mavericks do (currently) have the best record in the league. I dunno, if they get back into the playoffs I’ll watch, but they better not choke again like they did last year in Miami.

Ok..rant over, pour me some boat drinks and I'll kick back & oogle those finely tuned bodies till I pass out...