Across the fruited plain, there is no finer month than October.
The tumultuous weather faced by many of us during the summer months is over, and evenings bring out more sweaters than bugs. The leaves are changing from green to deep red, gold or a soft yellow before they gently drop to the ground. The warm aroma of apple pie wafts from open kitchen windows. The young, or young at heart, throw footballs in the street once the cars have passed.
School is in full swing, even those strangely late-starting colleges on the quarter system. Work has taken on a renewed urgency now that everyone is back from vacation. Lovers walk tightly arm-in-arm under the crisp moonlight. Football still carries the excitement of a young season with the plot yet to unfold and baseball aims dramatically toward its climax.
No month is quite like October.
Here in California, this month is really like no other. To really understand the Golden State, you have to know that October is our best month for weather. So many people from out-of-state come here for their California Dream vacation early in the summer and end up with a full dose of what we call "June Gloom."
"Summer" doesn't really start here until after July 4. Then, for about two months, we have the same hot weather faced by everyone else, though not so humid.
October, though, is the best. It's still quite warm (well into the 90s at my place today) but is dry and sunny. Through most of the weekend, I saw one cloud. My children and I rode bicycles in the heat and the old man broke nary a sweat. The air was that dry. We had some drizzle the other day, and will probably get more soon. The big rains, if they bother to show up at all, usually wait until after Thanksgiving.
In Southern California, there are other months that rival October. There's always about two weeks of Indian Summer in January, for example. In Northern California, the 10th month on the calendar is unparalleled. That line about "the coldest winter ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" is true. Wait until September. Or even better, October, when you can get the best of both worlds as our hemisphere makes fall's transition.
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As a Westerner and college football fan, I hate college football's Bowl Championship Series and its provisions that amounted to restraint of trade for schools -- and in particular, the schools' fans and alumni -- who were judged unworthy of competing for a championship or even a big payday.
The BCS and it's forerunner were mid-1990s creations designed to create "a true national championship game" and at the same time enrich the coffers of athletic departments at the traditional powerhouse universities. Four existing bowl games were brought in under the BCS banner to host champions of the big-time conferences and a pair of so-called at-large teams, usually meaning Notre Dame and a Southeast Conference runner-up.
Well, things finally are changing, albeit slowly. The BCS has added a fifth game and loosened restrictions on Mountain West, WAC, MAC and Conference USA eligibility. Utah and Boise State both proved the value of inclusiveness.
Now, looking at the latest college football poll, Boston College is ranked fourth and South Florida is fifth. The latter, since you probably haven't heard of it other than a professor being linked to Middle East terror fundraising, is located in Tampa in what is actually the central portion of the state. Cal, known to the non-sports-oriented as UC-Berkeley, is third. THIRD. Home of tree-huggers and philosophy professors, not linebackers. The Beserkeley Bears. You've got to be kidding.
And there are other unusual teams knocking at the BCS door this year. Cincinnati, Connecticut, Kansas, Missouri and Hawaii are all non-powers who suddenly are undefeated early in America's greatest month. These aren't the schools the BCS was designed for.
Michigan and Notre Dame are not in the Top 25. Neither are Alabama or Nebraska. Nor are Miami or Penn State.
Last season, BCS games included those Boise State Broncos and Wake Forest, the Winston-Salem, N.C. school with the smallest enrollment in Division 1. This year, they might host a school with a direction in its name or named after a city.
Somewhere, whoever came up with the BCS is looking at the lastest rankings and shaking his head. That is a very good thing.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Fundamentally, We're Not Sound
One of the great things about baseball is that it tells us so much about real life. As a fan suddenly without a stake in the playoffs, the Monday wildcard tiebreaker between the Padres and Rockies has weighed heavily upon my mind.
Everyone will have a different opinion on whether Colorado's Matt Holliday was safe at home plate with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning.
What gets me is how everyone says what a great game it was. Okay, it was exciting if you had rooting interest in the outcome, as I did. But this was not a well-played contest. In fact, it was played poorly throughout. The lack of fundamentals was appalling.
You can go from arguably the best starting pitcher in the National League, Jake Peavy of the Padres, being unable to keep the ball down and giving up six runs, to Friars center-fielder Brady Clark muffing several balls, to Holliday starting in on a ball hit over his head in a stadium where outfield flies are known to carry, to hitters on both sides swinging for the fences for nearly the last five innings.
The game was won by the Rockies when their hitters returned to standard hitting fundamentals, taking tough pitches the opposite way and putting the ball in play. Padres closer Trevor Hoffman made some quality pitches, and Colorado hitters fought them off and made something good happen.
I could go on and on. Of course, the person who knows least about whether Holliday actually scored was the home plate umpire.
It's no wonder why America didn't win the World Baseball Classic last year and why we often struggle in international competitions in sports we should dominate. We have completely ignored fundamentals.
It's not just baseball, or basketball, the other sport where the lack of basic skills is glaring. We're not taking care of fundamentals at home or in the halls of government. Household debt is sky high, and not just because of the mortgage. It's buying or leasing too fancy cars and maxing out our credit cards. Our once balanced national budget is spewing red ink again.
My wife and I always attend back-to-school nights so that we can get a feel for our children's schooling and impress upon the teachers that we are serious about the education of our offspring. Our experience is that, in general, parents of less than half the students attend these events. We also communicate with their teachers, make sure they do their homework and are on task in their reading assignments and projects. I don't consider us special in this regard. Both of us were raised the same way, and we're just following through.
As a nation, we're spending more tax dollars than ever on education, and we're falling farther behind the learning that's taking place in other countries. We're importing high-tech workers because there are not enough qualified U.S. natives in the talent pool, even though college enrollment is at an all-time high. And don't even let me begin on the litany of problems at colleges, which often seem more like socialist indoctrination centers than hallowed places of higher learning.
American automakers are selling fewer vehicles, as a share of the market, because they've been building bad cars for 30 years now. The Japanese, and now the Koreans, simply build better ones. General Motors is falling apart because of health care liabilities forced upon it by suicidal unions.
People take drugs, drink alcohol to excess and smoke (though less so), eat too much and too much bad food without exercising enough, despite being aware of the dangers of each. They don't take care of themselves (okay, I'm not perfect, I have a sweet tooth and am out of shape from having a bad diet and exercise habits when I was younger).
Our governments fail to uphold even the basic responsibilities of maintaining our infrastructure, protecting us from outside security threats and preventing illegal immigrants from crossing the border in defiance of their countrymen, who waste time trying to follow the rules.
Our culture has degenerated to the point that emaciated and talent-shy women and violent men are made celebrities. Our business climate has declined to where we can build a house of cards or Ponzi scheme -- be it the mortgage crisis, the Internet bubble or hedge funds -- and count on the Federal Reserve to pump more money into our financial system to prevent us from feeling the consequences of our actions. Thus, the American dollar has been surpassed in value by the Canadian dollar. What's up with that, eh?
It's a testament to the resilience of our people as individuals and our society as a whole that America functions despite all this. But there's a lot that can come crashing down on us that has nothing to do with terrorism.
We need to return to fundamentals. In baseball and in our daily lives, and we have to insist that our leaders in business, entertainment and particularly in government, do the same.
---
Another great week in the halls of Congress. Anti-war senators blast radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for not supporting the troops even though they took his words out of context, and Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig loses his bid to withdraw his guilty plea to playing "Bathroom Stall Footsie" and vows to remain in office to serve out his term. It's 1984 meets 2007. It's why everyone hates the Democratic-led Congress and why the GOP has little chance of supplanting them.
Anyone for a third party this time?
---
I've mentioned that GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani seems to have a hard time answering questions directly. However, I listened to him being interviewed by Sean Hannity today and even though most of the questions were friendly puff balls, he did in fact answer what was posed to him. And did so well. While Hillary Clinton is running away with the Democratic nomination, Giuliani could very well strengthen his own front-running status by being direct like this.
Everyone will have a different opinion on whether Colorado's Matt Holliday was safe at home plate with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning.
What gets me is how everyone says what a great game it was. Okay, it was exciting if you had rooting interest in the outcome, as I did. But this was not a well-played contest. In fact, it was played poorly throughout. The lack of fundamentals was appalling.
You can go from arguably the best starting pitcher in the National League, Jake Peavy of the Padres, being unable to keep the ball down and giving up six runs, to Friars center-fielder Brady Clark muffing several balls, to Holliday starting in on a ball hit over his head in a stadium where outfield flies are known to carry, to hitters on both sides swinging for the fences for nearly the last five innings.
The game was won by the Rockies when their hitters returned to standard hitting fundamentals, taking tough pitches the opposite way and putting the ball in play. Padres closer Trevor Hoffman made some quality pitches, and Colorado hitters fought them off and made something good happen.
I could go on and on. Of course, the person who knows least about whether Holliday actually scored was the home plate umpire.
It's no wonder why America didn't win the World Baseball Classic last year and why we often struggle in international competitions in sports we should dominate. We have completely ignored fundamentals.
It's not just baseball, or basketball, the other sport where the lack of basic skills is glaring. We're not taking care of fundamentals at home or in the halls of government. Household debt is sky high, and not just because of the mortgage. It's buying or leasing too fancy cars and maxing out our credit cards. Our once balanced national budget is spewing red ink again.
My wife and I always attend back-to-school nights so that we can get a feel for our children's schooling and impress upon the teachers that we are serious about the education of our offspring. Our experience is that, in general, parents of less than half the students attend these events. We also communicate with their teachers, make sure they do their homework and are on task in their reading assignments and projects. I don't consider us special in this regard. Both of us were raised the same way, and we're just following through.
As a nation, we're spending more tax dollars than ever on education, and we're falling farther behind the learning that's taking place in other countries. We're importing high-tech workers because there are not enough qualified U.S. natives in the talent pool, even though college enrollment is at an all-time high. And don't even let me begin on the litany of problems at colleges, which often seem more like socialist indoctrination centers than hallowed places of higher learning.
American automakers are selling fewer vehicles, as a share of the market, because they've been building bad cars for 30 years now. The Japanese, and now the Koreans, simply build better ones. General Motors is falling apart because of health care liabilities forced upon it by suicidal unions.
People take drugs, drink alcohol to excess and smoke (though less so), eat too much and too much bad food without exercising enough, despite being aware of the dangers of each. They don't take care of themselves (okay, I'm not perfect, I have a sweet tooth and am out of shape from having a bad diet and exercise habits when I was younger).
Our governments fail to uphold even the basic responsibilities of maintaining our infrastructure, protecting us from outside security threats and preventing illegal immigrants from crossing the border in defiance of their countrymen, who waste time trying to follow the rules.
Our culture has degenerated to the point that emaciated and talent-shy women and violent men are made celebrities. Our business climate has declined to where we can build a house of cards or Ponzi scheme -- be it the mortgage crisis, the Internet bubble or hedge funds -- and count on the Federal Reserve to pump more money into our financial system to prevent us from feeling the consequences of our actions. Thus, the American dollar has been surpassed in value by the Canadian dollar. What's up with that, eh?
It's a testament to the resilience of our people as individuals and our society as a whole that America functions despite all this. But there's a lot that can come crashing down on us that has nothing to do with terrorism.
We need to return to fundamentals. In baseball and in our daily lives, and we have to insist that our leaders in business, entertainment and particularly in government, do the same.
---
Another great week in the halls of Congress. Anti-war senators blast radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh for not supporting the troops even though they took his words out of context, and Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig loses his bid to withdraw his guilty plea to playing "Bathroom Stall Footsie" and vows to remain in office to serve out his term. It's 1984 meets 2007. It's why everyone hates the Democratic-led Congress and why the GOP has little chance of supplanting them.
Anyone for a third party this time?
---
I've mentioned that GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani seems to have a hard time answering questions directly. However, I listened to him being interviewed by Sean Hannity today and even though most of the questions were friendly puff balls, he did in fact answer what was posed to him. And did so well. While Hillary Clinton is running away with the Democratic nomination, Giuliani could very well strengthen his own front-running status by being direct like this.
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