Thoughts of a Common Man

 Sunday afternoon here. Let’s just take a few snapshots of what’s going on. 1). Hurricane season is upon us and the week ahead will be a challenge for a portion of the country. To make matters worse, no one can pronounce the name of the hurricane. 2). Watched White Sox batters strike out 21 times in Game 5 against Cleveland. They put the ball in play less than 10 times! They weren’t facing Koufax! They were trying to hit homers. 3): Golf season is winding down - I’ve truly been zeroing on an ace. I must’ve hit 6 balls within 8’ of the hole in the last few weeks. If I don’t get it in last few times out, I’ll have to start over from scratch in freaking May. 4). So, we are funding Russia’s war efforts now, huh? Sickening, isn’t it?  We handed the whole freaking thing over to a Russian asset, and he’s not even bothering to hide it. 5). I turn 62 a week from today. Hard to believe. When we were young we’d hear of someone who was 62 and think, ‘He’s an old man.’ Uh, yeah. 6). Speaki...

There are reporters out there who are willing to do the impossible… …talk to MAGA supporters and figure out what they stand for. “Why do you love him?” The reporter asked one woman who was dressed up like a MAGA ball girl. “Oh, he is always straight forward. He tells it like it is.” The reporter rifled off four straight instances where the lies are evident. “Well, he’s solving our problems.” “What problem has he solved?” “All of them.” “Give me one example,” the reporter said. “No trans people in sports, and that might be the biggest problem we have.” I shut it down. There are people out there who believe that the biggest problem they face as Americans are transgender athletes taking gold medals away from deserving women. And before you dismiss it as the ramblings of a crazy woman a question was posed to J.D. Vance. “How do you define socialism?” Now, mind you, this is the vice-president. “It’s immigrants taking jobs from Americans, and transgender playing in women sports.” Uh. That’s ...

The tough guys are now taking it a step further. An execution will be live-streamed so we can all watch the death penalty be enforced. And, I suppose, it will be another shrug by most of the country. Plenty of people will be in favor of being able to watch a man die. Kegseth thinks it will be a deterrent. It’s not. People who murder are well aware of the potential consequences. This is simply grandstanding. What is alarming about it is that America once stood on principles. The death penalty wasn’t celebrated. When it was used, it was supposedly used as justice, and most of the country has suspended its use as unconstitutional. It was never something to be celebrated. Taking the stand that we would not show capital punishment allowed us to pretend that we are a civilized society. We were better than the countries that sponsored the violence. We pretended that televising state-sponsored death was barbaric. A lot of what we once stood for is now gone. The flag and the constitution were s...

Over the last 55 years or so I’ve had to face elimination day for the New York Yankees. Yesterday was the 48th time it happened. Thankfully, on seven of those years it never happened. Yet, I’m going to spend my day getting my stones busted by a lot of fans who own shirts that say: “One before I die!” And yet, it’s still disappointing because the Yanks are always in it, and that makes it tougher. They failed this year for a couple of reasons: 1). Judge went down - this will be glossed over because injuries happen, but they lost the best player in the sport for 100 games. You gotta stretch, I guess. 2). The playoff seeding is ridiculous. They would’ve had to beat the Rays at some point, but didn’t. Yet for the second straight year you win more games than three teams seeded ABOVE you. It’s just dumb. 3). Launch angles. I saw too many bad at-bats by guys named Jazz and Trent and Austin as they tried to hit it in the seats with a runner on second and no one out. Move the runner! Those three...

“I’m told it’s totally under control,” said the liar-in-chief who was in charge during the last pandemic. This time we have double the reason to be terrified as Putin is the dude (his bestie) to reassure him. First off, he does whatever Putin asks him to do. Secondly, do you really believe we will get the truth if the plague suddenly arrives? Covid wasn’t a one-off. Bio-terror is a true concern and wide swaths of the population can be eliminated. Especially since the communication disaster that Covid brought with it will indeed spread. Can you imagine a large portion of the population putting a mask on? They won’t listen to Science, and of course, misinformation will rule the day. When Dolly Parton passed away last month, I went to the comments section to see what her fans were saying in tribute. I must’ve seen 30 comments from people asking if ‘She got the jab’. I got the jab - most everyone I know got the jab. We’re still here. I do know more than a half dozen people who aren’t here…...

I wasn’t much of a defensive threat in my softball days. Most of it was because the ball was big and hard. It hurt when it hit me. So, I would mostly DH because my chant on D was “Don’t hit it to me.” With that being said, I think I could’ve handled the ball hit to Ryan McMahon to start the playoff game. I probably would’ve had to throw it 3 times to get it to first, but that isn’t the point. McMahon didn’t make the throw either because he whiffed. Now, I know they aren’t robots and as Socrates said, ‘Shit happens’ but that first misplay stayed on my mind all through the game. He blew it. Millions watching. Broken down old men screaming: “I could’ve caught that!” And it snowballed. A couple of more sloppy plays and that was it. Now there’s a bunch of pissed off Yankees fans. But I imagine that no one feels worse than McMahon. They aren’t robots.