Morning Coffee (141)

Again, an edition of the weekend Coffee, since that's the only time I have to write.

Indulge me, as I discuss something most of you might not care about.

"Mad Dog" Sails into Sunset:

In the waning days of the summer of 1995, I had an awakening of sorts when I saw a Cleveland Indians' game on television. Something clicked for me with the game of baseball, and it was love at first sight. It was also the beginning of a love-hate-anguish relationship with the Tribe. That year, they were a 25-man wrecking ball of offense, pouring on the runs with the speedy Kenny Lofton at the top a lineup featuring future Hall of Famers Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Omar Vizquel, along with another man, Albert Belle, who would have been a lock for the Hall had his hip not given up on him. These guys were backed by a decent starting rotation, and a couple of fireballing relievers. They put the finishing touches on their Central Division championship pretty early that year, going 100-44 in a strike shortened season. And low and behold, they found themselves in their first World Series since 1952.

But the Tribe fell short that year, largely because of a slightly built, nerdy looking Atlanta Braves pitcher who I had never heard of: Greg Maddux. Maddux started two games against the Indians during the World Series and won them both. After seeing him and the other two members of the trifecta of doom, Tom Glavin and John Smoltz, completely disassemble the world's greatest offense, I was hooked. Greg Maddux became my favorite pitcher that year, a year in which he went 19-2 with an other-worldly 1.63 ERA, and he remained so until his retirement from pitching this past Monday.

Maddux wasn't like most of the pitchers you probably heard of during the 1990s. He didn't throw 95 miles per hour or more. He wasn't a big, strong dude who struck out batters by the dozen. He didn't have a knee-buckling curveball; his frankly rated little better than a good high schooler's curveball. He didn't have a jaw-dropping splitter. He was just a regular looking guy. His success was derived partly from laser-like accuracy (a mere 999 walks in 23 years) and a late moving, if not particularly fast fastball. But make no mistake about it, Maddux conquered baseball with something beyond pure physical skill: his intellect. This was how he thrived in an era of high-octane offense. And that's why I liked Maddux. He was as analytical as anyone in the game, and was perhaps more so than anyone. They called him "The Professor." My favorite bit of Maddux trivia illustrates the intellectual vigor with which he approached the game. He said that during warm ups and bullpen sessions, he threw more pitches from the stretch, the stance used with runners on base, because, he said, "when is it more important to execute a pitch, with runners on base or with no one on?" In another instance, Braves staff were reviewing scouting reports when Maddux chimed in, "that report is wrong, I've been watching [blank] during batting practice." They're reply, "throw out the scouting report. Listen to Mad Dog." He once watched a player take his BP cuts and leaned over to another player and said, "We might have to call an ambulance for the first base coach." Sure enough, the first base coach got drilled in the chest on the very next pitch. He could tell where the ball was going just by the placement of the hitter's body in the batter's box. Which was probably the reason he won an unprecedented 18 Gold Glove awards, 13 of them consecutively.

Despite his success (i.e. four consecutive Cy Young Awards), he was humble in demeanor. More than this, his reputation is without blemish. No one would ever accuse Maddux of using performance enhancing anything, unless they were referring to his 100-lbs brain, of course. And get this, Maddux, winner of 355 games, is the winningest pitcher alive, a title he will certainly carry until his death. Thankfully Maddux overcame the now-tainted Roger Clemens.

So Monday was, for me, a time of reflection and a bit of sadness. Every time Greg Maddux came up for free agency (which wasn't very often in this free agent mad world), or when trade rumors circulated (again, very infrequently), I hoped that I'd see him pitch in an Indians' uniform. It never happened, but I still count myself lucky to have seen one of the greatest pitchers to have ever played the game.

The Great Overachiever:
It amuses me that the man who was supposed to change everything is already mired in a political scandal, and he's still more than a month from being sworn in as our President. So much for Washington outsider, eh?

As of right now, nothing reported points to Obama having anything to do with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his desire to sell off Obama's now vacant Senate seat. And it might be that nothing ever does, though that doesn't prevent the stain of the scandal from setting on his Inauguration. Especially as it is becoming more evident that Obama's soon-to-be Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, who has close ties to both Obama and Blagojevich, at the very least talked with Blago about the Senate vacancy. And it doesn't help that neither Obama nor Emanuel made more than a token effort to answer questions about this scandal this past week, with Emanuel being downright hostile to questions. At least Obama tried, proclaiming that he was confident that no representatives of his engaged with Blagojevich regarding the selection of a replacement Senator. That assertion losses credence when Emanuel apparently called Blago's Chief of Staff, John Harris (who has also been brought up on federal corruption charges) just prior to Election Day and presented to Harris a list of names that Obama would find acceptable. Emanuel then called back after the election to add another name to the "approved of" list. Very interesting.

Did Obama or Emanuel do anything illegal? Not as far as I can tell. But Blagojevich surely intended to gain personally from his selection of Obama's Senate replacement, that much is clear from the transcripts of the taped conversations Blagojevich had with Harris and others. Even if Obama and his representative Emanuel did nothing technically illegal, the appearance of impropriety is there, despite Blagojevich's tapped statement that "they" (Obama's administration) were unwilling to give him anything except appreciation (if that's true, I give kudos to Obama and his proxies). Appearances trump reason in all cases. Mayhap Emanuel will the sacrificial lamb here. A good cleansing cures a great deal.

With that, I sidebar into another Morning Coffee sponsored political reform proposal, which I'll continue to repeat ad nauseum: when one politician decides to run for another office, he/she must give up their present office so that another may run (see previous rant on Joe Biden's seat in Delaware). This way, the People (you remember those guys, right?), can select their own Representation (imagine that) and we take remove such power from the hands of an individual. Selecting replacements for vacancies is highly political, and it is of such importance that I do not trust any one person to make that choice on our behalf.

The Rapidly Expiring Honeymoon:
The Blagojevich controversy comes on the heals of a wide-spread malaise in liberal circles. It seems that many, still warm from the euphoria of having the so-called Chosen One actually win, are being slapped in the face with the cold, hard hand called Reality. The fanboys are still fanboys, but there's an uneasiness; a concern that Obama might not do or be what he claimed he would. Many are angered over his Cabinet selections. One blogger, Chris Bower of OpenLeft says, "Isn't there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?" Backsliding abounds, friends. I really haven't any intention of going into all the instances of Obama's adjustments on Iraq or tax cuts or whatever, but suffice it to say, I find it rather humorous. All those idealists who'll have their hopes and dreams shattered when they realize that Obama's just like the rest: he'll say whatever sounds good at the time. It's called political expediency. This, dear readers, is part of the reason I wanted a Democrat to win. Sue me, I get joy in seeing hopes and dreams crushed.

The flip side is, the fears of many conservatives are likely alleviated to some degree (not fully, of course, he still is a Democrat), but they'll never admit it. They've put too much effort in calling Obama a socialist, etc, etc, to ever back off from those assertions.

I leave you with that. It's time to go play on the beach, where it's sunny and 50 degrees plus already. Life is mostly good. Enjoy your Coffee and your day.

Word of the Day: Dastard (noun): A mean coward.

On This Day in History: Nostradamus is born (1503). The Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly at Kitty Hawk (1903). The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations after invading Finland (1939). George Bush announces the capture of Saddam Hussein (2003).

"I don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on the issue at this time. It's a sad day for Illinois." - President-elect Barack Obama on the Blagojevich controversy. Is this the type of leadership we can expect for the next four years?

Morning Coffee (129)

What a momentous time in which we live.

They, whoever they might be at any given time, say that writers should write every day, even if they're not feeling particularly inspired, nay, ESPECIALLY when they're not feeling inspired. Luckily, I'm not a writer. I'm an "aspiring" writer, which gives me all sorts of generic byes like "I was too busy working," or "I got caught up in a movie" or "my dog ate my draft." I'm also not getting paid, nor am I a very good writer, as this chap happens to be.

Despite not feeling much like a Coffee Brewer today, and despite the likely fact that this Coffee will not be served until mid-afternoon, there is much to discuss, and I suppose it gives me, if not you, something to do.

VP Who?:

On Friday, John McCain announced that he had finally picked a running mate. Oh, you've heard about this? Come on, man, this isn't the news, it's a blog. Anyway, Mitt Romney is his pick, and he's sticking to his guns even if the man's a Mormon. Wait…it's not Mitt? Well then, Mike Huckabee? No? Tom Ridge? Then it absolutely MUST be his good friend Joe Lieberman! No again? Well, who is it? Surely we've heard of him, right?

No. Probably not. John McCain picked a "her;" Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. But you knew this already and were simply humoring my dramatic flair.

I've read a great deal about this, and three days after the fact, I'm still having a hard time figuring out why McCain chose Palin. Yes, Palin does a couple of things for McCain. Obviously, she's a woman, and McCain is seeking to woo disenfranchised Clinton supporters, many of whom are women. At the face of it, this seems like a brilliant idea. But it's likely that her staunch anti-abortion stance, even in incest and rape cases, will somewhat nullify the effect of drawing Clinton supporters, known for their pro-choice sentiments. I don't believe that liberal-leaning women who are fans of "Roe v. Wade" will jump on McCain's bandwagon simply because he chose a woman, especially one who happens to have radically different views than their own.

She's also "a person of deep Christian faith," according to Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition. So deep is this Christian faith, Palin opted not to have an abortion when she found out that her son, in utero, had Down's Syndrome, a decision for which she received quite a bit of credit from conservatives. Her "deep Christian faith" and her obvious adherence to that faith and to a priority principle of the religious right will surely net McCain a decent portion of the evangelical vote that he been seeking, to little success thus far.

Palin also has a reputation as someone who cleans up corruption, having risen to prominence in Alaskan politics as a whistle-blower and ran for governor as a change agent. But she's got her own corruption problems. It's possible that she fired some public safety commissioner because that official refused to fire a state trooper who was recently divorced and was engaged in a custody battle with his ex-wife, who happened to be Palin's sister. Certainly this will come up. A lot.

Also, Palin is beautiful, and we shouldn't discount the beauty effect in politics. Remember, in 1960, Kennedy debated Nixon in the presidential race. Those who watched the debate on television (a novel concept then) declared Kennedy the winner. Nixon looked sickly, having recently returned from a hospital stay concerning his knee, still had a poor complexion as a result, and was still nearly 20 pounds underweight, whereas Kennedy had a "healthy glow" (ironically a result of his medical condition) and looked fit. Those people who consumed the debate via radio broadcast had a different take on the winner, declaring Nixon to have bested Kennedy. Looks mean a great deal, and Palin, a former beauty pageant participant, has a surplus of good looks. Not only that, but she's remarkably charismatic and has a small-town charm that any politician would be envious of. I would nearly deem her a perfect woman. She hunts, fishes, is active, is smart, and is incredibly sexy. All these things appeal to Republicans, especially that last quality as a good many of them are not what you would call sexually liberated.

With all that being said, you might ask how I am having difficulty understanding why McCain chose her. Your concern would be valid. Looking at all the above reasons, she's a brilliant pick, right? Well, not really, in my opinion. A central theme in McCain's argument against Obama is that Obama lacks experience, an assessment with which I would agree. But the problem is Palin has LESS experience than Obama. Obama had served eight years as a lawmaker in Illinois, and Palin's been the mayor of a very small town and governor for less than two years. Supporters of Palin point to the fact that she's the "commander-in-chief" of Alaska's National Guard and that she's the governor of the largest state which borders Russia and the Arctic, an area of interest for many nations, and is well-versed in missile defense (because of the missile defense network's equipment is in Alaska), etc, etc.

These things are fluff. Palin is less experienced than Obama and there's really no way around it. I'm not sure that's the message McCain should be sending to Americans. McCain is 72 years old. The median life expectancy for American males is 75.15. McCain has had four bouts of skin cancer, and endured five years in a North Vietnamese prison in which he surely didn't receive appropriate nutrition. I do not doubt that McCain is fit. But my grandfather was fit a week before he died at 76. McCain could feasibly get cancer and die within a few months. Or he could have a heart attack or stroke. He could fall down the stairs and break his neck. Yes, these things could happen to youthful presidents as well, but the risks are higher for a man of McCain's age. McCain, knowing his age is an issue, is asking us to accept as his vice president a person with less experience than the person he's claiming hasn't enough experience to be President. What's worse is his campaign published a statement saying that Sarah Palin is ready to be President. How is it, then, that Obama isn't? McCain is treating us like fools and frankly, if he believes Obama shouldn't be elected President, he's being irresponsible by selecting someone with less experience than his opponent. His age and the possibility of his death is something that shouldn't inherently dissuade people from voting for him, but it should be on their minds, and a sound VP pick should assuage such concerns, not wholly ignore them.

But at the end of the day, I must remember that politics is about the heart, not about the mind. What seems foolish to me clearly seems brilliant to the masses, because they identify with her rather than examine her. Conservative media and figures within Conservatism are very pleased with McCain's pick. All this considered, Palin is an excellent choice as VP, for all the reasons I've stated previously and probably more. Her story is (supposedly) inspiring. She's a mom, a member of the PTA, an outdoorswoman, beautiful. Men want to be with her and women want to be her. Can she lead? Maybe, maybe not. Let's hope that if McCain's elected, we don't have to find out.

America's Pastime Meets Infallibility:

This past Thursday Major League Baseball (MLB) implemented a rule change that takes rulings on certain plays out of the hands of umpires, the men who've been the on-field gods for more than 130 years. Instant replay has been finally, and to the likely joy of casual fans everywhere, incorporated into the game. But only on home runs (fair or foul, whether the ball went over the wall, etc) and fan interference.

I'm not exactly a baseball purist considering I'm a fan of the designated hitter rule in the American League (only). That opinion alone completely rules me out of the "baseball purist club" despite whatever other feelings I have for the game. For instance, I don't like Bud Selig's favorite institution: interleague play. Yes, it's been hugely successful, but I like the idea of two separate leagues that don't see each other during the regular season. For me, it builds a certain amount of mystery. But despite not being a card carrying member of be baseball purist club, I am against the use of instant replay in any manner.

Surely, many of you will disagree, if in fact you like baseball at all (if you do not, simply skip on to the next section). Most of you probably won't since in baseball, "nothing happens and it's boring." I know, I know, a great deal happens in football; quarterbacks take knees at the end of games to run down the clock (baseball's not over until the last pitch), and everyone has to huddle every 15 seconds to strategize. Got it. But despite the fact that nothing happens, baseball has always been officiated by the umpires, and human error is part of the game. Historically, umpires have been exceptionally good at getting calls right. I read an article a few years ago by Tom Verducci of CNNSI. Verducci got the chance to work as an umpire during Spring Training in 2007 and wrote about his experience. He writes:

"There were 167,341 at bats last season over 2,429 games. According to the 2006 "Umpiring Year in Review," a report put together by MLB officials, the men in blue made only 100 incorrect calls, excluding balls and strikes (and in that discipline they were judged to be 94.9% accurate). Not once did a club protest a game." [Emphasis added]

That's pretty good. In fact, considering that there are hundreds of plays in each game, and possibly several during each at-bat, that's an otherworldly success rate. That's better than any one would expect considering the umpires are human. The author of the article also interviewed several active and former umpires, and they struck me with their dedication to getting the calls right, and how they would anguish over missing a call, as rare as it was.

This year though, umpires didn't help their arguments against instant replay all that much, blowing several home run calls early in the season. That pretty much sealed the fate. MLB pressured the umps into accepting instant replay, much as they did with the infamous QuesTec machine that was installed to evaluate umpire effectiveness in calling balls and strikes and to standardize strike zone variation between umpires. So now, instant replay is billed as a "tool at the hands of managers and umpires." They can get the call right now.

It's this sort of slow chipping away at the human element that bothers me. I say this as an avid fan of the Cleveland Indians. I've been burned by botched calls, and not once did I say, "I wish that MLB would use instant replay!" Never have I ever said that, nor would I, even if it meant my team missing the World Series. Blown calls are part of the game, although a very small part. First QuesTec, then instant replay on home run calls. Soon we'll have instant replay decisions on stolen bases and on whether or not an outfielder trapped or caught a fly ball. MLB wants to speed up a game (that has no time limit, mind you) and yet they institute something that will add time. And they make fallible the infallible (umpires). To me it's sad, for reasons others might not be able to understand. The game is played by humans, managed by humans, and officiated by humans. It's how it's always been, and it's worked pretty well. Next maybe we'll have more show boating after home runs…why not go all the way, right?

Word of the Day: Gubernatorial (adj): Of or pertaining to a governor.

On This Day in History: Two relatively bad Roman emperors were born on this day; Caligula in 12 CE and Commodus in 161 CE. Lewis and Clark set out from Pittsburgh, beginning their exploration (1803). The first known victim of Jack the Ripper, Mary Ann Nichols, is murdered (1888). Nazi Germany stages an attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, making it appear that anti-German Poles perpetrated the attack and giving Germany an excuse to make war against Poland and beginning the Second World War in Europe (1939).

"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic." – Crash Davis

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." - Lord Acton

**Formatting and hyperlink errors fixed (1807 EST)

Morning Coffee (103)

It's a great day to be a Coffee drinker, no? A lovely Monday morning.

I am pleased today for two reasons. One, Spring Training has recently started. Baseball is a great love of mine, and I dare say a lot of people in the US. Unfortunately, this offseason has been one of distraction, what with the Mitchell Report and steroids and Roger Clemens. But it's time to start anew. Baseball is like that. Every year, the moment pitchers and catchers report to camp, you get to forget about the disappointments of last year. Spring Training represents eternal optimism; every team is a contender (for the short term). You never know what sort of magic will take place throughout the next 8 months. What records will be broken. What amazing performances you'll witness. Sure, there are a lot of problems with baseball. Skyrocketing salaries, made by young men to play a game, amounts which the common man cannot even appreciate let alone identify with. And of course steroids and accusations which have brought low our heroes. Ticket prices that are prohibitive for the aforementioned common man. Convoluted rules about blackouts for cable TV sports packages. But none of these things put a damper on the elation I feel when I think about Spring Training.

Another reason to be joyous today is the death of Imad Moughniyah, who was formerly Hezbollah's guerrilla commander. Being Hezbollah's guerrilla commander will probably net you a few enemies, and someone assassinated him. In fact, Moughniyah was among the illustrious Most Wanted by the United States. Why would someone who you've never heard of be on such a list? If you're old enough, of if you're a US Marine, you might remember the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983. Moughniyah assisted in the planning and execution of that attack, and another executed that day.

On 23 October, a man drove a truck full of the equivalent of 12,000 pounds of explosives towards the Marine Barracks in Beirut. The Marine sentries, under restrictive rules of engagement, were unable to quickly respond to the threat, and the suicide bombing successfully detonated his explosives after crashing the gate and plowing the truck into the front of the building. The four story building collapsed, killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Sixty other men were injured. This was the single deadliest day for the US Marine Corps since Iwo Jima. Two minutes after this blast, a similar attack took place against a French barracks about 4 miles away leading to the deaths of 58 French soldiers. This was arguably the first time that a modern terrorist organization caused a radical shift in a nation's foreign policy. Despite public insistences that US forces would remain, the Marines were withdrawn four months after the attack (after they had already been moved off-shore) and by April, the remaining Multinational Forces had been withdrawn. Taking this into consideration, and including the Mogadishu debacle, is it any wonder these groups are so certain that they can defeat the US?

Regardless of the outcome of those attacks, Moughniyah obviously continued his dastardly ways and eventually paid for it. I know some people might think that you should never wish for someone's death. However, even if this were true, I'd make an exception for Moughniyah. I'd rather he have suffered a bit more; a car bombing might have been a little too quick and painless. But he's gone now, and Hezbollah is weaker for it. This is a good thing. (Remember, Hezbollah is closely affiliated with a country called Iran.)

In less somber news, the community of nations welcomed a new member into its ranks yesterday as Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. By all accounts, Kosovars took to the streets to celebrate. Can you imagine how they must feel? They have a long road ahead of them. While the US, France, Britain, and Germany have announced recognition of Kosovo today, Russia and China are very much against recognition, and Russia is a long-time supporter of Serbia, which still regards the newly formed Republic of Kosovo as part of its territory. I wish them luck, and I hope they find their independence to be fulfilling.

A very short Coffee, I know. Consider it to be a cup of Italian cappuccino or something similar: small but potents. Well, the potency of this Coffee is up for debate.

Word of the Day: Sine qua non (sin-ih-kwah-NON) (noun): An essential condition or element; an indispensable thing.

On This Day in History: The first ongoing filibuster in the US Senate begins (1841). This lasts until 11 March. The Lincoln Country War between ranchers and the owners of a general stroe begins in Lincoln Country, New Mexico. A young man by the name of William Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, alias William Antrim, alias Billy the Kid, was a participant in this war on the side of the ranchers. Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the first and only time in recorded history (1979). (1878).

Fiat justitia, ruat coelum. - Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.