Chicago...

My wife and I just returned from a weekend in Chicago. We have had the good fortune to travel quite a bit in the five years we have been married, and this was our second trip to Chicago. Last time, we went up for a Cubs game and came right back home. This time, we got to do some sight seeing. Chicago is a neat city. We spent a lot of time around Navy Pier. We brought our five-month-old son, and he enjoyed all the bright colors and noises of the Pier.

We took a water tour of the city and learned a lot about the history of its skyscrapers. We did a little shopping for my wife on Michigan Avenue, and we went to a Cubs game for me.

They are currently filming Transformers 3 in Chicago right now, so on street corners, there are random piles of rubble and charred, crashed cars. It was odd to walk down the street and see it in the middle of the road.

We rode the L, which is Chicago’s public transportation system, and it was easy to navigate and convenient for my wife and I, even with our son. As my wife and I walked around the amazing city, I thought about the differences between big cities and the small town in which we live. While we were in Chicago, we walked or rode the train to anywhere that we wanted to go. This is not possible in our small town. My wife and I live out of town, so we don’t have the luxury of walking to the store or to eat, and there is no public transportation in our town. There are so many more choices of things to do in a big city. Restaurants are open late, there are ball games to go to, and there are even movie sets to explore in a big city. In our small town, restaurants close by nine, the only ball games are when the high school team is playing at home, and beyond bowling and Wal-Mart, there is not a lot to do at night. However, as my wife and I ventured around the city, we discussed the idea of living there, and we decided we were happy where we are. Big cities are exciting and always changing, which is fun, but there is something to be said for the stability of a small town. If something happens to my wife or me, people in our town would notice. In Chicago, we might just be two other people in a sea of faces. In our town, people are ecstatic to meet our son. In Chicago, people tried not to bump in to him while we were walking. We love the idea of our town watching our son grow and blossom. In Chicago, would people notice my son? I know it would be different if we actually lived in Chicago, but I like my small town. I like knowing who is in Wal-Mart with me. I like knowing my neighbors and even people who live down the road. I like being home by nine with my wife and son watching the local news. I like my small town, so while Chicago is nice to visit, it makes me grateful for my home.

General Requirements

As I finish up this summer semester, I am thinking a lot about general requirements. It could have something to do with the fact that I am taking zoology and currently writing a research paper about the effects of Zinc on senescent leaf decomposition in urban streams, which is not something I would research on my own. I am questioning the importance of general requirements. I am a Pre-Physical Therapy major, and I have spent a semester of my life studying organisms that can only be viewed under a microscope. I do not believe the isopods I am studying will ever need a physical therapist, so why do I have to study them? My wife and I discussed this the other night, and she told me that she believed the idea of a general education dated back to the Greeks. Washington University has a theory on general requirements that states they provide a foundation for a major, realize individual student potentials, prepare for membership in the community, and facilitate integration of knowledge. Middle Tennessee University has this to say about general education requirements, “The General Education Program helps provide students with the common, hallmark qualities of an educated person, the skills and interrelated knowledge that are the foundation and scaffolding for an academic major and a future career.” The University of Wisconsin says this about their general requirements, “This core establishes a foundation for living a productive life, being a citizen of the world, appreciating aesthetic values, and engaging in lifelong learning in a continually changing world. These requirements provide for breadth across the humanities and arts, social studies, and natural sciences; competence in communication, critical thinking and analytical skills appropriate for a university-educated person; and investigation of the issues raised by living in a culturally diverse society.” I understand that there are some basic skills that everyone needs to come out of college with, including basic math, the ability to read, write, and speak clearly, and general knowledge of culture, but I think that sometimes colleges take the idea of a general education too seriously. While I understand the idea of being “well-rounded,” I think colleges over estimate the amount of knowledge retained from these classes. My wife took Physical Science while at Missouri Southern, and she did not retain most of the important concepts taught in the class. It wasn’t that she did not do well in the class; she made a B, but she did not see the class as important, so she learned things for the tests, then quickly put them away in her mind. I think this is how a lot of students treat the gen. ed. requirements that are not pertinent to their major, and I think colleges are oblivious to this. I have heard numerous people criticize colleges for using gen. ed. requirements strictly as a way to get more money. If this is the case, I would prefer spending more money on classes pertinent to my degree than wasting time and money on classes I am going to forget as soon as I walk out of the door. Don’t get me wrong, I am not slamming my Zoology professor or class. The professor does a wonderful job of tying micro-organisms functions into a larger scale to make it pertinent to those of us who are not Biology majors, but I wish I could take a class that just focused on organisms directly tied to my major instead of a class that tries to tie those organisms in when possible. I think the purpose of a college is to educate a person in the field they are pursuing, not to try and make them better citizens by being well-rounded. A person can become a better citizen on their own, let colleges focus on education.

Vacation: All You Ever Wanted??

The concept of vacations makes me laugh. We go on vacations to escape the real world and spend time relaxing and enjoying ourselves in ways we cannot at home. This is a great idea in theory, but in actuality, I think the majority of people spend more time stressing out about their vacations than they ever do stressing out about their everyday life. Where do we go on vacation? Where do we stay when we get there? What do we do when we get there? Do I need to buy tickets ahead of time or wait until we get there? If we are breaking up our trip into two segments, do we book a hotel ahead of time or just try and find one when we stop? How much do we put on the credit card? How much cash should we carry? How are the kids going to do? Should we bring their personal DVD players or do we want to try and make them talk to us? These are just the questions that affect the whole family. Then there are the questions the affect each individual. For men, do I bring my wallet or scale back to just a money clip so I can keep it in my front pocket? Do I take the GPS and listen to it tell me directions or do I print off the directions for my wife to bark them at me on the interstate? At what time can I hit big city traffic in which both my wife and kids will be asleep, so they won’t freak out on me? Is it really not okay to wear socks with sandals? For women, how many pairs of shoes should I bring? What about make up? Should I bring the straightener and all the products I need to wear my hair curly? What kind of clothes should I bring? What do I do with my jewelry? What about purses? Did I pack enough for the kids? Is my husband seriously wearing socks with his sandals? All of these questions lead to more stress. In addition to trying to answer all of these questions, people must figure out what they should and should not do once they reach their location. Do we allow the kids to do things on their own or do we stress the importance of spending time together as a family? Do I eat unhealthy the whole time or do I throw in a few salads to make myself feel better? Am I really going to use the gym at the hotel (which leads to the do I or do I not pack work out clothes debate before the trip)? Do we need to buy the picture from the amusement park? Yes, I know we’ll probably only be here once, but do I really need to pay $50 for a picture in which my son looks like someone has shoved bees up his nose? All of this leads to a stressful time which negates the purpose of going on a vacation. I realize that not everyone’s vacation goes like this, but enough people’s vacations do that I think it is worth considering the value of a staycation.

Time in a Bottle

When I was young, I remember my father playing the song “Time in a Bottle” when we were in the car. At the time, I did not get the song. I thought it was stupid. Of all the things to put in a bottle, why would someone pick time? I would have picked a lightening bug or root beer, but that was just me. As I grow older, I am beginning to understand the significance of this song. The chorus of the song says, “But there never seems to be enough time/To do the things you want to do/Once you find them.” This has become incredibly true for me. I have finally decided that I want to go back to school because I want more out my life than just the mundane, but now, I have a wife and a son, and it is hard to spend enough time with them while going to school full time and working full time. I have found the thing I “want to do” but as the song says, “There never seems to be enough time.” It is hard not to be down when I think of the time I am missing out on with my son, but I try and remind myself that I am building a better life for us. Once I graduate, my wife will have the ability to stay home with our children which is something she strongly desires to do, so I know all this time away from her and my son will pay off in the long run, but it seems so far away that it is hard to get excited about. That is what makes time such a tricky thing. On the one hand, I would love time to slow down, so I can savor these sweet moments with my son while he is still tiny and innocent. On the other hand, I would love for time to speed up, so I could be finished with the stress of balancing school, family, and work. It is a paradox. It is a similar concept for those people who write a bucket list. People who create a bucket list write down a list of things that they want to do before they die. The irony of it is that most people spend more time deciding what they want on their list than they do actually living out the items they have picked. My wife is always commenting about things she wants to do before she dies. One day I told her she should write all of them down, and she told me that she did not want to take time out of her living to figure out what she wants to do while she is dying. This is another paradox of life. The moment we start living, we also start dying. If this was not so, then we would not have to stress out about the concept of time. This is why phrases like “carpe diem” have garnered so much attention. We must seize the day because we do not know what the next day holds. We cannot catch time in a bottle, so we must focus on living today.

Golden Rule

I have been thinking a lot about the Golden Rule lately: “Treat others as you want to be treated.” When I was in kindergarten, our teacher told us we would live by this motto. As I have grown older, I have realized that most people do not live by this motto. Most people live by the motto, “Treat others as well as possible.” I heard a pastor do a sermon one time where he discussed this concept about the Golden Rule. The following scenario is how he chose to explain the Golden Rule. Imagine that you have a Snickers candy bar and Reese’s cups. These things have been given to you, and you have a friend with you. You love Reese’s, and they are your very favorite candy bar. You also know that your friends’ favorite candy is Reese’s cups, too. You know your friend would be perfectly fine with the Snickers’ bar, and it would be nice of you to give your friend the candy bar. What do you do? Do you keep the Reese’s for yourself and give your friend the Snickers? Is that not what the Golden Rule is all about? You would be giving your friend other candy bar, and if you were your friend, you would want some candy, right? However, the Golden Rule says to treat others as you would WANT to be treated. If you were your friend, wouldn’t you want the Reese’s? It is your favorite candy bar after all. And if you were truly treating others how you wanted to be treated, then you would want which candy bar was your very favorite. Most of us would feel good about ourselves just by sharing our candy with someone else, but in reality, we are probably still being a little selfish by keeping the best for ourselves. That’s not really the heart of the Golden Rule. That’s the heart of the Modern Rule of “Treat others well.” The Golden Rule is so simple, but it’s really difficult. I’ve explained in my earlier blog that my wife and I are doing the Love Dare. In the Love Dare, there is a lot of talk about conflicts in marriage and how to fight fair. The Love Dare references the Golden Rule in fighting, and it makes a lot of sense. In a fight, sometimes we are so concerned about “winning” that we don’t worry about “treating others the way we would like to be treated.” We think that as long as we don’t yell and say terrible things, we are abiding by the Golden Rule, but in reality, that’s still not treating others the way we want to be treated. We want to be right, we want to win, and we want to walk away satisfied that we got what we wanted. All of that adds up to a lot of worrying about ourselves and not the other person. If we’re treating them the way we WANT to be treated, then we worry less about ourselves and winning and more about the way we want them to feel at the end of the discussion. The Golden Rule: a simple concept with complex applications.

Farewell George

As you know if you have been reading my blog, I am a die-hard Yankees fan. Today is a sad day in the world of Yankees fandom. The controversial Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away today at the age of 80. Mr. Steinbrenner had been in ill health for quite a while, so it was not a big surprise that he passed, but it is still devastating loss to both the Yankees and the Steinbrenner family. Mr. Steinbrenner was born on July 4, 1930. He grew up in Cleveland as the son of a shipping tycoon. George tried his hand in numerous adventures and was a successful football and basketball coach before venturing into the world of baseball. He bought the Yankees in 1973 for around 10 million dollars. He was known to have a volatile temper and be over-involved with his team, as Billy Martin could attest to. Martin was hired and fired five different times by Steinbrenner during his tumultuous tenure in the ‘70’s. The two had infamous arguments, but they could not seem to get away from one another. Steinbrenner hired seventeen managers in his first seventeen seasons with the Yankees. His success in the early years lay in landing “Catfish” Hunter and Reggie Jackson who became known as Mr. October. His Yankees won back-to-back World Series in 1977 and 1978, but then, the Yankees World Series winning streak went dormant until 1996. The Yankees won the Series again in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. All of those titles mean that the Yankees won the World Series seven times under George Steinbrenner’s ownership. That equals about one World Series every five years. While those statistics are more impressive than any other team in Major League Baseball, they do show that the major argument against Steinbrenner may not hold water. Steinbrenner was often accused of spending too much money and making it impossible for smaller market teams to be able to compete with the Yankees. If you check recent payrolls, which you can here, you’ll discover that the Yankees have the highest payroll by a landslide. However, all of that money does not necessarily translate into winning titles. The Yankees didn’t win a single World Series from 1978 to 1996. That’s a twenty year dry spell. Twenty years that Steinbrenner was pouring money into a franchise and not seeing the results he wanted. As much as people want to criticize Steinbrenner for using his money to dominate the game, it is simply not true. He had twenty years in which he felt that he was basically flushing his money down the toilet. Even recently, he had to stand back and watch the Tampa Bay Rays make it to the World Series in 2008 while his prized Yankees sat at home. The Rays who have the tenth lowest payroll in the MLB managed to surpass his beloved Yankees who come in first in payroll. At the end of the day, Steinbrenner may be overzealous and passionate, but who wouldn’t want that in an owner? What players wouldn’t want to play for a team where the owner was willing to go out every year and get the best players, no matter what the cost? No one I know would protest against that owner. The only people who I know who would protest that owner would be the teams that have to play against his team, and I believe anger drives competition anyway, so if those teams are upset, then it’s good for baseball. So as we look at Mr. Steinbrenner’s legacy, I hope we can put aside the controversy and just focus on his passion. He meant a lot to the game of baseball, and he will be missed.

Baseball

Baseball is considered the great American pastime. Why is it so fascinating? I played baseball up until this past summer. I loved it. It consumed my life. I traveled overseas to play; I was scouted; I devoted my life to the sport. Why? Why is baseball so consuming, so fascinating? In my family, the love of baseball runs through your veins along with your blood. Our lives revolved around baseball. I have four brothers, and all of us played baseball at least until high school, and three of us played baseball in high school. When I was growing up, our summers were consumed with baseball. Family vacations could only happen during the weeks between summer and fall ball. Our schedules were driven by baseball. If something interfered with baseball, then it was thrown to the wayside because baseball was the dominant force in our lives. When my wife and I first started dating, she asked me while I loved baseball so much. I told her about how much I played, practiced, and watched baseball. Being the analytical woman that she is, she wanted to know why I started loving baseball. That was a harder question to answer. My father had always loved baseball, and I grew up loving the sport with him. I remember watching Yankees games on our couch when I was just beginning to throw the ball. I remember him teaching me to throw a knuckle ball and later, a curve ball. He taught me to bunt, pitch, and throw. We would spend hours on end in the backyard throwing the ball and hitting in our batting cage. I would devote all day to practicing while he was at work, and when he came home, I would show him how I had improved on something we had worked on the night before. We would play catch until dinner was ready, and then, we would go back out and play some more after dessert. When my brothers were big enough, I would drag them out with us so we could play a wiffle ball game in the backyard. My mom used to have a quote calendar on her desk, and she cut out one quote that she hung on our refrigerator because it reminded her of our family. It said, “Baseball is a game where little boys practice being men, and men practice being little boys, and they both get really good at it.” She used to joke that the quote was written about my brothers, me, and my father. We used to roll our eyes when she teased us about spending too much time on baseball, but she never really seemed to mind our addiction. It wasn’t until I had my own son that I realized why baseball is so addictive and why my mom never cared that we devoted so much time to it. It was never about the game itself. It was always about our family joining in on the sport together. We spent almost every hour of every night together working on a game which in essence joined us together in something that went far beyond a sport. It joined us as a family, bonded us for life. Maybe that’s why baseball is the great American sport- it helps create the great American family.

LeBron James

Unless you have been living in a vacuum, you have probably heard about the LeBron James drama. In case you have not heard yet, you can read all about it here. LeBron is contemplating leaving his hometown of Cleveland to play basketball at a more exciting city such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Miami. LeBron has decided to make his announcement to the public during an hour long special Thursday night on ESPN. LeBron grew up in Akron, Ohio, which is about an hour south of Cleveland where he currently plays basketball. He went straight from high school to the NBA which is now impossible in case you missed my NBA Blog. He did not have an easy life in Akron, but he grew to be an astounding athlete despite his rough childhood. Now, he has proven to be more than just a high school phenom; he has won the NBA MVP two years in a row, beating the likes of Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and numerous other stars. After all of his success in Cleveland, he is now at the end of his contract and has to decide where would be the best place for him to continue his career. He has been wooed by some incredible teams, and despite all the press coverage, there does not seem to be a clear frontrunner. LeBron has made no secret of his love of New York City, even wearing a Yankees cap while watching the Yanks taking on his hometown Indians. Does that mean that the New York Knicks have a good chance of taking LeBron way from his beloved Cleveland? The answer is murky. The Knicks have secured Amare Stoudemire to their team, which could be an enticing offer to James since Stoudemire is a stellar player, and the Knicks received confirmation that the signing of Stoudemire would not hinder the pursuit of James. The Bulls were once the frontrunner for James, but they have been unable to secure any other superstars in Chicago, so the buzz around the Bulls seems to have faded slightly. They still have the up-and-comer Derrick Rose, who happens to also be a hometown boy, born and raised in Chicago. Despite LeBron’s interest in the Bulls, he has to be considerate of the comparisons he would get to Michael Jordan if he joined the famed team. Even if James feels that he could possibly turn the Bulls around, would it be worth it if everything he does will be compared to what Michael did? I don’t think so. Although the LA Clippers and New Jersey Nets are still in the running, they seem to have fallen slightly behind the pack, so that leaves people wondering if James is headed to Miami. If he went to Miami, he would be joining greats like Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, but Wade and Bosh made their announcements this morning, so if LeBron was going to join them, why wouldn’t he have made his announcement, too? Maybe because LeBron still has not made up his mind? Maybe because LeBron wants his own moment of glory when he announces he is leaving Cleveland? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because LeBron is going to stay put in his hometown where he belongs. LeBron knows that if he leaves Cleveland, it will be devastating to the city. I’ve even heard that LeBron leaving would cost the Cavaliers twenty million, and that’s not even counting the loss in ticket sales if King James is not on the team. Cleveland needs LeBron, and I think that LeBron, deep down, needs Cleveland. It’s his hometown, it’s where he grew up, and frankly, it’s his life. Who would be willing to leave his legacy? Especially a legacy that is unfinished since he has yet to bring a title to his beloved city. I hope LeBron stays in Cleveland because I feel that Cleveland is the underdog, and who doesn’t root for the underdog? Stay put, LeBron. It just makes sense.

The Love Dare

My wife and my Sunday school class is going through the Love Dare study. For those of you who do not know what the study is about, then you can check out the website to find out more information. The Love Dare is a forty day Bible study for married couples to help strengthen their marriages. Each day give the couple a new challenge to help fortify their relationship, and these challenges build upon each other daily. Day one of the challenge is to practice patience like that noted in 1 Corinthians 13. The study challenges husbands and wives to say nothing negative to one another on the first day of the study. This challenge sounds easy enough, but it is incredibly difficult. The study encourages couples to remain silent if they cannot say something nice in order to resist the urge to speak negatively to one another. It references the age old adage that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. This concept is so childlike that is seems like it could only make a trivial difference, but in my marriage, I have discovered it can make a big impact. In an age in which almost forty percent of marriages end in divorce, any help that my wife and I can get to help secure our marriage, we are willing to take. Something the Love Dare stresses is that marriages cannot just be based on feelings. I remember when I first fell in love with my wife, I got nervous every time she walked in the room. My palms would get all sweaty, and I would stress over what I wanted to say and how I should say it. Those feelings of anxiety eventually faded, and I even stressed about why I was missing those “butterflies.” A friend of mine told me that I must have fallen out of love with my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time), but I knew that could not be right. My wife and I continued to date, and I knew that what we were doing was right. It was not until we went through our pre-wedding counseling that I understood how those feelings were deceitful. Our minister explained to us that love could not be based on a feeling because feelings could change. There would be days that we simply would not “feel” married, but that did not change the fact that we were married. Love was a conscience decision to make things work. It was a commitment that could not waver with our feelings. Feelings deceive you. Anger, depression, frustration-those are all feelings that can make you want to leave your marriage, but those feelings are deceptive, and the commitment to your spouse must overpower your feelings. My wife and I are committed to our relationship regardless of what our feelings are that day. We do not want to worry about whether our feelings may cause us to stray from our commitments. This study will just strengthen the commitment we have already made and help us to become more than a statistic.

What's in a name?

My wife and I named our son Bronx. I am a huge New York Yankees fan. I have a room in my house devoted to the Yankees, complete with pin-striped walls and Yankees memorabilia. This room has since been converted into my son’s nursery, but it has maintained all of its Yankees integrity. Yankees Stadium is located in Bronx, New York, so when it came time to name my son, Bronx seemed like the perfect choice. However, my wife was not so sure. She was really sold on the name Braxton, and she thought Bronx may be too unusual for her taste, but the more we discussed it, the more it grew on her. Finally, she agreed with me that Bronx was the perfect name for our son. We were overjoyed to tell people what we were going to name our little blessing, and we could not wait to see what they thought of the name. Unfortunately, our name choice met mixed reviews. All of our family and friends seemed to love the name, but they all understood how much I loved the Yankees and my wife’s love for anything to do with New York City. However, people who did not know us as well did not share our enthusiasm for his name. My wife even had a lady tell her to be sure and give Bronx a “normal” middle name, so he could use it when he grew older and did not want to be called Bronx anymore. I was amazed by how brazen people were with their opinions of his name. Normal people who seemed sweet and innocent were suddenly bitter critics who felt empowered to tell us exactly what they thought. It is astonishing how people who would never hurt our feelings on a normal basis felt that they could be brutally honest with us during a time that should be filled with joy. I know that we are not alone in this experience. A friend of my wife’s named her son Asher, and she also received caddy comments about the name choice. She was also told to be sure and name him a “good” middle name, so he could go by that when he got older. I am constantly amazed by why people become bolder when a baby is involved. If anything, people should be overly gentle to pregnant women when it comes to the decision of their baby’s name. These women are carrying a precious gift, and they are stressed enough by the changes that are going on in their body without having to deal with the changes in people becoming unkind and insensitive. It is my opinion that whatever a person chooses to name their child is their decision- no ifs, ands, or buts about it. No one else is entitled to take the joy of naming a child away from the parents, and those that feel entitled to take away that joy should instead feel entitled to keep their opinions silent. No one should be deprived of the joy of naming their child.

Tiger by the Tail

I guess I am fascinated by golf this week because both my research blog and this opinion blog are going to be about golf. In my last blog, I discussed why golf might be better off with its small but quality audience. I can only talk about golf’s small audience if I omit those who are watching the train wreck that has become Tiger Woods. Golf’s most popular athlete is hands down Tiger Woods. He was the best thing that had happened to golf in a long time. He was the best golfer in the world. When ESPN voted on the best athlete in a bracketed competition, Tiger Woods was the clear winner, beating out athletes like Peyton Manning, Mickey Mantle, and Michael Jordan. Despite all this, the mighty hath fallen. Tiger has taken what is arguably the worst downfall for a public figure in recent history. My question is, why? Why has Tiger Woods become such a scorned public figure? It is not like he is the first man to cheat on his wife. It is not like he is the first man to have slept with hoards of women. He is not the only person to have recent adulterous scandals exposed. Why is he being crucified for actions that seem to have become second-nature in pop culture? Look at Bill Clinton. He was involved in arguably the most infamous sex scandal in American politics, but people do not feel the need to throw things at him or shout obscenities when he walks down the street. What about David Letterman? He had numerous affairs with staff members, admitted them on the air, and he was hailed as a hero because he was brave enough to talk about it on television. Is Tiger Woods considered a heretic because he did not feel the need to confess to all of America is extra-marital activities? Do we believe that every man who cheats on his wife needs to confess it on national television? If so, we would have a channel that aired nothing but adulterous confessions. My wife and I have discussed the Tiger Woods topic at length, and she said something to me that made a lot of sense. When I asked her why it seemed that everyone wanted Tiger Woods to fail, she told me it was because it appears like he has not been punished. When Michael Vick was convicted in the dog fighting scandal, he served time in prison. Tiger Woods admits to cheating on his wife, checks himself into rehab (which almost appeared more as a PR stunt than anything else), and then returns to the game of golf, seemingly without any consequences. His wife has not divorced him, he is still playing the game he loves, and he is being supported by numerous sports writers and commentators. It appears that he has gotten off pretty easy to the casual observer. So, what should have happened to Tiger Woods? Should adultery be a crime? What would the punishment be? I do not think Tiger Woods has gotten off easy. I think that he has been punished more than any jail time could do to him. He will always be remembered as the guy who was at the top of his game but was a fraud. He is the Barry Bonds of golf. He will have an asterisk by his name in all of the records’ books. His pleasure came at a high cost, and the fact that people are feeling the need to write a blog about his bad decisions show how far he has fallen. He may not be serving jail time, but he is serving time in social prison which I think is just as bad.

Golf- The Great American Sport?

I was watching the U.S. Open coverage this past weekend, and I realized a few things. One, golf is really boring to watch. Have you ever noticed how many random stories commentators tell or random videos they show during a golf tournament? This is to save viewers from having to focus on how mind- blowingly painful a golf tournament is to watch on television. My brother was a golfer in high school, and I went to his tournaments often. These were not boring to me, but I had a personal connection to a golfer. I have no personal connection to the golfers in the tournament, and as I watched a few holes’ worth of coverage, I realized that I could not watch a round of golf unless the only thing else on television was The Notebook. The second thing I noticed was professional golfers are not as popular as other professional athletes. My wife came in while I was watching television and asked me who was in the lead. When I told her, she was like, “Who? Where’s Tiger Woods?” It was then that I realized that most people do not keep up with professional golf, and golfers do not get the respect and recognition that baseball, football, or basketball players get. My wife can rattle off the names of hundreds of famous baseball players, recognizes all the major football players, and watched the NBA draft right alongside me, but when it comes to professional golf, she is at a loss if the conversation drifts from Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. Why do professional golfers seem so lost in a sea of professional athletes? The only other sport that I believe has the same complaint would be soccer. If it was not for the World Cup going on right now, most Americans could not tell you the last time they watched a soccer game (http://www.pubclub.com/bartender/worldcup.htm). I do think soccer has a redeeming grace in that is it a renowned international sport, so even though Americans do not know much about soccer past conversations of David Beckham, it has its prestige elsewhere. Poor golf seems to be the forgotten sport across continents. I do not know what could change this. It is not like golfers can go on strike to garner attention to their cause. That would be a bigger joke than the NHL strike of 2004 (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/cba/features/chronology.html). I think people see sports that go on strike as ungrateful people who feel entitled to more than what they already have, which happens to be a much more privileged life than their fans will ever have. Because of this, golfers striking might gain attention, but it would be negative attention. So, what can golfers do? The truth is, I do not have a clue. I really thought that Tiger Woods was the redeeming grace of the golf world, but it turns out that he was more of an anti-Christ to the sport rather than the second-coming of Arnold Palmer (http://www.golfweek.com/news/2009/nov/30/experts-debate-hit-tigers-marketability/). I really think that golf may not have a redeeming factor. It is simply not going to be an exciting sport. Period. Men swing sticks, hit tiny balls, and pray they fall in a hole. No one speaks during the match, there are no loud unruly, drunken crowds, there is no Jumbotron, and none of this will ever exist in the world of golf. While on one hand this limits the popularity of golf, on the other hand, it prevents the sport from having the swarms of fair-weather fans that the other sports possess. Maybe golf is just a case of quality being more important that quantity, and if that is so, maybe it is one of the few aspects of America where bigger is not better-maybe the simple sport of golf if enough without the prestige. Maybe golf truly is the great American sport.

NBA

Much to my wife’s chagrin, I have been watching the NBA playoffs every night there is a game on television. I love it. I am a diehard baseball fan, but at heart, I am really just a sports’ fan. I love any and all sports, especially during playoff time because that is when the competitive spirit is at its highest, and I love competition. I love the way it fuels people, pushing them further than they ever thought their bodies could be pushed. As I watch the Lakers and the Celtics play, I begin to mull over how long I have watched Kobe Bryant and been amazed by his talent. I can remember watching him when I was in junior high school, and I was amazed by him. I am too young to really remember Michael Jordan, so to me, Kobe Bryant was the best basketball player I had ever seen. Kobe started playing in the NBA in 1996. He was an effective player right from the start. He even won the Slam Dunk contest during his rookie season. He was a major contributor off the bench for the Lakers, and he became the youngest starter in the NBA the very next season. (http://www.kobe-bryant.org/biography.html) While all of this is impressive, what’s surprising is that he could not do this today. In the early 2000’s, the NBA decided they should place an age requirement on rookies, and they determined that a player under the age of 19 could not be drafted. This means Kobe Bryant would have had to wait two whole years to be drafted, rather than be drafted at the age of 17. He would have missed winning the Slam Dunk contest in his rookie season, and he would have played two less seasons than he has now, which would effect his records and accomplishments. Not only does the NBA require that a player be 19 before he can be drafted, it also requires that the player be one year out of high school. (http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/02/02-07-07tdc/02-07-07dsports-column-01.asp) This means that a player who graduates high school at the age of 19 must wait until he’s 20 to enter the draft. While some people view this change as a positive impact on the world of college basketball, I disagree. It is true that more basketball players probably go to college now than they did prior to the NBA passing this rule, but these players have no motivation to make lasting, significant contributions to their college teams. Sure, most players play incredibly well their freshman year in college, but they have no motivation to continue supporting their college program after their freshman year. Once they are eligible for the draft, the same players who would have entered as seniors in high school will enter as freshmen in college. What is the significance of this year? Do the players really gain enough of a college education that it is worth it? If they are not willing to make a long term commitment to their college team, then doesn’t the college and NBA lose? The NBA loses out on a season of the player’s talent, and the college has wasted its time and scholarship money on someone who is not going to build its program. I am not alone in my thoughts. Tennessee’s Senator Steve Cohen thinks the NBA’s rule is unfair and a form of age discrimination. He discusses the economic ramifications the ruling has on the team and the economy in general. (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jul/20/steve-cohen-wants-meet-nba-officials-about-age-req/) While I don’t believe the government needs to become involved in this private sector, it is nice to see someone in government who is thinking clearly. It would be nice if the NBA allowed talent to determine the outcome of the draft instead of ineffective rules.

Easy Life

Growing up, my parents always told me I would go to college. It was not even a discussion in my house. You graduated high school, and you went to college. That is just what you did. No questions asked. I went to college right after high school, the way I was always told I would. I attended school for two years, and I quit. I decided I did not like school, did not want to go to school, and I was wasting my time and money doing something I hated. I quit. What was I thinking? I now have a wife, a child, and a full time job, and I am back where I should have been all along. So many things have changed, and yet, so many things are the exact same. I am majoring in Pre-Physical Therapy with the goal of continuing on to get my Master’s from Missouri State, the same goals I had an eighteen-year-old fresh out of high school. So why did it take me so long to get here? Do I dare think of the time that has passed as wasted time? I have always heard that some people need to learn things the hard way, and while I knew I never did anything the easy way, I always thought that saying was ridiculous. Why would people want to learn things the hard way? If you knew that you always did things the hard way, then would you not change that about yourself? Would you not purposefully look for different ways than your normal to approach a situation? I guess not because the one thing I have learned about myself is that I must do things the hard way. It would have been easy to wait and marry my wife once we both finished college. It would have been easy to wait and have my son after I finished my college degree. It would have been easy to go to school when I was still just working part time instead of fifty hour weeks. It would have been easy to go to school when I was living with parents and not worrying about a mortgage. However, when I was young, I had a baseball coach who told me that nothing worthwhile was ever easy. There are moments in my life when I think about all that I could have done that would have been easier. It is easy to get wrapped up in those moments when you realize you have made life more difficult on yourself. Those moments can swallow you, consume your thoughts, make you doubt your every move. Yet, when I try to imagine my life without my wife, without my son, without my job, without my house; I realize that I would not have a life. I would have a lot of easy moments that combined to create a mundane existence. My life may not have been easy, but it has definitely been worthwhile, and I would take a worthwhile life over an easy life anyday.

Me

My name is Colby Bridges. I grew up in Carthage, and I have lived there for almost my whole life. I married my high school sweetheart, Brittany, in 2005, and we recently had our first child, a son named Bronx (pictured above). Bronx's name comes from the fact that I am a huge New York Yankees fan. I wanted to name him something unique, and I wanted it to be relevant to the Yankees because he has a Yankees themed nursery, and I want him to share my love of baseball. I talked my wife into Bronx after much debate, but now, we could not imagine him being named anything else. My son has changed my whole world. He has been my main motivation in coming back to school. I have realized that I want to be able to work and provide for him in a way I can not without a college education. I am majoring in pre-physcial therapy, and I plan on getting my master's in physical therapy from Missouri State after I graduate from MSSU. I am a little nervous because I have not been in school in over two years, but I now have the motivation I need to finish my degree.