My heart breaks for America and Baseball

In New Haven, CT (coincidently home to one of my best friends) there is a nine year old. His name is Jericho Scott. Jericho plays baseball, and he's damn good. Jericho throws 40 miles an hour and now league officials are telling him he can no longer pitch because it's unfair.

League officials say that it's unfair to the other players, which makes me call shenanigans.

It's the product of the new, "Everybody's a winner" mentality. Which is absolutely absurd. Guess, what life is unfair, you're going to strike out. You're going to fail, you're going to lose games, you're not going to get every job you apply for, every girl you ask out isn't going to say yes. This is what we in the real world call part of life, an unfortunate part of life, but a part of life all the same.

I am by no means a good baseball player. I love the game, but I am at best a streaky hitter and a solid fielder. But I used to play baseball on a draft league team, and we were terrible. I played a motley assortment of positions, but mostly outfield, because I wasn't big enough to have a strong presence in the infield, and I wasn't as good as some of the other guys. The point is I played. I went up to bat and took my cuts and I sat down. I learned about life. Mostly from my Dad who served as coach one year because he happened to be at try outs when they said, "if someone else doesn't step up there's only going to be one team this year."

My Dad has taught me an innumerable amount of things over the years. But one lesson I think I learned the hardest was his philosophy that games, sports, are for everyone. Everyone on our team that year got to bat at every game. Including the last one. I was on deck, there were two outs and Shawn hadn't batted yet. My Dad realized this and just looked at me, and I knew what needed to be done. I walked back into the dugout. That was that. I was upset at the time, but looking back I learned that it's not about winning. Not at that level anyway.


All of that is to say that little league isn't about winning.

It's about fair play. Not about parents trying to recapture their youth, or win that championship they never got. Is it fair that he throws heat like Nolan Ryan in a sandbox? No, but guess what it's not fair that I like to play basketball and I'm not 6'8".

It's about sportsmanship. It's about learning the rules. It's about developing a love of the game. It's about children learning that they should give their best, and how to be part of a team; how to win with honor and loose with grace. It's about learning to shake hands after the game.

Not about winning or losing. Not about telling an incredibly talented individual that they can't play because they're just "too good."

Telling Jericho that he's too good is absolutely absurd. It's no different than telling a running back he's to fast. Or a gymnast that their balance is to good. Now granted, he is astonishingly talented, and maybe he shouldn't pitch. But if he wants to pitch then he should be allowed to.

If this is the generation that we are raising I have serious questions to ask about the state of our society. Baseball is a game. At the end of a game their are losers, but at the end of the day, hopefully everyone learned something. And hopefully we aren't teaching our children that the best way to win, or to get your way, is to throw a fit and walk off the field, but rather to say how can I become better? How can I get that good? Answer: Hard work, perseverance, and proper guidance.

It is my sincere hope that Jericho gets to pitch against kids his own age again very soon. And I hope he sits everyone of them down. And I pray that their parents are there to say, "You did a great job, but it's just a game. Now go shake his hand, look him in the eye, and say, 'good job.'"

"English! Mother F#$%^! Do you speak it?"

So here's the deal. We, and by we I mean the vast majority of Americans, speak English. For a quick definition of the English Language, we turn to the ever trustworthy and oh so scholastic wikipedia.

West Germanic language originating in England and is the first language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the Anglophone Caribbean. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world, especially in Commonwealth countries and in many international organizations.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language, 25 August 08.

Alright now with that being said. I don't feel that anyone, let alone someone without several advanced degrees in English, has the right or ability to change the English Language. I am sick of people butchering the language we speak. It doesn't make you cool or hip, it makes you ignorant. Are you seriously that busy that you can't take the extra half second and half calorie it takes to extend your pinky to the shift key, and/or the apostrophe?

I am speaking mainly to the masses who type the numeral 2 instead of to or too. And the people who replace U for you. Etc. I'm sure you see my point. So let me quickly cover the most atrocious errors I notice.

Stuff you should have learned in elementary school: A grammar lesson from Zac
- I, is a pronoun representing yourself, you should always capitalize it.
- You, to, and too, are words not letters and not numerals, please spell it out.
- Contractions are when two words are joined by an apostrophe. For example, He is fast could also be He's fast. Hes Fast, might as well be someone's name.
- Apostrophes can also show ownership.
- Also two words: subject verb agreement. GET INTO IT!

And finally you are not cool when you abbreviate words. Expend all that brainpower and energy by actually saying "Just Kidding". There are more painful examples of abbreviations but I'd rather not get into it right now, because my brain will start to swell and my heart will start to hurt for the sad state of the youth of today.

So please, respect the English language. And I leave you with this adapted and paraphrased quote from the Big Lebowski's own Walter Sobchak, who originally said, "Three thousand years of beautiful tradition from Moses to Sandy Koufax... You're GD right I'm living in the past."

"250 plus years of grammar and syntax, good enough for everyone from Abe Lincoln and George Washington to Ernest Hemingway and Sandy Koufax, is good enough for me."

Knoxville, TN to Wherever my friends are

I've seen generations come and go from Knoxville. I've watched Knoxville natives wave goodbye to Sun Sphere city and never look back. And I've watched Knoxville disappear in the rearview as I helped friends move states away. I've also stood in the rearview and watch friends move states away. I've watched transplants from various parts of the country come to Knoxville for college and then 4, 5, or 6 years later they leave. 

Eventually I'll put Knoxville in my rearview, and sing Rocky Top as I depart to make a living shaping young minds as a College Administrator or Instructor, but for now I've still got opportunities here in what I call God's Country: Knoxville, TN. I feel like I'm still moving forward; more so than some people who have moved away, or at the very least at least as far forward as they are moving. 

I hate seeing people leave this place I call home, but I'm also ecstatic for them. I know I'll keep in touch with them for the rest of our lives. I won't be able to call them and say "Let's go grab some food," or "hey, let's go record shopping," but I will be able to call them and say, "Hey how's life?" And I know without a doubt that they're all going to be wildly successful. 

So to all those who have left this place we call home, even if you were a transplant, I want you to know I'm still in Knoxville, still a Vol, still moving forward, and most importantly still a friend, just like I'll always be.