We stopped at Steak ‘n’ Shake the other day for a bowl of Chili. Which by the way is much, much better than Wendy’s. I like to go to Steak ‘n’ Shake, even though their quality has lapsed since I used to go as a kid. There are two things I can not understand. 1) To me and my contemporaries, a milk shake is something you drink. I remember at the baseball games, whether it was a pee wee game or a high school game, if you hit a Home Run, some one from town would treat you to a 25 cent milk shake. That was a treat for me, although I only hit one home run in my life, you consider my allowance for doing my chores all week was 10 cents. The local drug store was the best place to get a shake. The restaurants weren’t bad, don’t get me wrong, it was just something extra about the drug store milk shake. My favorite was, and is Chocolate Ice Cream, Chocolate Milk, and Chocolate syrup. They were drinks, you sucked them up through a straw. No whipped cream and cherry on top. Steak ‘n’ Shake somehow got confused and think they are like a Sundae. Ever try to suck a Steak ‘n’ Shake shake up a straw. You have to use a spoon just like with a Sundae. Then they top it off with whipped cream and a cherry. Do they think only women buy milk shakes dressing them up like that. I always have to find someplace to put this dressing so I can get my spoon in. I usually tell them I want a drinking milk shake not an eating milk shake, with no dressing. My local Steak ‘n’ Shake now knows what I mean. I guess they figure they make more money by not blending the ice cream and by charging extra for the dressing up. 20The other thing I don’t understand. Why in the heck did they buy Scoop Shovels for you to eat your soup with. The thing is too big for me to get in my mouth. I always have to ask for a spoon. Why did they waste their money buying these unnecessary utensils. Are they making so much they are looking at ways to waste money? That Is How I See It. high school other thing find find find Views: 535
Category: Baseball
Bad Umpires? Replace Them!
Recently there has been a lot of criticism of professional baseball umpires. WHAT is new? Every call is a judgment call. Ever since I can remember baseball umpires have always made bad calls. It is like the weatherman. Most of the time he is wrong. Occasionally he gets a call right. Like when it is pouring down rain and our local weatherman predicts 51% chance of rain. After all they can’t be completely wrong There is always that percentage. Umpires have a 50% chance on every call they make. It will either be WRONG, (which will be remembered), or right which will not be remembered. And let’s not forget whatever the call it will be wrong from one perspective, and right, (regardless of how wrong it is), to another’s point of view. We now have the technology to eliminate those blind men behind the plate, at the bases, etc. COMPUTERS. With Cameras, as small as they are, and as portable, WE can have the computers make the calls, a lot quicker, and more accurately than mere men. I guess then everyone will be yelling, “Kill the computer”, or “Computer are your cameras blind?” Of course we could return to the olden days of baseball. You know the days in early baseball, where the Umpire brought his char on the field sat off to the side, and called the game. The good thing about this was the crowd could over rule a call the Umpire made. Or we could just make sure the umpires we have are thoroughly trained, and tested. Give them a 3 strike rule. Three wrong calls and you are fired. I really like the choice of one umpire with the crowd able to over rule his call. But I guess that is impractical. Thus the only choice we have is COMPUTER UMPIRES. That Is How I See It. Views: 1,383
I Hate Change
Have you ever noticed when you have a good computer program, the publisher will try to make it better, but it doesn’t work as well. I have had that experience many times. The first one that jumps to my mind is PRINT ARTIST. Print Artist was an affordable program which let you make greeting cards, business cards, stationary, letterhead, etc, etc. I used it a lot. I had flower shops, and small retail businesses who would call me when one of their customers wanted a personalized birthday card, or anniversary car, or get well card, in return they would put my little sign up which included other things like website building, etc. This was before all the cookie cutter sites went up. When companies thought a thousand dollars for a website was a bargain. Then one day the publisher decided to make it better (?). All they accomplished was making it more difficult to use. There was nothing more you could do with it than you could with the original. Oh, yes it cost a little more too. I had friends who upgraded a couple of times. The eventually migrated to another program too. When I was in high school our class had about 21 students, and then there was me, But we learned more than the kids at the big school in the county which had about 150 students in a class. Then they came up with school consolidation. What a big mistake. Oh yes you had a better offering of classes, and a couple of sports more to participate in. I visited one school when my sons were wrestling, I was told the freshman class that year had 1,000 students. That is just too ridiculous. With the small schools you knew everyone in your school. You generally played your sports together since you were small. At our county’s big school with 150 kids in the class they didn’t know all their classmates. I got around the classes not offered at my school by going to big school for summer classes. As an example let us look at basketball in our county. At one time we had 10 schools scattered throughout the count. We had an “A” team, and a “B’ team. Each team consisted of 12 players. (subs included). Usually 4 cheerleaders, and a couple of “student managers” who kept statistics, tended to injuries, kept the uniforms in shape, and swept the gym floor. That makes what 30 students involved with basketball, per school. Take that times the 10 schools, we had 300 kids playing basketball. Then came CONSOLIDATION. Our 10 schools became 3. With the same number (30) per school participating in basketball, we were left with 210 kids with nothing to do but get in trouble. (Then our leaders wanted to know why we had more kids in trouble). With the small schools we had age old rivalries, not only the county schools but other nearby schools. The bigger schools developed rivalries, but nothing like with the small schools. They were a sense of pride for the towns. Everyone attended a basketball, football, or baseball game. After consolidation. The pride was lost. As if this was not bad enough. Someone about 12 years ago came up with the idea of CLASS sports, (Aren’t we supposedly a classless country?) Which killed all rivalries, a decreased interest in sports, lower attendance, and now at our larger schools the coaches practically have to go around and ask students to participate. Parents have to insure the younger athletes have a way to travel the 20-25 or more miles to practice. And of course with the CLASS system travel to games is outlandish. One instance that come to mind is Football sectionals. The farthest we would travel for a sectional football game was about 2o miles. Now the first game you play may be a hundred miles away. I missed one because I got off work at 6 pm the game started at 8 pm. (not a problem if you only have to go 25 miles, but if you have a 2+ hour drive to the game. you have to eat while driving. The game gets over around 10 pm another 2+ hours to get home, and I had to be at work at 6 am. Oh yes I had to wait for the team bus to arrive at our school. The kids always stopped at at McDonald’s or somewhere to eat after the game. Of course this takes time for them to give all their orders, and preparation of the orders, eat, and rehash the game. then get back on the bus, to continue the trip home. The bus got home around 1:45 am. Remember I had to be at work at 6 am for another 12 hour day. I could go on and on (and I have made this too long already and only covered 3 subjects), so I’ll get off my soap box for now. Just so you know I really am not a fan of most change. That Is How I See It. high school became involved Views: 235
Europeans A More Relaxed People
I have just been contemplating my busy lifestyle. Which by the way is probably not as busy as yours. (That is why I have time to write these little opinions of mine). It comes to mind that most of us here in the United States, are at least a little addicted to sports. We get excited at baseball, basketball, wrestling, football, auto racing, and a number of other sports, Sorry if I failed to mention your favorite. Then it occurred to me the Europeans must have a more relaxed lifestyle. When you look at all of the sports we enjoy. The smack of the ball coming off the bat, the nervous tension when a runner tries to steal a base, the anticipation of a home run or fly out. The constant motion of basketball, the 3 pointers, will that winning free throw rim in or out. That last second tip in, or the foul that caused us to lose. Wrestling, the real WRESTLING, like they do in high school, not that scripted stuff on TV. It is all you have for up to 6 minutes, (longer if it is a tie). You can’t let up , even for a second or you may lose. Football, you have 22 men and 7 zebras on the field. It is a game of battle strategy. The ball is the bomb. The 11 offensive men are trying to deliver the bomb to the opposing teams, camp. The 11 defensive players are trying to stop that delivery or if possible get possession of the bomb and turn it on the other teams camp. The 7 Zebras are there to monitor the action and assure that no team gets an unfair advantage. (Anyway that is what they are supposed to do. Ask any fan of the losing team and they will tell you differently). Auto Racing. We have so many varieties to choose from. Take NASCAR for example we have 43 large heavy cars being driven by athletes in top shape. Sometimes battling on tracks that if strung out in single file would have the lead car touching the last car’s bumper. Sometimes driving over 600 miles, in unbearable heat, shifting gears, stopping for fuel, tire changes, and dodging each other. These things we Americans find exciting. Now for the Europeans. They must have a very sedate lifestyle. When you look at the things that get them excited. Formula One. A parade of overpaid computer geeks who have computers do almost all the racing. The driver steers, and occasionally brake. The only time there is any racing going on is during the qualifying, which is all the cars driving around the track, for some time period, and the one who records the fastest time during this drive around gets to lead the start of the “race“. There is rarely any on track passing. I remember the first race I saw the leader spun out in a turn and still maintained the lead. Lead the race from start to finish. Whoopee! But for some reason the Europeans find this exciting and are very much into it. To me this not racing. Had I been born in Europe, I might. (Doubt it.) Then we have that game that little girls played when we boys were playing football. We call it Soccer, they call it by other names like footie. You have 22 people on the field (just like in Football) NOTE the number may vary depending on the league). One referee who has “full authority” to enforce the Laws Of The Game. (They don’t have rules. they have 17 LAWS OF THE GAME). Unlike Football they are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands, Unless they are special, These special players are called goalkeepers. The games I watch there is more contact in a non-contact game like Basketball, than is allowed in Soccer. (HOWEVER), I have seen some European games found some mild contact which if caught by an official draws a penalty. If the contact is deemed excessive a player might be punished by being given a YELLOW card. By being given a Yellow card the player is said to be BOOKED. the referee writes the offenders name in his book. A second YELLOW card can lead to a RED card, Even more excessive misbehavior and he may be punished with a RED card. The RED card is usually the one which sends the player off the field and no substitute allowed. The average score for a 90 minute game is 2.48 goals. Very BORING, in American terms. But the Europeans find this exciting and apparently they take it so seriously they often times end in having a free for all. (Maybe this is where their excitement comes in.) While I find Soccer a game for athletically challenged people. I must admit that all the running is a good way to keep in shape for sports. That Is How I See It. high school they have find find find Views: 593
Riot in Vancouver
JUNE 15, 2011: VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA “It is extremely disappointing to see the situation in downtown Vancouver turn violent after tonight’s Stanley Cup game. Vancouver is a world-class city, and it is embarrassing and shameful to see the type of violence and disorder we’ve seen tonight. The Vancouver Police and Vancouver Fire Department are doing an exceptional job under challenging circumstances to maintain control of the situation and keep people safe, and emergency crews are working tirelessly to assist those who were injured.” This quote from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, sort of says it all. This is a not limited to Vancouver, You find this kind of reaction in the United States, as well as about any country where Soccer is played. The Soccer ones come to mind as they seem to be the most publicized ones. But in the USA we see this kind of behavior after Baseball, Basketball, and Football. And let us not forget Hockey, is Canada’s National Past time. Am I the only one? Or does anyone else find this to be the DUMBEST thing to do. I mean what is accomplished. To me the only thing that has happened is the “FANS”, (Which is short for FANATICS) , have shown their disdain for their very own team and city. This type of behavior illustrates a total lack of respect for the effort THEIR team put forth. A lack of respect for THEIR city and lack of respect for themselves. We also see this behavior when teams win. I’m no psychiatrist, and I’m sure they could give you a scientific name and what prompts this action. I can’t. All I see is someone immature, and no self respect. After all to respect others, one must first respect themselves. I know in a situation like this it is impossible to find all the guilty parties. But those who are identified should have to pay restitution to the businesses, and individuals, who suffered a property loss. To the GOVERNMENT for the expense incurred trying to protect the properties. And to the TEAM for the black eye they received by the fans reactions. Or maybe just add a TAX to citizens to cover the damage. That Is How I See It. find find find Views: 155
Baseball/Softball Umpire Strange Calls
Nothing against baseball umpires. They are Human (?) Well sometimes. Most of the time and as we all know to err is human. What we have here are a few of the calls I have seen umpires make. These are high school umpires, and lower. I guess the earliest incident I recall is a high school game when I was about 8 years old. My high school was playing a county foe. This is what happened. the visiting team had a runner stealing 2nd base. The catcher threw the ball. Our second baseman caught the ball. He placed his hand between the base and the runner. The runner slid (feet first, as that was how they slid then. I was an exception, I always slid head first. It seemed to make more sense to me to keep going forward than to lean backward and slide). Anyway the runner slid into 2nd, his spikes went through the 2nd baseman’s glove and caused the baseman to have to have stitches. During this the 2nd baseman still had the ball in his glove. The call Runner safe. HOW? Another call I saw years later, A runner stealing 2nd, again, he slid on top of the bag. the ball arrived while he was lying across the bag. Runner out. When I questioned the umpire about this call his reply was. “The runners stomach came up off the base 1/4 of an inch when the tag was made.” I guess he just had a better view than i did, The next two happened to me, while playing softball. I hit a grounder to shortstop. The shortstop bobbled the ball, saw he couldn’t make the play at 2nd, threw ball to first to get me. I was a step pass 1st when the ball reached the 1st baseman, I did not make a turn. He called me out. The fans sitting near the base let him know I was safe. I knew the umpire from many years of playing and him umpiring. After the game and we both left the field, he came up to me and apologized, saying ” I didn’t see the play, but I had to make a call”. The second was while I was running to home. There was aplay attempted on me. The rules state I either had to slide or give myself up. (No hard contact rule to protect the player). I chose to slide, when I did the catcher dropped the ball. SAFE! no I was called out for, (get this), SLIDING TOO HARD. These others are during the past 3 years. During a JV softball game, the home team had a girl on 1st and 2nd, The coach called for a double steal. The runner was called safe at 3rd. the runner going for 2nd, was called out. Now get this. The home coach said the runner could not be out, because he had time out. The home plate umpire said, “you did”? “Yes”, replied the coach. The umpire ruled the runner was safe at 3rd, and the runner that was called out would return to 1st. Got that one figured out? How do you have a timeout if the Umpire doesn’t know it? Isn’t he the one who has call TIME? Then at an 8th grade game the opposing batters stood at the plate with their toe just behind the point of home plate. Their objective was to get hit by the pitch and get on base. When the pitch they would turn into the plate, thus blocking at least half the plate, getting hit by the ball. After the game I asked the umpire about the legality of this stance. He said, “As long as the batter has any part of his foot in the batter’s box it is a legal stance”. How many of you have feet big enough to to have your toe lined up with the point of home plate and still have part of your foot in the batter’s box. Also questioned an attempt to get out of the way of the ball. He told me as long as they turned he considered it an attempt to get out of the way of the ball. Because I am running so long on this post. I will make this my last one. It was an 8th grade game in a big city. The home team attempted a steal of 2nd base. The runner was caught in a run down. Just before he was about to get tagged he raised his hand and asked for a timeout. Timeout was granted and he was told to return to 1st. Hope you enjoyed some of these strange calls. That Is How I See It. high school between Views: 254
Hat Can Tell About You
Hats can tell a lot about men. Many times men wear hats because they are unable to come to grips with thinning hair. Or being bald. Some wear hats as a symbol of their faith, Some wear hats because it is part of their employment uniform, Some wear hats because they like to advertise a favorite brand, (without compensation, HECK they even pay for the privilege). Whether they admit it or not they may wear a certain style of hat because, “Dad wore one of these”. Now I have never been one to wear hats, I wore one because it was part of my baseball uniform, then part of my softball uniform, (It does help keep the sun out of one’s eyes. I even wear it a little off to the side when the sun is coming from a different angle. I wore one while in the military. Again because it was part of my uniform, I wore one during my two year stint as a plumber, (YOU really need one here to keep the cooties out of your hair). I wear one to support the schools teams. But unless I have a reason I won’t wear one. Mostly during the summer I only wear one when it rains. This is because it helps keep the rain off my glasses, and I can see better. So there are places for a hat. One reason I never liked hats is because, as a young lad I usually seen bald people wear hats. I equated this with hats, Hats keep your hair from getting the air it needs to grow, and holds in sweat. Thus it must kill hair. Can’t say I’m wrong. My brother lost his hair at a lot younger age than I have started. (He always wore a hat). But there are places for hats. I was raised to take your hat off when entering a building. You rarely see men do this anymore. But It is the proper thing to do. After all there is no rain inside no hot sun beating down. MEN take off your hat. It is a show of respect to the people around you. to your host, (Note a barn is a different story, as is a garage, when working with something over your head). But the thing that really IRKS me is the inconsiderate men who apparently had no proper upbringing, are so uncouth as to place their hat on the eating table. When in a restaurant or somewhere I see this…. I just want to go over and smack the guy up along the side of his head and teach him something called manners. What kind of person would do this thing. Perhaps someone raised by animals. Someone who never had a proper example set. One who disrespects his fellow man. When you see someone put their hat on the table it tells me this person was probably raised by slobs. Maybe their Mother’s tried but they didn’t have respect for their mother, or family mothers. This is the first thing that comes to my mind. It is a reflection of your parents. So if you don’t mind people thinking your mother was a slob. Then I guess you will continue to place your hat on the table. As for me. I remove my hat when entering a building, At restaurants, I sometimes leave my hat in the truck. When I go in I remove my hat, and put it in the sleeve of my jacket so I don’t lose it. If I have no jacket I place it on my knee. You see my mother was no slob. I was taught right. Hat on ONE slap. Hat off a kiss. That Is How I See It. PS: For some of you. It really wouldn’t hurt to change the oil on your hat once in a while. Views: 483
Silly NCAA Rule
Why does the NCAA make silly rules? For now let us discuss just this one. For our reference let’s just call it the Indian rule. The NCAA says TRADITION has no say in the INDIAN rule. It is supposedly spurred by the Native American Indians who consider it an insult for a school to have an Indian name or mascot. The rule denies any school with any connection to an Indian name can not host an NCAA tournament. What about the IRISH (Notre Dame). Quakers, (University of Pennsylvania). Indian, Irish, or Quaker, they all have the same complaint. The Universities are using their names, and not all students attending are Indian, Irish, or for all I know Quakers. The names were picked out of RESPECT for the particular TRIBES native to that part of the country. Not disrespect. How many of these tribes would be known of , had it not been for the schools picking their name and spreading it all over the continent. I know there are a lot I would have never heard of; if not for the college connection. They spread the goodwill of these NATIVE Americans where ever they go. I can not recall any school doing anything to bring shame to the particular tribe. CAN YOU? Come on NCAA get into the real world. Unless a school has blemished the tribal name, let them host tournaments. We all know how the Native American helped our forefathers. We all know how our forefathers stole their land, and lifestyle. But the schools have chosen the name out of RESPECT. For all the things the Native American stood for. I hereby grant you, the NCAA permission to use my tribal name Lawrence, for a school nickname. That Is How I See It. Views: 125
High School Sports Pay To Play
Want to play sports in Middle, or High School? Cough up the DOUGH! It seems schools are trying to eliminate sports from the learning process. they have found a new avenue to this means. MONEY. Pay to play. With unemployment so high, gas prices out of sight, and the economy in general, the states have less tax money so cuts must be made. What to cut? Schools are in the business of book learning. Te academics in charge of schools feel sports is not a learning experience. If it isn’t in the books WE approve, it is not worth learning. Most of you know sports teach the things we need to work with others, and get along. Things you can’t learn in a book. Team mates are not only mates on the field, court, or track. Real team mates are also mates in academics, and in many cases this is a lifelong friendship. I know some of the people on teams are just a member of the sports team. But if you are a REAL TEAM MATE, you will help your other members. A team mate is having trouble in English, some one on the team will tutor him, work with her. A team mate is having social, mental, or emotional problem, A real team mate will be there to help them in any way they can. Can you learn this in a book? Now in some school districts the Academics, have decided to impose a fee on sports. One district I know of has chosen to impose a fee of $170.oo per sport, per student. Pretty much eliminating the economically depressed students. Imagine you have, say one boy and one girl. Your son plays basketball, and baseball. That is $340.oo plus the other expenses such as, sales, and meals, to earn money to support the particular sport. Your expense to get him to and from practice, (even if he drives himself you are probably paying the expense or some of the expense for that car). Your expense to follow his games, and eating out before or after the game. Concessions at the game. Your daughter plays tennis, and soccer? That is another $340.oo plus all of the other above mentioned expenses. We all know if you are a real stand out athlete some one will cover you expenses. But how many of our children are a LeBron James, or Peyton Manning. How many potentially great athletes or leaders will be left behind because their families can’t afford that $170.oo. Why not charge our students, for each class they take, or a fee for school clubs, etc? That Is How I See It. Views: 791
Time for National Anthem Change?
In light of all the criticism of how the ‘STAR SPANGLED BANNER” has been performed and questioning if it is appropriate for sporting events. I think it is time to consider a change. The “STAR SPANGLED BANNER ” is a war inspired song. A poem set to the tune of an old ENGLISH drinking song. Very hard to sing. (I suppose if you were in an English Pub and had been putting down a few pints. It would not matter). Besides the “STAR SPANGLED BANNER”, only pertains to a single battle, long ago in our history. My preferred replacement song would be ” GOD BLESS AMERICA”. This is often sang at sporting events in lieu of the “STAR SPANGLED BANNER” and I think it better fits the thoughts of our founding fathers as they created this great country. I know you have the minority atheists who would complain because they want to kick GOD out of America. But it still fits our roots much better, and doesn’t sound so war like. I don’t think the U.S.A. really wants to sound like we are a warring nation. My SECOND choice is “MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE” Which served as our unofficial National Anthem prior to the adoption of “STAR SPANGLED BANNER”. I, for one do not like change. I like tradition. But in my search I found that of many years as a Nation, “THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER’ has only been our National Anthem since March 3, 1931. By Congressional Resolution. A short span in our history. How do you feel? Is it time to get a more appropriate National Anthem? One that better reflects the Ideals of the United States of America. That Is How I See It. Views: 228
