Random Thoughts in Late September

It's been seven and a half weeks since I last posted to this blog. It's not I don't have anything to say, it's just that as I continue to get my life back, I have less time to write than while I was recovering from the kidney transplant.  As an update, my doctors have lifted all of my dietary and fluid restrictions and I am able to eat and drink pretty much whatever I like. I don't see any of my transplant team until mid December and my lab work is down to every other Monday morning.  So, life is good and I am keeping busy working a part time job and looking after my 97 year old mother.

I have spent the last four weekends in my old stomping grounds, Columbia, Mo. watching my beloved Missouri Tigers play football. Mizzou is 4-0 and really hasn't played anyone tough. They were rated as high as number six, but then beat 24 ranked Boston College and slipped to 8. A win last week over Vanderbilt dropped the Tigers to #11. My guess is the voters in the A-P poll don't think the Tigers schedule is as tough as the rest of the SEC teams ahead of them.  That is a logical assumption but keep  in mind Missouri has beaten ranked Power 4 opponent and the conference schedule was set by the SEC conference.  You know what's strange?  Today Mizzou climbed back into the ninth spot in the Associated Press poll despite having a bye yesterday. They've also moved up to number 9 in the coaches poll. I guess the writers and coaches think not playing anyone is better than winning.  Go figure.

As far as the NFL I haven't watched a game all season and have a lot of other things I can do on fall Sunday afternoons.  I might watch a game once it gets cold in December, but I have better things to do than waste my time on a league that has twice crapped on St. Louis football fans.

The 2024 MLB regular season came to a conclusion today with my beloved St. Louis Cardinals finishing eleven games back of the Brewers in the NL Central and missing the playoffs, again.  I haven't watched the team in over a month because they had mediocre starting pitching, a crappy bullpen outside of their closer and an offense that never came close to it's potential.  Still the birds ended up four games over .500 in a lame Central division.  If I owned the organization (the DeWitt Family does) I would give someone else beside John Mozielak a chance to be the general manager.  And, while he appears to be a nice guy, I would fire manager Ollie Marmol too.  He hasn't won in two years. It's not entirely his fault because Mozielak hasn't given him much of a team to work with.  But, as the saying goes, you can't fire the whole team.

Have people in the United States gone insane?  I can't believe millions and millions of voters say they will vote for Donald Trump.  The man is a pathological lawyer, somewhat senile and apparently thinks the voters are dumber than he is. Kamala Harris is more liberal than I care for but I will vote for her to save our democracy in the United States of America.  Now, having written that, I don't think anyone has ever said "I think I'll go look at a random blog to decide whom to vote for as president."

Does anyone know why Google no longer has a workable system for posting images on a Blogger? I've tried reading the instructions and even that doesn't work.

Have a great rest of September!

Congratulations to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024

The Professional Football Hall of Fame installed its newest class this past Saturday night in Canton, Ohio.

This year's class is comprised of eight players.  They are DE Dwight Freeney, LB Randy Gradishar,  KR/PR/WR Devin Hester, WR Andre Johnson, DT Steve McMichael, DE Julius Peppers and LB Patrick Willis.

I was fortunate enough to see McMichael play against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 80s and old Busch Stadium II in downtown St. Louis.  I also saw Julius Peppers play in person at the TWA Dome, later known as the Edward Jones Dome. Peppers was a beast causing havoc in the St. Louis Rams backfield in the 00s and teens. I also had the chance to watch Gradishar and the "Orange Crush" beat up on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. I was living in Columbia, Mo in the 80's and Arrowhead was about the same distance as Busch Stadium.

Rather than write a long article about each of these players I will defer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame website for this year's players and activities.

Congratulations to the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton, Jim Leyland and Joe Mauer are the newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  Each of these players was inducted in front of an audience of 28,000 at the Hall in Cooperstown, NY.

Adrian Beltré played for the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox and Rangers. I saw him play in person at Busch Stadium II in the early 2000s and then watched him again play for the Rangers in the 2011 World Series. I did not score tickets for the games but watched him on TV from home and saw him hit .300 with two home runs in the seven game series. My beloved Cardinals won that series 4-3.  Click here to view Beltré's induction speech.

Todd Helton played his entire career with the Rockies and I was fortunate enough to see him play against the Cardinals a couple of times.  First at Busch II and the second time at Busch III later in his career.  For so many years the Rockies struggled and they were not one of my top choices when I got tickets for Cardinal games. But, I saw him in 2000 (arguably the best year of his career) on a Saturday afternoon in April. I don't remember him having a good day, but in looking the game up on the Internet he did drive in a run on a sacrifice fly. I also saw him later in his career in I believe it was 2011. I don't remember him doing anything special that day, but he always played a great third base as evidenced by his three Gold Gloves.  You may click here to view Helton's induction speech.

Jim Leyland managed the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies and Tigers.  He was always one of my favorites and I was privileged to see him  manage on many occasions with the Pirates. Leyland won three divisional championships while in Pittsburgh but lost to the Atlanta Braves in 90, 91 & 92. Those were some great Braves teams led by an always awesome pitching staff.  After the Pirates, Leyland managed the then Florida Marlins to a World Series Championship in 1997. He led the Marlins to a seven game win over the then Cleveland Indians. The following year the Marlins were terrible winning only 54 games after the team's ownership traded away all of the club's talent. Leyland left and went to Colorado in 1999 where he managed for one year. Interestingly enough, Leyland managed Todd Helton while he was in Denver.  After his Rockies gig, Leyland went to work for the St. Louis Cardinals as a special scout at the request of fellow Hall of Fame manager Tony LaRussa. Leyland then went back to managing in 2006 guiding the Tigers to the World Series before losing to the Cardinals. Later in 2011, 2012 & 2013 the Tigers made the post-season.  In 2012 The Tigers under Leyland's guidance made it to the World Series again, only to be swept by the Giants. Please click here to view Leyland's induction speech into the Hall.

Joe Mauer, because he played in the American League, was one of those guys I didn't follow that closely. I only saw him play in person one time on June 16, 2015. I still have the ticket stub to the game hanging on my "wall of tickets".  In that Tuesday afternoon game Mauer went 0-4 and played 1B.  To be honest I was surprised when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. But, he was the top catcher in the American League for over a decade and won the MVP award in 2009.  He had a career lifetime batting average of .306 and a WAR of 55.2. Mauer also played on six American League All-Star teams and won five Silver Slugger awards. When viewed against the numbers of other HOF catchers, Mauer is extremely deserving of his selection to the Hall of Fame.  You may follow this link to see Mauer's induction speech into the Hall of Fame.

All of the induction speeches were good and each is worth watching. Congratulations once again to Mr. Helton, Mr. Beltré, Mr. Leyland and Mr. Mauer!

Joe Biden Decides to Not Run

I think Donald Trump must be ecstatic his Democratic opponent for president of the United States, Joe Biden, has decided to not run for re-election.

Biden, under increasing pressure from colleagues in the congress and senate, announced a few hours ago he would not seek another term.  He said he will focus on running the nation for the next seven months.

Personally, I think Biden must have slipped much more than we the public know. Otherwise, if he really did have "just a bad night", I think his party would have been more supportive after the first presidential debate.  Reports today say Biden has slipped a lot, from the man who took office in January 2021.

It appears Kamala Harris is the front runner and Biden endorsed her almost immediately after announcing he would not run again. But, that won't necessarily keep the Dems from selecting someone else when they meet next month in Chicago.

Regardless of who the Dems select as their next candidate they are going to have a very hard time beating Donald Trump and the GOP.  Biden was already facing an uphill battle but now without an incumbent, the party will have to work extremely hard to hold onto the White House. I don't think they can retain the presidency.

And, that scares the daylights out of me.  Trump is a pathological liar, convicted felon (34 times) and arrogant narcissist. I fear what will become of the United States and our allies if he is elected. He served four years previously and made an ass of himself and the USA repeatedly. I also theorize that the growing divide in our country will encourage the upper middle and upper classes to make additional substantial contributions to the GOP campaign. I also think there are under educated Trump supporters who think they will be able to make this country go back in time to the 50s and 60s. Back then African Americans and other minorities had absolutely no say in running the United States.  Combine those voters, with the religious right, who would like to turn this country in a Christian fundamentalist nation. These are the same people who are critical of the radical Muslim sects, such as the Taliban, but are attempting to do the same thing in the U.S.  So, you can see why Trump has a great chance of being elected President of the United States and "leader" of the free world.  Like I said in the first sentence of this paragraph, Trump scares the daylights out of me. For more proof read, Trump and the Republican party's Project 2025 document. While, the GOP criticizes Democrats as being the radical left, the organizations supporting this document are reactionaries.

The next three and a half months will be a battle between the two parties with both sides playing for huge stakes.  Those stakes are the future of the USA, our allies and the rest of the free world.

I won't tell you who to vote for but pay close attention to everything you hear. And then fact check it for the truth. The nation's future is dependent on your vote.

248 and Going Strong!

I wrote this a few years ago on the Fourth of July and it's still just as true today, if not even more so.  I am blessed to live in the United States of America. It is still the richest and most powerful nation in the world. But more importantly I am allowed to worship as I please. I am able to express myself and to criticize our leaders as I see fit due to the Constitution and Bill of Rights of this great nation.

Today marks the 248th birthday of the United States of America. It is one of the longest lasting democracies in the world. This has been accomplished through the sacrifice of thousands of patriots going back to the Revolution against the British to today, with our troops deployed in Middle East hotspots. These brave men and women paid the ultimate price for our enduring freedom. I have no good way of sufficiently expressing my gratitude to them and to those who have served in conflicts such as World War I, World War II, Korea,  Vietnam and wars in the Middle East. Today I say thank you to all of our armed forces past and present. Because of you I am able to live in what I truly believe is the greatest nation on earth. Happy Birthday America!  248 years old and still going strong!