Monday, June 25, 2007

Ketchup Time

-Sorry to see that the Blues are severing ties with captain Dallas Drake. Not because I think it's a bad player move...but because he's so universally loved and respected. Dally has taken much more physical abuse playing the game than most guys. And in the past year or so it seems to me his game has shown it. He didn't deliver the devastating hits with nearly as much regularity. And his overall game was just not there. He'll be missed...but I understand that youth is the key word around the Blues these days. Hard to say what I think about the Blues picks in the entry draft. At this point you just have to put your faith in the management and scouting people and believe they got the right guys. We'll know in a couple of years.

-Youngest son Stewart graduated with high honors from the Theatre School at DePaul on the 16th of this month. Now, the real world of trying to catch lightning in a bottle as a professional actor begins. He's already got a few gigs in the works. It's tough...but we believe Stew's got a real shot at great things. He's already great in our eyes...just a matter of catching "the break".

-Oldest son Ian is now based in Bowling Green, KY and is trying something equally as challenging. He's put together a rock band and will be spending the next few months writing songs that the group hopes to make popular through recordings and live performances. September is the target month for the group...Chassis...to begin live performances and have a CD ready to go commercial. Click the link above for the group's My Space page. No doctors or lawyers in my family. No sir. Not complainin'...just observin'. I'm happy that these young fellas feel empowered to pursue their creative dreams.

-If you haven't been to a Grizzlies game this year, you're missing it. New manager Phil Warren --> has put together a virtual "Murderer's Row" lineup...and they're tearing it up. In Sunday's game they hit back-to-back-to-back homers for the first time in franchise history. And just about everyone in the lineup is capable of "jacking one" in any at-bat. The pitching has been much better than what we saw in recent years...particularly the relief-pitching which has been outstanding. If you go to Grizzlies games just to have a good time, that's fine. But, there's also a really good baseball team playing at GCS Ballpark this year too.
-The Cardinals are tough to watch most nights...especially after treating us to a World Series championship...but because they play in a division with no outstanding teams, they are still very much in the hunt. When Carpenter comes back...and possibly Mulder...they'll have as good a chance as anyone to make the post-season. That's if they don't fall out of contention before then.

-On a recent weekend, seven revelers died while enjoying way too much beverage and boating at the Lake of the Ozarks. If we could only get our enemies to take a leisurely boat ride at Missouri's "Hoosier heaven" with a couple of cases of iced-up beer we wouldn't have to go to war.

-Who won the NBA championship? I missed that.

-For Father's Day, I was presented with an outstanding present by my family....the boxed set of the HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers. We've watched the first five episodes so far. It is still astounding to me how these extraordinary men of the World War II era went willingly (most volunteered) to war knowing they likely weren't coming back. Their commitment to the country and their families is almost beyond comprehension. The story of the paratroopers of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division (produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks) should be required viewing in all high schools. How unbelievably lucky most of us are to have had fathers and grandfathers who grabbed a weapon and fought for our freedom...just because it was the right thing to do. Too bad most in our country seem to have no clue about that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom:

Nice to see you back on the blog!!!

I couldn't agree more about Band of Brothers. It's just such an inspiring miniseries. Wait until you get to "Why We Fight." It will take your breath away.

Matt

Anonymous said...

How unbelievably lucky most of us are to have had fathers and grandfathers who grabbed a weapon and fought for our freedom...just because it was the right thing to do. Too bad most in our country seem to have no clue about that.

Yeah, my Dad and my Mom's brothers did that; my Uncle died on Iwo Jima in WW2.

I might mention here that a lot of your friends and brothers served in SEAsia. A lot of them died there to stop the spread of Communism in the region, even though the politics of war in the US hindered their effort.

The toll of civilian death after the US was withdrawn from SEAsia was in the millions, killed by the North Vietnamese, Pol Pot in Cambodia and others, including Laos.

We still remember the Communist slaughter and we still regret that we were prevented from stopping it.