Where Did the Consonants Go?

I'm not sure why misuse of the language gets me fired up. But it does. I've been that way since I can remember. I guess it's what makes me the logophile that I am. Here's my latest rant on my belief that our language is being ushered down the porcelain facility.

I'm driving down the road recently when I tune the radio to the broadcast of a high school basketball game. I have no idea who was doing the broadcast or who was playing, except to say that one of the teams was nicknamed the "Spartans". A few seconds into my listening experience the young man (I say young man because he sounded young to me) calling the play-by-play says..."And the rebound goes to the Spar-uhns". And I said to myself..."What? The Spar-uhns?" I must not have heard him correctly. So I decided to leave the broadcast on the radio as I drove on to see if I misunderstood.

Sure enough, a few moments later out comes..."The Spar-uhns bring it up the court". So now I realize what I'm hearing is one of the quirks in modern speech that has been brought about by the younger generation's exposure to popular music and the so-called "Hip-Hop" culture. In this strange speech pattern, the consonant, usually a T, in the middle of multi-syllabic words gets abandoned in favor of a last syllable that starts with a vowel. No sooner did I realize this was what was happening in my basketball broadcast, than it happened again with a double whammy..."The Spar-uhns star-ing lineup features..etc.etc". Wow! This really got me going.

So I listened on. And as I drove along, otherwise enjoying the game description, this man-behind-the-microphone continued to treat me to variations on the theme.

"That long shot ra-uhls the rim." (rattles)
"Time will tell if the Spar-uhns can whi-uhl away at the lead." (whittle)
"This is really a heck of a ba-uhl going on here tonight." (battle)

Are you ge-ing where I'm coming from with this? When this kind of thing gets started, over a period of months/years/decades the population loses sight of what is correct pronunciation and what isn't. The language gets bastardized and the lowest-common-denominator street lingo somehow becomes acceptable.

Ladies and Gen-uhlmen, (oops) Please join with me to help put a stop to the dumbing down of our perfectly fine language into a collection of words that are misused and abused. I hope the next time you hear someone botching up a word or words in this way you will ask them to sit down in front of a playing of the recent movie Lincoln. Perhaps Daniel Day-Lewis and Mr. Lincoln's revisited speeches and stories can display what a precious tool, effective commodity, and lovely personality trait proper speech can be.

Independence

I realize it's much more interesting to people who have an SIU connection, but the recent board of trustees controversy is giving me flashbacks. It was long, long ago...or maybe just yesterday...when I was a mass communications student at SIU-E. Either way, I vividly remember the on-going discussion between students, and some outspoken professors, about how the Edwardsville campus was always getting "second class-citizen"  treatment in most all decisions made at the board level.

"We need to be our own university", we would say.
"It's not fair, why should Carbondale get all the money", someone would add.
"How come they can play football there and we can't", another would chime in.
"It's all those Chicago politicians who have no idea about anything south of Joliet who are controlling things", was a popular thought. "Let's stage a protest...yeah that's it...a protest". Protests were big back then. We rarely actually had them, but it was always cool to suggest.

Whenever the discussion came around to the quality of education, faculty members, sports facilities, and a host of other things, it was generally thought that Edwardsville got short shrift because it was the "new kid on the block" and had many less students to be served. Carbondale was the jewel. Edwardsville was the coal. Whether it was justified or not, that's what many of us who were Cougars thought about the relationship with our Saluki brethren. In the months/decades (take your pick) since I was a student there, things have changed dramatically with E picking up momentum as to student population and C struggling to maintain it's customary numbers.

Now, because of politics, there is huge controversy as to the makeup of the board of trustees. Governor Pat Quinn, in what many see as a political vendetta, has dumped the three Metro-East board members and appointed three Carbondale grads to replace them. Read the full story here from StLToday's esteemed Pat Gauen. Whatever Quinn's reasons in his own mind, it's seen by many as a move to have a governor-friendly board president; one who will do what Quinn wants to do with the SIU system.

In any case, the move has sparked a couple of bills in Springfield that would require more equity on the board and assure Edwardsville's voice is heard. One of the bills, introduced by state Rep Jay Hoffman, rekindles the effort to separate the campuses into independent universities. With all of the bad will that the governor has managed to create for himself in the state capitol, maybe Edwardsville, "the growing and vibrant", will finally be autonomous of Carbondale, "the original, but not so vibrant". I think for most of us who were handed a Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville degree, we would say that it couldn't come soon enough.

When it's Your Time...

It's hard to imagine anything more unexpected or terrifying. When you are lying in bed and the earth suddenly opens up beneath your house and swallows you up, I guess  you were just meant to go. Unbelievable? Yes. But it happened to 36-year-old Jeff Bush in a Tampa suburb last Friday. And it could happen to someone near you.

I happen to live in the area of southern St. Clair County Illinois known as The Sinkhole Plain. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources knows all about it. And it has documented the phenomenon in this interesting little report. As I drive around the area where I live there are sinkholes everywhere. It's called karst terrain, and it's easy to see that's it's different than most of the land in southern Illinois and Missouri. Most of the sinkholes have been stable for hundreds of years, according to a geologist I ran into studying a creek near my home a few years ago. He said most of the sinkholes were formed back in the day when the Mississippi River was carving it's way through the middle of the continent and sucking all sorts of soil and rock downstream with it. The holes on top of the nearby limestone bluffs collapsed in places creating the sinkholes.

They say at any time the next big earthquake could come along and shake everything around the holes loose to the point where homes, and all sorts of nearby material could be pulled into one of these surface weaknesses and be lost into an underground cave or river.

No, I don't think about it very much. But it's definitely possible. And if you're going to get struck by lightning...or sucked up in a tornado...or get buried in a sinkhole,  I figure there's not much you can do about it and your time has just expired. Not many of us go out on our own terms anyway. So if my wife chooses to worry about such things, that's her choice. I think I won't.

Oscars Flub...Again

It seems to happen every year. The Oscars telecast stops for 10 minutes to honor and remember contributors to the movie business who have passed away since the last Oscars show. And it also happens annually that they screw it up...not so much the presentation as who is included.

Perhaps you have to have paid a certain amount of dues to some industry organization. Or maybe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences only recognizes members in good standing...or those who have earned a certain amount in movies. Whatever the formula may be, it needs to be more transparent. Because the current method of choosing those to be remembered invariably ends up snubbing someone who is dear to the memory of most viewers.

This year several names pop to mind, including Andy Griffith. One of the biggest television stars of all time was a movie actor in his early years. Griffith starred in No Time for Sergeants, a huge comedy hit in 1958.


Phyllis Diller was no movie star. But she was a star. And she appeared in several movies. None of them were very good. But shouldn't someone's star status count for something?

Apparently Larry Hagman wasn't a big enough movie star to make this year's list either. He had a reasonable "supporting actor" career prior to becoming a TV star in I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas.

And then...if slighting those folks wasn't enough...they send mega-superstar Barbra Streisand out to sing The Way We Were to honor the memory of Marvin Hamlisch. Well sure, Hamlisch was an accomplished composer and musician, and a strong contributor to the movie business. But an over-the-top and attempted tear-jerking tribute to Marvin Hamlisch? I guess I don't see the priorities.

It would seem that the Academy should make some sort of announcement during the telecast as to what their criteria is for inclusion in the In Memoriam segment if they want to not look like they are either stupid or petty.

Boom Time?

Thoughts on the aging nature of the Baby Boom generation, its place in history, and the state of the union.

To Name, or not to Name

There's an interesting battle taking place among meteorologists...of all people. These folks, some of whom are actual scientists and others who are television weather-people who call themselves meteorologists, are in a fight over whether to name winter storms like they do hurricanes.

By now, we're all familiar with the thing called Nemo that dropped some three feet of snow and/or ice, depending on the locale, on New England. Actually, the Nemo moniker doesn't come from any official governmental body or agency, it comes from the promotion-minded folks at The Weather Channel. And, many other people who make their living predicting the weather are not at all happy about it.

The Weather Channel decided to start naming winter storms late in 2012 feeling that it would give their viewers an easier time following the developments associated with the named system. Here's a short video they produced to explain their decision.

I'm reading that National Weather Service executives and other weather companies believe it to be a stunt and actually more confusing to the Average Joe. They say that hurricanes, and only hurricanes, should be named so that people don't confuse winter storms with the more potentially devastating effects of a hurricane.

Since The Weather Channel is owned by NBCUniversal, and since they also own the NBC network and provide programming to a sizable number of television stations across the country, it's likely that the policy will be embraced by those entities. It's also just as likely that any station or service not owned by or affiliated with NBCUniversal will dig in their heels against the naming policy. So much like the on-going stalemates on policy in Washington, it looks like this battle will be around for a while.

What Does Kroenke Want?

After a panel of arbitrators ruled in favor of the Rams on Friday, the picture of professional football in St. Louis is once again a bit cloudy. Essentially, we don't know now if the Rams will make a concerted effort to stay in St. Louis. And we also don't know whether if they do, they will choose to push for an upgrade of the Edwards Jones Dome or put the pressure on local politicians to get an all-new open-air venue. Whatever the choice, the big question will be, "What does billionaire owner Stan Kroenke want?" Kroenke, known for his close-to-the-vest style of doing business, is hard to read in any circumstance. In this story-line  he likely will be even more difficult to judge.

Personally, I'm rooting for the new, open-air stadium option. As for the fans...and what they think...here's a sampling of reaction to Friday's ruling gathered by KSDK-TV

History tells us that the Jones Dome was built with the dual-purpose of attracting the Rams to St. Louis from Los Angeles and also satisfying the taxpaying voters with the notion that the building would also serve as an attractive venue for conventions. In reality, the dome is not serving either purpose all that well. The Convention and Visitors Commission members would tell you that the Rams occupation of the dome on key weekends in the fall and winter prevents them from attracting some of the larger conventions, and the money they would bring.

Most Rams fans, and football watchers everywhere, would say the dome is a horrendous venue for the enjoyment, and television presentation, of the game of professional football. It seems more like a large warehouse where they happen to play sports than a facility designed for the purpose of the sport.

There is already apparently serious talk about three potential sites for a new stadium. The decision on Friday by the group of arbitrators to side with the Rams in the re-modeling dispute with the CVC pushes discussion of the new stadium option to the forefront. Elected officials in Missouri are already saying that they will do what they can to work with the Rams on the new stadium idea, if that's what the Rams want. And now, again, the big question will be..."What does Kroenke want?" Because he now has the hammer.

Stan's Challenge

Sunday evening at the Blues game I was asked to read a script accompanying a ceremonial puck-drop that was meant to honor the life of Stan Musial. Mr. Musial's grandson, and almost constant companion in the last several years, Brian Schwarze came to center ice to drop the puck between Blues captain David Backes and his Minnesota Wild counterpart Sakku Koivu.

These types of ceremonies are done occasionally by the Blues when a particularly historic event occurs, such as the passing of "Stan The Man", or if a famous person is in attendance whom they wish to recognize in some way. Members of the Cardinals, for instance, were on hand to drop a puck after their 2011 World Championship. It's a way for a hockey team to say "we are proud of you" or "we're glad you are here with us", something like that.

But this ceremony honoring Stan was quite different for me as public-address announcer. It was not just reading a script without messing it up. It was the one public opportunity for me to do my best to honor my hero. I wanted to make sure the words were right and my delivery was dead-on.

The script, in its original form, was adequate for the occasion. But I thought it could stand a little more in the way of poignancy. I re-worded a few things, presented the ideas to my supervisor, and approval for the revisions was gained. I was satisfied with the new script. It went like this:

Ladies and Gentlemen, over the weekend the St. Louis community laid to rest a sporting-world icon and the greatest St. Louis athlete of all time. Stan Musial was not only known for his record-setting accomplishments on the field, but was also a true civic treasure and example of what a true gentleman should be. 

We now direct your attention to center ice for this evening's ceremonial puck drop and ask you to welcome Stan's grandson Brian Schwarze, as he drops our ceremonial puck in honor of his grandfather Stan "The Man" Musial. 

Thank you Brian Schwarze...and thanks for the wonderful memories Stan "The Man" Musial. 

It was a simple tribute, to be sure. But also said exactly what needed to be said on behalf of some 18-thousand St. Louis sports fans to the Musial family. It turned out perfectly from my view.

Tributes have come from all directions in the days since Mr. Musial passed away on January 19th. One of my favorites was written by Dan O'Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Dan is obviously much like me, a devoted and adoring Stan Musial fan his entire life. You can read his tribute here.

But what I hope people who loved Stan and his approach to life would see going forward is the challenge his legacy presents. How do we live up to his standard? How can we live our own lives as effectively and generously? Bernie Miklasz, also of the Post-Dispatch, asks himself these questions in this carefully thought-out column.

Social Media Changes Everything

Saturday night was supposed to be all about Blues opening night. It was supposed to be the start of a hope-filled season for St. Louis Blues fans. But at 5:45pm Saturday, January 19th Stan Musial passed away and the tone of the night could have dramatically changed at Scottrade Center.

Many Blues fans are also Cardinals fans. So a high percentage of the 20,035 hockey-starved patrons who showed up to watch their Blues take on the Detroit RedWings that night also had a soft spot in their hearts for "The Man". Those of us who work at the games also have that spot. We found out that Mr. Musial had died shortly before the introductions of the 2013 Blues team members were to take place prior to the start of the game. Because of social media, the fans found out around the same time.

Prior to the days when everyone carried a cellphone, I, being the public-address announcer at Blues games, would have had the duty of informing the crowd of the passing of St. Louis's number-one sports icon. It would have been a shocking moment in the evening for most. Some would have gone straight into a depression-like state. Some would have immediately sought more information. Some may have left the building. That would have likely killed the opening-night "buzz" in the arena, probably for the entire game.

As it was, a majority of the crowd likely learned of the passing of Mr. Musial not too long after our game presentation staff and the media did. So, our job in presenting "the show" Saturday became one of determining the best way to pay tribute to Stan-the-Man, and not one of breaking the news. We decided to put up a picture of Stan on the Jumbotron between the second and third periods and accompany it with some appropriate words.

The management entrusted me with composing the message. I delivered it. And the game and it's presentation weren't radically altered. People stood and applauded. And because of social media and the rapid spread of information about Mr. Musial's passing, the atmosphere in the building was preserved. In this instance, social media changed the game experience for the better without many realizing it.  

How Close Were We?

One has to wonder, after 113 days of life without NHL hockey, just how close we came to losing another entire season to labor strife. Not that long ago we went through an entire year without the puck dropping in St. Louis, and the rest of the hockey world. The comeback from that incident was painful, as the casual hockey fan had written off the sport as something they could live without. The Scottrade Center (then Savvis) was mostly empty for the next few seasons. Of course, the dismal state of the Blues roster in the post-Bill Laurie ownership period had a lot to do with that too.

As a part-time employee of the Blues, I had some inside indications that Commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners had no intention of losing the entire season. It's my belief that they felt that the fan base was secure enough to bargain hard with the players to get a deal that they wanted to live with long term. They were ready to lose around half of the season to do it, and they did. Now the business of repairing the damage has to begin. Good luck to new Blues owner Tom Stillman, and his local group of investors, in recapturing the love lost for The Note over the last few months. It's comforting to know that we won't have to go through this again for at least eight years.

Regarding Mr. Pujols

I would be the last...well, maybe not the last...but low on the list of those who would wish Albert Pujols a bad time in Anaheim. But after his disastrous April I do have a point to make that I don't think I've heard anyone say yet...at least not in the media.

Good old Al keeps telling the press types out in SoCal that he'll be fine. Just give him a little time and he'll start popping line drives and home runs all over Angel Stadium and other AL parks just like he's always done before. "Not to worry...my numbers don't lie...etc. etc." Given most of the facts we know about Jose Alberto Pujols Alcantara you'd have to believe he's right. The plate discipline will return. The desire to fulfill the title of "World's Greatest Hitter" will subside. The pressures of the new situation will diminish, and...presto, chango...the old Albert will be back blistering the ball and humiliating opposing pitchers.

There is one factor, one that we've always talked about, one that's always been brought up when anyone has entered into a discussion of his value, that he may be overlooking when he makes the above statement. HIS AGE. We all know there has always been a question about what it really is. Oh sure, if you look him up on Wikipedia it will tell you that he was born on January 16th, 1980. That means he's 32 right? Wikipedia is the universally accepted source for all things factual right? Right. Well maybe.

If you have been a Cardinals fan for the past 10 years you know that there has never been a hard-and-fast, truly factual, no-questions-asked, accepted age for Albert. The history of his early life, his immigration from the Dominican, his life in New York, his re-location to Independence MO...its all been much too fuzzy. And the documentation is questionable at best. Combine that with the fact that as a youngster he was a man among boys at a very early age. One historic piece I referred to spoke of how as a sophomore Albert was hitting 450 foot home runs for Fort Osage High School. In his first season, he hit for over a .500 average with 11 home runs. Not bad for a what? 14-year old?

Look, Albert may be 32. Wikipedia may be correct. But what if he's not? Let's just say he's actually 35 or 36 for the sake of making a point. That would put his current slump...and his off year last year in a totally different light wouldn't it? Anyone on the high side of 35 knows how things dramatically change with your body. How things that used to come easy physically suddenly become like...work. Even athletes...at least those without the benefit of certain substances...readily admit that. Vision fades. Coordination falters. Strength lessens. Stamina vanishes.

When Albert says..."I'll be fine", he is surely saying it as someone who believes it. But he also could be someone in denial about the possible effects of his number of years on the planet. All the indicators are there to suggest that he was starting to experience normal age-related regression prior to signing his big deal with Mr. Moreno. Now, if he's really a handful, or even a few, years older than most of the world believes, he could be just entering the twilight of a wonderful career sooner than anyone thought. If my suggestion could be fact, Cardinals fans don't know how lucky they are that things happened the way they did. And they have some terribly smart baseball executives at Busch Stadium for which to be thankful.

Albert's Baffling PR Gaffe

Apparently when you are a highly-paid athlete and hire an agent to go out and negotiate multi-million dollar deals on your behalf, that doesn't include a public-relations person to coach you on what to say in the aftermath. So, since Albert Pujols obviously didn't have the benefit of that expertise, let's give a little thought to what he should have said Saturday in Anaheim. You know, instead of the poorly-worded, childish and asinine spew to which everyone was treated. Did he/they not know that this event would be seen in St. Louis? It didn't seem so. Even a poor PR person would have prepared a few remarks for him to start off with, and then coached him on the responses to some of the questions he most certainly would have faced. The adviser wouldn't have been able to anticipate the actual questions, but a well-constructed set of remarks would have set the tone. So...here we go with what Albert should have said, but didn't.

"Thank you to Mr. Moreno and the Angels management for putting together this amazing contract for me and my family. I am very excited at the opportunity and look forward to this new chapter in my life and career. But before I say anything else, I'd like to thank the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans for supporting me for the last 11 years. It was an amazing run. Cardinals fans are everything you've heard about. They are passionate about baseball, amazingly loyal to the team and its players, and they have shown me more love than anyone could expect. I am happy to have been part of two World Championship Cardinals teams and will always cherish those memories. Cardinals fans...I love you and will miss you more than I can say. I only hope that while I play here in Anaheim, I will be able to enjoy the same type of fan base and loyalty that I enjoyed in St. Louis. Cardinal fans will remember that I have said many times that I wanted to play my whole career in St. Louis and that money wasn't the issue. I wish now I hadn't said those words as often as I did. Please forgive me for giving the impression that this wouldn't come down to a business decision. It did. And it was. I'm sorry, but it's true. In fact, I feel that the major reason I am standing here today is because the Cardinals, even though they tried very hard, just couldn't compete with the package that the Angels offered. As you know, the end of my contract with the Cardinals represented the only real opportunity at free agency that I will have in my career. The Angels were in a position to blow me away with their offer. Unfortunately, the Cardinals deal with a different financial reality in St. Louis, and couldn't. There were other, less important factors in my decision, but in the end, I decided to move to Southern California to play the rest of my career for the Angels and take the best offer that we received. I immediately felt comfortable with Angels ownership and management and look forward to being the best player I can for them and for Angels  fans. At the end of this process though, I am both very happy for my family, and very sad that I was compelled to leave the only city I have ever played in behind." 

What would have been wrong with a little honesty like that? This certainly would have gone a long way to clear the air in St. Louis, and the Angels management and fans would have understood. They aren't stupid. The Angels would have seen that the press conference/pep rally represented both an end and a beginning for Albert. As it turned out, it also was a totally blown opportunity for him to be seen as a universally-loved athlete in the mold of Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn, Kurt Warner, Cal Ripken and a few others. Some carefully-chosen words (whether he meant them or not) would have eliminated most of the bitterness that Cardinal Nation feels today. All of the "God told me to"...and "I prayed on it"...and "I felt more wanted" stuff is unbelievable and inexcusable, and only sets him up as an unlikable figure in St. Louis. For a sometimes painfully-obvious man of God, Albert doesn't seem to get that his words are products of the same entity, one that he did not honor by stumbling through his unprepared and uncomfortable minutes before the camera. He certainly didn't do justice to God's Golden Rule. If he were a Cardinal fan I wonder what he would have expected from the person who stepped up to the microphone? I suppose that didn't enter his mind. Did he genuinely not feel any emotion toward the people in St. Louis? Or was he just a very rich, but unprepared speaker?

Albert, without realizing the golden opportunity presented to him Saturday, seized it to look stupid and ungrateful. Unfortunately, Cardinal fans now likely will never forgive him for that.

Bigger Picture

As I have read the accounts and analyses of the Albert Pujols divorce from the Cardinals and marriage to the Angels, I'm reminded of what I have always thought is the larger issue...Major League Baseball doesn't provide a level economic playing field for its teams.

Some scribes, especially a few who cover the Cardinals regularly, are grousing about the Cardinals' failure to get a deal done and a less-than-enthusiastic approach by management to the negotiations. A few seem to blame Pujols for spurning the opportunity to join the group of Cardinals Hall-of-Famers on Mount Redbird. Perhaps a little too close to the trees? Bernie Miklasz refuses to vilify anyone and points to the reasoned approach on both sides...essentially saying it's just too bad that something couldn't get done. I look at it this way...if the Cardinals really wanted to keep Albert, and why wouldn't they?, they should  not have had to be as concerned about a larger-market team with more resources being the major issue.

For many years now MLB has had their group of  "haves" and "have-nots". The Cardinals, only because of their fanatical fan base, fall somewhere in a gray area. They are a smaller market team that can walk a large-market walk only because they can rely on 3-million plus fans per year buying tickets. They don't have an enormous television deal, or any other of the myriad of revenue-producing options that would be available to them in the big 3 markets. (The Miami Marlins and their "funny money" offers were just an aberration in this market place.) Did anyone expect the Royals, Twins or anyone else not in New York, Chicago, Boston or Los Angeles to put a quarter-billion dollar offer on Albert's table? Nobody can prevent some teams, and their management groups from being stupid. (See-Mets; New York, Cubs; Chicago) But MLB's business model essentially says to the smaller market owners..."Welcome to our club. Oh, by the way, there's our mega-team cigar lounge over there that maybe someday you'll be able to use. Good luck."

The NFL, NBA and NHL have their salary caps. While cumbersome and annoying at times, they at least give the teams in their business a chance to compete fairly for players no matter the market size. MLB has a payroll tax. Who really thinks that stops the big boys from spending as much as they want on a roster? If the Yankees, Red Sox, and a few others want a player, and he fits their needs, they sign him. There's not much thought given to whether it fits the budget. What budget? But when Mr. Selig and his management boys figure out that some of their teams have absolutely no chance to compete, at least regularly, for the championship maybe something will get done to fix the imbalance. But I doubt it.

I admire Bill DeWitt and John Mozeliak for putting an offer on the table to Albert that was reasonable, given their market conditions. I can't hate the Pujols/Lozano team for taking a better offer. The Cardinals had to do what made sense for their situation going forward, and I tend to think they knew there was a good chance that Pujols would go elsewhere. Whether the actions of Angel owner Arte Moreno and GM Jerry DiPoto are smart will be determined a few years down the road. But both of these teams are operating in a crazy economic set-up that needs to be fixed for the long-term health of the sport and so the Cardinals, or any team in a similar situation, and its super-star player shouldn't have to go through a long, drawn-out, and ultimately heart-breaking, process like this one. Competitive balance--a phrase MLB should get to know.

The Real Problem

-There was no suspension given to Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins for the enormous and frightening hit he doled out to Montreal's Max Pacioretty earlier this week. Pacioretty is the beneficiary of a severe concussion and cracked vertebra as a result of the violence.

As I see it the game has changed to the point where these kinds of violent occurrences will be more and more frequent. It is amazing to me that pro hockey hasn't seen someone lose their life or use of their arms and legs in recent years. The sport has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades.

In effect, you have people the size of football linemen and linebackers skating around dishing out colossal punishment to one another. It's no wonder the Blues and many other teams are dealing with scads of crippling injuries, and having to make excuses for them, on a regular basis. Watch a video of games played as recently as the 80's. Notice how much open ice there was for players to maneuver. It's all gone. The players now are all so huge, and so fast, that just getting around on the ice is like trying to park a semi in a bathroom. The only thing that will bring a level of safety, and I might add entertainment, back to this wonderful sport is changing the size of the playing surface.

I believe a movement toward instituting the Olympic-size ice sheet in all NHL buildings is way overdue. I tend to believe that most of the NHL owners and general managers know it. The problem is they can't make it happen without costing themselves tons of money. State-of-the-art buildings in North America would suddenly not be that anymore if the larger surface were adopted. Retrofitting existing buildings would be an engineering and logistical nightmare in most cases. So, guess what? It ain't gonna happen.

In '09 when I was invited to do the PA at the Blues-RedWings games in Stockholm, the ice surface at the Globe Arena had to be downsized to accommodate the NHL ice sheet. Looking at all that extra space outside the rink there was pretty amazing. They had stages set up for concerts. They had sets with couches and chairs for between-periods TV interviews. That's where the extra skating room would be if we adopted the international playing surface. That's where exciting scoring plays would develop. That's where injuries such as Pacioretty's likely wouldn't happen because there would be more room to maneuver. But that's also where all the "big bucks" tickets are in our North American buildings.

Every year the players get bigger, stronger and faster in the NHL. But the playing conditions and confines of the rink are largely the same as when 6 feet, 180 pounds was considered a big guy.   

12/15/1910

One hundred years ago today my paternal grandmother gave birth to my dad. There's always been a bit of discussion about whether that was the actual date....records weren't kept quite as well in those days. But, this has become the accepted date and so I thought it important that my sons, who never got to know him, go forward with some information about that baby from the years I spent with him. These would be things that I don't think I've mentioned to the boys in casual conversation.

That baby was blessed with a sparkling set of pale blue eyes to carry through life. As an adult, you could tell exactly what he was thinking by the way he held them. If he was unhappy, the eyes let you know it. If he was in a cheerful mood, or telling one of his many entertaining stories, the eyes shone brighter than the sun.

-William Calhoun (no middle name)...was unable to finish high school. The family, his Scottish immigrant parents, three brothers (one died as a child) and a sister, needed him to work to help support the family. He was Bill to most everyone except my Grandpa, who always addressed him as William.

-When I was young, even though money was tight, he and mom insisted that I see the best eye doctor in the region to deal with my childhood eye problems. It was typical of his desire to fight for those who were unable to do so for themselves. He carried that personality trait into his public-service years in later life as an alderman for the city of Belleville.

-He had the uncanny ability to be a friend to a stranger in no time. As a boy, I was always amazed at the fact that he seemed to have friends wherever we went. Vacations, short trips to a nearby town for a homecoming, visits to the doctor's office, it didn't matter the venue, he always knew somebody...and more importantly...they always seemed happy to see him. I wish that somehow I could have been better at that.

-For many years he was fiercely loyal to Stag Beer...and the local brewery. You better not say anything to disparage Belleville, or it's hometown brew. That is, until the company saw fit to no longer employ his brothers Jim and John. After uncle John went to work for the local Anheuser-Busch distributor, somehow Budweiser began tasting pretty good.

-Like many men of his age, he spent a few years in Europe as part of the United States Army in World War II. Thankfuly, he was part of an engineering company that built roads and bridges and didn't see much in the way of combat. Otherwise, there might be noone sitting here to write this. Nor would my boys be around to read it. He always said he was the first married man in the state of Illinois to be drafted into war service. Up until then, only single men were sent to the war.

-After returning from the war, and despite not having advanced schooling, he was able to become chief surveyor for the St. Clair County highway department. Many roads and highways in the area were laid out by dad and his survey crew. I'd also like to have a dollar for every favor he did for friends and others who asked him to survey their property in his spare time. He never said no...and never accepted anything but thanks. I tagged along on those weekend missions many a time to hold the survey chain.

-Bill, as most of his adult friends knew him, tended to be a bit heavy, but like most of us as we age, he fought the "battle of the bulge".  I tend to think his tendency to carry a few extra pounds contributed to his "jolly" persona and made him more approachable than he might have been. I remember one time he decided to go "on the wagon" as he put it, for a couple of months. He got down to around 180...from his usual 210 or so. I hardly recognized him...and was proud of his effort.

-He was a tremendous supporter and fan of sports. He spent countless night and weekend hours working on playing fields and other projects at Belleville's Citizens Park. The park wasn't much until he, brother Bob, and the rest of the early volunteers decided to take it upon themselves to develop the property. As a youngster, I helped a bit. There's still a News-Democrat photo around that shows dad, me and local baseball legend Barney Elser working on a new chain-link fence for the new ball diamond at the park...circa 1963. I'll also always cherish attending World Series games with dad at old Busch Stadium (Cards-Yankees '64) and the new Busch (Cards-Boston '67/Cards-Tigers '68). How could anything beat your dad pulling you out of school to go to a World Series game?

Dad died in 1981. Our son Ian was 6 months old at the time. He always found an excuse to come by and hold him. Stewart was still 3-plus years off. If only he could have lived for both to have known him and to realize his impact on what I hold dear and how much of a gentle and loving force he was to all of us. They would also better understand how I try to carry myself...and how proud I am that they are much like him in many ways.

Happy 100th birthday Dad. Hopefully, we'll be able to play catch in the back yard again some day.

Writing

Advice to writers: Sometimes you just have to stop writing. Even before you begin.
  - Stanislaw J. Lec


When I saw the above quotation, it reminded me of my current situation with this blog. I've been writing frequently...almost daily at the outset...about various things in my life and opinions on them. I have gradually drifted away from doing this for a number of reasons-


A) Decrease in the sheer joy of writing
B) My sons have moved away from the area and have established lives of their own (their exploits and my pride in them provided much of the earlier fodder)
C) Time devoted to other pursuits
D) Facebook, and other more time-friendly ways of staying in touch with my circle of friends and colleagues, have held my interest while on the computer. 
E) I became increasingly reluctant to foist my experiences and opinions on others as being important to anyone but myself. 
F) Blogging, if not entertaining to both myself and others, becomes a colossal waste of time, and as I get older time becomes increasingly precious.


If someone could explain to me how devoting an hour or two per day could turn into a profitable pursuit...very profitable...I'd reconsider my lack of passion for doing this. But because I currently have several business avenues and part-time jobs that dominate my waking hours, I can't see that happening. 


For those who established a habit of checking this blog for my musings, I apologize for my current case of "writer's block". Don't give up on me totally. Things may change. If I ever get to the point of being able to retire, I'm sure I'll look forward to spending time at the keyboard again. I'll let you know when, and if, that happens. 

Decision Time

-Time constraints and the necessity of paying attention to business have me trying to decide whether or not blogging is something I should continue to do. For those who have visited here regularly and took some measure of enjoyment from my thoughts, I appreciate your patronage. I will post something soon that will indicate on which side of the fence my decision lands.

Playoff Picture (as of 3/16)

-The Blues have their work cut out for them. And it's not even that easy. They need somebody else to hit a bump in the road. And it looks to me they need more than one somebody's road to get bumpy.

They have three games left with Nashville...which appears to be a key to jumping into a playoff spot. But even if The Note wins all three of those games (1 home, 2 away) and claim all six points in regulation, that would only make up 6 of the 8 points they are currently behind the Preds. Nashville currently sits in the 7th playoff spot. Detroit is 8th, 7 points ahead of the Blues. Then you've still got to jump past Calgary in 9th place, 4 ahead. The good news there is that the Flames have only been .500 in their last 10 games. Everyone else ahead of the Blues and fighting for a spot is playing strong hockey....particularly the Wings who are finally healthy.

Minnesota, Dallas, and Anaheim are still nipping at our heals. So, they will be playing with energy as well which can be viewed as helpful if they should be playing one of the teams ahead.

The schedule is no pushover. The only apparent easy win would be the Edmonton game at home, Sunday 3/28. You might add the Columbus game at Scottrade on April 5th as a "should win" game. Other than that, you've got a huge fight on your hands every time out.

• 2 games with the Blackhawks (1 home 3/30, 1 away 4/7)
• @ Rangers 3/18 (fighting for a spot in the East), @ Devils 3/20 (just darn good)
• Home to LA on 3/25-(might be easier since the Kings have a spot pretty much secure)
• Those 3 with Nashville (home 3/21, away 4/1 & 4/10--last regular season game)
• Dallas, home 4/3--depending on how things go, Stars could be done, or fighting for a spot. But they're trending down right now)
•  Anaheim, last home game 4/9. This should be a win if there's still hope by then.

Any way one analyzes it, the Blues are in a multi-team scramble that can only go well if they win almost all of their remaining games and someone ahead, and a few behind, play in a way that helps The Note on each given night. It's not an impossible scenario. But it's hard, even for a die-hard like me, to be overly optimistic on the face of it.

Hockey Gold

It seems the experts are saying the reason they’re picking Canada to win the hockey gold medal Sunday is that the U.S. was terribly outplayed in the preliminary round game last Sunday night....even though they won 5-3. And if you just look at the shots-on-goal and the territorial edge in play of that game it would be hard to argue against that.

But what I think might be being overlooked is that the Americans took an early lead in the game…perhaps undeserved because of the shoddy netminding of someone thought to be the best, Martin Brodeur…but a lead nonetheless. If you watch enough hockey, surely you’ve seen teams play to protect a lead. I would say Ron Wilson and the American coaches were likely drumming “no stupid passes” and “no stupid penalties” into the heads of the U.S. players as soon as they went up 1-0 knowing that Ryan Miller, and keeping the Canadians off the scoresheet, offered the best chance to win. They likely had “keep it out of our own net” at the top of their minds. And the Canadians were in situations in which they needed to pour on the gas to attempt to pull even. A defense-first style by the Americans, no doubt, contributed to their ability to pour.

They did pull even at 1-1.

Then the Americans score again to make it 2-1…and go back into protect-the-lead mode.

Canadians make it 2-2. The U.S. makes it 3-2. Then 4-2. Canada scores to make it 4-3. Then the empty-netter seals it.

So, I think there was an awful lot of potential in that game for playing protect-the-lead hockey. Sure, the shots-on-goal at the end were terribly lopsided. And sure, Miller had to make many magnificent saves. But nobody said going in that the Americans had the most talent. Probably no-one will even if they win the gold medal on Sunday. And I would agree with that. But what they might have is the best team of the two countries. They may have attempted to construct…and I’ll bet GM Brian Burke would verify this…the better roster to win hockey games. And I tend to think they may have done so.

Who looks at the Canadian group of all-stars and says…”Now there’s a team”? No, you would say…”Now that’s a collection of terrific players.” As to a team, a group of guys who understand their roles and carry them out to professional perfection, that’s what you have in Team USA.

So, if you believe that the most talent ultimately wins…oh, like in the U.S.-Soviet Union game in 1980 or 1960... he said sarcastically…then Canada surely will skate all over the U.S. team on Sunday. But if you believe that the U.S. win over the Canadians last weekend was not a fluke, or figment of the imagination. And, if you believe Ryan Miller could be just as tough for the Canadians to beat this Sunday as he was last. And, if you believe both teams are loaded with professional players, and that the U.S. may just have constructed the better outfit to win one big game, then you can forget what the experts are saying and believe, as I do, that the U.S. will win one for the ages as they did 30 years ago at Lake Placid and 50 years ago at Squaw Valley. I’ll say 4-3.

And, I don't think I've read anywhere that one has to state the obvious to qualify as an expert.

Music Appreciation

-Once again I write with the expectation that younger people likely will dismiss these words as nothing more than the ramblings of an old guy whose opinions don't matter.

As I was getting in my workout yesterday, I had on Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. I fancy myself as a fan of all types of music from all eras. But as I listened I thought...and here we go..."Nobody writes music like this anymore!" (That sounds like something I would have dismissed too if one of my parents had said it.) But...well..they don't. Someone under forty might also say "That's a good thing". But I'm talking here about the construction of a piece of popular music more than whether it makes a sub-woofer jump off the floor or rattle a car.

As I listened to I Am a Rock, for instance, I heard poetry. I heard wonderful, lilting melody. I heard performers who understood the importance of the beat, but also nuance, storytelling, tonal quality, lyrical rhyme and interpretation. This wasn't a song that set down a beat, a looping melody line, and then attempted to pound out some words to make a commercial package of some kind out of it. This was a beautiful story told in poem form and set to a melody built with the efforts of multiple master musicians.

Oh, I'm not here to complain that everything new is bad...and everything old school is good. Far from it. But the commercially successful music of the 21st century is more of a cookie-cutter, formulaic effort, in which true artistry is secondary to the look, and often, the outrageousness of the performer. Oh sure, all eras have their bombast and buffoonery when it comes to music. But the songwriters of today seem to be totally secondary to the make-up artists, costume designers, and studio engineers. True musicianship and artistry have a hard time getting recognized. Can we agree on that?

Even country music songs which, unlike other genres, seem hell-bent on telling a story, often are over-produced and drowned in special effects and instrumental hooks. And does anyone know how to rhyme lyrics anymore? Its frustrating listening to country songs that can't seem to find two words that end in the same syllable. Since when does truck rhyme with walk? Come on folks...it's not really that hard if you put some effort into it. I know you're trying to tell your story...but there are some generally accepted rules to writing poetry...and a song is a poem put to music...right? If you take poetic license it should only be an occasional thing.

I'm certain I'm not going to change the tastes of the popular music world by what I write here. But please, let's continue to fund music education, creative writing and literary appreciation in our schools. And let's also pay someone who's qualified to teach it. That's the only way real music artists will be developed...and the rest of society will know one when we see one...or hear one. And listen to a little Simon and Garfunkel once in a while to understand where I'm coming from. Thanks. I feel better.