Sunday, January 11, 2009
Guidelines for Rushing the Field/Court
Tonight I was watching the terrific college basketball game between #3 North Carolina and #4 Wake Forest. While it was a very close, Wake maintained a slight edge all night, led by the strong play of guard Jeff Teague who dropped 34, which led to a 92-89 triumph. Beating North Carolina is a great achievement even though the Heels lost their perfect season to BC last Sunday night. However, this victory does not allow Wake Forest to rush their own court for three key reasons.
1. Wake Forest is the #4 team in the country. Rushing the court is reserved for teams who are pulling off large-scale, unexpected upsets at home. When you are #4 in the nation, you should not be an underdog by more than two/three points at home even if you are playing a higher ranked team. A game where the line is that close is an instant no-no for rushing the court.
2. Wake Forest is still undefeated. Usually when a team rushes the court, they have had a somewhat difficult season (or past in general) and their grand upset is the key turning point for the program (acceptable situation would be Michigan beating Duke). Wake has been having one of their best seasons in the program's history, and they have not experienced any suffering that is a needed pre-condition for rushing the court.
3. Tonight was their first game in the brutal ACC. Wake still has 15 more games left in the conference after tonight's opener. Having taken the thunder from UNC, Wake now has a huge target on their back. Rushing the floor just gave even more reasons for opponents to get fired up to play them. If you do not believe Wake is going to have more difficult games next week at Conte Forum vs BC and at Littlejohn Colliseum vs Clemson, you do not understand the ACC. Even though Wake is a good team, I'll be very surprised if they are still undefeated at this point next week.
Below are my guidelines for rushing the court at a basketball game. These same rules apply for college football.
a. If you are not ranked, and you defeat a Top-10 team.
b. If you are ranked 21-25, and you defeat a Top-5 team.
c. If you are ranked 11-20, and you defeat #1.
d. You beat a bitter, higher-ranked arch rival that you have not defeated in a while (I know its vague, but a while depends on the situation)
e. You beat a higher-ranked team at the buzzer.
f. You win the conference championship in college football or if the college basketball conference hosts its conference tournament and the home teams win a bid to the Big Dance.
If you meet one or more of the six criteria listed above, go ahead and rush the playing surface. Personally, I rushed the field at the Nip when 5-5 (6-5) UC beat an undefeated #7 Rutgers 30-11 in November 2006. That game signaled the key turning point in the rise of Cincinnati football, which has now gotten to (and sadly lost) a BCS game. It was a very fun experience, but its one that we need to keep special. By limiting rushing the field to these six occasions, it will remain something special. However, we need to stop teams like Wake Forest from ruining this tradition.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Christian Values?
One of the biggest personal issues for me concerns the intersection of faith (mainly Christianity) and society. For me, sports not politics has always been the first realm that comes to mind when I consider this issue. This issue hits closest to home for me with high school basketball in the Miami Valley Conference, which has 3 religious schools among its 10 basketball-playing schools: Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA), Cincinnati Christian School (CCS), and Summit Country Day School (SCD).
Tonight, I went out to a game at Cincinnati Christian. First of all, the school is very loose in calling itself Cincinnati Christian considering that you would have to be speeding to reach downtown in under 40 minutes from the school. Its only about 10 minutes from Hamilton, but there is already a Hamilton Christian, so I guess it would rather be Cincinnati Christian than Butler County Christian. Anyways, when one walks into the CCS gym, one may be altered to seeing slogans on both of the scoreboards. On the south scoreboard, the message read to the effect of play in the name of the spirit. In that case, there is no direct reference to God or Jesus, and playing a sport with a fervor is not something I have problem with.
However, the quote on the north scoreboard surprised me a bit. It reads, "Expect a miracle." I could not think of a worse slogan for a gym that is supposed to inspire a team. So are you suggesting that since God and Jesus are on your side that you will win a game against long odds? You should not need a miracle to win a sporting event (ok, maybe when they played North College Hill w/ OJ Mayo and Bill Walker, they did), but you should focus on the game itself. The irony is added by a banner that hangs below the scoreboard, which quotes the later part of Proverbs 14:23 "mere talk only leads to poverty." Right below the ultimate call to inaction, you see a direct call to action in something is more than words and prayer. Here lies one of the many paradoxes of Christianity in my opinion. I admit to understanding faiths that are not mine own imperfectly, so if anyone can explain this paradox, please do!!!
As the crowd rises for the playing for the national anthem (by their decent pep band, at least they have one), the minister leads the gym in prayer. I had no problem with the first 9-10 lines of the prayer which focused on having the Lord protect the players, coaches, and all of the people who work behind the scenes to make this sporting event possible. Even if one does not believe in any faith, there was nothing offensive or alienating in the prayer. In the last line, he slips in "and we thank the Lord for giving birth to our savior, Jesus Christ." I understand this statement is a basic tenet of christian faith, but is it really necessary at a basketball game between a secular school and a christian one? Well at least no one got hurt in the Stingers 63-52 triumph over the Cougars extending the Stingers road winning streak to 15 games (since 1.20.07). The Stingers face a huge test tomorrow night at D-1 Woodward, which should be an interesting change of pace from a rich, religious school to a black, ghetto school where we may need a cop escort off the court.
Getting back to my main topic, CCS is the middle of the three religious schools in the MVC. By far the worst is CHCA, which is sadly located about 3 minutes from my house. This school has a different Biblical quote written on its wall in gigantic font in John 3:16. That quote is by far the most prolific connection between the Bible and sports. From Florida Gators quaterback Tim Tebow's face to signs in every ballpark to the bottom of a paper cup from In-N-Out Burger (source: ), the verse has become part of mainstream American culture. While one can see this verse as empowering, does one really think that God is going to guarantee them victory? Many people, including myself at times, play to God for something to go right in a game, but do people really believe it does anything? Its like yelling at your TV at home. It makes you feel better and more connected to the event, and it may help your peace of mind, but does it affect the outcome of the game? If yes, then show me multiple examples...
CHCA just goes downhill from the plastering of John 3:16 and the accompanying eagle (their mascot) mural on the wall. Their student section is known for being among the nastiest and most obnoxious in the city. Some of their stunts have included chanting "Jew-Boy" every time former Stinger and personal friend Drew Kohn took a free throw (By the end, none of our students minded, because we were beating them so badly in recent years), and chanting "We got Jesus" in response to anything where they had been outwitted (which was almost everything considering the college lists between 7 Hills and CHCA). CHCA has also been the poster child for poor sport behavior from their girls basketball coach going on a curse-ridden tirade after a defeat two years ago (leading to an ejection) to mens' and womens' tennis coach Lynn McNally-Nabors not showing up for a certain match that she knew her team was going to lose. I could even more personal and provide more examples (include fake soccer injuries and the cockiest baseball team in Ohio), but one can understand my overall point that while CHCA preaches a Christian message of equity and fairness, their actions on the playing field are very far from these goals.
I have no problem with faith enforcing the positive aspects of the morals and values of a society. However, these schools tend to only show the worst sides of their respective religions in venues where religion is not necessary. There are many positive aspects of every religion, but these groups do not play up these universal values, but instead do not practice what they preach and in the meanwhile focus on the most polarizing aspects of the religion. Keep those thoughts in the church and let's play basketball!
Tonight, I went out to a game at Cincinnati Christian. First of all, the school is very loose in calling itself Cincinnati Christian considering that you would have to be speeding to reach downtown in under 40 minutes from the school. Its only about 10 minutes from Hamilton, but there is already a Hamilton Christian, so I guess it would rather be Cincinnati Christian than Butler County Christian. Anyways, when one walks into the CCS gym, one may be altered to seeing slogans on both of the scoreboards. On the south scoreboard, the message read to the effect of play in the name of the spirit. In that case, there is no direct reference to God or Jesus, and playing a sport with a fervor is not something I have problem with.
However, the quote on the north scoreboard surprised me a bit. It reads, "Expect a miracle." I could not think of a worse slogan for a gym that is supposed to inspire a team. So are you suggesting that since God and Jesus are on your side that you will win a game against long odds? You should not need a miracle to win a sporting event (ok, maybe when they played North College Hill w/ OJ Mayo and Bill Walker, they did), but you should focus on the game itself. The irony is added by a banner that hangs below the scoreboard, which quotes the later part of Proverbs 14:23 "mere talk only leads to poverty." Right below the ultimate call to inaction, you see a direct call to action in something is more than words and prayer. Here lies one of the many paradoxes of Christianity in my opinion. I admit to understanding faiths that are not mine own imperfectly, so if anyone can explain this paradox, please do!!!
As the crowd rises for the playing for the national anthem (by their decent pep band, at least they have one), the minister leads the gym in prayer. I had no problem with the first 9-10 lines of the prayer which focused on having the Lord protect the players, coaches, and all of the people who work behind the scenes to make this sporting event possible. Even if one does not believe in any faith, there was nothing offensive or alienating in the prayer. In the last line, he slips in "and we thank the Lord for giving birth to our savior, Jesus Christ." I understand this statement is a basic tenet of christian faith, but is it really necessary at a basketball game between a secular school and a christian one? Well at least no one got hurt in the Stingers 63-52 triumph over the Cougars extending the Stingers road winning streak to 15 games (since 1.20.07). The Stingers face a huge test tomorrow night at D-1 Woodward, which should be an interesting change of pace from a rich, religious school to a black, ghetto school where we may need a cop escort off the court.
Getting back to my main topic, CCS is the middle of the three religious schools in the MVC. By far the worst is CHCA, which is sadly located about 3 minutes from my house. This school has a different Biblical quote written on its wall in gigantic font in John 3:16. That quote is by far the most prolific connection between the Bible and sports. From Florida Gators quaterback Tim Tebow's face to signs in every ballpark to the bottom of a paper cup from In-N-Out Burger (source: ), the verse has become part of mainstream American culture. While one can see this verse as empowering, does one really think that God is going to guarantee them victory? Many people, including myself at times, play to God for something to go right in a game, but do people really believe it does anything? Its like yelling at your TV at home. It makes you feel better and more connected to the event, and it may help your peace of mind, but does it affect the outcome of the game? If yes, then show me multiple examples...
CHCA just goes downhill from the plastering of John 3:16 and the accompanying eagle (their mascot) mural on the wall. Their student section is known for being among the nastiest and most obnoxious in the city. Some of their stunts have included chanting "Jew-Boy" every time former Stinger and personal friend Drew Kohn took a free throw (By the end, none of our students minded, because we were beating them so badly in recent years), and chanting "We got Jesus" in response to anything where they had been outwitted (which was almost everything considering the college lists between 7 Hills and CHCA). CHCA has also been the poster child for poor sport behavior from their girls basketball coach going on a curse-ridden tirade after a defeat two years ago (leading to an ejection) to mens' and womens' tennis coach Lynn McNally-Nabors not showing up for a certain match that she knew her team was going to lose. I could even more personal and provide more examples (include fake soccer injuries and the cockiest baseball team in Ohio), but one can understand my overall point that while CHCA preaches a Christian message of equity and fairness, their actions on the playing field are very far from these goals.
I have no problem with faith enforcing the positive aspects of the morals and values of a society. However, these schools tend to only show the worst sides of their respective religions in venues where religion is not necessary. There are many positive aspects of every religion, but these groups do not play up these universal values, but instead do not practice what they preach and in the meanwhile focus on the most polarizing aspects of the religion. Keep those thoughts in the church and let's play basketball!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Ground Troops in Gaza
At first, I wanted to continue writing about my cruise, but the current situation in Gaza is too pressing and too close to me not to write about it. Right now, Israel has sent in ground troops into less populated areas of the Gaza Strip in order to put further pressure on Hamas to halt all rocket attacks. While I agree with the goals of this operation, the means that Israel is using to achieve these ends are not perfect and the loss of any non-terrorist life is a clear tragedy. Below you will find a brief history of the situation and bits of my views on the current actions of both sides in the conflict.
The history of the region since 2005 shows the mutual failure of Israel and Hamas to achieve a stable, free Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. When Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally in 2005, there were wide hopes that the Palestinians could establish a lasting, civil state within the Gaza Strip. However, what has occurred in the past three and a half years is very far from those hopes and dreams. Upon departure, Israel left behind successful industries that the citizens of Gaza could have used to establish a successful economy from a prospering greenhouse plants industry to farms that produced a decent portion of Israel's annual harvest. There were also factories that employed many Palestinians under Israeli control from 1967-2005. As the last Israeli troops left, all of those facilities were raided and different people stole valuable parts, which made these facilities unusable.
With few jobs in Gaza and stories of supposed success from Hamas for ending the Israeli occupation, Hamas was in a great position in time for the January 2006 elections. Hamas provided social services that no other organization (Palestinian, Israeli, or global, i.e. United Nations, Red Cross) was providing at the time. With this context, it is not surprising that Hamas won the elections in Gaza with a platform that centered on the destruction on the democratic state of Israel. To be fair, Israel did occupy Gaza for 38 years and the people of Gaza were looking forward to self-rule for the first time in modern history. The international community did not respond kindly to the election of a group that called from the destruction of Israel. The international community placed three demands on Hamas in order for them to gain a seat at the table: recognize Israel right to exist, accept the Fatah agreements with Israel, and renounce violence as a means for achieving their goals.
The democratic process broke down quickly. At first, Hamas had a narrow edge among the Gaza representatives in Ramallah (seat of the Palestinian Parliament in the West Bank). In June 2007, Hamas was frustrated with the lack of progress through political means, so they seized total control of the Gaza Strip in a brutal civil war with Fatah. It is estimated that over a thousand Palestinians were killed in this brutal, internal conflict. In order to prove their complete control, Hamas laid mines all over their borders with Israel and Egypt in order to protect their land from any external invasion. At this same time, Hamas continued to fire rockets into sovereign Israeli territory. The IDF has noted that over 10,250 rockets have been fired into sovereign Israel from Hamas in the past eight year. Also, during this period, Hamas abducted Israeli solider Gilad Shalit from Israel-proper. Gilad is presumed to still be alive based on current information and is one of the biggest objects of leverage in the Hamas arsenal. One of the main reasons, I fear this current ground invasion is that I do not want to see any more Israeli soldiers fall into Hamas custody.
Due to the conflict in Lebanon and other various international pressures, Israel had not decided to respond to the constant barrage of rockets into Sderot and other communities near Gaza within proper Israeli borders. The situation continued to grow worse as time progressed and considering the ties between Hamas and Iran, many Arab states as well as Israel wanted to see a peaceful solution to this issue. Therefore, Egypt stepped in as a lead moderator to negotiate a six-month cease fire between Israel and Hamas that lasted until Dec. 19, 2008. As the cease fire ended, it was clear that Hamas was going to start launching rockets into Israel the day it expired. Hamas could have spent the last three years working with the international community to achieve a stable state within Gaza, but they willing chose not to do so.
Even though Hamas was a democratically-elected government, it has not served the role of a democratic government that is responsible for the welfare of its citizens. If it was a true democracy, then it would have continued to provide social services without the need to join its jihad against Israel. It would have given the citizens a chance for their children to get an actual, objective education instead of one that focused on destroying Israel from day one. So every time Hamas uses the argument that they were elected in a democratic process, remember that the basic tenets of democracy do not exist in Gaza. Again any state that calls for all of the citizens of a bordering state to be thrown into the sea, cannot be called a true democracy. Here is a link to quotes from the current leader of Hamas, and you can tell me what you think about them, . While Hamas may recognize the reality of the situation, the Holocaust is still much worse than any action Israel has committed.
With these conditions and newer, stronger rockets, Israel had finally reached its breaking point in dealing with Hamas. A week ago, Israel launched an aggressive bombing campaign on many Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in order to halt the rocket attacks. At first, I was confused on why Israel believed that it could use force to quell the attacks coming from Gaza since it seemed as though violence only leads to more violence. For this week, the cycle of violence has kept on escalating to the point where Israel saw no other way to stop the rocket attacks on its citizens besides launching the ground invasion. While most of the world, including the Winograd Report (Israeli internal investigation of the Lebanon War), viewed the war with Hezbollah as a disaster, there have been no more rockets raining down on the north since 2006. Even it takes a month or two and causes Israeli causalities, the IDF believes that the end game of stopping the rocket attacks will be worthwhile.
The most troubling aspect of the entire situation for me are the non-Hamas related deaths within the Gaza Strip. During the bombing campaign, it is very unclear how many of the Palestinians that were killed were directly tied to Hamas. Without real identification, we have no idea who exactly was killed in the strikes. Even if we know the people, we are not always sure of their ties to Hamas. Just because a woman or a child died in an attack does not mean that they are always innocent. In 2006, Hamas tried to sent a sixty year-old grandmother into Israel to launch a suicide bombing on Israeli civilians. Is anyone who voted for Hamas in 2006 a target? You have to draw the line somewhere, but I have no idea where that line is drawn. Also, Gaza is a very densely populated area, so there is going to be some collateral damage. I really hope Israel is doing everything possible to minimize non-Hamas deaths, but I have very serious doubts. It is encouraging to see Israel send across trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza every day, but those trucks are being seized by Hamas as they cross the border in order to make sure the leadership gets more than its fair share and therefore starves the population. Maybe with Israeli troops on the ground, the situation will improve for the average Gazan on a humanitarian level.
For me, the biggest question is now, how will this operation end? With the transition of power in the United States, the government is doing a pathetic job at trying to bring the sides together to create a lasting peace. Hopefully, the new Obama administration will set this goal as a high priority instead of something that is only pursued during the waning months of an administration. Unless Israel totally uproots Hamas from Gaza (something I am not sure Israel even wants to do considering the resulting anarchy and possible need for a long occupation of Gaza), Israel is going to have to force Hamas to make concessions if it is going to have any power in Gaza. Israel is trying to put a choke hold on Hamas, and maybe they believe this will lead to a forced peace, but it sound way too idealistic. In the meanwhile, Tony Blair, Nicholas Sarkozy, and the European Union is playing the role that the United States used to play in international affairs. While it is nice to see the EU caring about the rest of the world, a non-presence from the US only hurts American interests in the region and the world.
At this point, we can only guess what the future will bring and it sure looks dim. If Israel can stop the Hamas attacks, then it will be a great achievement which if done correctly restores the power of the Israeli military in the eyes of the world as the power in the Middle East. Many Sunni states from Egypt to Saudi Arabia are privately hoping that Israel can quickly defeat the Iranian-backed Hamas so they can maintain a balance of power over Iran. However, the populations of these nations are siding with Hamas in the interest of the mutual hatred of the existence of the state of Israel. If the conflict does not end soon, there are fears that these protests could seriously affect the ruling regimes across the Middle East. Throw an Israeli election next month into the mix, and this situation could be the catalyst for a new Middle East. But new does not mean better or mean peaceful based on the current conditions of the Middle East. Maybe there is hope for a lasting peace and seeing two or three prosperous states living side-by-side, but sadly this does not appear to be on the horizon.
The history of the region since 2005 shows the mutual failure of Israel and Hamas to achieve a stable, free Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. When Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally in 2005, there were wide hopes that the Palestinians could establish a lasting, civil state within the Gaza Strip. However, what has occurred in the past three and a half years is very far from those hopes and dreams. Upon departure, Israel left behind successful industries that the citizens of Gaza could have used to establish a successful economy from a prospering greenhouse plants industry to farms that produced a decent portion of Israel's annual harvest. There were also factories that employed many Palestinians under Israeli control from 1967-2005. As the last Israeli troops left, all of those facilities were raided and different people stole valuable parts, which made these facilities unusable.
With few jobs in Gaza and stories of supposed success from Hamas for ending the Israeli occupation, Hamas was in a great position in time for the January 2006 elections. Hamas provided social services that no other organization (Palestinian, Israeli, or global, i.e. United Nations, Red Cross) was providing at the time. With this context, it is not surprising that Hamas won the elections in Gaza with a platform that centered on the destruction on the democratic state of Israel. To be fair, Israel did occupy Gaza for 38 years and the people of Gaza were looking forward to self-rule for the first time in modern history. The international community did not respond kindly to the election of a group that called from the destruction of Israel. The international community placed three demands on Hamas in order for them to gain a seat at the table: recognize Israel right to exist, accept the Fatah agreements with Israel, and renounce violence as a means for achieving their goals.
The democratic process broke down quickly. At first, Hamas had a narrow edge among the Gaza representatives in Ramallah (seat of the Palestinian Parliament in the West Bank). In June 2007, Hamas was frustrated with the lack of progress through political means, so they seized total control of the Gaza Strip in a brutal civil war with Fatah. It is estimated that over a thousand Palestinians were killed in this brutal, internal conflict. In order to prove their complete control, Hamas laid mines all over their borders with Israel and Egypt in order to protect their land from any external invasion. At this same time, Hamas continued to fire rockets into sovereign Israeli territory. The IDF has noted that over 10,250 rockets have been fired into sovereign Israel from Hamas in the past eight year. Also, during this period, Hamas abducted Israeli solider Gilad Shalit from Israel-proper. Gilad is presumed to still be alive based on current information and is one of the biggest objects of leverage in the Hamas arsenal. One of the main reasons, I fear this current ground invasion is that I do not want to see any more Israeli soldiers fall into Hamas custody.
Due to the conflict in Lebanon and other various international pressures, Israel had not decided to respond to the constant barrage of rockets into Sderot and other communities near Gaza within proper Israeli borders. The situation continued to grow worse as time progressed and considering the ties between Hamas and Iran, many Arab states as well as Israel wanted to see a peaceful solution to this issue. Therefore, Egypt stepped in as a lead moderator to negotiate a six-month cease fire between Israel and Hamas that lasted until Dec. 19, 2008. As the cease fire ended, it was clear that Hamas was going to start launching rockets into Israel the day it expired. Hamas could have spent the last three years working with the international community to achieve a stable state within Gaza, but they willing chose not to do so.
Even though Hamas was a democratically-elected government, it has not served the role of a democratic government that is responsible for the welfare of its citizens. If it was a true democracy, then it would have continued to provide social services without the need to join its jihad against Israel. It would have given the citizens a chance for their children to get an actual, objective education instead of one that focused on destroying Israel from day one. So every time Hamas uses the argument that they were elected in a democratic process, remember that the basic tenets of democracy do not exist in Gaza. Again any state that calls for all of the citizens of a bordering state to be thrown into the sea, cannot be called a true democracy. Here is a link to quotes from the current leader of Hamas, and you can tell me what you think about them, . While Hamas may recognize the reality of the situation, the Holocaust is still much worse than any action Israel has committed.
With these conditions and newer, stronger rockets, Israel had finally reached its breaking point in dealing with Hamas. A week ago, Israel launched an aggressive bombing campaign on many Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip in order to halt the rocket attacks. At first, I was confused on why Israel believed that it could use force to quell the attacks coming from Gaza since it seemed as though violence only leads to more violence. For this week, the cycle of violence has kept on escalating to the point where Israel saw no other way to stop the rocket attacks on its citizens besides launching the ground invasion. While most of the world, including the Winograd Report (Israeli internal investigation of the Lebanon War), viewed the war with Hezbollah as a disaster, there have been no more rockets raining down on the north since 2006. Even it takes a month or two and causes Israeli causalities, the IDF believes that the end game of stopping the rocket attacks will be worthwhile.
The most troubling aspect of the entire situation for me are the non-Hamas related deaths within the Gaza Strip. During the bombing campaign, it is very unclear how many of the Palestinians that were killed were directly tied to Hamas. Without real identification, we have no idea who exactly was killed in the strikes. Even if we know the people, we are not always sure of their ties to Hamas. Just because a woman or a child died in an attack does not mean that they are always innocent. In 2006, Hamas tried to sent a sixty year-old grandmother into Israel to launch a suicide bombing on Israeli civilians. Is anyone who voted for Hamas in 2006 a target? You have to draw the line somewhere, but I have no idea where that line is drawn. Also, Gaza is a very densely populated area, so there is going to be some collateral damage. I really hope Israel is doing everything possible to minimize non-Hamas deaths, but I have very serious doubts. It is encouraging to see Israel send across trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza every day, but those trucks are being seized by Hamas as they cross the border in order to make sure the leadership gets more than its fair share and therefore starves the population. Maybe with Israeli troops on the ground, the situation will improve for the average Gazan on a humanitarian level.
For me, the biggest question is now, how will this operation end? With the transition of power in the United States, the government is doing a pathetic job at trying to bring the sides together to create a lasting peace. Hopefully, the new Obama administration will set this goal as a high priority instead of something that is only pursued during the waning months of an administration. Unless Israel totally uproots Hamas from Gaza (something I am not sure Israel even wants to do considering the resulting anarchy and possible need for a long occupation of Gaza), Israel is going to have to force Hamas to make concessions if it is going to have any power in Gaza. Israel is trying to put a choke hold on Hamas, and maybe they believe this will lead to a forced peace, but it sound way too idealistic. In the meanwhile, Tony Blair, Nicholas Sarkozy, and the European Union is playing the role that the United States used to play in international affairs. While it is nice to see the EU caring about the rest of the world, a non-presence from the US only hurts American interests in the region and the world.
At this point, we can only guess what the future will bring and it sure looks dim. If Israel can stop the Hamas attacks, then it will be a great achievement which if done correctly restores the power of the Israeli military in the eyes of the world as the power in the Middle East. Many Sunni states from Egypt to Saudi Arabia are privately hoping that Israel can quickly defeat the Iranian-backed Hamas so they can maintain a balance of power over Iran. However, the populations of these nations are siding with Hamas in the interest of the mutual hatred of the existence of the state of Israel. If the conflict does not end soon, there are fears that these protests could seriously affect the ruling regimes across the Middle East. Throw an Israeli election next month into the mix, and this situation could be the catalyst for a new Middle East. But new does not mean better or mean peaceful based on the current conditions of the Middle East. Maybe there is hope for a lasting peace and seeing two or three prosperous states living side-by-side, but sadly this does not appear to be on the horizon.
Monday, December 29, 2008
South Florida
I have quite a bit catching up to do on this blog about my travels of the previous week. Considering not too much interesting will be happening in the 'Nati in the next two weeks, I may actually catch up on everything with some interesting tales before I return to Somerville.
Traveling with my family is not what anyone would describe as fun or easy. It's not that I do not love my family or anything along those lines, but when any situation turns stressful, my family turns ugly. After a rather uneventful flight down to West Palm, we encountered the world of strange rental car companies and the awful I-95 Friday afternoon traffic.
Upon landing at West Palm, we headed to the Alamo counter. The agent was absolutely classless in trying to sell us a gas guzzler to fit all of our luggage while our midsize SUV could already easily fit the luggage. It was a bad sales job by the guy, but I would not have been shocked if he had gotten a lot of people to upgrade due to false information. He was likely going to personally pocket the extra money, which he may have needed, but that is no way to make an extra buck.
It gets even worse when we reach the Alamo Center off the airport grounds. We load up the car and are ready to go. However, the car will not start with whatever we try to do. It takes five minutes to find an agent to help us, but even the agent who spoke little English or Spanish could not help us. At least there was another car in the lot that could fit our luggage and actually started up. You can only imagine the tension growing in my family at this point.
If any of you have ever driven 95 South in Palm Beach, Broward, or Miami-Dade counties, you know the road is usually very wide (8 to 14 lanes) yet there are still unexplainable traffic jams. We were cruising until we hit Boca and everything went downhill from there. My family is freaking out in a relatively normal traffic jam, and I am about to lose my mind. We all knew there was going to a be a traffic jam on the way to Davie, but sometimes the physical reality causes more problems. The drive may have taken almost 90 minutes, but in retrospect the delays were not that bad except for my family's reactions.
When in Ft. Lauderdale, check out the newer Himmarshee Village. It is a really hoping area near the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The area used to be one of the worst in the city, but with the new arts district, the area has become very popular with fine restaurants, bars, and clubs. It provides a nice, smaller, yet just as hoping alternative to Las Olas in Ft. Lauderdale. We ate at the actual Himmarshee restaurant, which was excellent and very filling after an afternoon of travels.
On Saturday, we headed down to the Miami airport to drop the rental car. After a filling breakfast at the Waffle House (I may be the only one, but I actually really like the Waffle House and its employees-maybe my almost Southern side in me?), we started heading down Florida's Turnpike. Passing Dolphins Stadium almost made me cry since I really want to be at this week's FedEx Orange Bowl, but with this trip, it was deemed impossible. I was so close, but I was only there 12 days early. After encountering some more Miami traffic, we reached the airport and had to wait only a few minutes to catch a shuttle to the cruise port.
Boarding the NCL Dawn takes a while since there are a lot of stages, but it took only 45 minutes. Since we had a mini-suite, we could bypass the worst lines, and once we navigated the maze inside the cruise terminal in Miami, we stepped onto Dawn. The next entries will detail the next week aboard the Dawn, which is a great ship and one where people stay on board unlike the tragedy on the Norwegian Pearl.
Traveling with my family is not what anyone would describe as fun or easy. It's not that I do not love my family or anything along those lines, but when any situation turns stressful, my family turns ugly. After a rather uneventful flight down to West Palm, we encountered the world of strange rental car companies and the awful I-95 Friday afternoon traffic.
Upon landing at West Palm, we headed to the Alamo counter. The agent was absolutely classless in trying to sell us a gas guzzler to fit all of our luggage while our midsize SUV could already easily fit the luggage. It was a bad sales job by the guy, but I would not have been shocked if he had gotten a lot of people to upgrade due to false information. He was likely going to personally pocket the extra money, which he may have needed, but that is no way to make an extra buck.
It gets even worse when we reach the Alamo Center off the airport grounds. We load up the car and are ready to go. However, the car will not start with whatever we try to do. It takes five minutes to find an agent to help us, but even the agent who spoke little English or Spanish could not help us. At least there was another car in the lot that could fit our luggage and actually started up. You can only imagine the tension growing in my family at this point.
If any of you have ever driven 95 South in Palm Beach, Broward, or Miami-Dade counties, you know the road is usually very wide (8 to 14 lanes) yet there are still unexplainable traffic jams. We were cruising until we hit Boca and everything went downhill from there. My family is freaking out in a relatively normal traffic jam, and I am about to lose my mind. We all knew there was going to a be a traffic jam on the way to Davie, but sometimes the physical reality causes more problems. The drive may have taken almost 90 minutes, but in retrospect the delays were not that bad except for my family's reactions.
When in Ft. Lauderdale, check out the newer Himmarshee Village. It is a really hoping area near the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. The area used to be one of the worst in the city, but with the new arts district, the area has become very popular with fine restaurants, bars, and clubs. It provides a nice, smaller, yet just as hoping alternative to Las Olas in Ft. Lauderdale. We ate at the actual Himmarshee restaurant, which was excellent and very filling after an afternoon of travels.
On Saturday, we headed down to the Miami airport to drop the rental car. After a filling breakfast at the Waffle House (I may be the only one, but I actually really like the Waffle House and its employees-maybe my almost Southern side in me?), we started heading down Florida's Turnpike. Passing Dolphins Stadium almost made me cry since I really want to be at this week's FedEx Orange Bowl, but with this trip, it was deemed impossible. I was so close, but I was only there 12 days early. After encountering some more Miami traffic, we reached the airport and had to wait only a few minutes to catch a shuttle to the cruise port.
Boarding the NCL Dawn takes a while since there are a lot of stages, but it took only 45 minutes. Since we had a mini-suite, we could bypass the worst lines, and once we navigated the maze inside the cruise terminal in Miami, we stepped onto Dawn. The next entries will detail the next week aboard the Dawn, which is a great ship and one where people stay on board unlike the tragedy on the Norwegian Pearl.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Big East/SEC Invitational
I had hopes a few years ago when the Big East and SEC announced that they were going to start an annual series of non-conference games between the leagues. However, this invitational works nowhere near as well as the gold standard set by the ACC/Big-10 Challenge or even the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Classic series. On Tuesday, South Florida fell to Vandy and Marquette lost to Tennessee at the Sommet Center in Nashville. Tonight, I was in attendance as the Big East evened up with the series with victories by UC over Mississippi State and Louisville over Ole Miss at the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
I am a big advocate of playing college basketball games on campus or in any full, partisan venue. Tonight, (no official attendance numbers have been released yet) there could not have been more than 6000 actual fans at the Bank, which can seat 17,000 for basketball. I have seen a bunch of games at the Bank, and with the exception of North College Hill-Oak Hill Academy (#1 vs #2 high school teams in the nation in Feb. 2007-the game was of NBA quality), the building has never had a great vibe or anything close to a full house. The place was evenly split between Bearcats an Cards fans, but the Cards fans were far more vocal than the Bearcats supporters. If anyone saw the coverage on ESPN, they could have entirely empty sections behind both hoops and maybe 3 of the 36 upper deck sections with people. Considering the fact it was a Thursday night doubleheader with lackluster matchups and the cheapest tickets cost $28, it was surprising that any non-hard core supporters showed up.
The first game got off to a quick but slopping start from both the Bearcats and Bulldogs. #32 for Mississippi State, Jarvis Varnado, kept the Bulldogs close until Deonta Vaughn got going for the Bearcats in the final four minutes of the first half. Vaughn scored 14 points as part of a 20-2 run that gave the Bearcats a 47-29 lead heading into the half. Mississippi State tried to claw their way back into the game cutting the lead into the single digits, but they never posed any true threat in the second half. Another solid but no spectacular win for the Bearcats, but clearly a step in the right direction with the first win of the season over a BCS (I know its college basketball, but you get the point) school. However, Mick Cronin's offensive strategy still bugs me since it does create anything it just hopes that someone will make a move to get open. It is so simple and a good team like Xavier hammered the Bearcats offense.
On the other hand, the nightcap presented two different and more effective, entertaining offenses. After punching a cabbie last night, Ole Miss let former UC Interm Head Coach Andy Kennedy coach tonight, and he came out to a very warm applause from the Bearcats fans who stuck around. Louisville came out on all cylinders after a rough opening four minutes. Then, Louisville came out with the signature Rick Pitino full court press and opened the lead up to 19 after a 19-2 run. At that point, Louisville looked like an NBA team playing a good high school team that had no idea what had hit them. However, Andy Kennedy and his Ole Miss Rebels had a point to prove, and held Louisville to 6 points over the last 9 minutes of the half. The Cards were missing wide-open looks and their overall advantage in athleticism and size seemed to vanish. The Rebels playing sound, fundamental basketball got the lead down to 4 at the half, including a 25-foot fadeaway 3 at the buzzer.
At the beginning of the second half, it appeared as though Louisville was going to pull away as they got the lead up to 56-46. Again, the Rebels fought back and even managed to briefly grab the lead at 63-62 with 7 to play. However, the Cards were more resilient tonight, and ended the game on a 10-1 run to emerge from the Bank victorious. It was only their second win in their last seven games on a neutral court, and they almost let one slip away tonight. They head on a plane tonight to Phoenix to play Minnesota in the Stadium Classic on Saturday afternoon. Tubby and his Gophers will be ready for the Cards, and do not be surprised if the Gophers sneak one out in the desert.
While the games were not bad tonight, I hope that with the help of ESPN, the series can be expanded to include more teams and to venues with larger crowds and more passion. There is no reason this series cannot equal the ACC/Big-10 event, and I hope it does in the future. It is also interesting to note that all 4 of the Big East teams that played in this year's invitational were part of Conference USA until 2005. This series did not get a chance to improve the superiority of the Big East, but with a larger series, the Big East could end any debate about being the best in the nation for college basketball.
I am a big advocate of playing college basketball games on campus or in any full, partisan venue. Tonight, (no official attendance numbers have been released yet) there could not have been more than 6000 actual fans at the Bank, which can seat 17,000 for basketball. I have seen a bunch of games at the Bank, and with the exception of North College Hill-Oak Hill Academy (#1 vs #2 high school teams in the nation in Feb. 2007-the game was of NBA quality), the building has never had a great vibe or anything close to a full house. The place was evenly split between Bearcats an Cards fans, but the Cards fans were far more vocal than the Bearcats supporters. If anyone saw the coverage on ESPN, they could have entirely empty sections behind both hoops and maybe 3 of the 36 upper deck sections with people. Considering the fact it was a Thursday night doubleheader with lackluster matchups and the cheapest tickets cost $28, it was surprising that any non-hard core supporters showed up.
The first game got off to a quick but slopping start from both the Bearcats and Bulldogs. #32 for Mississippi State, Jarvis Varnado, kept the Bulldogs close until Deonta Vaughn got going for the Bearcats in the final four minutes of the first half. Vaughn scored 14 points as part of a 20-2 run that gave the Bearcats a 47-29 lead heading into the half. Mississippi State tried to claw their way back into the game cutting the lead into the single digits, but they never posed any true threat in the second half. Another solid but no spectacular win for the Bearcats, but clearly a step in the right direction with the first win of the season over a BCS (I know its college basketball, but you get the point) school. However, Mick Cronin's offensive strategy still bugs me since it does create anything it just hopes that someone will make a move to get open. It is so simple and a good team like Xavier hammered the Bearcats offense.
On the other hand, the nightcap presented two different and more effective, entertaining offenses. After punching a cabbie last night, Ole Miss let former UC Interm Head Coach Andy Kennedy coach tonight, and he came out to a very warm applause from the Bearcats fans who stuck around. Louisville came out on all cylinders after a rough opening four minutes. Then, Louisville came out with the signature Rick Pitino full court press and opened the lead up to 19 after a 19-2 run. At that point, Louisville looked like an NBA team playing a good high school team that had no idea what had hit them. However, Andy Kennedy and his Ole Miss Rebels had a point to prove, and held Louisville to 6 points over the last 9 minutes of the half. The Cards were missing wide-open looks and their overall advantage in athleticism and size seemed to vanish. The Rebels playing sound, fundamental basketball got the lead down to 4 at the half, including a 25-foot fadeaway 3 at the buzzer.
At the beginning of the second half, it appeared as though Louisville was going to pull away as they got the lead up to 56-46. Again, the Rebels fought back and even managed to briefly grab the lead at 63-62 with 7 to play. However, the Cards were more resilient tonight, and ended the game on a 10-1 run to emerge from the Bank victorious. It was only their second win in their last seven games on a neutral court, and they almost let one slip away tonight. They head on a plane tonight to Phoenix to play Minnesota in the Stadium Classic on Saturday afternoon. Tubby and his Gophers will be ready for the Cards, and do not be surprised if the Gophers sneak one out in the desert.
While the games were not bad tonight, I hope that with the help of ESPN, the series can be expanded to include more teams and to venues with larger crowds and more passion. There is no reason this series cannot equal the ACC/Big-10 event, and I hope it does in the future. It is also interesting to note that all 4 of the Big East teams that played in this year's invitational were part of Conference USA until 2005. This series did not get a chance to improve the superiority of the Big East, but with a larger series, the Big East could end any debate about being the best in the nation for college basketball.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Swing State
Tonight, I had the privilege of seeing the Cincinnati premiere of the political documentary "Swing State." The screening was a part of a fundraiser for the Hamilton County Democratic Party, which is still celebrating their well-deserved victories at most positions across the ballot. The film was directed and produced by Jason Zone Fisher, who is the son of the current Lt. Governor of Ohio Lee Fisher. I have seen quite a few political documentaries in the past two years, but this film took a very different, more personal approach to the campaign than any other documentary.
Jason had just graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse right before the 2006 election cycle heated up, so it made sense for him to film his father's run for office from his vantage point. This view consists of two major aspects: the first being the national significance of the Ohio governor's race and the other being the personal toll it takes on the family. On the first aspect, the race attracted many of the top Democrats and Republicans in Ohio and the country, which gave Jason a very easy starting point for obtaining interviews. Many of these leaders which include an introduction from Madelaine Albright, President Clinton, President-Elect Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, the late Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Al Gore, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and Jerry Springer, talk about the national importance of this gubernatorial race in determining the future of the Democratic party and the 2008 election. Well those efforts paid off handsomely with Obama carrying the Buckeye State in 2008 led by Aaron Pickrell, who was the campaign director for Strickland/Fisher in 2006.
What was much more interesting about the film was the personal tale of Jason seeing his father becoming a workaholic in trying to become Lt. Governor. Lee Fisher ran for governor in 1998 as Ohio Attorney General, but was defeated in a close election by Bob Taft. Therefore, Lee was even more determined to win in 2006, but he made clear changes. First of all, he wanted to make all of his fundraising calls from his house in the most comfortable fashion possible. For the final six months of the campaign, about 10 people lived in the Fisher house in Cleveland helping out the fundraising effort while Lee often worked into the wee hours of the morning. There is even one scene in the movie where the viewer sees Lee checking his e-mail after midnight shirtless, proving how useful and stressful having the office at home truly was. By the end of the movie, you can understand the true toll a campaign takes on a family, and why I would never want to run for office. I advise anyone running for office with a family to see this movie before doing so, and I greatly respect the people who choose to run despite familial considerations.
The movie also does an effective job at telling the story of Ted Strickland vs. Ken Blackwell battle. Jason shows the infamous debate clip with Mr. Blackwell accusing Mr. Strickland of being a NAMBLA supporter and other clips that tell how the Democrats recaptured the Governor's Mansion. However, you would have no idea that Ted and Lee won by 25 points from the film. The viewer sees many of the problems with Ken Blackwell, but it never mentions just how poorly he did at the ballot box.
After the screening, Jason and Lee took a series of questions from the audience, and they were very open about all questions. Afterward, I went up to Jason and bought a DVD, which he kindly signed. We talked about screening the movie at Tufts when he is in Boston later this winter/spring, and I would love to have Jason show the film and have a q&a session with Tufts students. After talking to Jason, I got a chance to have a chat with Lee about the current state of politics in Ohio. My own mother use to work with Lee on Jewish causes back in the 80s, and he surprisingly remembered her. It turns out that Lee was the only candidate that ever got my dad to vote in a primary in his 30 years living in Ohio (including Hillary/Obama). Lee seems very upbeat about the Democrats political progress from the November's results, which a newly Democratic state house. On a side note, one of those new representatives Connie Pilich (OH-29) was in the audience, and she is going to be a great new voice in Columbus. It was very nice for me to finally get to congratulate Connie in person, and we know that she has a lot of work ahead in Columbus.
Another question, I got to ask Lee was about his former opponent Ken Blackwell's run for RNC chair, which appears to be gaining momentum (there will be a future post on Blackwell's run closer to the RNC election). Lee described Blackwell as an extreme social conservative even within the Republican party, and that his election would further reduce the GOP. He said he was rooting for Ken to win since "It would only help the Democratic Party" in the future. After signing the cover, we parted ways, but not before a strong call to return to Ohio to help with the 2010 re-election campaign (which will be harder than 2006 and especially so in Southern Ohio if Rob Portman runs). I'd call it a good night.
Jason had just graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse right before the 2006 election cycle heated up, so it made sense for him to film his father's run for office from his vantage point. This view consists of two major aspects: the first being the national significance of the Ohio governor's race and the other being the personal toll it takes on the family. On the first aspect, the race attracted many of the top Democrats and Republicans in Ohio and the country, which gave Jason a very easy starting point for obtaining interviews. Many of these leaders which include an introduction from Madelaine Albright, President Clinton, President-Elect Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, the late Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Al Gore, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, and Jerry Springer, talk about the national importance of this gubernatorial race in determining the future of the Democratic party and the 2008 election. Well those efforts paid off handsomely with Obama carrying the Buckeye State in 2008 led by Aaron Pickrell, who was the campaign director for Strickland/Fisher in 2006.
What was much more interesting about the film was the personal tale of Jason seeing his father becoming a workaholic in trying to become Lt. Governor. Lee Fisher ran for governor in 1998 as Ohio Attorney General, but was defeated in a close election by Bob Taft. Therefore, Lee was even more determined to win in 2006, but he made clear changes. First of all, he wanted to make all of his fundraising calls from his house in the most comfortable fashion possible. For the final six months of the campaign, about 10 people lived in the Fisher house in Cleveland helping out the fundraising effort while Lee often worked into the wee hours of the morning. There is even one scene in the movie where the viewer sees Lee checking his e-mail after midnight shirtless, proving how useful and stressful having the office at home truly was. By the end of the movie, you can understand the true toll a campaign takes on a family, and why I would never want to run for office. I advise anyone running for office with a family to see this movie before doing so, and I greatly respect the people who choose to run despite familial considerations.
The movie also does an effective job at telling the story of Ted Strickland vs. Ken Blackwell battle. Jason shows the infamous debate clip with Mr. Blackwell accusing Mr. Strickland of being a NAMBLA supporter and other clips that tell how the Democrats recaptured the Governor's Mansion. However, you would have no idea that Ted and Lee won by 25 points from the film. The viewer sees many of the problems with Ken Blackwell, but it never mentions just how poorly he did at the ballot box.
After the screening, Jason and Lee took a series of questions from the audience, and they were very open about all questions. Afterward, I went up to Jason and bought a DVD, which he kindly signed. We talked about screening the movie at Tufts when he is in Boston later this winter/spring, and I would love to have Jason show the film and have a q&a session with Tufts students. After talking to Jason, I got a chance to have a chat with Lee about the current state of politics in Ohio. My own mother use to work with Lee on Jewish causes back in the 80s, and he surprisingly remembered her. It turns out that Lee was the only candidate that ever got my dad to vote in a primary in his 30 years living in Ohio (including Hillary/Obama). Lee seems very upbeat about the Democrats political progress from the November's results, which a newly Democratic state house. On a side note, one of those new representatives Connie Pilich (OH-29) was in the audience, and she is going to be a great new voice in Columbus. It was very nice for me to finally get to congratulate Connie in person, and we know that she has a lot of work ahead in Columbus.
Another question, I got to ask Lee was about his former opponent Ken Blackwell's run for RNC chair, which appears to be gaining momentum (there will be a future post on Blackwell's run closer to the RNC election). Lee described Blackwell as an extreme social conservative even within the Republican party, and that his election would further reduce the GOP. He said he was rooting for Ken to win since "It would only help the Democratic Party" in the future. After signing the cover, we parted ways, but not before a strong call to return to Ohio to help with the 2010 re-election campaign (which will be harder than 2006 and especially so in Southern Ohio if Rob Portman runs). I'd call it a good night.
Star Tribune Feed of the Minnesota Recount
If anyone is bored right now, you can watch a live feed of the Minnesota canvass board ballot-by-ballot. http://www.startribune.com/video/?ls1=1?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUycaEacyU
The process is pretty straightforward and you get to see each ballot and see if their rulings have been logical. So far they are going through Franken's challenges, which have been going mostly for Coleman, but there are quite a few valid challenges. I thought it would make for boring TV, but each ballot has something interesting, so I'd recommend giving the feed a look.
It will be very interesting to see how many votes Coleman leads by after all of the Franken challenges are complete. Then, we will know how many unsuccessful challenges from Coleman will be needed to produce a Franken victory. A bunch of the ballots are going into an other pile, which will likely decide this election. Its been one heck of a ride, it does not appear to be ending anytime soon.
The process is pretty straightforward and you get to see each ballot and see if their rulings have been logical. So far they are going through Franken's challenges, which have been going mostly for Coleman, but there are quite a few valid challenges. I thought it would make for boring TV, but each ballot has something interesting, so I'd recommend giving the feed a look.
It will be very interesting to see how many votes Coleman leads by after all of the Franken challenges are complete. Then, we will know how many unsuccessful challenges from Coleman will be needed to produce a Franken victory. A bunch of the ballots are going into an other pile, which will likely decide this election. Its been one heck of a ride, it does not appear to be ending anytime soon.
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