October 9, 2012

1. I think that our United States federal education system is materialistic. Some of you maybe thinking, "Well, duh! It's about time you catch on." I was slow because before, whenever I thought of materialism, I thought of buying and accumulating a lot of things or a lot of money.

            However, a teacher at John Tyler High School said something to me a few weeks ago that made it all click. Federal mandates emphasize the material. For example, consider the federal government’s influence concerning testing.

            The emphasis no longer is on gathering knowledge in order to become a good citizen in a democratic society. Now it is on receiving high numbers (grades) as noted on ink and paper, or through pixels.

            Education from the federal government does not care about producing good citizens; it cares about producing good testers. That means schools often deliver neither.

            A major factor preventing students today from excelling in education is the complete elimination of the spiritual from the public schools. When I use the word “spiritual” in this context, I am using it in the broad sense, in full compliance with Supreme Court decisions of Church and State.

         Without the spiritual, you lose good education and good citizens.

2. I think Texas Ranger fans are going to rue the day that Josh Hamilton signed with another team. I fear these past few years will be known as the golden years of the Texas Rangers and that the Rangers will not win a World Series for many years to come. They will be competitive, but the window of opportunity has closed.

3. I am picking Baltimore and Washington to play in the World Series. I had picked the Giants, but they are now behind Cincy 2-0. Obviously, I made a mistake. Matt Cain looked awful Game 1.

4. I saw HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA last week. It was the first 3D movie that I have seen with the new technology (that was cool!) The movie started slow for a cartoon, but it picked up about ten to fifteen minutes in. Lots of laughs.

5. I finished the book THE LAST HEADBANGERS by sportswriter Kevin Cook last week. It is a celebration of the seventies in the NFL, before major rule changes in defensive football occurred, delivering the high scorer football we still witness today.

            It is not a heavily researched book along the lines of Michael MacCambridge’s AMERICA’S GAME, but the author did conduct a few interviews, which brought some originality to the table. (My favorite interview was Roger Staubach.)

            Two interesting facts that appeared at the end of the book:

             1) How popular is the NFL? According to the THE LAST HEADBANGERS, ESPN's coverage of the annual scouting combine in Indianapolis draws more viewers than the Masters or the Indy 500. In the year 2010, the top 19 rated programs in all of television were broadcasts of NFL games (likewise were 28 of the top 30 broadcasts.) During the NFL regular season, an NFL game was the number one show on television each week. In February 2010, Super Bowl XLIV became the highest rated television program of all time. The next year, Super Bowl XLV became number one. This year, 2012, Super Bowl XLVI became the most viewed TV program of all time.

            2) I knew Johnny Unitas paid a high price for his NFL career, but I did not realize that in the last few years of his life, he had to resort to this when he played golf: using the fingers of his left hand, he would plac the deadened fingers of his right hand around the grip of a golf club to then strap into place those deadened fingers with Velcro. This was because his right arm had been damaged so much during his career, he had no feeling in his hand and fingers.