Nobody 712

Sunday, September 23, 2007
Nobody # 712

Nobody Asked Me But:

Role Reversal by Judith Viorst

Our children with a touch of pique,
Complain we’re out four nights a week,
And pressingly suggest we do more resting.
They offer us some dull advice
About the virtues of brown rice
And other foods we don’t think worth ingesting.

They’re urging us to sign up for
Some nice safe undemanding tour
In lieu of a far jauntier vacation,
And watch us disapprovingly
Drink every drop of our Chablis
Untroubled by their pleas of moderation.

They warn us we are sure to slip
And give ourselves a fractured hip
Unless when climbing stairs, we grip the railing.
They tell us to slow down, relax,
Lift nothing that will strain our backs,
And take a pill for everything that’s ailing.

We don’t ail all that much. In fact,
We see ourselves as quite intact,
Despite some losses physical and mental.
So though we know no harm is meant,
We’ve come to mightily resent
Our children’s tendency to act parental.

No, my kids aren’t this way. I just like this poem.<<<

THE SPORTS PAGE

FOOTBALL

I would be remiss not to mention the results from UCLA’s game at Utah. So, I’ll be remiss.<<<

I would also be remiss not to mention that the Bruins beat Washington last night, 44-31. We watched from the press box at the Rose Bowl, and it was great fun. I will write more about it next week when the pictures are uploaded and ready.<<<

Still on football:

After a Saturday loss, UA coach Mike Stoops announced that he suspended four players indefinitely following an incident the previous Thursday. This begs two questions:

First, if the incident deserved discipline, why was it not imposed before the game?

Second, would Stoops have taken the same action if the Wildcats had won the game?

Just win, baby, morality is for losers.<<<

The best running back I ever saw was Hugh McElheny, who played for the University of Washington, the 49ers and the Detroit Lions. (Legend has it that he took a pay cut when he moved from college to pro.) The others in my top five in no particular order are: Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, Jim Brown and Glen Davis.

BASEBALL

Stick a fork in the Dodgers. They’re way past done. Next year, good-bye to the griping veterans – except for pitchers, and hello to the kids.

Congratulations to Curtis Granderson from another of my “season’s over” teams, the Tigers. Granderson made history last week when he stole his 20th base of the season and became just the 3rd player in Major League history to record 20 homers, 20 triples, 20 doubles and 20 steals in a single season. Frank "Wildfire" Schulte did it in 1911, as did Willie Mays in 1957.<<<

BASKETBALL Top 2009 basketball recruit Jrue Holiday, on why he chose UCLA: - "I think it's simple what we all see: two straight Final Fours and a coach that gets you to play defense."<<<

VOLLEYBALL

We went to Pauley Thursday night and watched the Lady Bruins defeat Arizona 3 games to 1. While there we learned that UCLA is stepping up its recruitment of this two-sport athlete. (see pictures. And yes, that's Emily)<<<

When you reach a certain age, every routine doctor’s appointment is an application for apprehension. Or perhaps this is true at any age and merely worsens with time’s passing, as one begins to sense more clearly that the number of horseshoes and four-leaf clovers available is finite.

I had a doctor’s appointment last Wednesday. It was one regularly scheduled and routine, but the night before I was a bit anxious. That’s when I opened Phillip Roth’s new novel “Exit Ghost.” One page one I learned that Roth’s long-time character, Nathan Zuckerman, was struggling with the after-effects of prostate cancer. Great! By page two I wanted to close the book and relegate it to a back shelf in my library. But I am a stubborn SOB. So I read on. And in some strange way the words comforted me.

Why? I’m not sure. But I think it had something to do with the printed word, like reality, being less scary than imagination. I felt the same way when reading about death in Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking.”

Oh, and it turned out that I left my appointment healthier than I went in. My BP is great, I have lost a few pounds and my blood sugar, while slightly high, was not the problem I had thought it to be and requires no drastic change in my eating habits.<<<

From The Japan Times: Peter Singer, who is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University, says that we should legalize performance-enhancing drugs in sports. He argues that (1) they would level a field that is genetically uneven, and (2) there is a fine line between legal enhancement drugs (caffeine) and illegal (steroids).

I don’t buy it. Call me old fashioned, but I think an uneven gene pool is an important factor in our uniqueness. I would use gene therapy to prevent or cure birth defects and sickness. Beyond that I am for letting nature take its course.<<<

Speaking of birth defects, I recently finished an excellent novel, “Silence,” by Thomas Perry, in which the main character has a 21-year-old daughter with Down syndrome. She lives with 3 other “handicapped” people. All have jobs and lives that are proportionally independent. Perry’s treatment of the situation and of the relationship between father and daughter is both touching and a reminder that love can trump “handicap.”<<<

This may surprise you, but I believe in a two-front war – terrorists and gangs. Get out of Iraq and into gang-infested inner cities. Mad dogs have no place on our city streets. Englishmen are OK.<<<

Wanted for serial abuse:

George Bush.

Victim: The American legal system.

Caution: Given the chance, this criminal will strike and strike again.<<<

DID YOU KNOW:

That the anti-Christ is gay? At least according to Rev. Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Texas who proclaimed it at the Values Voters Summit.<<<

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable with the possible exception of a moose singing ‘Embraceable You’ in spats.” Woody Allen<<<

Was Voltaire right when he said that – “In politics, the perfect is always the enemy of the good?”

Mostly, but not always. When compromise (“the good”) prolongs an evil such as slavery or segregation, then perfect is the only good.<<<

This time in Hawaii we did not treat the sun with indifference. Shade was our friend, eagerly embraced as often as possible. (except when wet or surf-sitting) Still, I managed to turn red, although a lighter shade than usual, before going brown.<<<

News Item: The Los Angeles City Council is considering a two-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in South L.A.

Reaction: I think a healthy life style should be a matter of choice, not legislation.<<<<

Quote: “Great powers should never get involved in the politics of small tribes.” - Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi.

Reaction: Tell it to George.<<<

This comment is from my review of a recently finished book:

“I thought that the ending, while basically satisfactory, was less important than the story. I am not sure that is to my liking. “

I know that sometimes a great story needs only some mark of punctuation to satisfactorily bring it to a close, but most of the time I want closure. How about you?<<<

Just before our Hawaii trip, we went to lunch at The Tam O’Shanter in Glendale. (Before and after pictures below) When we were being seated, our waitress pointed out that our booth was the one always reserved for Walt Disney. This falls into either the category of “pretty cool” or “gee, it doesn’t take much to please jt.”<<<


“Get out! Get out of my America!”

That’s Senator John, McCain, who recently said that MoveOn should be “thrown out of the country.”

Or did he?

After this latest eruption, his “explainers” said that he didn’t really mean it because he had his fingers crossed at the time.<<<

In a recent speech Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that one of the tragic ironies of history is the need to compromise with evil in order to do good.

Reactions:

I wish that this sort of compromise wasn’t so easily chosen,

and

too often our real motive is not doing good but doing well.<<<

DID YOU KNOW:

That the New York Times has stopped charging a yearly fee to access its opinion section? It was worth my $50, but free is better.<<<

I love this review of the Rendezvous Gelateria in London – please note that the unusual spelling of colored is because this is written in English:

“While this gelateria boasts an impressive display of brightly coloured ice creams, sorbets and frozen yoghurts, it causes a meltdown when it comes to pricing. For the not-so-sweet sum of £8.95, customers will receive a cold, possibly-not-Belgian waffle, laden with two scoops of their choice. Although the dessert is the size of a small country, it’s no more appealing than Iraq this time of year. It quickly melts into a sloppy mess you don’t want to admit you paid for thanks to the hot chocolate sauce, probably better served in a mug.”