1. I think this is an interesting quote taken from an article about current voting options. "...having just two (political parties to vote from) creates a "with us or against us" mentality, encouraging us to exaggerate our differences and deny our similarities. The whole structure is unnatural in today's world and a recipe for disillusionment." - Nathan Daschle. I wonder how long it will take for politicians to recognize this.
2. I think this is a funny reference to one person making a mistake that affects everyone else. "One guy shits his pants and we all have to wear diapers." - Some Random Guy At Work
3. I think I will make my own mock NFL draft this year. It seems like you could throw darts at names on a board and be just as likely to get a Pro Bowl player as a bust, yet teams spend millions on that crap. Weird.
4. I think this article is pretty interesting. It is a supposed former soldier's opinion of the way wars are depicted in military vs. how they actually are. The video game part isn't so interesting to me, but the way he describes the glorification of military heroes is. While I don't necessarily agree with anything that is written, I think it is an interesting perspective of the military. As someone whom has never been in the military is my perspective the one given to me through movies/tv/media and completely wrong? Guess I'll never know.
5. I think controversial art is pretty cool, particular the art related to social issues. Things happen around the world that go unrecognized by most everyone other than those directly involved. Artists bring attention to these issues through controversy. The funny part though is how the same idiots that are against the art help promote it. If they want to show their anger, the best thing to do would be to stay quiet about it. By voicing your anger (the artists intent) you cause it to gain popularity. But anyways, here are some more interesting examples: Urban Grafitti, Jon McNaughton's political art, or some of the stuff
by Czech artist David Cerny.
6. I think the hashtags are weird. I think hashtags on Facebook are weirder....especially since Facebook does not support hashtags.
7. I think there is a big difference between being closed-minded and being opinionated. I am very opinionated. I am not closed-minded. I am always open to new ideas, but if I ask "Why?" it takes more than "because" to satisfy me.
8. I think that new movie Bully looks interesting. However, I would like to see a movie through the eyes of a bully instead of the kids being bullied. I think that would have a more resounding effect. I think most people understand that bullying is messed up and that not enough is done to prevent it. I think people understand what happens sometimes when continued teasing goes ignored. I think people know what kind of people are bullied. But the part I don't think people understand is why people do the bullying in the first place. It is most often argued that the bully craves attention, is trying to impress friends or needs to feel better about themself. I think there is more to it though and I think people could relate better to a movie focused on the actual bullies. I am still glad that this movie was made, even without having viewed it.
9. I think it's almost time to go to the Rodeo Drive-In! Just gotta wait for something worth watching.
10. I think gratitude is the hardest thing to teach kids and I am not doing a very good job of it with my own. The only logical way I can think of to teach this is to stop giving them things. I know that by giving them things they are more frequently becoming entitled to it, but the risk of being a bad parent in the eyes of my children will likely prevent me from ever doing this. I guess it is my job as a parent to fix this kind of stuff, so maybe I should start.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
political overload
I made it a goal to follow politics more closely in this election year. I don't think a majority of voters base their votes on any kind of knowledge and I may have been guilty of that in the last election. So I decided that if I were to vote again I would make sure that I had a good understanding of the candidates before making my decision. Recently I have found myself in an odd place when it comes to my thoughts on current politics.
I am completely burned out.
Some of it has to do with the media stories that have gotten attention (or haven't) and the fact that every recent story seems to make me disgusted that I even follow any of this crap. Some examples:
Hilary Rosen, a democratic political adviser, made a comment that Mitt Romney should not base political decisions on advice from his wife Ann because she "had not worked a day in her life".
The backlash revolved around the fact that Ann chose to be a stay at home mom while raising her 5 children and that being a mother is the hardest job in the world. Understandable.....but a lot of mothers (and fathers), many being single parents, are faced with these same burdens in addition to working part or full time jobs. Instead of focusing the attention on the point Rosen was trying to make, the Democratic Party instantly disowned her and the Republicans immediately tried to paint Rosen as queen of all democratic decision making. This atricle compares the Rosen "gaffe" to comments made by Rush Limbaugh weeks ago. The way attention is intentially diverted is comical, yet sad at the same time. How many times can hey look, something shiny! continue to work?
I think the media has the biggest influence on public opinion. This is evident by the way the Republican candidates leading the race switched on an almost weekly basis for a few months before Mitt Romney finally grabbed hold of the lead. Since that time nearly every story has focused on Romney or Rick Santorum.
Well that makes sense since they were the frontrunners right?
Wrong.
As much as I disagree with Newt Gingrich and as much as I think I like Ron Paul, I think it is a shame the lack of media attention they have gotten. I'm not sure if it is because they are less interesting or people feel they know them already because they have been around longer, but nonetheless it is a shame. The media has the control of making people popular or not, just by having their name out there. Just look at the Kardashians.
I think a lot of things can be summed up by a quote from the movie The Adjustment Bureau.
".....But here's the problem, this isn't even my tie. This tie was selected for me by a group of specialists, in Tenafly New Jersey, who chose it over fifty six other ties we tested. In fact, our data su...suggests that I have to stick to either a tie that is red or a tie that is blue. A yellow tie made it look as if I was taking my situation lightly and I may in fact pull my pants down at any moment. A silver tie meant that I'd forgotten my roots. My shoes, you know shiny shoes we associate with a high priced lawyers and bankers. If you want to get a working mans vote you need to scuff up your shoes a little bit, but you can't scuff 'em so much that you alienate the lawyers and the bankers, cause you need them to pay for the specialist back in Tenafly."
Yeah it's just a movie, but although exaggerated (I hope), the point is probably valid.
The way that every sentence spoken, every tie worn, every speech, every thought, belief, opinion, friend, or adviser seeme to be chosen specifically to earn more votes than the other person is crazy. I don't know if others feel the same way, but the more I feel like my vote is being bought or manipulated the more it makes me not want to vote. They say poor voter turnout is a bad thing, but I think an embarrassingly low voter turnout could be good. It would cause politicians to rethink the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on campaigning and media persuasion, and actually take a look at why people don't vote as much anymore.
Maybe we just get burned out.
I am completely burned out.
Some of it has to do with the media stories that have gotten attention (or haven't) and the fact that every recent story seems to make me disgusted that I even follow any of this crap. Some examples:
Hilary Rosen, a democratic political adviser, made a comment that Mitt Romney should not base political decisions on advice from his wife Ann because she "had not worked a day in her life".
The backlash revolved around the fact that Ann chose to be a stay at home mom while raising her 5 children and that being a mother is the hardest job in the world. Understandable.....but a lot of mothers (and fathers), many being single parents, are faced with these same burdens in addition to working part or full time jobs. Instead of focusing the attention on the point Rosen was trying to make, the Democratic Party instantly disowned her and the Republicans immediately tried to paint Rosen as queen of all democratic decision making. This atricle compares the Rosen "gaffe" to comments made by Rush Limbaugh weeks ago. The way attention is intentially diverted is comical, yet sad at the same time. How many times can hey look, something shiny! continue to work?
I think the media has the biggest influence on public opinion. This is evident by the way the Republican candidates leading the race switched on an almost weekly basis for a few months before Mitt Romney finally grabbed hold of the lead. Since that time nearly every story has focused on Romney or Rick Santorum.
Well that makes sense since they were the frontrunners right?
Wrong.
As much as I disagree with Newt Gingrich and as much as I think I like Ron Paul, I think it is a shame the lack of media attention they have gotten. I'm not sure if it is because they are less interesting or people feel they know them already because they have been around longer, but nonetheless it is a shame. The media has the control of making people popular or not, just by having their name out there. Just look at the Kardashians.
I think a lot of things can be summed up by a quote from the movie The Adjustment Bureau.
".....But here's the problem, this isn't even my tie. This tie was selected for me by a group of specialists, in Tenafly New Jersey, who chose it over fifty six other ties we tested. In fact, our data su...suggests that I have to stick to either a tie that is red or a tie that is blue. A yellow tie made it look as if I was taking my situation lightly and I may in fact pull my pants down at any moment. A silver tie meant that I'd forgotten my roots. My shoes, you know shiny shoes we associate with a high priced lawyers and bankers. If you want to get a working mans vote you need to scuff up your shoes a little bit, but you can't scuff 'em so much that you alienate the lawyers and the bankers, cause you need them to pay for the specialist back in Tenafly."
Yeah it's just a movie, but although exaggerated (I hope), the point is probably valid.
The way that every sentence spoken, every tie worn, every speech, every thought, belief, opinion, friend, or adviser seeme to be chosen specifically to earn more votes than the other person is crazy. I don't know if others feel the same way, but the more I feel like my vote is being bought or manipulated the more it makes me not want to vote. They say poor voter turnout is a bad thing, but I think an embarrassingly low voter turnout could be good. It would cause politicians to rethink the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on campaigning and media persuasion, and actually take a look at why people don't vote as much anymore.
Maybe we just get burned out.
Monday, April 9, 2012
why i hate the mariners
The Golden State Warriors had a recent home game in which they honored one of their greatest players, Chris Mullin, and retired his jersey at halftime. The ceremony was disrupted by a loud chorus of boos which is one of the funniest and most awkward things I have seen in sports. They are not booing Chris Mullin, but rather their voicing their pent up displeasure over terrible decisions made by their team, peaking with the trade of their best player, Monte Ellis.
I read a pretty brutal article by Bill Simmons that basically outlines the 60 steps that happened over the last 35 or so years which caused this event to happen. While watching it I couldn't help but be reminded of why I hate the Mariners, so I decided to make a list of my own. I couldn't quite get to the 60 steps outlined by Simmons, but I managed to get to 34. I probably could have had more, but I left out most things that happened before I started watching the M's in the early 90's.
Anyway, enjoy.
1. It all starts on April 6, 1977. It was the first game in Mariners history played to a sold out home crowd of 52,762. They started off their their season with the first of many losses (98) with a 7-0 loss to the Angels. Sadly they were shutout the next day also, causing their fans to wait 3 games just to see a run scored.
2. In 1978 the Mariners lost 104 games, which amazingly still stands as a club record.
3. It took the M’s 15 years to finally win more games than they lost in a season. 1990 was their first season with a winning record but they still managed to miss the playoffs that year.
4. 1990 was also the year that the worst mascot in all of professional sports made its debut, the Mariner Moose. I hate the Mariner Moose. It’s hard enough to get the rest of the country to take west coast sports teams seriously, but then they choose a mascot that should instead be cheerleading for a hockey team. Worst of all he is in a city where moose (is that plural?) don’t even live. The most exciting thing this Moose has ever done was try to run over a Red Sox player while driving around in an ATV. This happened only a few years after he broke his own ankle crashing into the outfield wall on rollerblades. Since the Sonics are gone, maybe they can just replace him with Squatch.
5. 1993 was the last year the Mariners were in a 7 team division. The best they ever finished in that division was 4th place.
6. At the end of the 1993 seadon, the M’s traded Omar Vizquel to Cleveland for some guys I don’t remember. You know the worst part of this trade, not the fact that Vizquel went on to be one of the best defensive shortstops ever, not his 3 All-Star appearances or 11 Gold Gloves, the worst part of this trade is that he was given away in 1993 for nothing and is still playing today. He will be playing in his 24th season this year.
7. The 1995 draft produced some pretty good players, expecially in the top part of the draft. Six of the top 13 draft picks went on to be All Stars at some point in their careers from this draft. One who didn’t? Jose Cruz Jr. who, was picked by the Mariners with overall pick #3.
8. The Mariners followed up their first ever playoff appearance in ’95 by doing their best to ruin the team that got them there. They traded 2 key pieces of their ’95 playoff team (Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson…they even threw in another player, Jim Mecir) to the team they memorably beat in the playoffs that year (the Yankees), for pitcher Sterling Hitchcock and one of their worst 3rd baseman ever, Russ Davis. The Yankees rubbed it in by using Martinez and Nelson to help them win 4 of the next 5 World Series.
9. In 1996 the Mariners traded David Ortiz (then known as David Arias) to the Minnesota Twins. This was well before he made a name for himself but still, it’s David Ortiz!
10. On July 31, 1997 one of the worst trades by any team in baseball history was made when the Mariners traded Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to Boston for Heathcliff Friggen Slocumb. Derek Lowes accomplishments: 2 time all star, AL saves leader in 2000, threw a no-hitter in 2002, world series champion in 2004 where he won the final game of all 3 playoff series. Variteks accomplishments: silver slugger winner, gold glove, caught 4 no hitters (including the one by Lowe), 3 time allstar, 2 time world series, hell he even won the little league world series. Slocumb’s achievements: 1 all star appearance, winner of worst acquisition by trade in Mariners history. He was out of baseball by 2000.
11. Who could forget Bobby Ayala? I think he is the first pitcher besides John Rocker that I have seen get booed coming into the game and it happened every time he came in. He was a blown save waiting to happen. Deadspin put him as #63 on a list of the 100 worst baseball players of all time. Not surprising, there were several Mariners on this list, including #1.
12. Thanks largely to the success on the ’95 season, the Mariners were able to convince tax payers to fund a new stadium, and in 1999 they finally moved into Safeco Field. At the time this field was commonly referred to as The House that Griffey Built. With one of the best left-handed power hitters of all time playing for them, one would think the M’s would put in a short right field wall. Unfortunately they instead decided to make it a pitchers park that is nearly impossible to his home runs in. People say pitching and defense wins championships, which may be true, but offense sells tickets and keeps fans awake during games. Building this field was kind of the start to the Mariners historically pathetic offense. They started losing power hitters every year beginning this year and Griffey only played half a season in the house he built when….
13. On February 12, 2000 the M’s traded Ken Griffey Jr prior to the Reds for Mike Cameron and 3 ham sandwiches. Those sandwiches were actually players but they were all terrible and if they could do it again I bet the M’s would take the food instead. I know they had to trade him before the end of the season because he was not going to resign with Seattle, but still…..he was the best player they ever had, one of the best baseball had ever seen, and all they got for him was Mike Cameron?
14. They made the playoffs for the third time in 2000 which sounds nice but backfired terribly. I’ll get to that in a second. After the season ended they were unable to resign A-Rod who went to the Rangers. What did the Mariners get in return? Oh yeah, that’s right nothing. A-Rod refused to sign an extension so he could seek free agency, which later gave him the highest contract ever…but still…nothing in return? If the Mariners had a bad team in 2000 it would have been a no-brainer to trade him and get something in return. Instead they made the playoffs for only the third time, were forced to keep him for the playoff run that the Yankees later ruined, and got nothing in return. For those keeping score, Griffey + A-Rod = Mike Cameron + lunch.
15. In 2001, the Mariners would go on to win 116 games in 2001 but most Mariner fans should remember the 117th victory that they should have had. The day was August 5, 2001. The Mariners opened up a 14-2 lead in the fifth inning and maintained it until the 7th. They were so far ahead that both teams rested many of their good players including John Olerud, Ichiro, Edgar Martinez, Juan Gonzalez and Roberto Alomar. Then the M’s managed to give up 3 runs in the 7th, and 4 more in the 8th. They were still up 14-9 with 2 outs in the ninth inning when they somehow gave up 5 more runs. They wound up losing in the 11th inning. Only the Mariners are capable of something like this.
16. 2001 was the last time they made the playoffs and 1 of only 4 times they have done such in 35 seasons. This season was memorable for the 116 wins that tied the all time record set by the Cubs. But I would rather have 85 wins and a World Series than 116 wins, barely escaping the first round of the playoffs, and then taking a beating by the Yankees in the ALCS (which all happened that year) any day.
17. After the 2002 season, upper management proved to be so inept that Lou Piniella, one of the great managers in baseball history, decided he would rather coach Tampa Bay (they used to be crappy) than stay in Seattle. He was supposedly angry over managements reluctance to acquire the missing pieces for championship runs…..you know, those deals you make when your team is actually good, not when you are just praying for a shot at the playoffs and toss away your future in hopes those prayers come true (See Heathcliff Slocumb, Eduardo Perez, Yorvit Torrealba, Ben Broussard). Piniella’s tirades alone would be worth the price of admission, and with as bad as this team has been the past decade there would have been plenty.
18. In 2004 the M’s hired Bill Bavasi, one of the worst GMs baseball has ever seen. In his 4 years as GM, the Mariners averaged 87.5 losses per season. He is probably the biggest reason the Mariners suck right now as you will see in some of the genius decisions that were made from this time until 2008 when he was finally fired.
19. One of Bavasi’s first brilliant moves was trading Carlos Guillen to the Tigers for Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez (not the power hitting Texas Ranger one). Guillen responded by having a career year and going to his first of 3 all star appearances in a shortstop packed American League. As has become tradition in Seattle, they resigned him a few months ago just in time for him to prove he has nothing left and retire from baseball.
20. The 2005 draft was one of the best 1st rounds in MLB history. Six of the top 7 players drafted have made All-Star appearances, including Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, and Troy Tulowitzki …the exception of course was the guy the Mariners took, Jeff Clement drafted third overall. Other players drafted in the first round include Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew McCutcheon and Jay Bruce. Seriously, how do you screw up worse than that? They somehow found a way the next year.
21. 2005 was also when they signed the infamous Richie Sexson for 4 years and 50 million. He was probably the biggest free agent disappointment they have ever had due to the amount of money he was given, the fact that he never lived up to it, and how it affected the ability to sign other players in the coming years.
22. The 2006 draft will haunt M’s fans forever. Every fan around was sure the Mariners were going to take Tim Lincecum. Let’s see….he grew up in Washington, went to high school at Liberty High in Renton, went to UW (10 fricken minutes away from Safeco), and became the best player in UW baseball history while winning the 2006 Golden Spikes Award (best amateur baseball player). Yeah, let’s pass on him and take Brandon Morrow. Lincecum’s professional achievements: 4 time all-star, World Series Champion, led the league in strikeouts 3 straight years, and won the Cy Young twice. Brandon Morrow: career record 29-30, hated by all Mariner fans, was somehow able to be traded to Toronto for a guy that can pitch a little bit, Brandon League.
23. A couple other smart moves were made by Bavasi in 2006. He traded Asdrubal Cabrera to Cleveland for aging player Eduardo Perez. In less than a year Perez was working for ESPN, not the Mariners. Cabrera however is now a rising star and was an all star last year. He also traded Rafael Soriano to Atlanta for Horacio Ramirez….I’m not sure what Ramirez is doing these days, but the Yankees just gave Soriano a 35 million dollar deal last year, and he might be the heir apparent to the best closer to ever play baseball. Mariano Rivera.
24. 7/23/2006 This is only going in here because it is just another reason I hate the Mariners. It is also one of the many reasons I hate Richie Sexson. So those who know me know that I am a Red Sox fan. Almost every year I go to at least one game when the Mariners and Red Sox play. However, I have never seen the Red Sox win a game. Every year I go, the Mariners, no matter how pathetic they are, find a way to beat Boston. This day just happened to be the worst of them, even though it was one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Basically it was a back and forth game with the Mariners leading in the 9th thanks to an Adrian Beltre inside-the-park homerun. There were 2 outs in the top of the ninth with Jason Varitek at the plate. I figured the game was over until Tek blasted a ball into the stands to tie the game. Then the first batter in the bottom of the inning, Richie Sexson, Mr. I’ll swing as hard as I can 3 times and hope for the best, absolutely crushes a pitch and ends the game with a home run. This was one of maybe 3 times he was worth any of the money given to him.
25. 2008 was the pinnacle of failure for Mr. Bavasi. He traded Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio, and Tony Butler to Baltimore for Erik I-Have-A-Hangnail-And-Can’t-Pitch Bedard. Bedard pitched a little, got hurt, pitched a little more, missed the 2010 season, came back for a little bit, and then was traded to Boston in 2011. Meanwhile Jones has become one of the bright young stars in baseball while earning a gold glove and all star appearance in 2009. Sherrill went to the all star game in 2008 but has since struggled and is now of course back with the Mariners.
26. The worst free agent signing of the Bavasi Era was when he signed Carlos Silva to a 4 year 48 million dollar deal. He was absolutely horrible. So horrible in fact that he was traded only 2 years into his huge contract for another disappointing player with a huge contract, Milton Bradley. The trade was essentially a draw. Both players were equally as bad before and after the trade.
27. In 2008 the Mariners infamously became the first team to lose 100 games (101 in fact) with a 100 million dollar payroll. If they only would have lost 102…..
28. In 2009 they drafted Dustin Ackley with the 2nd pick of the draft this year. The problem? It should have been the number one pick, Stephen Strasburg. The Mariners were 2 games worse than the Nationals going into each team’s final 3 game series. The Mariners, a 101 loss team, managed to sweep the A’s out of the blue while the Nationals were swept by Philadelphia, thus giving the Nationals the 1st pick in the draft. Strasburg has since had to have Tommy John surgery, but I think I would still rather have him post surgery than Ackley. It seems like even when the Mariners win it goes against them.
29. I’m not sure where to put Raul Ibanez but I feel he needs inclusion. He was fairly successful with the M’s but is one example of the plague that seems to surround the M’s. Player’s seem to do better everywhere but Seattle…unless you are an opposing player. Raul was with the M’s from 1996 to 2000 before going to the Royals and seeing his average jump 50 points. It stayed that way his 3 years in KC and in 2004 he came back to the M’s, only with a price tag of 4-5 million per year as opposed to the bargain of 275,000 he was making before he left. After leaving the Mariners the second time he made the all star team with Philadelphia in 2009.
30. 2010 in my opinion was the biggest disappointment in the team’s history. They were by far the worst offense in baseball and wound up being compared to some of the worst offenses of all-time. They led the league in fewest hits, doubles, triples, homeruns, and batting average. The reason I think this was so disappointing is that they had one of best pitching staffs in all of baseball, including Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez. Hernandez was hands down the best pitcher that year but people debated voting for him because his wins were so low. His record was 13-12. If he had the offense of the Yankees, Red Sox, or even most college teams he might have won 30 games that year, that’s how bad this offense was.
31. One of the biggest reasons for the Mariners pathetic offense was good old Chone Figgins. He was signed to a 4 year 36 million dollar contract in 2010 year and responded by having the worst year of his professional career which including a batting average of .259 (His average was around .300 the previous 6 years). Don’t worry though; he bounced back the next year by batting only .188 and getting benched for a majority of the season. And now he is batting leadoff…..ugh.
32. The 2011 Mariners were an example of finding ways to get fans excited and then stomping on their hopes. I didn’t watch many games last year but a few things stuck out from that season. They managed to almost get to the all-star break still battling for first place in the division. That was before they decided to lose a club record 17 games in a row and supplant themselves at the bottom of the division. As the streak was approaching history (A 23 game losing streak by Philadelphia in 1961) they started showing Mariner highlights on ESPN every night, just so the rest of the country could laugh at them too. At one point during the season they went 30 straight innings without scoring a run. 30 innings…..that is more than 3 straight games…no runs…NONE!
33. People may remember Michael Morse. He was a player traded to the Nationals for Ryan Langerhans in 2009. Morse is on the rise as a starting 1st baseman for the Nationals and finished the 2011 season with a .303 average, 31 home runs, and 95 RBI. Justin Smoak’s stats at 1B that year .234 average, 15 HR, and 55 RBI. Langerhans? .173, 3 HR and 6 RBI while bouncing back and forth from AAA before being traded to Arizona where he did not make an appearance. I wouldn't be surprised if Morse makes a few all star appearances before he is done.
34. And finally last week a letter was revealed that was sent from the Seattle Mariners to Seattle Mayor McGinn and others urging them not to build an NBA/NHL arena near Safeco Field because “It would bring scheduling, traffic and parking challenges that would likely require hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate.” The thing I think is funny is that the roughly 18,000 (max) fans that would pack a filled NBA/NHL arena are pretty close to the number of fans that Mariners have lost the past few years. Safeco Field seats roughly 47,000 but the average attendance has dropped almost every year the past decade and was only 23,411 last year (the lowest since 1995 in the Kingdome). I could see potential scheduling conflicts but the ability to see a baseball day game followed by an NBA/NHL night game would be pretty cool. Also the NBA/NHL seasons overlap MLB by less than a month unless the NBA/NHL team goes to the playoffs. If a team is in the playoffs, I don’t think the fans care about parking problems or schedule conflicts, they just want to see their team. Safeco Field was built largely on taxpayer money; an NBA/NHL arena would be almost exclusively privately funded. Who are the Mariners to say who should and shouldn’t build stadiums and where. I guess it's easier to complain about teams coming in and making you more insignificant than trying to actually solve Seattle's transportation problems.
Seattle fans seem to be more content with mediocrity than most cities, but I really hope something like the Warriors situation happens to the M’s. If nothing else, it would show the Mariners ownership that people are sick of being below average. The huge support for the Sounders, the Seahawks and the potential return of the NBA shows Seattle is a city that does care about sports and cares about winning.
As much as the Mariners frustrate me, I still consider myself a fan (as long as they aren’t playing Boston). The unfortunate thing is that it has been ten years since the Mariners have even been worth watching. They have been so bad, one could argue the most entertaining part of the Mariners this past decade has been their commercials. Having said that, I do think they are headed in the right direction. They seem to have the right GM and manager in place, as well as a ton of young talent. Hopefully they are able to translate that talent into more wins before they completely lose their fan base. If not, they better not schedule Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong for any jersey retirement ceremonies this year.
If I've left anything out, feel free to add any of your favorite Mariner mistakes.
I read a pretty brutal article by Bill Simmons that basically outlines the 60 steps that happened over the last 35 or so years which caused this event to happen. While watching it I couldn't help but be reminded of why I hate the Mariners, so I decided to make a list of my own. I couldn't quite get to the 60 steps outlined by Simmons, but I managed to get to 34. I probably could have had more, but I left out most things that happened before I started watching the M's in the early 90's.
Anyway, enjoy.
1. It all starts on April 6, 1977. It was the first game in Mariners history played to a sold out home crowd of 52,762. They started off their their season with the first of many losses (98) with a 7-0 loss to the Angels. Sadly they were shutout the next day also, causing their fans to wait 3 games just to see a run scored.
2. In 1978 the Mariners lost 104 games, which amazingly still stands as a club record.
3. It took the M’s 15 years to finally win more games than they lost in a season. 1990 was their first season with a winning record but they still managed to miss the playoffs that year.
4. 1990 was also the year that the worst mascot in all of professional sports made its debut, the Mariner Moose. I hate the Mariner Moose. It’s hard enough to get the rest of the country to take west coast sports teams seriously, but then they choose a mascot that should instead be cheerleading for a hockey team. Worst of all he is in a city where moose (is that plural?) don’t even live. The most exciting thing this Moose has ever done was try to run over a Red Sox player while driving around in an ATV. This happened only a few years after he broke his own ankle crashing into the outfield wall on rollerblades. Since the Sonics are gone, maybe they can just replace him with Squatch.
5. 1993 was the last year the Mariners were in a 7 team division. The best they ever finished in that division was 4th place.
6. At the end of the 1993 seadon, the M’s traded Omar Vizquel to Cleveland for some guys I don’t remember. You know the worst part of this trade, not the fact that Vizquel went on to be one of the best defensive shortstops ever, not his 3 All-Star appearances or 11 Gold Gloves, the worst part of this trade is that he was given away in 1993 for nothing and is still playing today. He will be playing in his 24th season this year.
7. The 1995 draft produced some pretty good players, expecially in the top part of the draft. Six of the top 13 draft picks went on to be All Stars at some point in their careers from this draft. One who didn’t? Jose Cruz Jr. who, was picked by the Mariners with overall pick #3.
8. The Mariners followed up their first ever playoff appearance in ’95 by doing their best to ruin the team that got them there. They traded 2 key pieces of their ’95 playoff team (Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson…they even threw in another player, Jim Mecir) to the team they memorably beat in the playoffs that year (the Yankees), for pitcher Sterling Hitchcock and one of their worst 3rd baseman ever, Russ Davis. The Yankees rubbed it in by using Martinez and Nelson to help them win 4 of the next 5 World Series.
9. In 1996 the Mariners traded David Ortiz (then known as David Arias) to the Minnesota Twins. This was well before he made a name for himself but still, it’s David Ortiz!
10. On July 31, 1997 one of the worst trades by any team in baseball history was made when the Mariners traded Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to Boston for Heathcliff Friggen Slocumb. Derek Lowes accomplishments: 2 time all star, AL saves leader in 2000, threw a no-hitter in 2002, world series champion in 2004 where he won the final game of all 3 playoff series. Variteks accomplishments: silver slugger winner, gold glove, caught 4 no hitters (including the one by Lowe), 3 time allstar, 2 time world series, hell he even won the little league world series. Slocumb’s achievements: 1 all star appearance, winner of worst acquisition by trade in Mariners history. He was out of baseball by 2000.
11. Who could forget Bobby Ayala? I think he is the first pitcher besides John Rocker that I have seen get booed coming into the game and it happened every time he came in. He was a blown save waiting to happen. Deadspin put him as #63 on a list of the 100 worst baseball players of all time. Not surprising, there were several Mariners on this list, including #1.
12. Thanks largely to the success on the ’95 season, the Mariners were able to convince tax payers to fund a new stadium, and in 1999 they finally moved into Safeco Field. At the time this field was commonly referred to as The House that Griffey Built. With one of the best left-handed power hitters of all time playing for them, one would think the M’s would put in a short right field wall. Unfortunately they instead decided to make it a pitchers park that is nearly impossible to his home runs in. People say pitching and defense wins championships, which may be true, but offense sells tickets and keeps fans awake during games. Building this field was kind of the start to the Mariners historically pathetic offense. They started losing power hitters every year beginning this year and Griffey only played half a season in the house he built when….
13. On February 12, 2000 the M’s traded Ken Griffey Jr prior to the Reds for Mike Cameron and 3 ham sandwiches. Those sandwiches were actually players but they were all terrible and if they could do it again I bet the M’s would take the food instead. I know they had to trade him before the end of the season because he was not going to resign with Seattle, but still…..he was the best player they ever had, one of the best baseball had ever seen, and all they got for him was Mike Cameron?
14. They made the playoffs for the third time in 2000 which sounds nice but backfired terribly. I’ll get to that in a second. After the season ended they were unable to resign A-Rod who went to the Rangers. What did the Mariners get in return? Oh yeah, that’s right nothing. A-Rod refused to sign an extension so he could seek free agency, which later gave him the highest contract ever…but still…nothing in return? If the Mariners had a bad team in 2000 it would have been a no-brainer to trade him and get something in return. Instead they made the playoffs for only the third time, were forced to keep him for the playoff run that the Yankees later ruined, and got nothing in return. For those keeping score, Griffey + A-Rod = Mike Cameron + lunch.
15. In 2001, the Mariners would go on to win 116 games in 2001 but most Mariner fans should remember the 117th victory that they should have had. The day was August 5, 2001. The Mariners opened up a 14-2 lead in the fifth inning and maintained it until the 7th. They were so far ahead that both teams rested many of their good players including John Olerud, Ichiro, Edgar Martinez, Juan Gonzalez and Roberto Alomar. Then the M’s managed to give up 3 runs in the 7th, and 4 more in the 8th. They were still up 14-9 with 2 outs in the ninth inning when they somehow gave up 5 more runs. They wound up losing in the 11th inning. Only the Mariners are capable of something like this.
16. 2001 was the last time they made the playoffs and 1 of only 4 times they have done such in 35 seasons. This season was memorable for the 116 wins that tied the all time record set by the Cubs. But I would rather have 85 wins and a World Series than 116 wins, barely escaping the first round of the playoffs, and then taking a beating by the Yankees in the ALCS (which all happened that year) any day.
17. After the 2002 season, upper management proved to be so inept that Lou Piniella, one of the great managers in baseball history, decided he would rather coach Tampa Bay (they used to be crappy) than stay in Seattle. He was supposedly angry over managements reluctance to acquire the missing pieces for championship runs…..you know, those deals you make when your team is actually good, not when you are just praying for a shot at the playoffs and toss away your future in hopes those prayers come true (See Heathcliff Slocumb, Eduardo Perez, Yorvit Torrealba, Ben Broussard). Piniella’s tirades alone would be worth the price of admission, and with as bad as this team has been the past decade there would have been plenty.
18. In 2004 the M’s hired Bill Bavasi, one of the worst GMs baseball has ever seen. In his 4 years as GM, the Mariners averaged 87.5 losses per season. He is probably the biggest reason the Mariners suck right now as you will see in some of the genius decisions that were made from this time until 2008 when he was finally fired.
19. One of Bavasi’s first brilliant moves was trading Carlos Guillen to the Tigers for Ramon Santiago and Juan Gonzalez (not the power hitting Texas Ranger one). Guillen responded by having a career year and going to his first of 3 all star appearances in a shortstop packed American League. As has become tradition in Seattle, they resigned him a few months ago just in time for him to prove he has nothing left and retire from baseball.
20. The 2005 draft was one of the best 1st rounds in MLB history. Six of the top 7 players drafted have made All-Star appearances, including Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, and Troy Tulowitzki …the exception of course was the guy the Mariners took, Jeff Clement drafted third overall. Other players drafted in the first round include Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew McCutcheon and Jay Bruce. Seriously, how do you screw up worse than that? They somehow found a way the next year.
21. 2005 was also when they signed the infamous Richie Sexson for 4 years and 50 million. He was probably the biggest free agent disappointment they have ever had due to the amount of money he was given, the fact that he never lived up to it, and how it affected the ability to sign other players in the coming years.
22. The 2006 draft will haunt M’s fans forever. Every fan around was sure the Mariners were going to take Tim Lincecum. Let’s see….he grew up in Washington, went to high school at Liberty High in Renton, went to UW (10 fricken minutes away from Safeco), and became the best player in UW baseball history while winning the 2006 Golden Spikes Award (best amateur baseball player). Yeah, let’s pass on him and take Brandon Morrow. Lincecum’s professional achievements: 4 time all-star, World Series Champion, led the league in strikeouts 3 straight years, and won the Cy Young twice. Brandon Morrow: career record 29-30, hated by all Mariner fans, was somehow able to be traded to Toronto for a guy that can pitch a little bit, Brandon League.
23. A couple other smart moves were made by Bavasi in 2006. He traded Asdrubal Cabrera to Cleveland for aging player Eduardo Perez. In less than a year Perez was working for ESPN, not the Mariners. Cabrera however is now a rising star and was an all star last year. He also traded Rafael Soriano to Atlanta for Horacio Ramirez….I’m not sure what Ramirez is doing these days, but the Yankees just gave Soriano a 35 million dollar deal last year, and he might be the heir apparent to the best closer to ever play baseball. Mariano Rivera.
24. 7/23/2006 This is only going in here because it is just another reason I hate the Mariners. It is also one of the many reasons I hate Richie Sexson. So those who know me know that I am a Red Sox fan. Almost every year I go to at least one game when the Mariners and Red Sox play. However, I have never seen the Red Sox win a game. Every year I go, the Mariners, no matter how pathetic they are, find a way to beat Boston. This day just happened to be the worst of them, even though it was one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Basically it was a back and forth game with the Mariners leading in the 9th thanks to an Adrian Beltre inside-the-park homerun. There were 2 outs in the top of the ninth with Jason Varitek at the plate. I figured the game was over until Tek blasted a ball into the stands to tie the game. Then the first batter in the bottom of the inning, Richie Sexson, Mr. I’ll swing as hard as I can 3 times and hope for the best, absolutely crushes a pitch and ends the game with a home run. This was one of maybe 3 times he was worth any of the money given to him.
25. 2008 was the pinnacle of failure for Mr. Bavasi. He traded Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio, and Tony Butler to Baltimore for Erik I-Have-A-Hangnail-And-Can’t-Pitch Bedard. Bedard pitched a little, got hurt, pitched a little more, missed the 2010 season, came back for a little bit, and then was traded to Boston in 2011. Meanwhile Jones has become one of the bright young stars in baseball while earning a gold glove and all star appearance in 2009. Sherrill went to the all star game in 2008 but has since struggled and is now of course back with the Mariners.
26. The worst free agent signing of the Bavasi Era was when he signed Carlos Silva to a 4 year 48 million dollar deal. He was absolutely horrible. So horrible in fact that he was traded only 2 years into his huge contract for another disappointing player with a huge contract, Milton Bradley. The trade was essentially a draw. Both players were equally as bad before and after the trade.
27. In 2008 the Mariners infamously became the first team to lose 100 games (101 in fact) with a 100 million dollar payroll. If they only would have lost 102…..
28. In 2009 they drafted Dustin Ackley with the 2nd pick of the draft this year. The problem? It should have been the number one pick, Stephen Strasburg. The Mariners were 2 games worse than the Nationals going into each team’s final 3 game series. The Mariners, a 101 loss team, managed to sweep the A’s out of the blue while the Nationals were swept by Philadelphia, thus giving the Nationals the 1st pick in the draft. Strasburg has since had to have Tommy John surgery, but I think I would still rather have him post surgery than Ackley. It seems like even when the Mariners win it goes against them.
29. I’m not sure where to put Raul Ibanez but I feel he needs inclusion. He was fairly successful with the M’s but is one example of the plague that seems to surround the M’s. Player’s seem to do better everywhere but Seattle…unless you are an opposing player. Raul was with the M’s from 1996 to 2000 before going to the Royals and seeing his average jump 50 points. It stayed that way his 3 years in KC and in 2004 he came back to the M’s, only with a price tag of 4-5 million per year as opposed to the bargain of 275,000 he was making before he left. After leaving the Mariners the second time he made the all star team with Philadelphia in 2009.
30. 2010 in my opinion was the biggest disappointment in the team’s history. They were by far the worst offense in baseball and wound up being compared to some of the worst offenses of all-time. They led the league in fewest hits, doubles, triples, homeruns, and batting average. The reason I think this was so disappointing is that they had one of best pitching staffs in all of baseball, including Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez. Hernandez was hands down the best pitcher that year but people debated voting for him because his wins were so low. His record was 13-12. If he had the offense of the Yankees, Red Sox, or even most college teams he might have won 30 games that year, that’s how bad this offense was.
31. One of the biggest reasons for the Mariners pathetic offense was good old Chone Figgins. He was signed to a 4 year 36 million dollar contract in 2010 year and responded by having the worst year of his professional career which including a batting average of .259 (His average was around .300 the previous 6 years). Don’t worry though; he bounced back the next year by batting only .188 and getting benched for a majority of the season. And now he is batting leadoff…..ugh.
32. The 2011 Mariners were an example of finding ways to get fans excited and then stomping on their hopes. I didn’t watch many games last year but a few things stuck out from that season. They managed to almost get to the all-star break still battling for first place in the division. That was before they decided to lose a club record 17 games in a row and supplant themselves at the bottom of the division. As the streak was approaching history (A 23 game losing streak by Philadelphia in 1961) they started showing Mariner highlights on ESPN every night, just so the rest of the country could laugh at them too. At one point during the season they went 30 straight innings without scoring a run. 30 innings…..that is more than 3 straight games…no runs…NONE!
33. People may remember Michael Morse. He was a player traded to the Nationals for Ryan Langerhans in 2009. Morse is on the rise as a starting 1st baseman for the Nationals and finished the 2011 season with a .303 average, 31 home runs, and 95 RBI. Justin Smoak’s stats at 1B that year .234 average, 15 HR, and 55 RBI. Langerhans? .173, 3 HR and 6 RBI while bouncing back and forth from AAA before being traded to Arizona where he did not make an appearance. I wouldn't be surprised if Morse makes a few all star appearances before he is done.
34. And finally last week a letter was revealed that was sent from the Seattle Mariners to Seattle Mayor McGinn and others urging them not to build an NBA/NHL arena near Safeco Field because “It would bring scheduling, traffic and parking challenges that would likely require hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate.” The thing I think is funny is that the roughly 18,000 (max) fans that would pack a filled NBA/NHL arena are pretty close to the number of fans that Mariners have lost the past few years. Safeco Field seats roughly 47,000 but the average attendance has dropped almost every year the past decade and was only 23,411 last year (the lowest since 1995 in the Kingdome). I could see potential scheduling conflicts but the ability to see a baseball day game followed by an NBA/NHL night game would be pretty cool. Also the NBA/NHL seasons overlap MLB by less than a month unless the NBA/NHL team goes to the playoffs. If a team is in the playoffs, I don’t think the fans care about parking problems or schedule conflicts, they just want to see their team. Safeco Field was built largely on taxpayer money; an NBA/NHL arena would be almost exclusively privately funded. Who are the Mariners to say who should and shouldn’t build stadiums and where. I guess it's easier to complain about teams coming in and making you more insignificant than trying to actually solve Seattle's transportation problems.
Seattle fans seem to be more content with mediocrity than most cities, but I really hope something like the Warriors situation happens to the M’s. If nothing else, it would show the Mariners ownership that people are sick of being below average. The huge support for the Sounders, the Seahawks and the potential return of the NBA shows Seattle is a city that does care about sports and cares about winning.
As much as the Mariners frustrate me, I still consider myself a fan (as long as they aren’t playing Boston). The unfortunate thing is that it has been ten years since the Mariners have even been worth watching. They have been so bad, one could argue the most entertaining part of the Mariners this past decade has been their commercials. Having said that, I do think they are headed in the right direction. They seem to have the right GM and manager in place, as well as a ton of young talent. Hopefully they are able to translate that talent into more wins before they completely lose their fan base. If not, they better not schedule Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong for any jersey retirement ceremonies this year.
If I've left anything out, feel free to add any of your favorite Mariner mistakes.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
ten things I think I think
1. I think I can't wait to see what creative ways the Mariners will think of this year to con their fans into thinking they will be competitive this year, only to stomp on the hopes of their diminishing fans once again. Sadly it somehow doesn't seem like it's been 10 years in a row now.
2. I think I need to do some posts about sports.
3. I think it's sad how much more I accomplish in a day after cancelling my cable. My family has eaten together every night, I go to sleep at a reasonable time, and my "addiction to sports" as Sandra calls it is decreasing. I wish I would have done that a few years ago. How many cable TV shows are actually worth watching?
4. I think one of these days I need to make a bucket list. I remember a teacher in high school having everyone make a list of 100 things to do in my life. I bet my list would be a lot different now, but I think I will make one anyways....but smaller.
5. I think I am going to hate going to the gym in the mornings. I hate mornings. Especially early ones.
6. I think I liked the Hunger Games for one main reason, it was different. Recent movies have trended toward remaking 80's movies, making sequels nobody wants to watch and copying the basic plot of other movies. Maybe it has always been this way, but it sucks. I hate most movies I watch, but I appreciate creativity. The Hunger Games didn't remind me of something I've already seen which I liked. (I've heard it is a lot like a Japanese movie called Battle Royale, but I haven't seen that so I don't care).
7. I think I want one of those Green River sodas right now. Those were good...even though they remind me of Gary Ridgway.
8. I think I am becoming less and less interested in music. Maybe it's because I'm getting older but it's harder to find music that interests me lately. Or maybe music just got bad.
9. I think it is funny that people have no problem dishing out money to try and win Mega Millions (1.5 billion spent for a chance at the 640 million prize), but if gas goes up 10 cents everyone panics. Maybe that money should have been spent actually doing something about high gas prices instead of giving it to state governments. The governments like to make you think that the money goes to a good cause, most of the time it being schools (Illinois reportedly received 31.5 million for schools)....that money may be going to the schools but I doubt it is an increase in money for schools. I would imagine that is just 31.5 million of the states budget that will now be spent elsewhere. Maybe this huge jackpot was just a way to help the states fix their budgets, trick people into giving it to you.....just a thought.
10. I think it sucks that movie stores keep closing down. I like renting older movies that were made when I was too young to care about them, or I have forgotten enough of the movie that it is interesting to watch again, or I just never watched for some unknown reason. I guess I'll just have to get Netflix again.
2. I think I need to do some posts about sports.
3. I think it's sad how much more I accomplish in a day after cancelling my cable. My family has eaten together every night, I go to sleep at a reasonable time, and my "addiction to sports" as Sandra calls it is decreasing. I wish I would have done that a few years ago. How many cable TV shows are actually worth watching?
4. I think one of these days I need to make a bucket list. I remember a teacher in high school having everyone make a list of 100 things to do in my life. I bet my list would be a lot different now, but I think I will make one anyways....but smaller.
5. I think I am going to hate going to the gym in the mornings. I hate mornings. Especially early ones.
6. I think I liked the Hunger Games for one main reason, it was different. Recent movies have trended toward remaking 80's movies, making sequels nobody wants to watch and copying the basic plot of other movies. Maybe it has always been this way, but it sucks. I hate most movies I watch, but I appreciate creativity. The Hunger Games didn't remind me of something I've already seen which I liked. (I've heard it is a lot like a Japanese movie called Battle Royale, but I haven't seen that so I don't care).
7. I think I want one of those Green River sodas right now. Those were good...even though they remind me of Gary Ridgway.
8. I think I am becoming less and less interested in music. Maybe it's because I'm getting older but it's harder to find music that interests me lately. Or maybe music just got bad.
9. I think it is funny that people have no problem dishing out money to try and win Mega Millions (1.5 billion spent for a chance at the 640 million prize), but if gas goes up 10 cents everyone panics. Maybe that money should have been spent actually doing something about high gas prices instead of giving it to state governments. The governments like to make you think that the money goes to a good cause, most of the time it being schools (Illinois reportedly received 31.5 million for schools)....that money may be going to the schools but I doubt it is an increase in money for schools. I would imagine that is just 31.5 million of the states budget that will now be spent elsewhere. Maybe this huge jackpot was just a way to help the states fix their budgets, trick people into giving it to you.....just a thought.
10. I think it sucks that movie stores keep closing down. I like renting older movies that were made when I was too young to care about them, or I have forgotten enough of the movie that it is interesting to watch again, or I just never watched for some unknown reason. I guess I'll just have to get Netflix again.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
three rules for u.s. presidents
I like reading articles by LZ Granderson. I don't always agree with his viewpoints, and I think he is too extreme at times, but every one of his articles makes me stop and think. This article is just the latest example and I think it's interesting enough that I will dedicate this post to it.
If you didn't read that article here are the 3 presidential changes proposed to help fix our government.
1. Eliminate second terms for presidents and change term limit to 6 years.
2. Make prior military experience a requirement for presidents.
3. Raise the minimum age for presidents from 35 to 45 and cap it at 70.
Here are my thoughts on each.
Eliminating second terms and change term limit to 6 years
I think there is good and bad to this suggestion. It seems like it is nearly impossible for a president to fully implement his plans for our country in 4 years. Obama is at the end of his term and his health care plans are not in place yet, and might never be. A president is elected (hopefully) based on his blueprint for improving our country. If a president is elected and not able to implement his/her plan, then why are they elected in the first place. A 6 year term would help a lot with this. I am torn on the idea of eliminating a second term. You don't have to look far to see that our country is having a hard time finding legitimate candidates. The candidates of the past few elections have been mostly a joke and electing the president of the united states has become more of a reality tv show than an important political decision.
Making prior military experience a requirement for presidents.
My first thoughts on this were completely against it. I understand Granderson's idea behind it (preventing warmongers from spouting off unrealistic suggestions when they have no clue what they are talking about) but I don't think simply having military experience accomplishes that. A career in the military would probably ensure a fundamental understanding of how the military works, but I think that is an unrealistic expectation, and would further impact the shrinking pool of legitimate presidential hopefuls. Then again, that might be a good thing. I think it is basically up to the voters to ensure that the person they are voting for has a good understanding of foreign affairs and military operations whether it is through military experience, other political experiences, family members knowledgeable in those areas, or other means. This knowledge has been lacking in many recent presidential hopefuls minus McCain and Paul, and needs to be emphasized more in my opinion.
Raise the minimum age for presidents from 35 to 45 and cap it at 70.
I disagree with this one because most all presidential hopefuls are 45 or older anyways. I do agree with capping it at 70, but only because the thought of having some of our recent vp's or potential vp's (biden, cheney, edwards, palin, gore) become president due to the president dying while in office scares the hell out of me. I also think that thought probably cost McCain some votes a few years ago. Raising the minimum age to 45 is an attempt to solve the problem of lack of experience. Once again I think it is really up to the voters to take into consideration the experience of the candidate they are voting for. Realistically Obama should not have beaten out Clinton for the democratic nomination purely based on experience. Charisma is great but it does not trump knowledge, experience, and the ability to make the right decisions without relying on others.
If I could change 3 things here is what they would be.
1. Change term limits to 6 years.
Unless Congress is getting an Extreme Makeover, I think this is the easiest way to allow the president, who was elected for their ideas, to actually implement their ideas. Congress can argue and draw things out easily for 3 or 4 years, but I don't think they could do it for 5 or 6.
2. Put a cap on the total amount of money a political party can spend on elections, including PAC money.
Everyone says money buys elections. I don't think that is necessarily true but I think it is a requirement to be competetive, just ask Ron Paul. It is estimated that Obama spent nearly 750 million on his 2008 campaign. That amount of money is ridiculous, but was probably necessary. Most European countries speak in the tens of millions when talking about campaign money, not hundreds of millions and I think it will just get worse this next election.
3. Make a balanced budget a requirement.
Other than war there is no good reason not to have a balanced budget. Wars are expensive but I would rather see taxes increase in times of war instead of printing more money and sending it off to China or whatever it is they do. Wars do not seem to have the impact that they did in the past and unless directly involved it is easy to forget they are going on. Every American should be affected in times of war, not just the people fighting and their relatives. I think sharing the burden of war with all people through taxes or other means would help emphasize that war really is a big deal and maybe would cause the government to think a little more before invading other countries in the name of democracy.
If you didn't read that article here are the 3 presidential changes proposed to help fix our government.
1. Eliminate second terms for presidents and change term limit to 6 years.
2. Make prior military experience a requirement for presidents.
3. Raise the minimum age for presidents from 35 to 45 and cap it at 70.
Here are my thoughts on each.
Eliminating second terms and change term limit to 6 years
I think there is good and bad to this suggestion. It seems like it is nearly impossible for a president to fully implement his plans for our country in 4 years. Obama is at the end of his term and his health care plans are not in place yet, and might never be. A president is elected (hopefully) based on his blueprint for improving our country. If a president is elected and not able to implement his/her plan, then why are they elected in the first place. A 6 year term would help a lot with this. I am torn on the idea of eliminating a second term. You don't have to look far to see that our country is having a hard time finding legitimate candidates. The candidates of the past few elections have been mostly a joke and electing the president of the united states has become more of a reality tv show than an important political decision.
Making prior military experience a requirement for presidents.
My first thoughts on this were completely against it. I understand Granderson's idea behind it (preventing warmongers from spouting off unrealistic suggestions when they have no clue what they are talking about) but I don't think simply having military experience accomplishes that. A career in the military would probably ensure a fundamental understanding of how the military works, but I think that is an unrealistic expectation, and would further impact the shrinking pool of legitimate presidential hopefuls. Then again, that might be a good thing. I think it is basically up to the voters to ensure that the person they are voting for has a good understanding of foreign affairs and military operations whether it is through military experience, other political experiences, family members knowledgeable in those areas, or other means. This knowledge has been lacking in many recent presidential hopefuls minus McCain and Paul, and needs to be emphasized more in my opinion.
Raise the minimum age for presidents from 35 to 45 and cap it at 70.
I disagree with this one because most all presidential hopefuls are 45 or older anyways. I do agree with capping it at 70, but only because the thought of having some of our recent vp's or potential vp's (biden, cheney, edwards, palin, gore) become president due to the president dying while in office scares the hell out of me. I also think that thought probably cost McCain some votes a few years ago. Raising the minimum age to 45 is an attempt to solve the problem of lack of experience. Once again I think it is really up to the voters to take into consideration the experience of the candidate they are voting for. Realistically Obama should not have beaten out Clinton for the democratic nomination purely based on experience. Charisma is great but it does not trump knowledge, experience, and the ability to make the right decisions without relying on others.
If I could change 3 things here is what they would be.
1. Change term limits to 6 years.
Unless Congress is getting an Extreme Makeover, I think this is the easiest way to allow the president, who was elected for their ideas, to actually implement their ideas. Congress can argue and draw things out easily for 3 or 4 years, but I don't think they could do it for 5 or 6.
2. Put a cap on the total amount of money a political party can spend on elections, including PAC money.
Everyone says money buys elections. I don't think that is necessarily true but I think it is a requirement to be competetive, just ask Ron Paul. It is estimated that Obama spent nearly 750 million on his 2008 campaign. That amount of money is ridiculous, but was probably necessary. Most European countries speak in the tens of millions when talking about campaign money, not hundreds of millions and I think it will just get worse this next election.
3. Make a balanced budget a requirement.
Other than war there is no good reason not to have a balanced budget. Wars are expensive but I would rather see taxes increase in times of war instead of printing more money and sending it off to China or whatever it is they do. Wars do not seem to have the impact that they did in the past and unless directly involved it is easy to forget they are going on. Every American should be affected in times of war, not just the people fighting and their relatives. I think sharing the burden of war with all people through taxes or other means would help emphasize that war really is a big deal and maybe would cause the government to think a little more before invading other countries in the name of democracy.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
my opinion on trayvon martin
It seems the whole world now knows the name Trayvon Martin. There were names like Rodney King and Elian Gonzalez before him, but Trayvon has become the latest chapter of the United States Book of Racial Controversy. So how did he become an overnight household name? I think the increased access to information through technology has caused an increase in the desire for people to create under informed opinions. A few months ago it was Kony 2012, and now it's Trayvon Martin.
So first off, for anyone reading this that for some reason does not know who Trayvon Martin is, here is a quick rundown of the story. A 17-year-old black man (Trayvon) is walking down the street in a gated community in Florida. He was apparently coming from a convenience store where he purchased Skittles and iced tea and was going to visit his father's girlfriend. The light-skinned neighborhood watch leader (George Zimmerman) see's this "suspicious" man walking down his street and calls 911. Against the advice of the 911 operator, Zimmerman approaches the young man. A scuffle ensues and Trayvon is shot to death by Zimmerman who pleads it was in self defense.
Now I don't have a particular side on this issue, I am just fascinated at how big of an issue this has become based on limited details released through the media. NBA players wearing hoodies, protests in Seattle (over 3,000 miles away), and dozens of other actions have taken place that I quite frankly do not understand.
I know our justice system is a joke at times, but I still believe people are innocent until proven guilty. I think this same thing should apply to opinions....judgement should be restricted until you actually know what the hell you are upset about. To me, the fact that Zimmerman was not immediately arrested does not prove his innocence, but it does prove that there was more to the story.
Technology has impacted how quickly information is spread and how things turn viral. Perceived racial injustices always cause a lot of emotion, but to see such nationwide outrage come from news stories reported by people who may also share this anger is crazy to me. There is a process for sorting these things out. If George Zimmerman did not abide by the law, he will receive his punishment. If in the end justice is not served, reserve anger, protests, Facebook rants, etc for that time. I wish that same outrage could be used proactively for electing politicians, fixing education, and fighting poverty instead of reactively for voicing opinions about topics people are under informed about.
So first off, for anyone reading this that for some reason does not know who Trayvon Martin is, here is a quick rundown of the story. A 17-year-old black man (Trayvon) is walking down the street in a gated community in Florida. He was apparently coming from a convenience store where he purchased Skittles and iced tea and was going to visit his father's girlfriend. The light-skinned neighborhood watch leader (George Zimmerman) see's this "suspicious" man walking down his street and calls 911. Against the advice of the 911 operator, Zimmerman approaches the young man. A scuffle ensues and Trayvon is shot to death by Zimmerman who pleads it was in self defense.
Now I don't have a particular side on this issue, I am just fascinated at how big of an issue this has become based on limited details released through the media. NBA players wearing hoodies, protests in Seattle (over 3,000 miles away), and dozens of other actions have taken place that I quite frankly do not understand.
I know our justice system is a joke at times, but I still believe people are innocent until proven guilty. I think this same thing should apply to opinions....judgement should be restricted until you actually know what the hell you are upset about. To me, the fact that Zimmerman was not immediately arrested does not prove his innocence, but it does prove that there was more to the story.
Technology has impacted how quickly information is spread and how things turn viral. Perceived racial injustices always cause a lot of emotion, but to see such nationwide outrage come from news stories reported by people who may also share this anger is crazy to me. There is a process for sorting these things out. If George Zimmerman did not abide by the law, he will receive his punishment. If in the end justice is not served, reserve anger, protests, Facebook rants, etc for that time. I wish that same outrage could be used proactively for electing politicians, fixing education, and fighting poverty instead of reactively for voicing opinions about topics people are under informed about.
Friday, March 16, 2012
education reform
So I haven't written a blog for awhile now, partly because I have been busy and partly because there wasn't really interesting that I came across and felt the need to talk about. I guess that kind of fits my personality too. People think of me as shy and quiet, but that's usually because I don't say anything if I don't have anything to say. But anyways, I have seen a few things in the news lately and have overheard a few conversations regarding education reform and thought I would explore my own thoughts about the topic.
Quick disclaimer here: I am not an expert on anything regarding education reform; these are just my slightly educated opinions and ideas.
changing summer vacations
Breaks in schooling began sometime in the 1800's as a way for children to offer assistance on farms during the spring planting seasons and fall harvest seasons. Over the years it has sort of transformed into a must needed break from schooling. I would like to see schools to shorten the length of summer vacations (currently around 3 months in the U.S.). Kids are not learning anything during this time, and also forgetting some of the information they did learn. Many households these days have 2 working parents so reducing the burden of finding 3 months of childcare would be beneficial and cost effective for parents. And while you're at it, extend the school days another hour so people can actually get their kids after work. What is the difference between spending an hour at a daycare or after school program and another hour of school? 180 more hours per year of education, increased pay for teachers, and more options for parents getting their kids after work. Also it kind of sucks paying for schools that are only used half of the year.
no child left behind
Get rid of it....or at least change a lot of it. The way I understand the NCLB Act is basically that any school which receives government money is required to meet certain educational standards which are verified by standardized testing. States who do not meet standards are punished by not reduced funding if they are below standards. This encourages more bad results instead of increasing results. I don't completely disagree with having federal standards for education, but let the states decide how to achieve those goals. Stop encouraging "teaching to tests". Fund education equally based on population of enrolled students Set a percentage for federal money and state money each year to prevent states from making annual education budget cuts and rather than punish schools by taking away federal funding, reward success by subsidizing their education costs with federal money when students.
gifted programs
Get rid of these too. I have a hard spot with this subject. I was in a gifted program from 2nd grade until 7th grade. The teachers I had were all great and I learned a lot of information I would not have ordinarily learned. Working at my own pace in subjects like math allowed me to excel more than I would have in a regular class. The problem comes in once the program was complete in 8th grade. Once I got into Jr. High I basically stopped learning. Nearly everything that was covered in every subject in Jr. High was basically a repeat of information I had already learned. There were no advance classes available for Jr. High and only a few available in High School. In effect all of the extra learning I had gotten was put on hold until everyone else got caught up. I know it was probably just a result of the school district I was raised in, but I still view it as a waste of time effort and money that could have been put to great use. I would rather see the expectations for everyone go up as a whole. Instead of moving the "gifted" kids to another class, raise the bar for the average class to make sure everyone is learning at a higher level.
foreign language
We live in a global society, yet most people here do not speak another language. I may be a little biased because both of my kids are in a Spanish Immersion class but the benefits I have seen so far are amazing. My son is in his 4th year and my daughter in her 2nd and it is crazy to see how quickly kids are able to comprehend another language. I don't think every student should be in a full immersion class, but I think language requirements should start by 1st grade. Every other major country takes up foreign language at young ages except for the U.S. Here is a good article explaining the need for increased attention to foreign language from a national security perspective.
It is pretty well known now that the United States is drastically falling behind a lot of other major countries in the world when it comes to education. There are a lot of things that can help to change that, but I think first of all coming to mutual agreement among the states and government is the first step. No stupid partisan decisions or forced ideas, and no more reluctance to change. It is broken and a lot of blame is placed on teachers, when in reality it is the system that is screwed up.
What are your thoughts?
Quick disclaimer here: I am not an expert on anything regarding education reform; these are just my slightly educated opinions and ideas.
changing summer vacations
Breaks in schooling began sometime in the 1800's as a way for children to offer assistance on farms during the spring planting seasons and fall harvest seasons. Over the years it has sort of transformed into a must needed break from schooling. I would like to see schools to shorten the length of summer vacations (currently around 3 months in the U.S.). Kids are not learning anything during this time, and also forgetting some of the information they did learn. Many households these days have 2 working parents so reducing the burden of finding 3 months of childcare would be beneficial and cost effective for parents. And while you're at it, extend the school days another hour so people can actually get their kids after work. What is the difference between spending an hour at a daycare or after school program and another hour of school? 180 more hours per year of education, increased pay for teachers, and more options for parents getting their kids after work. Also it kind of sucks paying for schools that are only used half of the year.
no child left behind
Get rid of it....or at least change a lot of it. The way I understand the NCLB Act is basically that any school which receives government money is required to meet certain educational standards which are verified by standardized testing. States who do not meet standards are punished by not reduced funding if they are below standards. This encourages more bad results instead of increasing results. I don't completely disagree with having federal standards for education, but let the states decide how to achieve those goals. Stop encouraging "teaching to tests". Fund education equally based on population of enrolled students Set a percentage for federal money and state money each year to prevent states from making annual education budget cuts and rather than punish schools by taking away federal funding, reward success by subsidizing their education costs with federal money when students.
gifted programs
Get rid of these too. I have a hard spot with this subject. I was in a gifted program from 2nd grade until 7th grade. The teachers I had were all great and I learned a lot of information I would not have ordinarily learned. Working at my own pace in subjects like math allowed me to excel more than I would have in a regular class. The problem comes in once the program was complete in 8th grade. Once I got into Jr. High I basically stopped learning. Nearly everything that was covered in every subject in Jr. High was basically a repeat of information I had already learned. There were no advance classes available for Jr. High and only a few available in High School. In effect all of the extra learning I had gotten was put on hold until everyone else got caught up. I know it was probably just a result of the school district I was raised in, but I still view it as a waste of time effort and money that could have been put to great use. I would rather see the expectations for everyone go up as a whole. Instead of moving the "gifted" kids to another class, raise the bar for the average class to make sure everyone is learning at a higher level.
foreign language
We live in a global society, yet most people here do not speak another language. I may be a little biased because both of my kids are in a Spanish Immersion class but the benefits I have seen so far are amazing. My son is in his 4th year and my daughter in her 2nd and it is crazy to see how quickly kids are able to comprehend another language. I don't think every student should be in a full immersion class, but I think language requirements should start by 1st grade. Every other major country takes up foreign language at young ages except for the U.S. Here is a good article explaining the need for increased attention to foreign language from a national security perspective.
It is pretty well known now that the United States is drastically falling behind a lot of other major countries in the world when it comes to education. There are a lot of things that can help to change that, but I think first of all coming to mutual agreement among the states and government is the first step. No stupid partisan decisions or forced ideas, and no more reluctance to change. It is broken and a lot of blame is placed on teachers, when in reality it is the system that is screwed up.
What are your thoughts?
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