This is the letter from Orrin Hatch, Sen from Utah. Wow, my timing is impeccable!
Fight On!
Troy
HATCH REQUESTS DOJ INVESTIGATION INTO BCS
Sends Letter to Obama Outlining Issues
Washington – U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today sent a letter to President Obama to express his concerns regarding the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and request that the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division look into the legality and fairness of the system.
“Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform,” wrote Hatch in the letter. “Some may argue that the college football postseason is too trivial a matter to warrant government involvement. However, given the amount of money involved in the BCS endeavor and its close relationship to our nation’s institutions of higher education, it is clear that the unfairness of the current system extends well beyond the football field.
“Furthermore, I do not believe we should lower the standards of legal and ethical behavior simply because a case involves collegiate sports. If anything, our nation should hold our colleges and universities to a higher standard than we would a purely commercial enterprise.
“I believe a strong case can be made that the BCS is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Therefore, I respectfully request that the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division look into this matter.”
The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, on which Senator Hatch is the Ranking Member, held hearings on the antitrust implications of the BCS earlier this year. At the time, Hatch indicated that further government intervention or investigation into these matters could have been avoided by voluntary action on the part of the BCS.
The full letter is below, a signed copy including footnotes attached:
October 21, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing to express my concerns regarding the legality and fairness of the Bowl Championship Series (“BCS”). On July 7, 2009, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, of which I am the Ranking Republican Member, held a hearing to examine the antitrust implications of the BCS. After a careful examination of both the written and oral testimonies presented at this hearing, I believe a strong case can be made that the BCS is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Therefore, I respectfully request that the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division look into this matter.
BCS SYSTEM BACKGROUND
Our nation’s obsession with college football reaches its yearly climax in late December and early January with the playing of the college bowl games. While literally dozens of such bowl games are played every year, the most prestigious and lucrative bowl games are those taken under the BCS banner, consisting of the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowls, as well as the so-called “National Championship Game.” Only teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (“FBS”), formerly known as Division 1-A, may qualify to play in the BCS bowl games, from which the participants receive national visibility and significant revenue derived from media broadcast rights.
While the BCS, which was established in 1998, has undergone changes over the past decade, it continues to separate the FBS’s eleven conferences into two separate categories. The first category consists of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Southeastern Conference (SEC), Big East, Big 12, Big Ten and Pacific 10, along with Notre Dame. The champions of these six privileged conferences receive automatic bids to play in the BCS games, regardless of their overall performance. Uniquely, Notre Dame receives the seventh slot if it places eighth or better in the BCS rankings. The second category consists of the five remaining conferences. The champions from these non-privileged conferences must earn an invitation to play in a BCS bowl game.
The most apparent result of this construct is that, of the ten available opportunities to participate in the BCS bowls, six have already been allotted to privileged conferences before the season even begins. However, for all practical purposes, nine of the ten slots are ultimately reserved for the privileged conferences due to the selection criteria utilized by the BCS. In order to automatically qualify for a BCS game, the champion of a non-privileged conference must either be ranked among the top twelve in the final BCS standings, or be ranked in the top sixteen in the final BCS standings while being ranked higher than a champion from a privileged conference. Yet, if multiple teams from non-privileged conferences meet these qualifications, the BCS arrangement only requires that one receive a BCS bid. This happened just last season wherein both the University of Utah and Boise State University completed their seasons undefeated and, according to the rules, eligible to play in a BCS bowl. However, only Utah received such an opportunity, while multiple teams from privileged conferences with records and rankings inferior to Boise State’s participated in BCS bowls.
In addition to the competitive disadvantages inherent in the BCS structure, the BCS distributes its revenues in an inequitable manner. Every privileged conference receives an equal share of the BCS revenue to distribute among its teams, with the potential for increases if it sends more than one team to a BCS game. As a result, each school which is a member of a privileged conference is guaranteed to receive a sizable share of the BCS’s revenues, even if they fail to win a single game. This contrasts with the five non-privileged conferences which receive a single share to divide among themselves. The actual distribution is quite astounding. During the past four seasons, privileged conferences received more than $492 million, or 87.4 percent, of the total BCS revenue, whereas the non-privileged conferences, whose collective membership consists of nearly half of all the schools in the FBS, received less than $62 million or 12.6 percent. These are hardly trivial sums, particularly considering that many, if not most, FBS schools rely upon football revenues to do such things as fund other athletic programs, provide scholarships, and meet the requirements of Title IX.
The BCS’s governance system also ensures that non-privileged conferences remain at a disadvantage. Under the current structure, the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee is composed of eight representatives. Each of the privileged conferences and Notre Dame select one board member. The five non-privileged conferences share a single, collective vote, all but ensuring that they will have little influence on proposed changes or reforms.
The inequities of this system also affect competition on the field by creating a false perception that there are two classes of college teams in FBS football. For example, though all FBS teams are members of the BCS, many in the media typically, and incorrectly, refer to the privileged and non-privileged conferences as being “BCS” and “non-BCS,” respectively. It has been argued this false impression influences the decisions of pollsters, television networks and sponsors, ensuring inequitable treatment. In addition, since the BCS utilizes subjective polling systems to determine participation in its bowl games, some evidence suggests that this false impression has led to a self-fulfilling prophecy that non-privileged teams do not perform at the same level as privileged conference teams.
Furthermore, teams ranked number one and number two in the BCS standings qualify for the so-called “National Championship Game.” Ostensibly, this suggests that participation in this game, and the prestige, revenues, and visibility that come with it, are open to all schools regardless of conference membership. However, as noted above, due to the nature of the polling system, the systemic division between the privileged and non-privileged conferences limits the ability of non-privileged teams to attain sufficient ranking to play in the “National Championship Game”. As recent seasons demonstrate, it is virtually impossible for a team from a non-privileged conference to qualify for the “National Championship Game.”
THE LEGAL ARGUMENT
A - Applicability of the Sherman Antitrust Act
The immediate question arises whether our nation’s antitrust laws apply to intercollegiate athletics. In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled on this issue in National Collegiate Athletic Assoc. v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, where it found that antitrust laws do apply to inter-collegiate athletics. In light of the Court’s disposition on this issue, the BCS’s organization and operations must meet the requirements of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
B – Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act
The BCS arrangement likely violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act because it constitutes a “contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce….” To establish violations of Section 1, the Court has utilized two separate analyses, the per se analysis and the “rule of reason.” With regard to the BCS, a violation can be found utilizing either test.
1 – The per se Rule
The Supreme Court has determined a per se violation of Section 1 exists when the conduct in question is so anticompetitive as to be conclusively unreasonable. In Board of Regents, the Court stated:
Horizontal price fixing and output limitation are ordinarily condemned as a matter of law under an ‘illegal per se’ approach because the probability that these practices are anticompetitive is so high…In such circumstances a restraint is presumed unreasonable without inquiry into the particular market context in which it is found.
The Court’s conclusions with regard to horizontal price fixing, output limitation, and concerted refusals to deal are particularly relevant to this analysis.
At its most basic level, the BCS is “an agreement among competitors on the way in which they will compete with one another” and how they will compete with schools outside their elite circle. As stated above, the BCS system ensures an inequitable distribution of revenue between the privileged and non-privileged conferences. In recent years, champions from the privileged conferences have been outperformed both on the field and in television ratings by one or more of their counterparts from non-privileged conferences. Yet, under the BCS system, such developments are irrelevant as the privileged conferences continue to enjoy far greater shares of the revenues. These inequities are systemic and set in advance by the BCS arrangement. Therefore, the BCS arrangement likely constitutes a horizontal restriction, which is a per se violation of Section 1.
Furthermore, the BCS system effectively limits the number of non-privileged teams that will play in BCS bowl games to at most one in any given year. In addition, the arrangement artificially limits the number of nationally-relevant bowl games to five, and the number of participants in such games to ten. The result is reduced access to revenues and visibility which creates disadvantages to schools in the non-privileged conferences. In this way, an argument can be made that the BCS is a horizontal restriction, not only on price but also on output and the quality of the output, which would substantiate a per se violation of Section 1.
Finally, the BCS appears to constitute a concerted refusal on the part of the privileged conferences to deal with the schools from the non-privileged conferences. Though, once again, all FBS schools are part of the BCS agreement, the system has been designed to limit the number of teams from non-privileged conferences that will play in BCS games. This is demonstrated by the fact that the champions from non-privileged conferences must meet higher performance standards than their counterparts in the privileged conferences just to be invited to a BCS bowl. And, once again, even if multiple non-privileged teams meet these heightened standards, the system limits the number of automatic bids that can be awarded to such teams to, at most, one per year.
The Supreme Court has, on a number of occasions, stated that concerted refusals to deal and group boycotts are often per se violations of Section 1. This is even the case in those instances, such as the BCS, in which there is not a complete refusal to deal, but the defendants have ensured that competition takes place under terms that are discriminatory or unfavorable toward specific competitors. Both the disparate qualification standards for participation in BCS bowl games and the inequitable distribution of revenue appear to fall in this category, once again suggesting a per se violation of Section 1.
Though the Court applied the rule of reason in Board of Regents , the circumstances with regard to the BCS are different. In the aforementioned case, the decision to apply the rule of reason was the result of the Court’s recognition of the NCAA’s essential role in creating certain constraints within college football. The BCS holds no special status, as it is not a governing body for all of college football, and therefore is not essential, in contrast to the NCAA, which was the defendant in Board of Regents. Instead, it is a group of schools and conferences in a acting in concert to control an important aspect of college football. As a result, Board of Regents does not provide an escape for the BCS from the per se analysis.
2. Rule of Reason
Under the rule of reason, only those contracts and combinations that unreasonably restrain trade violate Section 1. Specifically, the Court in Chicago Board of Trade v. U.S., determined the test under this approach is “whether the restraint imposed is such as merely regulates and perhaps thereby promotes competition or whether it is such as may suppress or even destroy competition.” Under this test, a violation will be found if a plaintiff can demonstrate the agreement in question has an anti-competitive effect and if the defendant cannot demonstrate such effects are outweighed by pro-competitive benefits. A plaintiff making such a claim must also demonstrate that there is a less restrictive alternative available.
As has been shown, the anticompetitive effects of the BCS are numerous. Most obvious, it has eliminated the competition that once existed between the major bowl games by making almost all of them subject to the same agreement. In addition, it explicitly limits the ability of non-privileged teams to compete in these lucrative games. In addition, it creates a so-called “National Championship Game,” the limited eligibility for which is effectively determined before the season even begins.
The BCS argues that the current system creates a number of pro-competitive benefits including the playing of a so-called “National Championship Game.” However, to date, no arguments have been advanced to justify why it is necessary to severely limit the participation of non-privileged teams in either the “National Championship Game” or the BCS bowls or to reward equal performance with unequal revenues. In addition, a multitude of less-restrictive alternatives have been proposed. In the end, the BCS’s justifications for the current system are designed, not to preserve competition in the national college football market, but to preserve the elevated status of it privileged members. Such justifications find no safe-haven in antitrust law.
C – Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act
Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits monopolies, attempted monopolies and conspiracies to monopolize. The Supreme Court in United States v. Grinnell Corp., articulated a two-prong test for establishing a Section 2 violation. First, “possession of monopoly power in the relevant market” must exist. Second, there must be a “willful acquisition or maintenance of that power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen or historic accident.”
Regarding the first prong, the Court has stated that a party has monopoly power when it has the “the power to control prices or exclude competition.” The relevant market, according to the Court, is that which contains a product and other reasonably interchangeable products that are used by consumers for the same purposes. With regard to sporting events for a national market, the Court has determined that separate markets exist for championship and non-championship events.
In this case, there are two markets in question. First, the four BCS bowls exist in a market of their own. They enjoy far more revenues and visibility to be considered interchangeable with lesser bowls. The games also enjoy their own stage because, as a result of the BCS agreement, they are played in the days after New Year’s Day after the vast majority of the other bowls have been played.
The second relevant market is the “National Championship Game,” the creation of which is the stated purpose of the BCS. The Supreme Court has determined that championship events exist in separate markets from other sporting events. Indeed, the BCS has gone to great lengths to distinguish the “National Championship Game” as a completely separate endeavor from the other BCS games. By its very exclusive nature, a game billed as a national championship is not interchangeable with any other set of games.
As has been demonstrated, the BCS has market power in both these markets. The BCS is the only entity governing access to its games. Membership in the BCS is required for any team to qualify for either the “National Championship Game” or any of the other four BCS bowls. The Court has stated, “when a product is controlled by one interest, without substitutes available in the market, there is monopoly power.” Indeed, the BCS is the very definition of monopoly power.
The second prong of the Grinnell test, the willful acquisition or maintenance of monopoly power, revolves around whether a monopolist has used its power to “foreclose competition, gain a competitive advantage, or to destroy a competitor.” Put simply, Section 2 prohibits business enterprises from expanding their monopoly by reducing competition.
The BCS arrangement clearly violates the second prong of the Grinnell test in both relevant markets. The privileged conferences, who are also the BCS system’s architects, do not enjoy their unequivocal market dominance due to superior performance, but to the barriers they’ve imposed on competition. Once again, the BCS is governed by a panel of representatives, the composition of which is severely weighted in favor of the privileged conferences. This makes any proposals for change in favor of the non-privileged conferences difficult, if not impossible, even if the non-privileged conferences outperform their counterparts in the college football broadcast market or on the field of play. These barriers are not justified by a legitimate business purpose. In fact, the systemic exclusion of outside competitors by privileged conferences on the basis of pre-existing arrangements likely violates the law. Specifically, given the BCS’s power in the relevant market, such exclusionary practices seem to run afoul of Section 2.
CONCLUSION
Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform. Some may argue that the college football postseason is too trivial a matter to warrant government involvement. However, given the amount of money involved in the BCS endeavor and its close relationship to our nation’s institutions of higher education, it is clear that the unfairness of the current system extends well beyond the football field. Furthermore, I do not believe we should lower the standards of legal and ethical behavior simply because a case involves collegiate sports. If anything, our nation should hold our colleges and universities to a higher standard than we would a purely commercial enterprise.
As you know, Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney has stated her desire and intention for the Justice Department to play a more active role in the enforcement of the Sherman Act. As a faithful advocate of our free market system, I have long believed that our antitrust laws play an essential role in ensuring our nation’s long-term prosperity. Indeed, the essence of the free market is competition. Toward that end, I respectfully request that you, Attorney General Holder, and Assistant Attorney General Varney examine these issues to determine whether Justice Department action is necessary. However, while I believe there is a strong case that the BCS violates the Sherman Act, an antitrust inquiry is only one possible avenue for addressing these issues. Though I would prefer to see those with the power to change the status quo do so voluntarily, I believe there are a number of measures that can be taken by various governmental agencies with regard to the BCS and I am willing to support any reasonable effort to ensure that all schools, students, and student-athletes are treated fairly.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to a constructive dialogue with your Administration regarding these concerns.
Sincerely,
Orrin G. Hatch
United States Senator
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Troy on Troy - BCS Un-just
More backup for my claim that the BCS is an unjust organization.
Fight On!
Troy
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Shortly after winning last year's presidential election, Barack Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football's Bowl Championship Series to move to a playoff system.
On Wednesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch took him up on that.
Hatch asked the president to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS — a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism — crowns its national champion.
"Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform," Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a 10-page letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a "strong case" can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.
Under the BCS system, some conferences get automatic bids to participate in top-tier bowls while others don't, and the automatic bid conferences also get far more of the revenue. Hatch's home state school, the University of Utah, is from the Mountain West Conference, which does not get an automatic bid. The school qualified for a bid last season but was bypassed for the national championship despite going undefeated.
The system "has been designed to limit the number of teams from non-privileged conferences that will play in BCS games," he wrote.
Hatch said that the BCS arrangement likely violates the Sherman Antitrust Act, because, he argued, it constitutes a "contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce," quoting from the law.
He said that the system "artificially limits the number of nationally-relevant bowl games to five. The result is reduced access to revenues and visibility which creates disadvantages to schools in the non-privileged conferences." Hatch is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
The senator said that the hundreds of millions generated by college football "are hardly trivial sums," given that many schools use such revenue to fund things like other athletic programs.
The White House declined to comment. The Justice Department and BCS officials had no immediate comment.
Hatch's letter comes a few days after the BCS released its first standings of the year. And on Monday, a group of college football fans launched the Playoff PAC, with the hope of electing more lawmakers who will pressure the BCS to switch to a playoff system. Several lawmakers have introduced bills this year aimed at forcing a playoff system, but none of the bills has moved.
Fight On!
Troy
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Shortly after winning last year's presidential election, Barack Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football's Bowl Championship Series to move to a playoff system.
On Wednesday, Sen. Orrin Hatch took him up on that.
Hatch asked the president to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS — a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism — crowns its national champion.
"Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform," Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a 10-page letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a "strong case" can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.
Under the BCS system, some conferences get automatic bids to participate in top-tier bowls while others don't, and the automatic bid conferences also get far more of the revenue. Hatch's home state school, the University of Utah, is from the Mountain West Conference, which does not get an automatic bid. The school qualified for a bid last season but was bypassed for the national championship despite going undefeated.
The system "has been designed to limit the number of teams from non-privileged conferences that will play in BCS games," he wrote.
Hatch said that the BCS arrangement likely violates the Sherman Antitrust Act, because, he argued, it constitutes a "contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce," quoting from the law.
He said that the system "artificially limits the number of nationally-relevant bowl games to five. The result is reduced access to revenues and visibility which creates disadvantages to schools in the non-privileged conferences." Hatch is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
The senator said that the hundreds of millions generated by college football "are hardly trivial sums," given that many schools use such revenue to fund things like other athletic programs.
The White House declined to comment. The Justice Department and BCS officials had no immediate comment.
Hatch's letter comes a few days after the BCS released its first standings of the year. And on Monday, a group of college football fans launched the Playoff PAC, with the hope of electing more lawmakers who will pressure the BCS to switch to a playoff system. Several lawmakers have introduced bills this year aimed at forcing a playoff system, but none of the bills has moved.
Troy on Troy - Playoffnow.com
I am so very tired of the BCS and their ratings system. Every year, this invisible group of people get behind closed doors and determine the fate of hard working student athletes, coaches and fans. The fans by the hundreds of thousands complain every year how the system is broken. The sports writers fill their columns with line after line of stats and suggestions but they never listen to the outcry for a new way, a fair way to determine the Division 1 National Champion for Football.
Did you know that in all of college sports, everyone ends with a champion determined thru some sort of a play-off system? Even the other lower divisions of football have their champions confirmed by their actions on the field, not by old guys in suits.
I am tired of screaming and not being heard… so I am going to do something about it. My goal is to start a petition and get 1 million electronic signatures by the start of Bowl Season. I want to be able to submit it live on the air on ESPN and debate all comers as to why we can’t have a play-off to determine a National Champion like every other college sport. I want to take it to court and get this thing officially challenged.
I need your help. In the next few days, I am going to have a website set up to accept signatures via website and email where we can have a running count for everyone to see how many signatures we have. I need this taken to the local press and then the national press. Once this thing gets going, it is going to snowball and what seems like a big number, 1,000,000, may in fact be not that big at all. (Well, compared to our new national debt.)
Imagine this, every week there are some 50 games being played in Division 1. There 120 teams representing 11 conferences including the three independents, Notre Dame, Navy and Army. Each game has from 10,000 to 110,000 screaming fans that actually attend the games with millions more who watch from the comfort of their couch at home. The number of potential signatures is actually ridiculously high.
My challenge isn’t going to get people to agree to change the BCS; it is getting the petition in front of those thirsting for a real play-off.
Now for the play-off system. It is very simple and anyone who says that it won’t work isn’t being honest.
The play-off would consist of 8 teams. The conference champions from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10 and the SEC would get an automatic bid. It doesn’t matter how you crown your conference champion. That is strictly up to each league. The final two spots would be determined through rankings and even other championship games to be played. How great would it be to have Utah from the WAC play Boise St. of the Mountain West; to play each other for the right to go to the play-offs? It would be amazing and I bet they would rather do that then sit home and say “What if?!?!?!”
The traditional Bowls could be kept as part of the play-off. Example, this year for the opening round of the play-off, USC would play Iowa in the Rose Bowl.
The days of a split National Championship would be gone forever. And so would the discrimination of the so called sub-conference football programs. It’s time, once and for all, to have an open debate in front of the college football world and crown a true National Champion.
I have always said, I would rather USC finish 2nd or 4th or even 8th if it meant that a true championship was earned, not appointed. I wouldn’t want the title to be mythical as we have had since the flawed BCS system was created. The BCS Champion is just that, the Champion of the BCS ratings system. Whenever you have 1 or even 2 loss teams in the final game, getting there is subjective. Then there are other scenarios that are equally unfair. When USC, Oklahoma and Auburn were all undefeated, Auburn got left behind and had no chance at a title.
There is no need for me to “preach to the choir.” Let’s get this thing cranked up and see where it goes. I’ll let you know where I am with the petition. Once we are up and running, all I need is contacts to the press to get the story out. Let’s do this thing!
Fight On!
Troy
Did you know that in all of college sports, everyone ends with a champion determined thru some sort of a play-off system? Even the other lower divisions of football have their champions confirmed by their actions on the field, not by old guys in suits.
I am tired of screaming and not being heard… so I am going to do something about it. My goal is to start a petition and get 1 million electronic signatures by the start of Bowl Season. I want to be able to submit it live on the air on ESPN and debate all comers as to why we can’t have a play-off to determine a National Champion like every other college sport. I want to take it to court and get this thing officially challenged.
I need your help. In the next few days, I am going to have a website set up to accept signatures via website and email where we can have a running count for everyone to see how many signatures we have. I need this taken to the local press and then the national press. Once this thing gets going, it is going to snowball and what seems like a big number, 1,000,000, may in fact be not that big at all. (Well, compared to our new national debt.)
Imagine this, every week there are some 50 games being played in Division 1. There 120 teams representing 11 conferences including the three independents, Notre Dame, Navy and Army. Each game has from 10,000 to 110,000 screaming fans that actually attend the games with millions more who watch from the comfort of their couch at home. The number of potential signatures is actually ridiculously high.
My challenge isn’t going to get people to agree to change the BCS; it is getting the petition in front of those thirsting for a real play-off.
Now for the play-off system. It is very simple and anyone who says that it won’t work isn’t being honest.
The play-off would consist of 8 teams. The conference champions from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10 and the SEC would get an automatic bid. It doesn’t matter how you crown your conference champion. That is strictly up to each league. The final two spots would be determined through rankings and even other championship games to be played. How great would it be to have Utah from the WAC play Boise St. of the Mountain West; to play each other for the right to go to the play-offs? It would be amazing and I bet they would rather do that then sit home and say “What if?!?!?!”
The traditional Bowls could be kept as part of the play-off. Example, this year for the opening round of the play-off, USC would play Iowa in the Rose Bowl.
The days of a split National Championship would be gone forever. And so would the discrimination of the so called sub-conference football programs. It’s time, once and for all, to have an open debate in front of the college football world and crown a true National Champion.
I have always said, I would rather USC finish 2nd or 4th or even 8th if it meant that a true championship was earned, not appointed. I wouldn’t want the title to be mythical as we have had since the flawed BCS system was created. The BCS Champion is just that, the Champion of the BCS ratings system. Whenever you have 1 or even 2 loss teams in the final game, getting there is subjective. Then there are other scenarios that are equally unfair. When USC, Oklahoma and Auburn were all undefeated, Auburn got left behind and had no chance at a title.
There is no need for me to “preach to the choir.” Let’s get this thing cranked up and see where it goes. I’ll let you know where I am with the petition. Once we are up and running, all I need is contacts to the press to get the story out. Let’s do this thing!
Fight On!
Troy
Troy on Troy - Non Conferences Patsies
On Sept. 5, while Florida feasted on Charleston Southern and Texas opened with Louisiana-Monroe, the Oklahoma Sooners played a strong BYU team on a neutral field.
That’s when Sam Bradford sprained his shoulder while being sacked, an injury that derailed OU’s title hopes.
A week later, while Florida annihilated Troy and Texas blew out Wyoming, Southern California played at Ohio State.
Photo Tim Tebow and Florida are No. 1 in the BCS standings.
(Al Messerschmidt/Getty)
That’s when freshman Matt Barkley was himself sacked and hurt. He was forced to sit out the next game, which the Trojans lost. Now they’re behind the national title 8-ball.
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That’s two tough games, two season-changing injuries and two more examples why as long as the Bowl Championship Series exists, there is no good reason any power team should risk playing a rugged non-conference schedule.
Check out the BCS standings. Florida and Texas are ranked No. 1 and 3 respectively, despite playing weak non-conference teams. Both know if they win out, they’ll play for the title anyway.
This isn’t scheduling cowardice, it’s, in fact, what passes for BCS intelligence.
If you’re a big-name program, it’s foolish to prove yourself outside of the mandated league games. A monster showdown might be fun to play in, but it isn’t proportionately rewarded by either the voters or the computers. All it does is open you up to a loss, an injury or an emotional letdown.
You’re best served staying home and playing patsies.
This column isn’t about who should or shouldn’t be No. 1 or whether this team could win the games on that team’s schedule. There’s plenty of places and time for those debates.
It’s about how despite the BCS’ claim that it, unlike a playoff, protects the “sanctity of the regular season,” it has actually cut down on the exciting games the sport was built on.
And as coaches increasingly figure out how to rig this silly system, the trend toward the dull has only just begun.
“Is the goal to find the team with the best record or the best team?” USC’s Pete Carroll asked reporters after the first BCS standings found his 5-1 Trojans in seventh place, hurt by computers that left the Trojans in the teens.
Photo
Carroll
Carroll should know the answer by now. Sometimes they are one in the same. The one certainty in this uncertain system is that the most likely road to the title game for a big-name team is an undefeated record. Auburn, in 2004, is the lone exception.
“We’ve told our kids that we need to win them all,” said Texas coach Mack Brown of the blueprint for winding up in the BCS title game.
What is the easiest way to “win them all?” Play the weakest competition imaginable; and do it on your campus.
The Longhorns’ non-conference schedule features UL-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP and Central Florida. It’s an embarrassing slate for a team of its stature, but it’s also one reason UT walked into the Oklahoma game Saturday in excellent health, high confidence and with backups having gained valuable experience.
All of that was enough to leave with a 16-13 victory over the battered Sooners.
Both Brown and Florida coach Urban Meyer are staunchly anti-BCS, but as long as they are stuck with this system, they’re going to try to figure out how to beat it.
While Bradford and Barkley were getting injured against physical non-conference opponents, quarterbacks for Florida and Texas, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy, were watching long stretches of blowouts from the safety of the sideline.
Last offseason Brown brought in a bunch of BCS gurus to Austin to break down how the system works. He didn’t lack for familiar examples. In his own Big 12 he’s watched both Kansas (2007) and Texas Tech (2008) rise to No. 2 in late-season BCS standings, despite playing laughable non-conference schedules, essentially turning the season into two or three serious games.
If you can “win them all” the BCS doesn’t care about the “all.”
Brown, and just about everyone else, is scheduling with this in mind. The Horns’ future opponents are only modestly more challenging than this season. UT will play three weaker teams and add a single major conference opponent per season, none of them true heavyweights – UCLA, Mississippi and Cal.
Meyer, meanwhile, knows that as long as his Gators win the Southeastern Conference, even with one loss, he’s probably in the BCS title game. The non-conference is meaningless to the Gators’ title hopes … unless they lose. So why risk it?
UF hasn’t played a non-conference game outside the state of Florida since the BCS was created and had only two outside Gainesville in the past five seasons. The only major non-conference team on the long-term schedule is fading Florida State. The Gators will play South Florida in 2010 and 2015, but other than that, it’s straight sisters of the poor.
Photo
Stoops
“I don’t plan on changing the way we schedule,” Meyer said last summer.
Why would he? Why would anyone? This isn’t just what the BCS rewards, it’s what it demands.
In the 1980s, pre-BCS, there were annually between 15-20 non-conference games featuring two preseason ranked teams. This year there were just four.
There was a time when scheduling a Football Championship Subdivision team (formerly I-AA) was unheard of; now teams regularly play two of them.
All this despite the expanding of the season that offered more opportunity for real games.
Carroll, for one, tries to schedule only major conference opponents and doesn’t want to hear that retreating is the smartest policy. He believes the thrill is still in the challenge. USC is one of just four schools to have never played a FCS team.
He joins Stoops as part of a small group of coaches who still seeks out two or three powerful non-league opponents each season, fallout be damned.
OU is set up with dates with Ohio State, LSU, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, TCU and Tennessee over the next eight years. Carroll, whose team took two long trips to the Midwest this season, has future series with Notre Dame, Virginia, Boston College, Texas A&M, Syracuse and Hawaii and is looking for more.
It means every year those two national challengers are voluntarily walking a gauntlet, making chasing a championship exponentially more difficult.
They’d be best served joining Texas, Florida and the rest of the crowd that are playing by the rules the BCS has created – line up the weaklings as their fans’ eyes glaze over in boredom (while still charging full price for tickets, of course).
Apparently Pete Carroll and Bob Stoops still believe in the sanctity of the regular season.
It’s the BCS that doesn’t.
That’s when Sam Bradford sprained his shoulder while being sacked, an injury that derailed OU’s title hopes.
A week later, while Florida annihilated Troy and Texas blew out Wyoming, Southern California played at Ohio State.
Photo Tim Tebow and Florida are No. 1 in the BCS standings.
(Al Messerschmidt/Getty)
That’s when freshman Matt Barkley was himself sacked and hurt. He was forced to sit out the next game, which the Trojans lost. Now they’re behind the national title 8-ball.
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That’s two tough games, two season-changing injuries and two more examples why as long as the Bowl Championship Series exists, there is no good reason any power team should risk playing a rugged non-conference schedule.
Check out the BCS standings. Florida and Texas are ranked No. 1 and 3 respectively, despite playing weak non-conference teams. Both know if they win out, they’ll play for the title anyway.
This isn’t scheduling cowardice, it’s, in fact, what passes for BCS intelligence.
If you’re a big-name program, it’s foolish to prove yourself outside of the mandated league games. A monster showdown might be fun to play in, but it isn’t proportionately rewarded by either the voters or the computers. All it does is open you up to a loss, an injury or an emotional letdown.
You’re best served staying home and playing patsies.
This column isn’t about who should or shouldn’t be No. 1 or whether this team could win the games on that team’s schedule. There’s plenty of places and time for those debates.
It’s about how despite the BCS’ claim that it, unlike a playoff, protects the “sanctity of the regular season,” it has actually cut down on the exciting games the sport was built on.
And as coaches increasingly figure out how to rig this silly system, the trend toward the dull has only just begun.
“Is the goal to find the team with the best record or the best team?” USC’s Pete Carroll asked reporters after the first BCS standings found his 5-1 Trojans in seventh place, hurt by computers that left the Trojans in the teens.
Photo
Carroll
Carroll should know the answer by now. Sometimes they are one in the same. The one certainty in this uncertain system is that the most likely road to the title game for a big-name team is an undefeated record. Auburn, in 2004, is the lone exception.
“We’ve told our kids that we need to win them all,” said Texas coach Mack Brown of the blueprint for winding up in the BCS title game.
What is the easiest way to “win them all?” Play the weakest competition imaginable; and do it on your campus.
The Longhorns’ non-conference schedule features UL-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP and Central Florida. It’s an embarrassing slate for a team of its stature, but it’s also one reason UT walked into the Oklahoma game Saturday in excellent health, high confidence and with backups having gained valuable experience.
All of that was enough to leave with a 16-13 victory over the battered Sooners.
Both Brown and Florida coach Urban Meyer are staunchly anti-BCS, but as long as they are stuck with this system, they’re going to try to figure out how to beat it.
While Bradford and Barkley were getting injured against physical non-conference opponents, quarterbacks for Florida and Texas, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy, were watching long stretches of blowouts from the safety of the sideline.
Last offseason Brown brought in a bunch of BCS gurus to Austin to break down how the system works. He didn’t lack for familiar examples. In his own Big 12 he’s watched both Kansas (2007) and Texas Tech (2008) rise to No. 2 in late-season BCS standings, despite playing laughable non-conference schedules, essentially turning the season into two or three serious games.
If you can “win them all” the BCS doesn’t care about the “all.”
Brown, and just about everyone else, is scheduling with this in mind. The Horns’ future opponents are only modestly more challenging than this season. UT will play three weaker teams and add a single major conference opponent per season, none of them true heavyweights – UCLA, Mississippi and Cal.
Meyer, meanwhile, knows that as long as his Gators win the Southeastern Conference, even with one loss, he’s probably in the BCS title game. The non-conference is meaningless to the Gators’ title hopes … unless they lose. So why risk it?
UF hasn’t played a non-conference game outside the state of Florida since the BCS was created and had only two outside Gainesville in the past five seasons. The only major non-conference team on the long-term schedule is fading Florida State. The Gators will play South Florida in 2010 and 2015, but other than that, it’s straight sisters of the poor.
Photo
Stoops
“I don’t plan on changing the way we schedule,” Meyer said last summer.
Why would he? Why would anyone? This isn’t just what the BCS rewards, it’s what it demands.
In the 1980s, pre-BCS, there were annually between 15-20 non-conference games featuring two preseason ranked teams. This year there were just four.
There was a time when scheduling a Football Championship Subdivision team (formerly I-AA) was unheard of; now teams regularly play two of them.
All this despite the expanding of the season that offered more opportunity for real games.
Carroll, for one, tries to schedule only major conference opponents and doesn’t want to hear that retreating is the smartest policy. He believes the thrill is still in the challenge. USC is one of just four schools to have never played a FCS team.
He joins Stoops as part of a small group of coaches who still seeks out two or three powerful non-league opponents each season, fallout be damned.
OU is set up with dates with Ohio State, LSU, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, TCU and Tennessee over the next eight years. Carroll, whose team took two long trips to the Midwest this season, has future series with Notre Dame, Virginia, Boston College, Texas A&M, Syracuse and Hawaii and is looking for more.
It means every year those two national challengers are voluntarily walking a gauntlet, making chasing a championship exponentially more difficult.
They’d be best served joining Texas, Florida and the rest of the crowd that are playing by the rules the BCS has created – line up the weaklings as their fans’ eyes glaze over in boredom (while still charging full price for tickets, of course).
Apparently Pete Carroll and Bob Stoops still believe in the sanctity of the regular season.
It’s the BCS that doesn’t.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Troy on Troy - Budget Deficit Out of Control
I just thought I would let everyone start the weekend on an up note. I was going through the paper and saw this gem from the Associated Press. I was just talking in a Blog earlier this week and saying how spending in Washington is out of control. Here is an article backing up my claim. Just so you know, the increase in this years deficit is going to cost each of us over $4,700.00 this year alone on top of the taxes you pay out. Is health insurance reform free? Cash for Clunkers free? Who pays for all of this... that's right, we do you and I. They are spending OUR money. Tell both parties to stop it. Would you like an additional $4,700.00 this year to pay your own bills? I know I would. It is a very informative article. Take the time to read the entire piece.
Fight On!
Troy
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer – 8 mins ago
WASHINGTON – What is $1.42 trillion? It's the federal budget deficit for 2009, more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.
It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
As a percentage of U.S. economic output, it's the biggest deficit since World War II.
And, some economists warn, unless the government makes hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes, it could be the seeds of another economic crisis.
Treasury figures released Friday showed that the government spent $46.6 billion more in September than it took in, a month that normally records a surplus. That boosted the shortfall for the full fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to $1.42 trillion. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion.
"The rudderless U.S. fiscal policy is the biggest long-term risk to the U.S. economy," says Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund. "As we accumulate more and more debt, we leave ourselves very vulnerable."
Forecasts of more red ink mean the federal government is heading toward spending 15 percent of its money by 2019 just to pay interest on the debt, up from 5 percent this fiscal year.
President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce the deficit once the Great Recession ends and the unemployment rate starts falling, but economists worry that the government lacks the will to make the hard political choices to get control of the imbalances.
Friday's report showed that the government paid $190 billion in interest over the last 12 months on Treasury securities sold to finance the federal debt. Experts say this tab could quadruple in a decade as the size of the government's total debt rises to $17.1 trillion by 2019.
Without significant budget cuts, that would crowd out government spending in such areas as transportation, law enforcement and education. Already, interest on the debt is the third-largest category of government spending, after the government's popular entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and the military.
As the biggest borrower in the world, the government has been the prime beneficiary of today's record low interest rates. The new budget report showed that interest payments fell by $62 billion this year even as the debt was soaring. Yields on three-month Treasury bills, sold every week by the Treasury to raise fresh cash to pay for maturing government debt, are now at 0.065 percent while six-month bills have fallen to 0.150 percent, the lowest ever in a half-century of selling these bills on a weekly basis.
The risk is that any significant increase in the rates at Treasury auctions could send the government's interest expenses soaring. That could happen several ways — higher inflation could push the Federal Reserve to increase the short-term interest rates it controls, or the dollar could slump in value, or a combination of both.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the nation's debt held by investors both at home and abroad will increase by $9.1 trillion over the next decade, pushing the total to $17.1 trillion decade under Obama's spending plans.
The biggest factor behind this increase is the anticipated surge in government spending when the baby boomers retire and start receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits. Also contributing will be Obama's plans to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone except the wealthy.
The $1.42 trillion deficit for 2009 — which was less than the $1.75 trillion that Obama had projected in February — includes the cost of the government's financial sector bailout and the economic stimulus program passed in February. Individual and corporate income taxes dwindled as a result of the recession. Coupled with the impact of the Bush tax cuts earlier in the decade, tax revenues fell 16.6 percent, the biggest decline since 1932.
Immense as it was, many economists say the 2009 deficit was necessary to fight the financial crisis. But analysts worry about the long-term trajectory.
The administration estimates that government debt will reach 76.5 percent of gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced in the United States — in 2019. It stood at 41 percent of GDP last year. The record was 113 percent of GDP in 1945.
Much of that debt is in foreign hands. China holds the most — more than $800 billion. In all, investors — domestic and foreign — hold close to $8 trillion in what is called publicly held debt. There is another $4.4 trillion in government debt that is not held by investors but owed by the government to itself in the Social Security and other trust funds.
The CBO's 10-year deficit projections already have raised alarms among big investors such as the Chinese. If those investors started dumping their holdings, or even buying fewer U.S. Treasurys, the dollar's value could drop. The government would have to start paying higher interest rates to try to attract investors and bolster the dollar.
A lower dollar would cause prices of imported goods to rise. Inflation would surge. And higher interest rates would force consumers and companies to pay more to borrow to buy a house or a car or expand their business.
"We should be desperately worried about deficits of this size," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The economic pain will be felt much sooner than people think, in the form of much higher interest rates and much higher rates of inflation."
If all that happened rapidly, it could send stock prices crashing and the economy tipping into recession. It could revive the pain of the 1970s, when the country battled stagflation — a toxic mix of inflation and economic stagnation.
Paul Volcker, then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, responded by raising interest rates to the highest levels since the Civil War in a determined effort to combat a decade-long bout of inflation. His campaign pushed banks' prime lending rate above 20 percent in 1981 and sent the country into what would be the longest post-World War II downturn before the current slump. Unemployment jumped to a postwar high of 10.8 percent in December 1982.
The battle against inflation, though, was won.
Most economists say we have time before any crisis hits. In part, that's because the recession erased worries about inflation for now. In its effort to stimulate the economy, the Fed cut a key interest rate to a record low last December and is expected to keep it there possibly through all of next year. Demand for loans by businesses and consumers is so weak that low rates are not seen as a recipe for inflation.
Some hold out hope that Congress and the administration will act before another crisis erupts.
Robert Reischauer, a former head of CBO, said that in an optimum scenario, Congress will tackle the deficits next year. A package of tax increases and spending cuts could be phased in starting in 2013 and gradually grow over the next decade.
The administration has pledged to include a deficit-reduction plan in its 2011 budget, which will go to Congress in February.
Stanley Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications and a former staff aide to House and Senate budget committees, cautions that unless investors show nervousness about the debt, the budget debate next year could feature more posturing between the two parties than any real action to fix the problems.
But Alan Greenspan, who led the 1983 commission that made changes to avert a crisis in Social Security, said in an interview that he was optimistic that politicians will eventually work out a solution.
"I have always been a great supporter of Winston Churchill's statement about the United States," Greenspan said. "The United States can be counted on to do the right thing, after having tried all other conceivable alternatives."
Fight On!
Troy
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer – 8 mins ago
WASHINGTON – What is $1.42 trillion? It's the federal budget deficit for 2009, more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.
It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
As a percentage of U.S. economic output, it's the biggest deficit since World War II.
And, some economists warn, unless the government makes hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes, it could be the seeds of another economic crisis.
Treasury figures released Friday showed that the government spent $46.6 billion more in September than it took in, a month that normally records a surplus. That boosted the shortfall for the full fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to $1.42 trillion. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion.
"The rudderless U.S. fiscal policy is the biggest long-term risk to the U.S. economy," says Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund. "As we accumulate more and more debt, we leave ourselves very vulnerable."
Forecasts of more red ink mean the federal government is heading toward spending 15 percent of its money by 2019 just to pay interest on the debt, up from 5 percent this fiscal year.
President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce the deficit once the Great Recession ends and the unemployment rate starts falling, but economists worry that the government lacks the will to make the hard political choices to get control of the imbalances.
Friday's report showed that the government paid $190 billion in interest over the last 12 months on Treasury securities sold to finance the federal debt. Experts say this tab could quadruple in a decade as the size of the government's total debt rises to $17.1 trillion by 2019.
Without significant budget cuts, that would crowd out government spending in such areas as transportation, law enforcement and education. Already, interest on the debt is the third-largest category of government spending, after the government's popular entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and the military.
As the biggest borrower in the world, the government has been the prime beneficiary of today's record low interest rates. The new budget report showed that interest payments fell by $62 billion this year even as the debt was soaring. Yields on three-month Treasury bills, sold every week by the Treasury to raise fresh cash to pay for maturing government debt, are now at 0.065 percent while six-month bills have fallen to 0.150 percent, the lowest ever in a half-century of selling these bills on a weekly basis.
The risk is that any significant increase in the rates at Treasury auctions could send the government's interest expenses soaring. That could happen several ways — higher inflation could push the Federal Reserve to increase the short-term interest rates it controls, or the dollar could slump in value, or a combination of both.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the nation's debt held by investors both at home and abroad will increase by $9.1 trillion over the next decade, pushing the total to $17.1 trillion decade under Obama's spending plans.
The biggest factor behind this increase is the anticipated surge in government spending when the baby boomers retire and start receiving Social Security and Medicare benefits. Also contributing will be Obama's plans to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone except the wealthy.
The $1.42 trillion deficit for 2009 — which was less than the $1.75 trillion that Obama had projected in February — includes the cost of the government's financial sector bailout and the economic stimulus program passed in February. Individual and corporate income taxes dwindled as a result of the recession. Coupled with the impact of the Bush tax cuts earlier in the decade, tax revenues fell 16.6 percent, the biggest decline since 1932.
Immense as it was, many economists say the 2009 deficit was necessary to fight the financial crisis. But analysts worry about the long-term trajectory.
The administration estimates that government debt will reach 76.5 percent of gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced in the United States — in 2019. It stood at 41 percent of GDP last year. The record was 113 percent of GDP in 1945.
Much of that debt is in foreign hands. China holds the most — more than $800 billion. In all, investors — domestic and foreign — hold close to $8 trillion in what is called publicly held debt. There is another $4.4 trillion in government debt that is not held by investors but owed by the government to itself in the Social Security and other trust funds.
The CBO's 10-year deficit projections already have raised alarms among big investors such as the Chinese. If those investors started dumping their holdings, or even buying fewer U.S. Treasurys, the dollar's value could drop. The government would have to start paying higher interest rates to try to attract investors and bolster the dollar.
A lower dollar would cause prices of imported goods to rise. Inflation would surge. And higher interest rates would force consumers and companies to pay more to borrow to buy a house or a car or expand their business.
"We should be desperately worried about deficits of this size," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The economic pain will be felt much sooner than people think, in the form of much higher interest rates and much higher rates of inflation."
If all that happened rapidly, it could send stock prices crashing and the economy tipping into recession. It could revive the pain of the 1970s, when the country battled stagflation — a toxic mix of inflation and economic stagnation.
Paul Volcker, then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, responded by raising interest rates to the highest levels since the Civil War in a determined effort to combat a decade-long bout of inflation. His campaign pushed banks' prime lending rate above 20 percent in 1981 and sent the country into what would be the longest post-World War II downturn before the current slump. Unemployment jumped to a postwar high of 10.8 percent in December 1982.
The battle against inflation, though, was won.
Most economists say we have time before any crisis hits. In part, that's because the recession erased worries about inflation for now. In its effort to stimulate the economy, the Fed cut a key interest rate to a record low last December and is expected to keep it there possibly through all of next year. Demand for loans by businesses and consumers is so weak that low rates are not seen as a recipe for inflation.
Some hold out hope that Congress and the administration will act before another crisis erupts.
Robert Reischauer, a former head of CBO, said that in an optimum scenario, Congress will tackle the deficits next year. A package of tax increases and spending cuts could be phased in starting in 2013 and gradually grow over the next decade.
The administration has pledged to include a deficit-reduction plan in its 2011 budget, which will go to Congress in February.
Stanley Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications and a former staff aide to House and Senate budget committees, cautions that unless investors show nervousness about the debt, the budget debate next year could feature more posturing between the two parties than any real action to fix the problems.
But Alan Greenspan, who led the 1983 commission that made changes to avert a crisis in Social Security, said in an interview that he was optimistic that politicians will eventually work out a solution.
"I have always been a great supporter of Winston Churchill's statement about the United States," Greenspan said. "The United States can be counted on to do the right thing, after having tried all other conceivable alternatives."
Troy on Troy - USC Vs. Notre Dame, The Game is On! Part II
The Game is On!
Part II
Notre Dame and USC are two of the most storied programs in college football, with each school winning 11 national championships and 7 Heisman Trophies, more then any other school. They have combined to produce the most College Football Hall of Famers and NFL Hall of Famers. The series began in 1926 and is considered one of the most important rivalries in college football as well as the greatest inter sectional rivalry of all time.
The winner of the game captures the Jeweled Shillelagh. This is an Irish weapon from days past. Depending on the team that wins, either a gold Trojan head or a silver clover, with the score engraved, is added to the wooden trophy. If either team wins a National Championship or has a Heisman Trophy winner, a ruby stone is added to the eye of the Trojan head or an emerald to the clover.
The series started as a "conversation between the wives" of Notre Dame Head Coach Knute Rockne and USC Athletic Director Gywnn Wilson. As the story goes, the rivalry began with USC looking for a national rival. USC dispatched Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on very cold Thanksgiving Day. On that day (Nebraska 17, Notre Dame 0) Knute Rockne resisted the idea of a home-and-home series with USC because of the travel involved, but Mrs. Wilson was able to persuade Mrs. Rockne that a trip every two years to sunny Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska. Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and on December 4, 1926, USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame’s schedule.
The first few years were memorable. Notre Dame and USC played their first game in 1926, a 13-12 win for the Irish. Rockne was quoted as saying it was the greatest game he ever saw. The following year, Notre Dame and USC would play a memorable game at Soldier Field in Chicago, a slim 7-6 Irish victory. An estimated 120,000 people were in attendance, a crowd that is considered to be one of the largest attended games in NCAA history. USC's first win in the series also came during the same year they won their first national title in 1928. From 1928-1932, USC and Notre Dame combined to win the national title five straight years, with USC winning in 1928, 1931 and 1932, and Notre Dame winning in 1929 and 1930. During this period, there was some talk of canceling the series due to the long amount of travel time it took by train from South Bend to Los Angeles. Rockne argued for the series against the Notre Dame Faculty Board and its chair, Father Mulcaire, countering that "he saw the day coming when most college teams will be going by air exclusively.”
Thank goodness the game has gone on and now, ND leads the series over USC, 42 – 33 with 5 ties. There have been some amazing games but for whatever reasons, I can only remember the USC victories. As Rebecca says, I have selective memory!
My two favorite are the 55 – 24 comeback game where USC was loosing at half time 24 – 6. It would have been 24 – 0 but Anthony Davis caught a 7 yard TD pass from Pat Hayden with just seconds left in the half. AD then ran back the opening kickoff. USC scored 55 unanswered points. ND Head Coach Ara Parseghian resigned following the game and a Trojan moment was created that will last for all time.
And then we have the “Bush Push.” After beating the Irish by 31 points each of the past 3 years, the Trojans came into South Bend to meet Notre Dame and the offensive genius first-year head coach Charlie Weis. The Irish players entered the stadium before the game wearing green jerseys, and put the crowd into frenzy. They only do this for emotional games against USC. This was a tight game throughout; the Irish took the lead with two minutes left on a Brady Quinn touchdown run. The Trojans stormed back after a 4th and 9 pass by Matt Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett that brought the ball inside the ND 15 yard line. As Leinart scrambled and tried to dive into the end zone, he was hit hard short of the goal line, and the ball was knocked out of bounds with 7 seconds to go. However, the clock continued to count down, and after it hit zero, the Irish fans began to storm the field. There was no replay in this game, at the request of Coach Pete Carroll, but after huddling, the officials spotted the ball on the one-yard line and put 7 seconds back on the clock. On the next play, instead of securing a tie that would have resulted in overtime, the Trojan offense surprised the Irish by running the ball. Trojan running back Reggie Bush (allegedly) pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone, but the referees did not make the call. Weis said he would hope his running back would make a play like that in a similar situation. SC won that game 35 – 31.
In 2007, I took Rebecca to see a game at Notre Dame Stadium. She loved it! I don’t think she was as impressed with the 38 – 0 USC victory as I was, but she loved the campus and tradition of the day. When I played there in 1983 and 1985, it was about 30 degrees and snowed both games. On this day, it was 78 degrees and everyone was in shorts. That was a different scenario compared to the USC - Nebraska game we went to just 3 weeks earlier. Same result, USC 3 million, Nebraska 5 or something like that. Both stadiums are amazing and the traditions are over the top. But there is just something about the whole environment at South Bend. The stadium is flanked in one end zone by “Touchdown Jesus.” Literally, a huge mosaic of Jesus with his arms stretched upward signaling another Irish score and our Lord’s eyes subtly smiling at the field. I have always believed that God is a Trojan, but this made me have just a bit of doubt.
I have been there 6 times for games, twice on the field as a player and 4 times as a fan, I am 2 and 4. This Saturday, October 17 at 12:30 PM, two of the greatest football traditions square off at historic Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend Indiana. I won’t be there in body but all of my heart and soul will be with my Trojan brothers putting everything on the line to secure another Trojan victory!
Fight On!
Troy
Part II
Notre Dame and USC are two of the most storied programs in college football, with each school winning 11 national championships and 7 Heisman Trophies, more then any other school. They have combined to produce the most College Football Hall of Famers and NFL Hall of Famers. The series began in 1926 and is considered one of the most important rivalries in college football as well as the greatest inter sectional rivalry of all time.
The winner of the game captures the Jeweled Shillelagh. This is an Irish weapon from days past. Depending on the team that wins, either a gold Trojan head or a silver clover, with the score engraved, is added to the wooden trophy. If either team wins a National Championship or has a Heisman Trophy winner, a ruby stone is added to the eye of the Trojan head or an emerald to the clover.
The series started as a "conversation between the wives" of Notre Dame Head Coach Knute Rockne and USC Athletic Director Gywnn Wilson. As the story goes, the rivalry began with USC looking for a national rival. USC dispatched Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on very cold Thanksgiving Day. On that day (Nebraska 17, Notre Dame 0) Knute Rockne resisted the idea of a home-and-home series with USC because of the travel involved, but Mrs. Wilson was able to persuade Mrs. Rockne that a trip every two years to sunny Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska. Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and on December 4, 1926, USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame’s schedule.
The first few years were memorable. Notre Dame and USC played their first game in 1926, a 13-12 win for the Irish. Rockne was quoted as saying it was the greatest game he ever saw. The following year, Notre Dame and USC would play a memorable game at Soldier Field in Chicago, a slim 7-6 Irish victory. An estimated 120,000 people were in attendance, a crowd that is considered to be one of the largest attended games in NCAA history. USC's first win in the series also came during the same year they won their first national title in 1928. From 1928-1932, USC and Notre Dame combined to win the national title five straight years, with USC winning in 1928, 1931 and 1932, and Notre Dame winning in 1929 and 1930. During this period, there was some talk of canceling the series due to the long amount of travel time it took by train from South Bend to Los Angeles. Rockne argued for the series against the Notre Dame Faculty Board and its chair, Father Mulcaire, countering that "he saw the day coming when most college teams will be going by air exclusively.”
Thank goodness the game has gone on and now, ND leads the series over USC, 42 – 33 with 5 ties. There have been some amazing games but for whatever reasons, I can only remember the USC victories. As Rebecca says, I have selective memory!
My two favorite are the 55 – 24 comeback game where USC was loosing at half time 24 – 6. It would have been 24 – 0 but Anthony Davis caught a 7 yard TD pass from Pat Hayden with just seconds left in the half. AD then ran back the opening kickoff. USC scored 55 unanswered points. ND Head Coach Ara Parseghian resigned following the game and a Trojan moment was created that will last for all time.
And then we have the “Bush Push.” After beating the Irish by 31 points each of the past 3 years, the Trojans came into South Bend to meet Notre Dame and the offensive genius first-year head coach Charlie Weis. The Irish players entered the stadium before the game wearing green jerseys, and put the crowd into frenzy. They only do this for emotional games against USC. This was a tight game throughout; the Irish took the lead with two minutes left on a Brady Quinn touchdown run. The Trojans stormed back after a 4th and 9 pass by Matt Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett that brought the ball inside the ND 15 yard line. As Leinart scrambled and tried to dive into the end zone, he was hit hard short of the goal line, and the ball was knocked out of bounds with 7 seconds to go. However, the clock continued to count down, and after it hit zero, the Irish fans began to storm the field. There was no replay in this game, at the request of Coach Pete Carroll, but after huddling, the officials spotted the ball on the one-yard line and put 7 seconds back on the clock. On the next play, instead of securing a tie that would have resulted in overtime, the Trojan offense surprised the Irish by running the ball. Trojan running back Reggie Bush (allegedly) pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone, but the referees did not make the call. Weis said he would hope his running back would make a play like that in a similar situation. SC won that game 35 – 31.
In 2007, I took Rebecca to see a game at Notre Dame Stadium. She loved it! I don’t think she was as impressed with the 38 – 0 USC victory as I was, but she loved the campus and tradition of the day. When I played there in 1983 and 1985, it was about 30 degrees and snowed both games. On this day, it was 78 degrees and everyone was in shorts. That was a different scenario compared to the USC - Nebraska game we went to just 3 weeks earlier. Same result, USC 3 million, Nebraska 5 or something like that. Both stadiums are amazing and the traditions are over the top. But there is just something about the whole environment at South Bend. The stadium is flanked in one end zone by “Touchdown Jesus.” Literally, a huge mosaic of Jesus with his arms stretched upward signaling another Irish score and our Lord’s eyes subtly smiling at the field. I have always believed that God is a Trojan, but this made me have just a bit of doubt.
I have been there 6 times for games, twice on the field as a player and 4 times as a fan, I am 2 and 4. This Saturday, October 17 at 12:30 PM, two of the greatest football traditions square off at historic Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend Indiana. I won’t be there in body but all of my heart and soul will be with my Trojan brothers putting everything on the line to secure another Trojan victory!
Fight On!
Troy
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Troy on Troy - USC Vs. Notre Dame, The Game is On!
The Game is On!
Part I
In my day to day job, I produce and run corporate events. As part of that job, I handle guest speakers, from their arrival all the way through their sound check, just making sure that everything is as comfortable as possible to help ensure their best possible performance.
In May of 2008, the keynote speaker for one of my customers was Lou Holtz. Lou-freakin’- Holtz, the former Head Coach of Notre Dame. I did not like this guy. Nothing personal, it was just my duty as a Trojan Football Alumni member to dislike Notre Dame, it had become part of my DNA and I was good at it. I swallowed my pride and made sure that our staff had everything he wanted in his room. You would be amazed at some of the request. His desires were basic: a small box of plain saltine crackers, 2 warm caffeine free diet cokes and a current USA Today and Wall Street Journal. I did a little research and found out what his favorite pipe tobacco was and had that laid out on the table in his room prior to his arrival.
He showed up right on time. I met him at the entrance and introduced myself, then took him to his room. Now for whatever reason, as soon as most people become public speakers, they turn into Prima Donna jackasses. He was totally opposite of that. What a true gentleman. Prior to the speech, I gave him about 10 questions that my customer had wanted to ask him during the Q&A portion of his presentation. I gave them to him on 3x5 cards and he and I sat down and went thru his afternoon confirming times and locations.
As part of his fee, he agreed to sign 200 footballs as gifts for some of the key attendees. I had the hotel lay the footballs out on a series of boardroom tables that had been draped with rumpled table cloths so the balls wouldn’t roll all over the place. I escorted him into the room, locked the door so we wouldn’t be interrupted and as it turns out, we were in there for about an hour and a half, just he and I, talking life. About 15 minutes into the conversation, we are talking about the USC vs. ND rivalry and he notices my Rose Bowl ring. Now this next part is hard to describe. If you’ve ever heard him talk on TV, Lou is somewhat hard to understand. In person, it is worse. TV must have some kind of filters or something because between his admitted lisp and the speed in which he talks, I caught about 80% of what was being said.
He looks at me from his 130 pound 5’5” frame and screeches, “Whtz dat wring forr?” I said, “It’s a Rose Bowl ring from 1985.” He commanded, “Let mee ceee it!” So I took it off and handed it to him. He takes it in his hands, puts it on and looks at it through coke bottle glasses and says, “What poszision did juu play?” I said, “I was the Punter.” (Only Punters capitalize the word Punter.) He looks at me and then real slow, he lowered his head and looks at the ring again. Finally he looks me right in the eye and caws, “Dey give wrings to puntrzz at USC?” Hilarious, I start laughing and he smiles knowing he had just nailed me on a joke he has used a hundred times.
Well as you can imagine, this guy nails his speech. He has everyone on the edge of their seats talking about doing the right thing, doing your very best all the time, overcoming obstacles. He told everyone “Look at me. If I can become the Head Coach at Notre Dame, you all can become whatever you want.” The night ended with about 8 of us having dinner in a private room and just sharing stories. He asked as many questions of us as we did of him. Finally, he had to head to the airport; he had a 10:00 am tee time the following morning at Augusta where he is a member. I walked him to the front door and shook his hand. I told him that I was really hoping that he was going to be a jackass because of the whole SC / ND rivalry, but that in fact I really enjoyed our day together. He told me I still had a chance to dislike my rival coaches, he said, “Dat Terry Donahue is a real son odda bitchzz!” (Terry Donahue was Head Coach at UCLA for many years) He broke out laughing again at his own joke and hopped into the Town car like the little leprechaun he is and off he went.
After he was gone, I went back into his hotel room and made sure he hadn’t left anything behind. The room was spotless, he had even made his bed and folded up the used towels and put them on the counter in his bathroom. On his desk were the ten 3x5 cards that I had given him for his Q&A. He had hand written his answers on the cards. I now have those cards with the football I had him sign for me. He wrote:
“Dear Troy,
It is easy to see why USC is so good. I wish I had coached you at Notre Dame. Play like a champion today and live like a champion everyday.
Lou Holtz, Head coach of Notre Dame 86 to 96”
That ball is proudly displayed on my trophy case next to my Rose Bowl team autographed ball and my USC Heisman Trophy winners ball.
What a great guy and a total class act. I sure hope Donahue is a jackass, I guy can only dream.
Fight On!
Troy
Part I
In my day to day job, I produce and run corporate events. As part of that job, I handle guest speakers, from their arrival all the way through their sound check, just making sure that everything is as comfortable as possible to help ensure their best possible performance.
In May of 2008, the keynote speaker for one of my customers was Lou Holtz. Lou-freakin’- Holtz, the former Head Coach of Notre Dame. I did not like this guy. Nothing personal, it was just my duty as a Trojan Football Alumni member to dislike Notre Dame, it had become part of my DNA and I was good at it. I swallowed my pride and made sure that our staff had everything he wanted in his room. You would be amazed at some of the request. His desires were basic: a small box of plain saltine crackers, 2 warm caffeine free diet cokes and a current USA Today and Wall Street Journal. I did a little research and found out what his favorite pipe tobacco was and had that laid out on the table in his room prior to his arrival.
He showed up right on time. I met him at the entrance and introduced myself, then took him to his room. Now for whatever reason, as soon as most people become public speakers, they turn into Prima Donna jackasses. He was totally opposite of that. What a true gentleman. Prior to the speech, I gave him about 10 questions that my customer had wanted to ask him during the Q&A portion of his presentation. I gave them to him on 3x5 cards and he and I sat down and went thru his afternoon confirming times and locations.
As part of his fee, he agreed to sign 200 footballs as gifts for some of the key attendees. I had the hotel lay the footballs out on a series of boardroom tables that had been draped with rumpled table cloths so the balls wouldn’t roll all over the place. I escorted him into the room, locked the door so we wouldn’t be interrupted and as it turns out, we were in there for about an hour and a half, just he and I, talking life. About 15 minutes into the conversation, we are talking about the USC vs. ND rivalry and he notices my Rose Bowl ring. Now this next part is hard to describe. If you’ve ever heard him talk on TV, Lou is somewhat hard to understand. In person, it is worse. TV must have some kind of filters or something because between his admitted lisp and the speed in which he talks, I caught about 80% of what was being said.
He looks at me from his 130 pound 5’5” frame and screeches, “Whtz dat wring forr?” I said, “It’s a Rose Bowl ring from 1985.” He commanded, “Let mee ceee it!” So I took it off and handed it to him. He takes it in his hands, puts it on and looks at it through coke bottle glasses and says, “What poszision did juu play?” I said, “I was the Punter.” (Only Punters capitalize the word Punter.) He looks at me and then real slow, he lowered his head and looks at the ring again. Finally he looks me right in the eye and caws, “Dey give wrings to puntrzz at USC?” Hilarious, I start laughing and he smiles knowing he had just nailed me on a joke he has used a hundred times.
Well as you can imagine, this guy nails his speech. He has everyone on the edge of their seats talking about doing the right thing, doing your very best all the time, overcoming obstacles. He told everyone “Look at me. If I can become the Head Coach at Notre Dame, you all can become whatever you want.” The night ended with about 8 of us having dinner in a private room and just sharing stories. He asked as many questions of us as we did of him. Finally, he had to head to the airport; he had a 10:00 am tee time the following morning at Augusta where he is a member. I walked him to the front door and shook his hand. I told him that I was really hoping that he was going to be a jackass because of the whole SC / ND rivalry, but that in fact I really enjoyed our day together. He told me I still had a chance to dislike my rival coaches, he said, “Dat Terry Donahue is a real son odda bitchzz!” (Terry Donahue was Head Coach at UCLA for many years) He broke out laughing again at his own joke and hopped into the Town car like the little leprechaun he is and off he went.
After he was gone, I went back into his hotel room and made sure he hadn’t left anything behind. The room was spotless, he had even made his bed and folded up the used towels and put them on the counter in his bathroom. On his desk were the ten 3x5 cards that I had given him for his Q&A. He had hand written his answers on the cards. I now have those cards with the football I had him sign for me. He wrote:
“Dear Troy,
It is easy to see why USC is so good. I wish I had coached you at Notre Dame. Play like a champion today and live like a champion everyday.
Lou Holtz, Head coach of Notre Dame 86 to 96”
That ball is proudly displayed on my trophy case next to my Rose Bowl team autographed ball and my USC Heisman Trophy winners ball.
What a great guy and a total class act. I sure hope Donahue is a jackass, I guy can only dream.
Fight On!
Troy
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Troy on Troy - Freedom to Pursue Happiness
We have all heard the following words:
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
It is the preamble to the Constitution.
This is the history of how this came to be:
(Now stick with me on this one, the end gets good!)
In 1761, fifteen years before the United States of America burst onto the world stage with the Declaration of Independence, the American Colonists were loyal British subjects. They inhabited the New World from roughly Georgia in the South and up to Maine in the North. Most were English but there were immigrants among them that were Scots, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, Swedes, Finns, Africans, French, Germans, and Swiss.
Those from England in the American Colonies were heirs to the thirteenth-century English document, the Magna Carta, (That is going to be a different Blog) which basically says that no one is above the law (not even the King), and that no one can take away certain rights. So in 1763, when the King began to try and collect taxes for the successful Seven Year’s War, the final dissention started eventually ending in the Revolutionary war. Those protests and civil unrest lasted 10 years and were do to laws and taxes being implemented without representation. The British were well entrenched in the Colonies with soldiers, constables and basically treated the Colonists as subject of the King; which is what they were. Finally, the conflict was set in motion when the Colonists declared there would be a separation from the “Motherland.” As you can imagine, the King declared war and the revolution that had been stirring for years was finally under way. The War lasted for 8 years, ending in 1783. The French played a major role in the Victory of the Colonies and in fact, the document declaring the American Revolutionary War is called the Treaty of Paris. The document recognizes the United States sovereignty and included the land territories from what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south and extended west to the Mississippi River.
While many of us have read the Preamble, I bet not many of you have read the entire Constitution of the United States. Here is a great link for a full history of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
With our freedom being challenged so much in recent times, it is important to know what all the fuss is about. The Constitution gives us certain rights and protections from an overly intrusive Government. We need to remind those in power that our freedom is ours and not given from them but earned from our ancestors. Freedom is our right; these rights are protecting us from Government, not the other way around. They tell us not what the Government can or will do, but what it can’t do. It restricts Government’s influence. This all came at a time of the creation of our current system. The Founding Fathers were wise enough to know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s why at every turn, they continue to drive home the point that the people of this new experiment called a Republic, not a Democracy, are free from the tyranny of Government. They also knew that this would not be a perfect document for all time. That is why they built into the system a way to add to the basic document, but never change the original intent. This is done with Amendments.
I have actually heard certain leaders of our Government complain that the Constitution is too limiting. Thank God. Speaking of God, we have all heard the statement that the constitution says there has to be “a separation between Church and State.” I have read this particular section dozens of times. I can’t find those words anywhere.
The First Amendment says the following, I quote:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
In a nutshell, it says that our Government can’t declare any one religion to be the official religion of the United States and that there can be no laws telling you that you are not allowed to exercise your religion, whatever that religion is, freely. Do you ever hear that on the news? I don’t. What you get is the ACLU telling businesses to take down their mangers or Star of David because it might offend someone. People believe in God, get used to it. If you are so insecure about your belief system that a sheep in a barn at Christmas is going to send you into convulsions, try reading something besides Newsweek. If you don’t believe in a higher power, that’s fine and good luck to you, but know that our Country was founded on Jewdao Christian beliefs. The founders were so secure in what they were trying to create that they made sure you may or may not worship without fear of persecution. In other words, you can’t be forced to be religious; you are free to do as you wish. So, let me be free to worship as I please.
Before you go out and start demanding that the Government owes you discounted cars or free insurance, or even a rebate because you are using a different kind of light bulb, understand a few things. Healthcare is not a right, it is a privilege. There are only three rights you have as an American and those are the “right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It does not say that someone else owes you happiness. Secondly, entitlements are not free. Someone somewhere is paying more in taxes and fees so that someone else can have something for free. Finally, if you want a better life, work for it. I travel all over to places like New York and Chicago. I love meeting the people that have come here from Nigeria and Viet Nam and Russia. They come to this Country to make a better life for their families and their future generations. They are succeeding because they work very hard. They have two jobs and still go to school. Some of their families are back in their home countries and they send their paychecks back to help. They are saving so they can bring their children to America to be free.
We are blessed in America. We have wealth beyond our understanding and we don’t appreciate where it comes from. If you are waiting for someone to extend a hand to help you up, look around and find that there are handrails everywhere. Pull yourself up by using the tools that our Founding Fathers laid out for us. Our right to pursue life, what ever it is that you want to do, it is your life to live as you see fit. Liberty, the freedom to choose what you want to do and how you want to do it. And happiness. 230 or so years ago, a bunch of old men in wigs wanted their future generations to pursue happiness. Go out and find it. They didn’t say someone owes you happiness, but to pursue it.
Are you happy? Does someone owe you something? You owe yourself and your family and your future generations to get up and find your happiness. What are you waiting for?
If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up!
Fight On!
Troy
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
It is the preamble to the Constitution.
This is the history of how this came to be:
(Now stick with me on this one, the end gets good!)
In 1761, fifteen years before the United States of America burst onto the world stage with the Declaration of Independence, the American Colonists were loyal British subjects. They inhabited the New World from roughly Georgia in the South and up to Maine in the North. Most were English but there were immigrants among them that were Scots, Welsh, Irish, Dutch, Swedes, Finns, Africans, French, Germans, and Swiss.
Those from England in the American Colonies were heirs to the thirteenth-century English document, the Magna Carta, (That is going to be a different Blog) which basically says that no one is above the law (not even the King), and that no one can take away certain rights. So in 1763, when the King began to try and collect taxes for the successful Seven Year’s War, the final dissention started eventually ending in the Revolutionary war. Those protests and civil unrest lasted 10 years and were do to laws and taxes being implemented without representation. The British were well entrenched in the Colonies with soldiers, constables and basically treated the Colonists as subject of the King; which is what they were. Finally, the conflict was set in motion when the Colonists declared there would be a separation from the “Motherland.” As you can imagine, the King declared war and the revolution that had been stirring for years was finally under way. The War lasted for 8 years, ending in 1783. The French played a major role in the Victory of the Colonies and in fact, the document declaring the American Revolutionary War is called the Treaty of Paris. The document recognizes the United States sovereignty and included the land territories from what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south and extended west to the Mississippi River.
While many of us have read the Preamble, I bet not many of you have read the entire Constitution of the United States. Here is a great link for a full history of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
With our freedom being challenged so much in recent times, it is important to know what all the fuss is about. The Constitution gives us certain rights and protections from an overly intrusive Government. We need to remind those in power that our freedom is ours and not given from them but earned from our ancestors. Freedom is our right; these rights are protecting us from Government, not the other way around. They tell us not what the Government can or will do, but what it can’t do. It restricts Government’s influence. This all came at a time of the creation of our current system. The Founding Fathers were wise enough to know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s why at every turn, they continue to drive home the point that the people of this new experiment called a Republic, not a Democracy, are free from the tyranny of Government. They also knew that this would not be a perfect document for all time. That is why they built into the system a way to add to the basic document, but never change the original intent. This is done with Amendments.
I have actually heard certain leaders of our Government complain that the Constitution is too limiting. Thank God. Speaking of God, we have all heard the statement that the constitution says there has to be “a separation between Church and State.” I have read this particular section dozens of times. I can’t find those words anywhere.
The First Amendment says the following, I quote:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
In a nutshell, it says that our Government can’t declare any one religion to be the official religion of the United States and that there can be no laws telling you that you are not allowed to exercise your religion, whatever that religion is, freely. Do you ever hear that on the news? I don’t. What you get is the ACLU telling businesses to take down their mangers or Star of David because it might offend someone. People believe in God, get used to it. If you are so insecure about your belief system that a sheep in a barn at Christmas is going to send you into convulsions, try reading something besides Newsweek. If you don’t believe in a higher power, that’s fine and good luck to you, but know that our Country was founded on Jewdao Christian beliefs. The founders were so secure in what they were trying to create that they made sure you may or may not worship without fear of persecution. In other words, you can’t be forced to be religious; you are free to do as you wish. So, let me be free to worship as I please.
Before you go out and start demanding that the Government owes you discounted cars or free insurance, or even a rebate because you are using a different kind of light bulb, understand a few things. Healthcare is not a right, it is a privilege. There are only three rights you have as an American and those are the “right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. It does not say that someone else owes you happiness. Secondly, entitlements are not free. Someone somewhere is paying more in taxes and fees so that someone else can have something for free. Finally, if you want a better life, work for it. I travel all over to places like New York and Chicago. I love meeting the people that have come here from Nigeria and Viet Nam and Russia. They come to this Country to make a better life for their families and their future generations. They are succeeding because they work very hard. They have two jobs and still go to school. Some of their families are back in their home countries and they send their paychecks back to help. They are saving so they can bring their children to America to be free.
We are blessed in America. We have wealth beyond our understanding and we don’t appreciate where it comes from. If you are waiting for someone to extend a hand to help you up, look around and find that there are handrails everywhere. Pull yourself up by using the tools that our Founding Fathers laid out for us. Our right to pursue life, what ever it is that you want to do, it is your life to live as you see fit. Liberty, the freedom to choose what you want to do and how you want to do it. And happiness. 230 or so years ago, a bunch of old men in wigs wanted their future generations to pursue happiness. Go out and find it. They didn’t say someone owes you happiness, but to pursue it.
Are you happy? Does someone owe you something? You owe yourself and your family and your future generations to get up and find your happiness. What are you waiting for?
If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up!
Fight On!
Troy
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Troy on Troy - Sticks and Stones
The health care debate is coming to a vote today and the committees are working hard behind closed doors to let us know what the future holds for us Americans across this great Nation. I have a strong opinion on the issue but am reconsidering voicing them. I am not afraid of telling it like I see it. It’s just that I’m starting to get a little gun shy from the name calling. In just the past 30 days, two separate people have said that I am racist for disagreeing with President Obama’s spending. Even Jimmy Carter said something to the effect that “most” of the people demonstrating against health care reform are racists.
I was under the impression that protesting against those in power, on either side, was an act of patriotism. In fact, according to Hillary Clinton back in 2003, “It is our duty to protest.” I have attached the Utube link where she says exactly that. Please ignore the pictures, they were put in to cast her in a negative light by the people showing her speak. I am not bashing Hillary, I just think it’s best to hear her in her own words in which I totally agree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxmpTMGhU0
It is my strong belief that once you start calling each other names, you are making it hard to be taken seriously. The amazing part is when it comes from those voted into power of our Government. What kind of leadership is name calling; someone needs a timeout! Nancy Pelosi said that the town hall attendees that disagree with President Obama are Nazi’s. Wow, you really must not have an argument if you resort to calling someone a Nazi or even worse, the “H” word. The Nazi term is being used by both sides to make their point, now that is really confusing. Both sides call each other the same derogatory names. Did they get their talking points crossed up? You have to be careful when debating to make sure you never use that word. No matter how many times you try and pitch it. Whoever uses that term always looks like the jackass; it never works.
The term “Racist” is really being over used as well. Don’t you think that the term “Racist” should be reserved to those that really are racist? If you dilute the word with overuse, it looses its sting that should be saved for the people that actually are racists.
I was called a racist for the joke I told about the saying “You’ve got to be shitting me.” It was a blog I wrote about 4 days ago, here is the link for those of you who missed it. http://troyontroy.blogspot.com/2009/10/troy-on-troy-you-have-to-be-shitting-me.html
In this blog, I wrote that I was shocked that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize so soon after he was elected. He was just in office 12 days when the nomination was given. As it turns out, even in his acceptance speech, he said he was “surprised and honored.” Does that make him a racist? There is such a double standard by both parties in which they point to the loons on either side of the political isle and say that their behavior is a representation of everyone in their political party.
From our earliest days as Americans, we have protested and voiced our differences using our first amendment right, Freedom of Speech. The Boston Tea Party showed our enemies that we had had enough. Does everyone remember what that protest was about? Taxes.
So for the past few years, yes, going back to President Bush, I have said to anyone that will listen, that “Government spending is out of control.” Did you know President Obama’s first budget is projected to have a 1.4 Trillion, (with a T) dollar deficit compared to President Bush’s 430 Billion dollar deficit. This is ridiculous. Please, nobody tell our government what comes after Trillion!
Let me ask you a serious question. If you had $500.00 left in your bank account after paying bills, buying food, getting kids their school clothes… etc., would you go out and finance a new Cadillac, boat, jewelry, furniture and redo your kitchen and justify this by saying “It’s OK, my kids can pay for this later?” That is what is happening at this very moment.
I am opposed to Nationalized Health Care. We can’t afford it. I am opposed to the financing of our country’s financial future for limitless social projects. Some people think, “Let’s just print new dollar bills.” That doesn’t work. The dollar bill, in essence, is a stock certificate for our “company” called the United States of America. If you are familiar with stocks at all, you know that every time a company issues new stocks, the existing stock declines in value. Now, that stock can increase in value overtime, but if it doesn’t, then that is called inflation. The purchasing power of the dollar bill declines.
When Europe first came out with the Euro, the par value (equal buying power) was less than the dollar. As of this morning, the exchange rate is approximately 63%. So for every dollar you give to a vendor for bread, milk, or in my case, wine, you can get 1/3 more if you were to give them a Euro. The same thing has happened in Canada. We went from a positive 60% three years ago to where we stand now at about a negative 3%. The reason this happens is that we finance our dept. That is mostly done through China.
Did you know that recently, the Chinese government came over to our country and visited the White House where they told us that we are spending too much money and they were considering not financing anymore debt? Communist are telling Capitalists how to run their economies. This is incredible!
Somehow, we need to change the tone of the argument, not the content. President Obama came into office saying that there would be a new tone. And my goodness there has been. He can’t go through a speech without blaming Bush for everything. This is unprecedented. People in every new administration do this but the office of the President is supposed to be above this kind of discourse.
Again, I try and give some kind of a “Thought for the day” in each of these blogs. Today I jumped around a bit but the tone is the same through out. Treat people with respect, ask what you can do for your County, not what your Country can do for you. And live within your means. If you agree or disagree, God bless you and tell me why without calling me names.
Think about my final sentence and decide for yourself.
“I think our Government spends too much money.” Does that make me a racist?
Fight On!
Troy
I was under the impression that protesting against those in power, on either side, was an act of patriotism. In fact, according to Hillary Clinton back in 2003, “It is our duty to protest.” I have attached the Utube link where she says exactly that. Please ignore the pictures, they were put in to cast her in a negative light by the people showing her speak. I am not bashing Hillary, I just think it’s best to hear her in her own words in which I totally agree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxmpTMGhU0
It is my strong belief that once you start calling each other names, you are making it hard to be taken seriously. The amazing part is when it comes from those voted into power of our Government. What kind of leadership is name calling; someone needs a timeout! Nancy Pelosi said that the town hall attendees that disagree with President Obama are Nazi’s. Wow, you really must not have an argument if you resort to calling someone a Nazi or even worse, the “H” word. The Nazi term is being used by both sides to make their point, now that is really confusing. Both sides call each other the same derogatory names. Did they get their talking points crossed up? You have to be careful when debating to make sure you never use that word. No matter how many times you try and pitch it. Whoever uses that term always looks like the jackass; it never works.
The term “Racist” is really being over used as well. Don’t you think that the term “Racist” should be reserved to those that really are racist? If you dilute the word with overuse, it looses its sting that should be saved for the people that actually are racists.
I was called a racist for the joke I told about the saying “You’ve got to be shitting me.” It was a blog I wrote about 4 days ago, here is the link for those of you who missed it. http://troyontroy.blogspot.com/2009/10/troy-on-troy-you-have-to-be-shitting-me.html
In this blog, I wrote that I was shocked that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize so soon after he was elected. He was just in office 12 days when the nomination was given. As it turns out, even in his acceptance speech, he said he was “surprised and honored.” Does that make him a racist? There is such a double standard by both parties in which they point to the loons on either side of the political isle and say that their behavior is a representation of everyone in their political party.
From our earliest days as Americans, we have protested and voiced our differences using our first amendment right, Freedom of Speech. The Boston Tea Party showed our enemies that we had had enough. Does everyone remember what that protest was about? Taxes.
So for the past few years, yes, going back to President Bush, I have said to anyone that will listen, that “Government spending is out of control.” Did you know President Obama’s first budget is projected to have a 1.4 Trillion, (with a T) dollar deficit compared to President Bush’s 430 Billion dollar deficit. This is ridiculous. Please, nobody tell our government what comes after Trillion!
Let me ask you a serious question. If you had $500.00 left in your bank account after paying bills, buying food, getting kids their school clothes… etc., would you go out and finance a new Cadillac, boat, jewelry, furniture and redo your kitchen and justify this by saying “It’s OK, my kids can pay for this later?” That is what is happening at this very moment.
I am opposed to Nationalized Health Care. We can’t afford it. I am opposed to the financing of our country’s financial future for limitless social projects. Some people think, “Let’s just print new dollar bills.” That doesn’t work. The dollar bill, in essence, is a stock certificate for our “company” called the United States of America. If you are familiar with stocks at all, you know that every time a company issues new stocks, the existing stock declines in value. Now, that stock can increase in value overtime, but if it doesn’t, then that is called inflation. The purchasing power of the dollar bill declines.
When Europe first came out with the Euro, the par value (equal buying power) was less than the dollar. As of this morning, the exchange rate is approximately 63%. So for every dollar you give to a vendor for bread, milk, or in my case, wine, you can get 1/3 more if you were to give them a Euro. The same thing has happened in Canada. We went from a positive 60% three years ago to where we stand now at about a negative 3%. The reason this happens is that we finance our dept. That is mostly done through China.
Did you know that recently, the Chinese government came over to our country and visited the White House where they told us that we are spending too much money and they were considering not financing anymore debt? Communist are telling Capitalists how to run their economies. This is incredible!
Somehow, we need to change the tone of the argument, not the content. President Obama came into office saying that there would be a new tone. And my goodness there has been. He can’t go through a speech without blaming Bush for everything. This is unprecedented. People in every new administration do this but the office of the President is supposed to be above this kind of discourse.
Again, I try and give some kind of a “Thought for the day” in each of these blogs. Today I jumped around a bit but the tone is the same through out. Treat people with respect, ask what you can do for your County, not what your Country can do for you. And live within your means. If you agree or disagree, God bless you and tell me why without calling me names.
Think about my final sentence and decide for yourself.
“I think our Government spends too much money.” Does that make me a racist?
Fight On!
Troy
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Troy on Troy - Florida Gators Schedule-Lite
Great fall weather, it just screams college football. So after a full day of great games, I was shocked this morning while reviewing the results from yesterday’s gridiron battles. I was checking the scores and stats and clicked on schedules. I wanted to see who Florida had next and see what tough SEC teams lay ahead. Imagine my shock when I found their schedule. Check this out:
Sat, Sep 5 Charleston Southern W 62-3
Sat, Sep 12 Troy W 56-6
Sat, Sep 19 Tennessee W 23-13
Sat, Sep 26 at Kentucky W 41-7
Sat, Oct 10 at (4) LSU W 13-3
Sat, Oct 17 Arkansas
Sat, Oct 24 at Mississippi State
Sat, Oct 31 Georgia 3:30 pm
Sat, Nov 7 Vanderbilt
Sat, Nov 14 at (25) South Carolina
Sat, Nov 21 FIU TBA
Sat, Nov 28 Florida State TBA
This is their actual schedule. The number 1 team in the land. Now how are we to know how good they are when they have only 1 true test on their schedule, LSU. Charleston Southern is 2 – 3 including a beat down by Wofford, 42 – 14. Troy is 3 – 2. And FIU? They are 1 and 4 including a home loss to Toledo.
The combined record of their opponent’s year to date is 28 – 33 with only 1 team having more than 3 wins, South Carolina.
They play 2 teams in the top 25 and everyone talks about how strong they are. They don’t play Alabama, Auburn or Mississippi, the other teams ranked in the SEC. If they can’t run the table with this schedule, I would be shocked. They can’t say that Boise St. doesn’t belong in the BSC (Bull Shit Championship) game if they go undefeated. The Athletic Director should be ashamed for putting this schedule together. It is good for college football when Miami plays a schedule like they do. They have half of their games against ranked opponents. And yes, even USC and Ohio St. playing a home and away series. The build up to that game both years was incredible.
Do you think the players want to play this weak of a schedule? Now I want to be perfectly clear, (that sounded Presidential) there is no disrespect directed towards the players at FIU or any other small school. These athletes work just as hard as any other and they have pride in what they are doing. They should; football played at any level is a life changing privilege and they should suck up all the experiences that come from it.
Let’s check the non-conference schedules of the top 10 teams.
1. Florida: Charleston Southern, Troy, FIU, FSU
2. Texas: Louisiana Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP and UCF
3. Alabama: Virginia Tech, FIU, North Texas and Chattanooga
4. LSU: Washington, Louisiana Lafayette, Tulane and Louisiana Tech
5. Virginia Tech: Alabama, Marshall and Nebraska
6. Boise St.: Oregon and no one else recognizable
7. USC: San Jose St, Ohio St. and Notre Dame
8. Cincinnati: Rutgers, South East Missouri State, Oregon St. and Fresno St.
9. Ohio St. Navy, USC and Toledo
10. TCU: Virginia, Texas St. and Clemson
Putting that list together was more work than you think. The point of all this is you only get better by challenging yourself. Is it fun to win? Absolutely, but who gained more from their victories, Florida over Charleston Southern or USC over Ohio St.? I bet even Ohio St. thinks they gained more from losing to USC than they did in their victory over Toledo.
Step up coaches and Ads and do what is good for your programs and college fans alike. I bet if Florida were to play Penn St. that they would get more publicity and credibility for accepting the challenge.
For the record, my first year at USC we played Florida, Notre Dame and Kansas, want to know the scores? 19 – 19, 38 – 6 and 26 – 20.
Fight On!
Troy
Sat, Sep 5 Charleston Southern W 62-3
Sat, Sep 12 Troy W 56-6
Sat, Sep 19 Tennessee W 23-13
Sat, Sep 26 at Kentucky W 41-7
Sat, Oct 10 at (4) LSU W 13-3
Sat, Oct 17 Arkansas
Sat, Oct 24 at Mississippi State
Sat, Oct 31 Georgia 3:30 pm
Sat, Nov 7 Vanderbilt
Sat, Nov 14 at (25) South Carolina
Sat, Nov 21 FIU TBA
Sat, Nov 28 Florida State TBA
This is their actual schedule. The number 1 team in the land. Now how are we to know how good they are when they have only 1 true test on their schedule, LSU. Charleston Southern is 2 – 3 including a beat down by Wofford, 42 – 14. Troy is 3 – 2. And FIU? They are 1 and 4 including a home loss to Toledo.
The combined record of their opponent’s year to date is 28 – 33 with only 1 team having more than 3 wins, South Carolina.
They play 2 teams in the top 25 and everyone talks about how strong they are. They don’t play Alabama, Auburn or Mississippi, the other teams ranked in the SEC. If they can’t run the table with this schedule, I would be shocked. They can’t say that Boise St. doesn’t belong in the BSC (Bull Shit Championship) game if they go undefeated. The Athletic Director should be ashamed for putting this schedule together. It is good for college football when Miami plays a schedule like they do. They have half of their games against ranked opponents. And yes, even USC and Ohio St. playing a home and away series. The build up to that game both years was incredible.
Do you think the players want to play this weak of a schedule? Now I want to be perfectly clear, (that sounded Presidential) there is no disrespect directed towards the players at FIU or any other small school. These athletes work just as hard as any other and they have pride in what they are doing. They should; football played at any level is a life changing privilege and they should suck up all the experiences that come from it.
Let’s check the non-conference schedules of the top 10 teams.
1. Florida: Charleston Southern, Troy, FIU, FSU
2. Texas: Louisiana Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP and UCF
3. Alabama: Virginia Tech, FIU, North Texas and Chattanooga
4. LSU: Washington, Louisiana Lafayette, Tulane and Louisiana Tech
5. Virginia Tech: Alabama, Marshall and Nebraska
6. Boise St.: Oregon and no one else recognizable
7. USC: San Jose St, Ohio St. and Notre Dame
8. Cincinnati: Rutgers, South East Missouri State, Oregon St. and Fresno St.
9. Ohio St. Navy, USC and Toledo
10. TCU: Virginia, Texas St. and Clemson
Putting that list together was more work than you think. The point of all this is you only get better by challenging yourself. Is it fun to win? Absolutely, but who gained more from their victories, Florida over Charleston Southern or USC over Ohio St.? I bet even Ohio St. thinks they gained more from losing to USC than they did in their victory over Toledo.
Step up coaches and Ads and do what is good for your programs and college fans alike. I bet if Florida were to play Penn St. that they would get more publicity and credibility for accepting the challenge.
For the record, my first year at USC we played Florida, Notre Dame and Kansas, want to know the scores? 19 – 19, 38 – 6 and 26 – 20.
Fight On!
Troy
Friday, October 9, 2009
Troy on Troy - You have to be shitting me!
I often tell the story about where the saying, “You’ve got to be shitting me!” came from. It goes something like this:
General George Washington was leading his troops across the Potomac River during the Revolutionary War. It was in the dead of winter and as you can imagine, the weather was terrible. His men were exhausted from days of battle with almost nothing to eat. Finally, they cross the chilly waters of the river and make it to the other side. General Washington realizes his men can’t go much further. He has a few that are wounded, the worst being Sergeant Cox and they just needed to bed down. Right up the bank of the river is a very small farm. He bangs on the door of the tiny cottage and after a brief conversation, the farmer agrees to take in the wounded Sergeant but hasn’t the room or food for the rest of the men, they would have to keep searching.
After traveling about a mile, General Washington sees a glow coming from just over a hill. He leads his men over the hill and to everyone’s surprise, the lights are coming from a large building. There are neon lights and loud music. It’s a bordello. Washington goes to the front door and pounds on the heavy wood. A very large Madame opens the door wearing colorful feather boas and draped in a flowing silk gown. She smiles and says in her sexiest May West voice, “How can I help you solider?” The General is shocked at first but gains his composure and tells her he needs lodging and food for his men. She smiles and says, “My pleasure! How many men are there?” General Washington thinks for just a second and then says, “There are 150 of us without Cox.” The Madame takes a step back and says, “You’ve got to be shitting me!”
That is the story I have told for years but that story will never cross my lips again. There is now a new story that makes that outrageous tale look realistic. My new story goes something like this:
It was a chilly fall morning and I was just waking up to a cup of coffee. I turned on the TV to see what was happening in the world. One of the Fox News babes was letting everyone who was listening know that our President, who has served for less than a year had just won the Nobel Peace Prize. I called out to Rebecca and said, “You’re not going to believe this. Barack Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” She took a step back and tilted her head just a little to the side. (She looked just like a puppy that was trying to figure out a weird noise.) She looks me right in the eye and says, “You have got to be shitting me.”
That is the story I will tell from this point on as to where the saying comes from.
Fight On!
Troy
General George Washington was leading his troops across the Potomac River during the Revolutionary War. It was in the dead of winter and as you can imagine, the weather was terrible. His men were exhausted from days of battle with almost nothing to eat. Finally, they cross the chilly waters of the river and make it to the other side. General Washington realizes his men can’t go much further. He has a few that are wounded, the worst being Sergeant Cox and they just needed to bed down. Right up the bank of the river is a very small farm. He bangs on the door of the tiny cottage and after a brief conversation, the farmer agrees to take in the wounded Sergeant but hasn’t the room or food for the rest of the men, they would have to keep searching.
After traveling about a mile, General Washington sees a glow coming from just over a hill. He leads his men over the hill and to everyone’s surprise, the lights are coming from a large building. There are neon lights and loud music. It’s a bordello. Washington goes to the front door and pounds on the heavy wood. A very large Madame opens the door wearing colorful feather boas and draped in a flowing silk gown. She smiles and says in her sexiest May West voice, “How can I help you solider?” The General is shocked at first but gains his composure and tells her he needs lodging and food for his men. She smiles and says, “My pleasure! How many men are there?” General Washington thinks for just a second and then says, “There are 150 of us without Cox.” The Madame takes a step back and says, “You’ve got to be shitting me!”
That is the story I have told for years but that story will never cross my lips again. There is now a new story that makes that outrageous tale look realistic. My new story goes something like this:
It was a chilly fall morning and I was just waking up to a cup of coffee. I turned on the TV to see what was happening in the world. One of the Fox News babes was letting everyone who was listening know that our President, who has served for less than a year had just won the Nobel Peace Prize. I called out to Rebecca and said, “You’re not going to believe this. Barack Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” She took a step back and tilted her head just a little to the side. (She looked just like a puppy that was trying to figure out a weird noise.) She looks me right in the eye and says, “You have got to be shitting me.”
That is the story I will tell from this point on as to where the saying comes from.
Fight On!
Troy
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Troy on Troy - Surviving Thursday Nights
Rebecca and I were living in the town of Waikoloa on the Big Island of Hawaii back in 2000 when we first started "surviving" Thursdays. Rebecca and I have been loyal fans of Survivor since the first episode. Survivor: Pulau Tiga was the original name of the show but it was later changed to Survivor: Borneo. But in traditional Tribecca style, we have turned this show into a special event and a permanent part of our routine as a pack.
That first season was very memorable for a bunch of reasons. Rebecca had just moved to Hawaii to be with her "B.I.L." so this was one of our first traditions. As for the show itself, a few of the contestants had really unique personalities and the show vaulted to the number one reality show and has stayed there for almost 9 years. The most famous person that first season was Richard Hatch. Watching that big Mahu run around naked was like watching a train wreck. Thank God for the fuzzy censor bar. I normally hate that thing but in reality, it kept me from having nightmares.
For us, 19 seasons later, the routine of Surviving Thursdays had taken on legendary proportions. Of course, as usual, we have taken it to the next level. In our household, Thursdays have been turned into an excuse for big red meat and big red wine. For example, tonight's menu is simple but outstanding. I went to Jensen's and talked to Pete my butcher. (Remember from the first blog that I have a butcher, still highly recommending this.) He cut a 10 oz fillet from a Prime Fillet Mignon roast that is amazing. We don't always do this as steaks from Costco are quite nice but now and then, to get Prime beef compared to Choice is a real treat. The marbling adds so much flavor and there isn't a more tender cut than from the middle of a roast.
About one and a half hours prior to dinner, I am going to take the steak out of the refrigerator and let the meat cool to room temperature. Here is another food hint when Bar B Queing steaks. Liberally spice with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. That is what they use at fine steak houses everywhere. The paprika really draws out the natural flavors of the beef. Also, spice the meat right when you take it out of the fridge. Give it time to sink in. With the steak tonight, we are having a yam. These are better for you than a regular baked potato and you don't have to add nearly the butter, sour cream and bacon pieces. Spice the skin of the yam with just a bit of salt, pepper and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The skin of root vegetables is so good when they are baked. And finally, a bottle of Grgich Hills Estate Grown 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is really ready to drink and is going to be over the top. On bottles this old, it is best to strain and decant to keep any sediment from getting into your glass. Do this at least a half hour prior to dinner so the wine can really open up. There is nothing worse than finishing your great glass of wine and having to spit out grape dust.
That's it, meat, a starch and wine. We time our dinner so that everything is consumed and we, (ok, Rebecca) have cleaned the kitchen by the time the show starts. We light a bunch of candles and get our straw basket full of tennis balls. Why the balls? Amy of course. As you know, Amy is a yellow lab. But the real breed name is Labrador Retriever. See, by stopping the name at lab, she never heard that she was a retriever. Oh, she goes and gets the ball with great intensity, no problem. But her challenge comes in the giving it back part. We have about 30 balls that we keep for her and during the show, we take turns throwing the ball. At commercial, one of us gathers and throws them back to the other person and they catch them and drop them into the basket getting ready to start the whole process again.
We have done this in some form or another for 19 series of this show. It gives us something additional to look forward to as well as letting us start the weekend a bit early. There are other traditions that have come and gone. We went thru a bad stretch for about two months of going to IHOP on Friday mornings. Kind of gross on a regular basis. That food is best consumed hammered around 2:00am in the morning. Those days are in the past, thankfully.
We enjoy our Pack; the wife, the dog and the husband. Amy loves the routine as well. It's nice to be able to turn something as simple as a Thursday night dinner into a great bonding evening with the family. I have said it before and I will say it again in the future, I am a lucky guy.
Fight On!
Troy
That first season was very memorable for a bunch of reasons. Rebecca had just moved to Hawaii to be with her "B.I.L." so this was one of our first traditions. As for the show itself, a few of the contestants had really unique personalities and the show vaulted to the number one reality show and has stayed there for almost 9 years. The most famous person that first season was Richard Hatch. Watching that big Mahu run around naked was like watching a train wreck. Thank God for the fuzzy censor bar. I normally hate that thing but in reality, it kept me from having nightmares.
For us, 19 seasons later, the routine of Surviving Thursdays had taken on legendary proportions. Of course, as usual, we have taken it to the next level. In our household, Thursdays have been turned into an excuse for big red meat and big red wine. For example, tonight's menu is simple but outstanding. I went to Jensen's and talked to Pete my butcher. (Remember from the first blog that I have a butcher, still highly recommending this.) He cut a 10 oz fillet from a Prime Fillet Mignon roast that is amazing. We don't always do this as steaks from Costco are quite nice but now and then, to get Prime beef compared to Choice is a real treat. The marbling adds so much flavor and there isn't a more tender cut than from the middle of a roast.
About one and a half hours prior to dinner, I am going to take the steak out of the refrigerator and let the meat cool to room temperature. Here is another food hint when Bar B Queing steaks. Liberally spice with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. That is what they use at fine steak houses everywhere. The paprika really draws out the natural flavors of the beef. Also, spice the meat right when you take it out of the fridge. Give it time to sink in. With the steak tonight, we are having a yam. These are better for you than a regular baked potato and you don't have to add nearly the butter, sour cream and bacon pieces. Spice the skin of the yam with just a bit of salt, pepper and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The skin of root vegetables is so good when they are baked. And finally, a bottle of Grgich Hills Estate Grown 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is really ready to drink and is going to be over the top. On bottles this old, it is best to strain and decant to keep any sediment from getting into your glass. Do this at least a half hour prior to dinner so the wine can really open up. There is nothing worse than finishing your great glass of wine and having to spit out grape dust.
That's it, meat, a starch and wine. We time our dinner so that everything is consumed and we, (ok, Rebecca) have cleaned the kitchen by the time the show starts. We light a bunch of candles and get our straw basket full of tennis balls. Why the balls? Amy of course. As you know, Amy is a yellow lab. But the real breed name is Labrador Retriever. See, by stopping the name at lab, she never heard that she was a retriever. Oh, she goes and gets the ball with great intensity, no problem. But her challenge comes in the giving it back part. We have about 30 balls that we keep for her and during the show, we take turns throwing the ball. At commercial, one of us gathers and throws them back to the other person and they catch them and drop them into the basket getting ready to start the whole process again.
We have done this in some form or another for 19 series of this show. It gives us something additional to look forward to as well as letting us start the weekend a bit early. There are other traditions that have come and gone. We went thru a bad stretch for about two months of going to IHOP on Friday mornings. Kind of gross on a regular basis. That food is best consumed hammered around 2:00am in the morning. Those days are in the past, thankfully.
We enjoy our Pack; the wife, the dog and the husband. Amy loves the routine as well. It's nice to be able to turn something as simple as a Thursday night dinner into a great bonding evening with the family. I have said it before and I will say it again in the future, I am a lucky guy.
Fight On!
Troy
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Troy on Troy - Four Seasons FAM
I haven't blogged in a couple of days as we were traveling for work. Most of you know that Rebecca and I own a Meeting and Incentive Planning company and help Corporations and Associations plan meetings, events and parties. Part of our job description is knowing what Hotels and venues offer so we can recommend these destinations to our clients for their guests. Sometimes we drive or fly to do what is called a site inspection. This can range from a quick walk-thru of meeting space to dinner or even staying for a few days to see what a city has to offer travelers. You need to see, feel, touch and taste what is being offered first hand as the only product we have is our word. Companies have spent millions of dollars with us based on nothing more than our recommendations so they have to be accurate. If we bought based on brochures and websites, we would be out of business.
Now this may sound like a lot of fun, going to hotels and having people wine and dine you, and it can be, but there is also a lot of work as well. There have been times where I have gone to four different restaurants for tastings in one night. In the past couple of years, I would estimate that I have traveled as much as 140 to 150 days a year. You wake up and sometimes really have no idea where you are until you look at the Hotel phone to see the name of the place.
But now and then, there is a Hotel or destination that really goes all out and “Wows” you. That place is the Four Seasons Resort Santa Barbara. http://www.fourseasons.com/santabarbara/
I am not going to get into the details of everything they did for us but I am going to give you the highlights and just say right up front, this is a place everyone should try and get to visit once in your life. Wow!
We left Sunday morning from Huntington Beach and I still had the glow from a great USC victory over Cal. We packed the car about 10:30am and headed out. The weather had turned and it really felt like fall. About an hour from our destination, we called the concierge to try and find a place for lunch prior to getting to the Resort. If you don't do this when you travel, you are really missing out. Call the hotel a couple days before you get to any Resort or Hotel and ask for the concierge. They are on property to help all guests with every detail of your trip. From weather to activities and restaurants, they are well informed. Ask for their name, and when you get there, introduce yourself. Especially if you are going to be there for a few days. Give them a tip, about $5.00 per day and it will be the best money you spend during your stay.
The place he recommended was in Malibu but we had already driven past that point. So he said that their place for lunch was on the beach and had great food. An excellent choice. We pulled into the resort and had the bell staff hold our luggage. We knew we were in for a treat over the next few days as the staff was all over us. Two bellmen and a valet were friendly, not stuffy. They used our name in almost every sentence and seemed happy to see us. We walked across the street to another part of their hotel, Coral Casino Café, and again, the service level at this place is over the top.
We had a great lunch, a glass of wine and then went over and had our spa treatment. (Yes, we have to know how the treatments are as well as the facilities.) This time we were in for an extra special treat. We always get a couples massage where Rebecca and I are in the same room and each have our own therapists. This time we had what the Four Seasons likes to call, a Harmony Massage. Both Rebecca and I each had two therapists. Six people in one room. A toga and some grapes and we could have had a hell of a time! The therapists had a routine where they were almost dancing on our backs, it really was amazing.
We checked into our room, which was stunning, turned on the fireplace and relaxed until our reception. Now I am not going to go into all the details of the FAM (Familiarization) trip because we’re all kept very busy so you experience everything but I will give you a brief rundown with a couple of stories so you can have an idea of what service is really supposed to be.
At the Welcome Reception and dinner, there were about 35 of us in all. Seventeen potential customers like Rebecca and I and about the same number of representatives of that Resort and other Four Seasons properties as well. The theme was black and white and we were dressed in Resort Casual attire. That means a white Tommy Bahamas shirt and slacks for me which is my daily wear except I normally have on shorts. No problem, I can dress up now and then. We are all in this room that looks like you are in a lighthouse. There are stairs leading to where we are going to have dinner and the room is loud from reacquainting with people that you haven't seen in awhile. The Hospitality Industry has a very small feeling because you run into a lot of the same people where ever you travel.
The reception is going great and we are having some wine; just my second glass for the record. I am having a red and yep, there it is. A very sweet sales person from the Resort bumps my arm and a thin line of wine hits my white silk shirt and leaves a six inch red stain. No worries, a little "Wine Away" (a product that should be in every home. It removes red wine stains instantly from ALL fabric) and I would be fine. The stain sends out a vibe that somehow every Four Seasons employee in every department felt. I’m being swarmed like a queen honey bee. Now I am a spiller, it's what I do. So I took my name tag and moved it to cover 80% of the stain and went back to enjoying the reception. I am getting pulled aside from staffers who are sincerely sorry and upset about the stain. Within 15 minutes, I get a wave from two sales people and they have a bag, gift wrapped with a new, nicer shirt. I slip into my new shirt and I'm off like a beauty queens tiara.
Now I would like to say that was the end of it, but not when you are a guest of a Four Seasons. The next day, complete strangers from different departments now knew my name and about the stain. There were offers of apologies and reassured me that everything was being done to save the shirt. They had made an incident report and it ended up on the Manager on Duty’s log. This place is over the top special.
I will run down a list of the things we enjoyed while we were there but know that it really would take longer to write about how special everything was and the amount of detail that went into planning so that our time there would never be forgotten.
We were given daily gifts in our room ranging from food and wine to bags, books and even complimentary future stays at other Four Seasons. They each had meaning. An example of this is one of our stops was at the Gainey winery where Dan Gainey, the owner, poured our wine and talked about his farm. We were brought there by jeeps and taken out into the vines and had gourmet picnic baskets. In our room when we came back was a bottle of wine from the winery and a small plate of the same meats and cheeses we had during our lunch. The attention to detail was perfect.
From there we went to the actual ranch of the Horse Whisperer. The ranch is called "The Flag is Up" and we got to see a horse that had never been ridden, get trained using their non-violent technique that has become world famous. This was amazing. In less than thirty minutes, this giant mare gives into her instincts and fear and becomes drawn to the trainer. Another rider comes in and gently gets on her back and the horse lets him direct her all over the ring. To see this first hand was something I will never forget. From there, we go up to the owner’s home and it is a sprawling 15,000 square foot ranch house. We pull up to the front and a herd of about 20 deer are standing under a massive oak tree. There are letters from Queen Elizabeth and other dignitaries from around the world. My favorite piece of art, was a log that had been cut by Ronald Reagan. The owner told me the President would chop wood to help relax and one day he went thru a bunch while he was visiting. They kept one of the logs and have a brass plaque detailing the event. Incredible!
We had a bike ride, sailed on a yacht, chefs preparing our meals in front of us, it went on and on. Now they have already spoiled us beyond what you can imagine and then they top it off. As we are leaving, they give us a couple of box lunches for the drive and a gas card. It isn't the amount of money on the card that is important, it is the fact that they knew we drove and wanted to create another memory of our time there. Everything was so over the top that words can't express the gratitude we feel towards everyone that had anything to do with this stay.
Four Seasons as a Hotel company “Gets it.” They understand service. I spent time working for The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and other Resorts all over. Everyone talks about service but Four Seasons live it. If you have never been to a Four Seasons, give one a try. Don't expect the activities and things that I wrote of as that was part of a group event. But do expect the same kind of treatment. It is part of their DNA, it is who they are.
At our Company, Total Meeting Solutions, our catch phrase is "Creating memories, one event at a time." This is the same thing we do for our customers. We anticipate every step guests take, literally, and we try and create experiences that last a lifetime. This is what the Four Seasons Santa Barbara did for Rebecca and I and our peers that were lucky enough to have been invited. To the team there, I say thank you for your efforts, they are greatly appreciated. To everyone reading this, try a Four Seasons Resort. I know things are tight right now but in reality, this is the perfect time. The rates have never been more affordable.
Thank you for your gift of hospitality.
Fight On!
Troy
Now this may sound like a lot of fun, going to hotels and having people wine and dine you, and it can be, but there is also a lot of work as well. There have been times where I have gone to four different restaurants for tastings in one night. In the past couple of years, I would estimate that I have traveled as much as 140 to 150 days a year. You wake up and sometimes really have no idea where you are until you look at the Hotel phone to see the name of the place.
But now and then, there is a Hotel or destination that really goes all out and “Wows” you. That place is the Four Seasons Resort Santa Barbara. http://www.fourseasons.com/santabarbara/
I am not going to get into the details of everything they did for us but I am going to give you the highlights and just say right up front, this is a place everyone should try and get to visit once in your life. Wow!
We left Sunday morning from Huntington Beach and I still had the glow from a great USC victory over Cal. We packed the car about 10:30am and headed out. The weather had turned and it really felt like fall. About an hour from our destination, we called the concierge to try and find a place for lunch prior to getting to the Resort. If you don't do this when you travel, you are really missing out. Call the hotel a couple days before you get to any Resort or Hotel and ask for the concierge. They are on property to help all guests with every detail of your trip. From weather to activities and restaurants, they are well informed. Ask for their name, and when you get there, introduce yourself. Especially if you are going to be there for a few days. Give them a tip, about $5.00 per day and it will be the best money you spend during your stay.
The place he recommended was in Malibu but we had already driven past that point. So he said that their place for lunch was on the beach and had great food. An excellent choice. We pulled into the resort and had the bell staff hold our luggage. We knew we were in for a treat over the next few days as the staff was all over us. Two bellmen and a valet were friendly, not stuffy. They used our name in almost every sentence and seemed happy to see us. We walked across the street to another part of their hotel, Coral Casino Café, and again, the service level at this place is over the top.
We had a great lunch, a glass of wine and then went over and had our spa treatment. (Yes, we have to know how the treatments are as well as the facilities.) This time we were in for an extra special treat. We always get a couples massage where Rebecca and I are in the same room and each have our own therapists. This time we had what the Four Seasons likes to call, a Harmony Massage. Both Rebecca and I each had two therapists. Six people in one room. A toga and some grapes and we could have had a hell of a time! The therapists had a routine where they were almost dancing on our backs, it really was amazing.
We checked into our room, which was stunning, turned on the fireplace and relaxed until our reception. Now I am not going to go into all the details of the FAM (Familiarization) trip because we’re all kept very busy so you experience everything but I will give you a brief rundown with a couple of stories so you can have an idea of what service is really supposed to be.
At the Welcome Reception and dinner, there were about 35 of us in all. Seventeen potential customers like Rebecca and I and about the same number of representatives of that Resort and other Four Seasons properties as well. The theme was black and white and we were dressed in Resort Casual attire. That means a white Tommy Bahamas shirt and slacks for me which is my daily wear except I normally have on shorts. No problem, I can dress up now and then. We are all in this room that looks like you are in a lighthouse. There are stairs leading to where we are going to have dinner and the room is loud from reacquainting with people that you haven't seen in awhile. The Hospitality Industry has a very small feeling because you run into a lot of the same people where ever you travel.
The reception is going great and we are having some wine; just my second glass for the record. I am having a red and yep, there it is. A very sweet sales person from the Resort bumps my arm and a thin line of wine hits my white silk shirt and leaves a six inch red stain. No worries, a little "Wine Away" (a product that should be in every home. It removes red wine stains instantly from ALL fabric) and I would be fine. The stain sends out a vibe that somehow every Four Seasons employee in every department felt. I’m being swarmed like a queen honey bee. Now I am a spiller, it's what I do. So I took my name tag and moved it to cover 80% of the stain and went back to enjoying the reception. I am getting pulled aside from staffers who are sincerely sorry and upset about the stain. Within 15 minutes, I get a wave from two sales people and they have a bag, gift wrapped with a new, nicer shirt. I slip into my new shirt and I'm off like a beauty queens tiara.
Now I would like to say that was the end of it, but not when you are a guest of a Four Seasons. The next day, complete strangers from different departments now knew my name and about the stain. There were offers of apologies and reassured me that everything was being done to save the shirt. They had made an incident report and it ended up on the Manager on Duty’s log. This place is over the top special.
I will run down a list of the things we enjoyed while we were there but know that it really would take longer to write about how special everything was and the amount of detail that went into planning so that our time there would never be forgotten.
We were given daily gifts in our room ranging from food and wine to bags, books and even complimentary future stays at other Four Seasons. They each had meaning. An example of this is one of our stops was at the Gainey winery where Dan Gainey, the owner, poured our wine and talked about his farm. We were brought there by jeeps and taken out into the vines and had gourmet picnic baskets. In our room when we came back was a bottle of wine from the winery and a small plate of the same meats and cheeses we had during our lunch. The attention to detail was perfect.
From there we went to the actual ranch of the Horse Whisperer. The ranch is called "The Flag is Up" and we got to see a horse that had never been ridden, get trained using their non-violent technique that has become world famous. This was amazing. In less than thirty minutes, this giant mare gives into her instincts and fear and becomes drawn to the trainer. Another rider comes in and gently gets on her back and the horse lets him direct her all over the ring. To see this first hand was something I will never forget. From there, we go up to the owner’s home and it is a sprawling 15,000 square foot ranch house. We pull up to the front and a herd of about 20 deer are standing under a massive oak tree. There are letters from Queen Elizabeth and other dignitaries from around the world. My favorite piece of art, was a log that had been cut by Ronald Reagan. The owner told me the President would chop wood to help relax and one day he went thru a bunch while he was visiting. They kept one of the logs and have a brass plaque detailing the event. Incredible!
We had a bike ride, sailed on a yacht, chefs preparing our meals in front of us, it went on and on. Now they have already spoiled us beyond what you can imagine and then they top it off. As we are leaving, they give us a couple of box lunches for the drive and a gas card. It isn't the amount of money on the card that is important, it is the fact that they knew we drove and wanted to create another memory of our time there. Everything was so over the top that words can't express the gratitude we feel towards everyone that had anything to do with this stay.
Four Seasons as a Hotel company “Gets it.” They understand service. I spent time working for The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and other Resorts all over. Everyone talks about service but Four Seasons live it. If you have never been to a Four Seasons, give one a try. Don't expect the activities and things that I wrote of as that was part of a group event. But do expect the same kind of treatment. It is part of their DNA, it is who they are.
At our Company, Total Meeting Solutions, our catch phrase is "Creating memories, one event at a time." This is the same thing we do for our customers. We anticipate every step guests take, literally, and we try and create experiences that last a lifetime. This is what the Four Seasons Santa Barbara did for Rebecca and I and our peers that were lucky enough to have been invited. To the team there, I say thank you for your efforts, they are greatly appreciated. To everyone reading this, try a Four Seasons Resort. I know things are tight right now but in reality, this is the perfect time. The rates have never been more affordable.
Thank you for your gift of hospitality.
Fight On!
Troy
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Troy on Troy - Curch Fair From Hell
I am just a little bit sore in the head from the Saint's Simon and Jude fair last night. That was crazy. I would wager that there are more people at that local community fair than at the big boy, Orange County Fair.
We showed up around 7:00 after parking 14.3 miles from the Church, really glad I wore flip flops. We got into the grounds and headed for the Beer Garden. When I finally fought thru the 3.8 million people, I stood in the wrong line for another 10 minutes until I realized I wasn't in the drink ticket line, but I was in the Tri-Tip sandwich line.
We decided that waiting in the ticket line was going to be a one time deal so I bought $60.00 worth. I still had over half of them this morning in my pocket so that is my tithing for October. I don't think that Rebecca is going to buy that so I might have to file that to drunk shopping on my tax returns for 2009.
I ran into a dad of a friend of mine, Mr. Burke, and actually he was one of those parents that became your friends. What a truly great guy. His sons were John and Rob. He recognized me which is amazing since the only thing that resembles me from my high school days is that I am still tall, I have a mustache and I can't dunk. I think it was my 70's mustache that tipped him off. He shouts out, "Bubba!" He stood up and gave me a man hug of love and with the most sincere look that anyone has ever directed at me said, "I'm sorry to hear that you lost your dad." I said, "No, he's at home and doing well." He looked a bit confused and said, "Was it your mom, about 8 years ago?" Again I said "No, she's at home with him." I added "We did lose a dog about 8 years ago." He said, "Well, tell them I am glad they are alright and sorry about the dog.", and he sat back down and revisited his beer. I do love these reunion events.
On the way out the door prior to leaving for the carnie, I told my mom I would bring her home a present. So on the way out the door I hit my favorite fair game. The old "ping pong ball for the goldfish" contest. What a deal, 11 balls for $1.00. Many of you don't know this but for 5 of 6 years when I was youthful, I was the Huntington Beach Champion in Ping Pong. This is an actual fact. The tournaments started when I was 7 and the last one was when I was 12. I won four in a row from 7 to 10 years of age, was upset by a guy I had easily handled the past year and then won again when I was 12. I was in a ping pong club with at least 100 members and always played against older people. By the time I hung up the paddle, I was one of those guys that stands back about 7 or so feet from the table and we just slam the ball back and forth. Wow, did I digress. All that to say I know how to handle little white balls.
The first attempt at my quest hit the front rim of the tiny glass bowl and bounced away. The second was about a half an inch long. The third shot was a swish. Give me the damn fish! I spent an extra $5.00 and bought the plastic tank and I was off like a bridesmaids dress.
We decided to leave a bit early and for whatever reason, I needed a cab. There were none to be found, so I called my dad for a ride. (Does this sound like a blog by an 18 year old?) My dad picks us up and we are home from the Zoo with my gold fish named "Kevin" and his new habitat. I set him in the bowl and let the water temperature adjust by leaving him in the bag. The key is to let the temperatures of the bag and tank rise and fall until you release the fish and the water doesn’t shock the fish. Finally, I let him into his new home and the water must have been vodka. He instantly started listing and with in an hour, Kevin was gone. Somebody owes me a dollar.
I woke up this morning and had a draft beer hangover which is way worse than a white wine hangover but not as bad as a tequila hangover. (I know, that sounds pathetic as well.)
I like to think that I write these blogs and there is always some sort of message that I can pass along. Something that was special to me or even a good food tip. This time there is nothing of importance except for one thing that I have taken from my time at the fair. That was the LAST time I go to that particular fair. Too many people in too small of a place. I swear that every beer or wine I bought, I would be happy if I got back to my "spot" with about half of my purchase. I spilled more than I drank and I still feel like crap.
Next year, I'm doing Zoobie's.
Fight On! (Quietly, my head hurts)
Troy
We showed up around 7:00 after parking 14.3 miles from the Church, really glad I wore flip flops. We got into the grounds and headed for the Beer Garden. When I finally fought thru the 3.8 million people, I stood in the wrong line for another 10 minutes until I realized I wasn't in the drink ticket line, but I was in the Tri-Tip sandwich line.
We decided that waiting in the ticket line was going to be a one time deal so I bought $60.00 worth. I still had over half of them this morning in my pocket so that is my tithing for October. I don't think that Rebecca is going to buy that so I might have to file that to drunk shopping on my tax returns for 2009.
I ran into a dad of a friend of mine, Mr. Burke, and actually he was one of those parents that became your friends. What a truly great guy. His sons were John and Rob. He recognized me which is amazing since the only thing that resembles me from my high school days is that I am still tall, I have a mustache and I can't dunk. I think it was my 70's mustache that tipped him off. He shouts out, "Bubba!" He stood up and gave me a man hug of love and with the most sincere look that anyone has ever directed at me said, "I'm sorry to hear that you lost your dad." I said, "No, he's at home and doing well." He looked a bit confused and said, "Was it your mom, about 8 years ago?" Again I said "No, she's at home with him." I added "We did lose a dog about 8 years ago." He said, "Well, tell them I am glad they are alright and sorry about the dog.", and he sat back down and revisited his beer. I do love these reunion events.
On the way out the door prior to leaving for the carnie, I told my mom I would bring her home a present. So on the way out the door I hit my favorite fair game. The old "ping pong ball for the goldfish" contest. What a deal, 11 balls for $1.00. Many of you don't know this but for 5 of 6 years when I was youthful, I was the Huntington Beach Champion in Ping Pong. This is an actual fact. The tournaments started when I was 7 and the last one was when I was 12. I won four in a row from 7 to 10 years of age, was upset by a guy I had easily handled the past year and then won again when I was 12. I was in a ping pong club with at least 100 members and always played against older people. By the time I hung up the paddle, I was one of those guys that stands back about 7 or so feet from the table and we just slam the ball back and forth. Wow, did I digress. All that to say I know how to handle little white balls.
The first attempt at my quest hit the front rim of the tiny glass bowl and bounced away. The second was about a half an inch long. The third shot was a swish. Give me the damn fish! I spent an extra $5.00 and bought the plastic tank and I was off like a bridesmaids dress.
We decided to leave a bit early and for whatever reason, I needed a cab. There were none to be found, so I called my dad for a ride. (Does this sound like a blog by an 18 year old?) My dad picks us up and we are home from the Zoo with my gold fish named "Kevin" and his new habitat. I set him in the bowl and let the water temperature adjust by leaving him in the bag. The key is to let the temperatures of the bag and tank rise and fall until you release the fish and the water doesn’t shock the fish. Finally, I let him into his new home and the water must have been vodka. He instantly started listing and with in an hour, Kevin was gone. Somebody owes me a dollar.
I woke up this morning and had a draft beer hangover which is way worse than a white wine hangover but not as bad as a tequila hangover. (I know, that sounds pathetic as well.)
I like to think that I write these blogs and there is always some sort of message that I can pass along. Something that was special to me or even a good food tip. This time there is nothing of importance except for one thing that I have taken from my time at the fair. That was the LAST time I go to that particular fair. Too many people in too small of a place. I swear that every beer or wine I bought, I would be happy if I got back to my "spot" with about half of my purchase. I spilled more than I drank and I still feel like crap.
Next year, I'm doing Zoobie's.
Fight On! (Quietly, my head hurts)
Troy
Friday, October 2, 2009
Troy on Troy - Edison Vs. Mater Dei
Last night was Thursday night and I was going to my first Edison game in a decade. Rebecca stayed in Palm Springs and is coming out today, Friday, to hit the fair at Saint's Simon and Jude and then hang out for the weekend. I didn't want to go to the game by myself and since I am from HB, I was sure I could get a date. I asked Rebecca if she would mind and her lack of confidence in her husband was over flowing. "If you can find a date, go for it." So I picked up my phone and called Phil Cooper. Now I wasn't going to ask him out because I knew he was coaching the game, besides, I don't really have a thing for big men.
I leave my parents house and head out to pick up the future ex wife and being the gentleman I am, I brought a gift. I was dressed nice with a Tommy Bahama shirt and some sweet golf shorts and the Coup De Gras, my Reef flip flops with the bottle openers built into the bottom. I checked in my rear view mirror to make sure that the hair I have left was in order. It was, and I was, as pretty as I was going to get.
Time to stroll up to the door and create that magic that is "new love." I knock on the front door and the chaos begins. It sounded like the fourth of July as translated by dogs. I think they have four but my goodness are they enthusiastic.
I could hear footsteps, the excitement was electrifying. I still can't believe Rebecca said this was OK. The handle of the door turns and the door swings open. There in front of me is a vision. Bill Malavasi.
If you’re from Huntington Beach, or even Southern Cal, you either know or have heard of Billy. I only see him a few times a year but every time I do, we have a good time. Ah, the gift. I offer him one of two beers and we knock those back before leaving for the game. I still can't believe they don't sell beer at high school football games, shocking.
We get to the game and are expecting the stands to be full. At kickoff, they were maybe half full. The Edison Chargers had their white on white road uniforms and the Mater Dei Monarchs were in their Red on Red. Great looking uniforms on both teams and contrast in colors really added to this great rivalry. I’m looking around for people I know from my past and said hello to a couple of different folks. Hank Bell (Kerwin’s dad and my former fishing buddy), Nanette and Rick Zumwalt, a very good looking couple, and Andy Eddy. I played football with Andy at USC and now his son is a starter on offense and defense for the Chargers. Andy was USC's Rudy. He was way too small to play football but has the heart of a giant. A walk-on at SC, he was a scout team running back and knew he was never going to be a starter. But he helped us prepare for games and was rewarded, like Rudy, by getting to play in games. Plus he is a great guy.
The game starts and after the first quarter, I call my pop and sister for the first of many updates. I also give them a prediction of 28 - 7, maybe 35 - 14. Wow, was I wrong. Turn over’s, penalties, bad officiating and at half, Edison was lucky to be down just a few points. I have to tell you, they made the Charger faithful very proud of their efforts. They never gave up and son of a gun, by the end of the game it was tied 29 - 29. What a great game, the best football game that I can remember being at in person.
I have to tell you though, there were some things happening in the stands that added to the score. I told you earlier that Phil is a coach, so he is working the sidelines like a fat kid hitting a chocolate chip cookie, hard and fast. Billy is sitting to my left and again, he is Coop’s roommate. Billy should be a coach because he is diagramming plays left and right and really wants to see a tight end screen or least hit the guy on a drag route underneath. Honestly, it was open. So finally, after three quarters of talking about this he breaks down, "Bubba, call Coop." Now I'm not going to call the coach during the game and tell him what to run, that’s crazy... so I dial and hand the phone to Billy. Coop must have the phone on vibrate because he reaches into his pocket, does this classic Phil where he moves kind of slow, with a kind of WTF? look he can do and answers. I was shocked he took the call from me during the game. But it wasn’t me, it was Billy and Billy was on fire. He gave a perfect description of the play he wanted and they hung up.
We watch Phil for about a minute or two and son of a gun, he starts walking over to Coach White. Words are shared and I swear on my dog, there were two passes to the tight end on this drive and one went for a touchdown. I don't have confirmation that he actually passed on the message, and honestly, I don't think I want to. The not knowing is so much better than learning that he didn't mention it. Here is the problem. Now Billy thinks he has a direct line to Coach White and it was all I could do to keep him from calling back. Next, it was “the tackle isn't blocking” and “run this” or “blitz that,” let's just say that was the only call he was allowed to make. Phil thanked me later.
I also learned that Billy hates the rule concerning kickoffs and touchbacks. If the ball reaches the end zone, for the safety of the players, the ball is automatically brought out to the 20. This drove poor Billy mad.
The whole game and overtime, I was doing live updates for my sister at her house and my dad at his. That was a cool way to share the game with loved ones. I called Rebecca and she was going to bed after Survivor at 9:00 and she obviously asked me, "how is your date going, you gonna get lucky?" She is so cynical sometimes.
I already was lucky. I got to watch Coach White make a great call on a third and short to pull ahead for good in double overtime. A quarterback draw; the perfect call. Edison 36, Mater Dei 29.
Now no good Edison victory is complete without Lamp Post pizza and beer. So in 13 minutes, we were sitting in an almost empty place having a pitcher of Redhook and a great pizza. Coop and Billy have the same “pet” names for each other and I found out that name is Hoover. For the record, Billy had his share of the pizza and I had mine. We even had some left over for breakfast; mine was great… and is gone!
I learned a few things from last night. First, Billy and I fill up a small car. Second, Billy is a closet coach (get in the game my brother!). Third, Phil looks great on the field and seems to really be having a ton of fun, good for him. Fourth, the students are babies and we were never that young in high school.
Finally, and most importantly, you can go back. That old saying may be true in the physical sense, but mentally, I had more flashbacks than Bob Dylan at a Grateful Dead concert. Seeing Hank Bell, hanging with Billy and seeing Phil, Ricky Justice and Coach White do their thing on the field, what a night. I thought of Workman often, Clower and his way too tight sweaters, being in that cramped locker room at Santa Ana College, (about 100 yards from the county jail). All the young faces of my teammates, Ponder, Blanchard, Burke, Majors, Geroux, Malavasi, the list is 100 players deep I bet I could remember 75 of them I bet if I tried.
I remember doing exactly what Edison did, beat Mater Dei. We won 35 - 7 and 45 - 14 in our years and I can tell you about every play I was in, want to hear? I didn't think so; no one cares about the punter!
The night ended as it should have, two old friends full of beer, pizza and smiling from the game and the flood of memories that we shared.
Thanks for a fun night Billy, Coop, family and of course, the number 1 ranked team in the County. Just another great memory that I get to keep for a lifetime. I am a lucky guy!
Fight on!
Troy
I leave my parents house and head out to pick up the future ex wife and being the gentleman I am, I brought a gift. I was dressed nice with a Tommy Bahama shirt and some sweet golf shorts and the Coup De Gras, my Reef flip flops with the bottle openers built into the bottom. I checked in my rear view mirror to make sure that the hair I have left was in order. It was, and I was, as pretty as I was going to get.
Time to stroll up to the door and create that magic that is "new love." I knock on the front door and the chaos begins. It sounded like the fourth of July as translated by dogs. I think they have four but my goodness are they enthusiastic.
I could hear footsteps, the excitement was electrifying. I still can't believe Rebecca said this was OK. The handle of the door turns and the door swings open. There in front of me is a vision. Bill Malavasi.
If you’re from Huntington Beach, or even Southern Cal, you either know or have heard of Billy. I only see him a few times a year but every time I do, we have a good time. Ah, the gift. I offer him one of two beers and we knock those back before leaving for the game. I still can't believe they don't sell beer at high school football games, shocking.
We get to the game and are expecting the stands to be full. At kickoff, they were maybe half full. The Edison Chargers had their white on white road uniforms and the Mater Dei Monarchs were in their Red on Red. Great looking uniforms on both teams and contrast in colors really added to this great rivalry. I’m looking around for people I know from my past and said hello to a couple of different folks. Hank Bell (Kerwin’s dad and my former fishing buddy), Nanette and Rick Zumwalt, a very good looking couple, and Andy Eddy. I played football with Andy at USC and now his son is a starter on offense and defense for the Chargers. Andy was USC's Rudy. He was way too small to play football but has the heart of a giant. A walk-on at SC, he was a scout team running back and knew he was never going to be a starter. But he helped us prepare for games and was rewarded, like Rudy, by getting to play in games. Plus he is a great guy.
The game starts and after the first quarter, I call my pop and sister for the first of many updates. I also give them a prediction of 28 - 7, maybe 35 - 14. Wow, was I wrong. Turn over’s, penalties, bad officiating and at half, Edison was lucky to be down just a few points. I have to tell you, they made the Charger faithful very proud of their efforts. They never gave up and son of a gun, by the end of the game it was tied 29 - 29. What a great game, the best football game that I can remember being at in person.
I have to tell you though, there were some things happening in the stands that added to the score. I told you earlier that Phil is a coach, so he is working the sidelines like a fat kid hitting a chocolate chip cookie, hard and fast. Billy is sitting to my left and again, he is Coop’s roommate. Billy should be a coach because he is diagramming plays left and right and really wants to see a tight end screen or least hit the guy on a drag route underneath. Honestly, it was open. So finally, after three quarters of talking about this he breaks down, "Bubba, call Coop." Now I'm not going to call the coach during the game and tell him what to run, that’s crazy... so I dial and hand the phone to Billy. Coop must have the phone on vibrate because he reaches into his pocket, does this classic Phil where he moves kind of slow, with a kind of WTF? look he can do and answers. I was shocked he took the call from me during the game. But it wasn’t me, it was Billy and Billy was on fire. He gave a perfect description of the play he wanted and they hung up.
We watch Phil for about a minute or two and son of a gun, he starts walking over to Coach White. Words are shared and I swear on my dog, there were two passes to the tight end on this drive and one went for a touchdown. I don't have confirmation that he actually passed on the message, and honestly, I don't think I want to. The not knowing is so much better than learning that he didn't mention it. Here is the problem. Now Billy thinks he has a direct line to Coach White and it was all I could do to keep him from calling back. Next, it was “the tackle isn't blocking” and “run this” or “blitz that,” let's just say that was the only call he was allowed to make. Phil thanked me later.
I also learned that Billy hates the rule concerning kickoffs and touchbacks. If the ball reaches the end zone, for the safety of the players, the ball is automatically brought out to the 20. This drove poor Billy mad.
The whole game and overtime, I was doing live updates for my sister at her house and my dad at his. That was a cool way to share the game with loved ones. I called Rebecca and she was going to bed after Survivor at 9:00 and she obviously asked me, "how is your date going, you gonna get lucky?" She is so cynical sometimes.
I already was lucky. I got to watch Coach White make a great call on a third and short to pull ahead for good in double overtime. A quarterback draw; the perfect call. Edison 36, Mater Dei 29.
Now no good Edison victory is complete without Lamp Post pizza and beer. So in 13 minutes, we were sitting in an almost empty place having a pitcher of Redhook and a great pizza. Coop and Billy have the same “pet” names for each other and I found out that name is Hoover. For the record, Billy had his share of the pizza and I had mine. We even had some left over for breakfast; mine was great… and is gone!
I learned a few things from last night. First, Billy and I fill up a small car. Second, Billy is a closet coach (get in the game my brother!). Third, Phil looks great on the field and seems to really be having a ton of fun, good for him. Fourth, the students are babies and we were never that young in high school.
Finally, and most importantly, you can go back. That old saying may be true in the physical sense, but mentally, I had more flashbacks than Bob Dylan at a Grateful Dead concert. Seeing Hank Bell, hanging with Billy and seeing Phil, Ricky Justice and Coach White do their thing on the field, what a night. I thought of Workman often, Clower and his way too tight sweaters, being in that cramped locker room at Santa Ana College, (about 100 yards from the county jail). All the young faces of my teammates, Ponder, Blanchard, Burke, Majors, Geroux, Malavasi, the list is 100 players deep I bet I could remember 75 of them I bet if I tried.
I remember doing exactly what Edison did, beat Mater Dei. We won 35 - 7 and 45 - 14 in our years and I can tell you about every play I was in, want to hear? I didn't think so; no one cares about the punter!
The night ended as it should have, two old friends full of beer, pizza and smiling from the game and the flood of memories that we shared.
Thanks for a fun night Billy, Coop, family and of course, the number 1 ranked team in the County. Just another great memory that I get to keep for a lifetime. I am a lucky guy!
Fight on!
Troy
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