Point Made

There are two groups I belong to that actually have a name. If there ever is a group photo, I am courtesy of my height always in the back row. The Royal Order of Toads has the unfortunate acronym of ROT.  I'm told this occurred without an intention. Not planning anything is a trait of toads.   Follow us, if you dare . The groups' creation myth is that three or four like-minded fellows were sitting at a bar in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin when one of their wives came in with her gal pals. She looked at their rearview profile and remarked that they looked like a bunch of toads sitting on a log. Now forgetting that frogs not toads would be more likely to be sitting on a swamp log. The men decided to form a loose organization that would be home to individual men who would not be welcome in the Rotary Club, Lions Club, The Chamber of Commerce...etc. Giving the group a false air of dignity by calling it Royal, required title...

Overheard, at the gathering of people for a 6:00 am meeting. "I've been up this late before, but I've never gotten up this early. " I've always told my friends ( a bit of wisdom from an old white man.), "Pay attention, you never know when you're a witness to significant history." I often recall my Dad taking me to a minor league baseball game in Minneapolis to see a young kid named Willie Mays. Actually, the attraction was some major leaguer who was playing his way back into shape before being called up. Mays was playing to earn his way up to the big leagues. The next time I saw him play in person was in the 1954 World Series in Cleveland. This week I think I witnessed one of those historic, "I was there when it started"moments. My friends Janet and John Brownson and I were having our traditional after gym breakfast. We were finished eating, enjoying our conversation and coffee when the waitress came up to the table with two coffee p...

No, I'm not going to rant about politics Certainly, we have no problem ingesting the crap that is in that area. We need only go to the internet or cable news station and listen and watch the reality show that passes for government. No today I'm reminiscing about golf. You know that silly game where grown men dress in ridiculous colored clothing and chase a small, hard white ball around a field occasionally hitting it with sticks with specialized metal ends on the end of the shafts. Crazy what? Golf clothing is an important part of the game. There are some things non-golfers should know about the pastime and golfers might want to revisit. Appropriate clothing for golf is like any other activity. The player that comes to the course in blue jeans and a collarless shirt is an amateur and more often than not a weekend player. If he comes in shorts he is definitely a weekend player or a caddie. Players wear long pants and a c...

If there ever is a conversation with my wife Maria that frightens me, it's one that slowly gets around to how much better life might be if we lived in (fill in the blank). The pull-down choices could be; another state, city or house, but they all require multiple trips to Lowes for boxes and tape. Happily, I haven't heard much of this kind of talk, as we will celebrate one year in our W. Commercial Street abode next month. Note, I said, I haven't heard much of this kind of talk. With Maria, there is always a stream of conscious, speaking out loud, musings about the potential benefits of places and homes in which we do not live. Let me illustrate. Imagine you are on a cross-country road trip. You see a rest stop and pull over to use the bathrooms and buy a soda from the vending machine. Next to the vending machine is the "you are here" map and next to that is the rack of tri-fold brochures that extoll, things to do, local sites to see and events to atten...

Imagine, you have a spring football workout. On the field, you have athletes that rank from outstanding college players to possible draft choices in the NFL. They are all broken down into different positions. Each position has a specialty coach. The playbook for the offense, defense, and special teams is sitting in each players locker along with their uniforms, helmets and protective gear. The coaches expect the players to be in top physical condition, which entails hours of conditioning. The various teams work on their game simulations. There is the classroom work "putting it up on the board"play description, film review of past performance and player grading. Then imagine the head coach saying that he is proud of the effort the players and coaches are putting out and he is hopeful they will actually get to play some games next season, but so far nothing has been scheduled. Top flight athletic programs don't exist that don't have the...