Thanks a Lot Al

As we hunker down for Hurricane, Tropical Storm, or whatever Sandy is the major concern in this area is power outages.  To be quite honest, for me, it's the 70 ft. tree outside my house.  I would perfectly ok with Sandy turning out to be a dud, actually it would be much appreciated, I digress.

Last week Newsweek announced that they will be ceasing print publication at the end of the year. It is truly starting to mark the beginning of the end of the end of an era due to the rise of the internet.  Soon, be able to purchase any type of print media will be like getting a VHS movie or an album on cassette.  It will go the way of the dinosaur.  But is that a good thing?  I guess that depends on who you ask.

I am reminded of a conversation that I, my wife and my friends had on a long trip to Pennsylvania a couple of years ago.  My friend said that "Google puts an end to every argument".  He was 100% right, but it's not only that.  It's the portability and the accessibility of the internet which is making publications like Newsweek become extinct.  The younger generation's position would be to let it die, all they need is their iPhone or their iPad.  But think about the jobs that will be lost with the ceasing of print media.  The press operators, advertising artists, and the delivery drivers.  Let's not for the convenience stores and newsstands that sell these publications as well, it certainly will have its downward spiral.  But it is the sign of the times.

So this brings me to another point, which is the attachment to the portable devices.  Owning a smartphone nowadays is like owning a pair of underwear, almost everyone has one, and if someone doesn't, there is something certainly wrong with them.  Not only does the portability of the internet end every argument, it also prevents conversations.  I was at a party once and at one point everyone at my table was buried into their smart phones and not engaging in conversation.  I made it a point to ask everyone to put their phones away, I was ignored.

The print media has been dying for years because it was too arrogant with the birth of the internet.  Now it's on life support and it is looking to get put out of its misery.  To be honest, it didn't and still doesn't have to be that way.  Print media just needs to charge the same for their internet content as they do for their print content.  That will send shivers down the Generation Xers', actually paying for news?  What a crazy notion!

The advantage that the internet had over print was that most of its content was free, but watch out people, it will not stay like that for long.  Analysts will look at this and try to profit, mark my word.  Just like all the "unlimited" data plans for smartphones.  You would think adding people would bring pricing down and accessibility up, nope, just the opposite.

My point throughout all this rambling is this.  Let's not celebrate the death of print media because when the lights go out and there is no power, you would probably wish you had a book to read.  You may have a library on your iPad, but it won't do you any good when you can't access it.  My plan if the power goes out. Light a wood fire and sit with my family and read books.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Corruption of the Youth, and Manipulation of the Poor

As a person with a degree in History I love to read books and watch documentaries.  Documentaries, to me, are the true reality TV.  Sometimes it is tough to find a real good documentary, but they are out there.  Some of my favorites are "Waiting for Superman" by Davis Guggenheim, "9/11" by Gedeon and Jules Naudet and "Civil War" by Ken Burns.  Although sometimes documentaries can be so far off base that it makes it painful to watch, such as "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Michael Moore Hates America", where the film makers agenda takes precedent over the facts and the truth is distorted.  Also as a person who has been involved in coaching youth sports for almost 25 years, I have a special place for sports documentaries and that's why I love the 30 for 30 series on ESPN, mainly because it is depicts stories that I grew up.

As I was browsing my online Netflix account the other day to watch something while I did some application testing for work I came across a documentary called "Ballplayer: Pelotero".  It is a documentary about the increasing number of baseball players from the Dominican Republic and what they go through to get signed by Major League Baseball teams.  It was done very well and shows the poverty that these young players come from and the pressure that is on them to sign the big contract so they can pull their family from poverty.  It also shows the corruption, manipulation and downright dirty business there is in the Dominican Republic, where it has been declared the Wild West as far amateur baseball is concerned.

The 1962 San Francisco Giants had four players on its roster that were from the Dominican Republic in which they paid a total $5,000 to play.  One happened to be Hall of Famer Juan Marichal and he led them to the World Series crown that year.  In the 1980's Major League teams began to sink millions of dollars into the Dominican Republic by increasing their scouting staffs and building training facilities on the island to be able to pick up the next big star.  Twenty percent of professional baseball players are from the Dominican Republic, that's a country with a population which equates to two percent of The United States of America.

Major League Baseball instituted a rule that no team can sign a player from the Dominican until he is 16 years of age, and they cannot sign until July 2 of that year.  So they need to be 16 on July 2.  If a player does not sign when they are 16 then the chances of them sign a lucrative deal are slim, if signing at all.  This leads to players families falsifying birth records, identities and injecting their children with Human Growth Hormones (HGH) to be ready to sign that deal when they are 16 years of age.  This has led Major League Baseball to have an investigation office right on the island.

The documentary follows two young players who go to two different baseball academies where coaches are training players for the pros.  The first player was Jean Carlos Batista who is being trained by Astin Jacobo and the second is Miguel Angel Sano, who is considered the best player in the Dominican and will command the largest bonus signing in the history of the island.  Sano is trained by Moreno Tejada.  The movie follows these boys through their training and shows the poverty their families come from.  There is major buzz about Sano, scouts are constantly surrounding him.

It was easy for me to determine that the corruption and manipulation of these players and their families would come from these trainers.  The documentary shows that both trainers are pretty straight laced and are a clueless to the process as the players.  The trainers don't receive money until the player’s sign, so it is in the best interest that these trainers are as rule abiding as the player.

A couple months before the signing deadline a scout from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, as it turned out, gave a false tip to MLB Investigations on Sano's age, which would eventually drive the price down for the young star.  Sano and his family were put through the ringer, blood tests, urine tests, bone density tests.  They organized all the papers that proved his correct age and that it still wasn't enough.  According, to Sano's family member, MLB told Sano to sign with the Pirates and the investigation would close.  The family later videotaped the scout from the Pirates and got him saying they need him to get this to go away.

With all this going on it was Batista that lied about his age.  Apparently his father had changed his age when he was 10 years old, right before he died.  Batista continued to claim his innocence and blamed his dead father for making a mistake, and blaming it on his illness.  It led to a falling out with his trainer and a lawsuit for monies spent on Batista after he served his suspension mandated by the MLB.

This was a powerful documentary, not as powerful of the ones I mentioned at the beginning, but powerful enough to understand what goes on behind the scenes.  The system that has been created by the MLB which has created this monster.  Forcing kids to lie about who they are and do things to their body to better their family's situation.  The one thing that the movie did not mention was schooling, it did not say whether they were attending school or not.  It does say they had attended at one point, but once they started training for their Major League careers it's not even discussed.

I recommend this movie to anyone who likes documentaries.  It is a true documentary about what goes behind the scenes of America's past-time.  Major League Baseball needs to fix this situation or we are going to see 12 year old kids pumping up on steroids looking for the next big pay check.  They need to work with the MLB Players Union to institute and International Draft.  Over the past few years it's been the bidding on the International Players that has demanded the most money, while young prospects in the United States are required to enter the MLB Draft and then negotiate with only the team that owns their rights.  

Ballplayer: Pelotero.  Check it out.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

A Long Overdue Rambling

For those of you reading my blog for the first time on telegram.com this article is a piece I call 3D's Ramblings.  It's my quick take of some recent news stories.  It's fun and thought provoking.  You may not agree with some of my points of view, and that's ok.  I have it done it in a while so I will get rambling on now.

All I want is a Cannoli - an Irish man in Boston on vacation was arrested in the North End on Sept. 12 for holding up a North End bakery at knife point, for a cannoli.  Now, I don't know how versed this man is in Boston's landscape or history, but the North End is not a place to cause trouble.  The residents there always have each other’s back, dating back to the 18th Century.

Things that make you go hmmmm, - A Manchester NH, was arrested twice in one day.  He was arrested in the morning of August 23 for criminal trespassing and receiving stolen property.  Thirty minutes after posting bail he was arrested again for passing a forged check at a bank.  Andy Dufresne was right, he needs to find a better line of work, because being a criminal is definitely not in his best interests.  You just can't fix stupid.

1st Presidential Debate - It is very clear that Mitt Romney outperformed the President in this debate.  I am quite certain that the President will be better when the two hookup again tomorrow night in New York.  However, the backlash that has come out is staggering.  The media and the Obama campaign screaming that Romney lied.  This was a debate, if you thought he lied, speak up.  If you don't say anything you validate his points.  Blame it on altitude, blame it on the moderator, blame on whatever.  The President wasn't ready and it showed, you should expect more out of your leader.  Just saying.

Voter ID - I am a big proponent of Voter ID.  During elections in Worcester I no longer offer to give people rides to the polls that can't get there.  I just tell them I will happily go to the polls on their behalf and vote for them.  Nobody sees anything wrong with that?  It's an easy fix, but you can't fix a process that can easily be corrupted by the beneficiaries.

Annie Dookhan - WOW!  Many people asleep at the wheel on this one.  This will cost millions and this mess won't be cleared for years.  WOW!

Libya -  What happened in Benghazi on September 11 was very tragic.  What has happened since then has been appalling.  The fact that the truth has been deflected by the administration is problematic.  This was a colossal mistake and should be admitted as such.  Requests were ignored for more security and our relationship in the Middle East was miscalculated.  But the fact that the Stephanie Cutter and Debbie Wasserman Schulz are claiming that this is only an issue because of the Romney/Ryan camp is insulting.  It's issue because 4 Americans were killed when they could possibly have been protected.  As Harry Truman said "The Buck Stops Here".  Not in this administration.  It stops somewhere else

Vote for Obama and you're fired? - The media reported last week that a business owner in Florida wrote a letter to his employees that if they voted for Obama they would be fired.  Well of course that was reported incorrectly.  If you read the letter you will see that he never threatened anybody's job.  He simply stated that given proposal and plans presented by the President if he were to be re-elected, he would have to rethink his situation as a business owner.  He simply said he would close up shop and retire, because he would rather do that than pay extensive taxes that would make it hard for him to stay open.  Just something to think about.

VP Debate - If you watched the Vice Presidential Debate it was easy for either side to say that they won.  It was a good debate.  Personally I would have called it a push.  Behind all the laughing, smiling, rude interrupting, and condescending tone that Vice President Biden had, there wasn't much substance in what he said and the fact that he stated that nobody knew that the embassy in Benghazi wanted more security the same day the State Department said that they did ask and were denied just shows how much is being deflected here.  But overall it was a tie, Rep. Ryan was good but not great and should buy a suit that fits.

Things that make you go hmmmm #2 - Last week a Boston man was arrested in Los Angeles because he was stopped at customs for carrying an arsenal of weapons with him, coming from Japan.  What detected the authorities to him? He was wearing a bullet proof vest and flame retardant pants.  If that doesn't scream attention, I don't know what does.  His defense was that in Japan that was the style they were wearing.  I don't even have a joke hear.  People are just crazy.  I am glad they caught this guy. What a cynical world we live in.

Legend passes - College Football fans lost a great man this week in the passing of Beano Cook.  Known for his crazy analysis of football Cook had one of the great advice giving quotes of all time.  "You only have to be 100% on two things in life, flying and heart transplants.  The rest you can go 4 of 5 in".

5 Years and counting - This weekend my wife and I celebrated 5 years of wedding bliss.  I love her just as much today as I did 5 years ago, if not more.  Plus, my mother always said to me if I ever found someone to put up with my "stuff" to not let go.  I have two things working for me in that regard.  Happy Anniversary.

3D signing out!

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Pursuit of the Positive

This past weekend I had the privilege of going to new a shop that opened in Millbury.  You wouldn't think it was such a big thing, but for me it was very fulfilling and a very proud moment as well.  What was in this store, cupcakes.  That wasn't even what made it great for me, even though I do have one of the biggest sweet tooth’s known to mankind.  It was the accomplishment of the owner that has me beaming.

Renee King, owner of The Queens Cups.  Photo by: Steve Balestrieri

I used to be a youth worker for a community center in Worcester in which I will not name.  I used to have a t-shirt that read "Youth work:  The relentless pursuit of the positive".  That is what I strove for in working with youth.  Not so much that I wanted them to behave well for me and accomplish the task that I gave them for the day, but to succeed long after I had interacted with them.  There have been a lot of hits, even having been out of that profession for thirteen years.  I have seen kids go on and do well in school, go off to college and come back successful.  I have seen kids go on the opposite path and wind up in jail.  This year alone I had seen one of the kids I used to work with murdered, and I saw one play in the MLB All-Star game.  It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.

But my visit to this new store made me so happy, not because of the absolutely ridiculous tasting cupcakes that are made, but the owner was one of the kids that had come before me when she was really young.  Her name is Renee King and she is the owner of "The Queen's Cups" on Millbury Ave. in Millbury.  I have been close to Renee's family for the better part of 20 years.  I used to work with her mother at the community center and I had also worked with her two older brothers.  Renee, used to be afraid of me for some reason. She would get all shy and quiet and would never talk to me.  When Renee was about 6 years old, her family moved to Millbury, but I stayed in touch with the family after they moved.  I have always looked out for them, even though they have never needed my help, and they have done the same for me.

Renee is a very strong young woman and I am very happy to know her.  She definitely takes on a lot and is always in "pursuit of the positive" , not just with children, with anyone and anything.  We coached basketball together a few years ago and she tried to turn every negative that came at her into a positive.  So it did not surprise me when I found out that she worked with children in the same capacity that I and her mother did.  What did surprise me was this unbelievable talent that she has for baking cupcakes.  In my eyes it came out of nowhere but in hindsight nothing that Renee does should ever surprise me.

So if you are looking for a sweet treat or are looking for the right dessert for a party I suggest that you head down to The Queens Cups, 238 Millbury Ave, in Millbury.  You will not be disappointed, you may even ask for more.  Tell Renee that Nick D. sent you, and that he could not be more proud of her.  

By the way, go for the Reese's Overload...it's heavenly.

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.