Getting What We Voted For

I owe Senator Elizabeth Warren an apology.  When she was elected and had her god awful first press conference I thought her tenure as Massachusetts Junior Senator (at the time) was going to be a disaster.  She couldn't even get through a basic congratulatory press conference without looking over to Governor Deval Patrick for cues.  To be honest it wasn’t shocking to me, but it was what the people wanted and I had to accept that.  Since then, I really haven't heard much from Sen. Warren, other than her call for a $22 minimum wage, but that isn't a bad thing.  She was supportive after the Marathon Bombings and she has been voting mostly along party lines.  Not what I really want in my senator but it is what it is.

Now that she is (gulp) the senior Senator I must say that although her votes may or may not be her true voice, she is at least voting, unlike our newly elected junior Senator.  I hate to say it people but this guy is going to be a disaster.  In his first real vote on Capitol Hill, in a committee nonetheless, Senator Ed Markey, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted "present" on giving President Barack Obama limited authority to attack Syria with our military.

First off, the fact any elected official is allowed to vote "present" on anything is insulting to every voter’s intelligence.  It tells me one of a few things.  One, you were there and not paying attention. Two, you are waiting for someone else to tell you how to vote, and three that you have no clue and are truly in way over your head.

I am not going to speculate on what his reasons were but wouldn't a vote of this magnitude bring forward the thirty eight years of experience he touted in the special election?  Shouldn't he have taken charge and proved the leadership that he ran on as well?  This is what happens when a politician is conflicted with his personal views and towing the party line.  I wasn't looking for a "Yay" vote or a "Nay" vote; I was just looking for "A" vote.  Even extreme liberal U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, who normally votes among party lines, is reportedly asking President Obama to not use military action in Syria.  That's because he is anti-war, that's what the people of his district have elected to do, vote, not just show up.  A trained monkey can do that.

So, Senator Warren I publicly apologize to you.  Your tenure as a Massachusetts Senator won't be the worst disaster, as I had thought.  It appears you are the only senatorial vote/voice the Commonwealth has.  Senator Markey is doing what the citizens of Massachusetts elected him to do, he's just showing up.

3D

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

Baseball Needs to Get it Right

I have been away from blogging the past couple of months as summer is an extremely busy time for me.  My family comes first, I umpire baseball games, for cash, and oh yeah, that 9-5 thing has me traveling all over the country for the first time in 6 years.

A lot has happened over the last two months that would have given me plenty of material to last me a lifetime.  Aaron Hernandez, Whitey Bulger, Rolling Stone cover blunder and the Boston strangler case came back to life, kind of.  All of these had my mind turning but I just did not have time to punch my thoughts out.

The year plus long suspension of Alex Rodriguez for his role in a steroid investigation got me thinking about the state of baseball and its history.  Baseball had had a black eye for nearly twenty years and it keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Baseball ignored years of obvious steroid use by its players to try and restore its image that darkened because of the 1994 players strike.

So now what does baseball do in this time of turmoil?  They really don't have a right to suspend Rodriguez for over two hundred games because he had never been suspended before.  Major League Baseball (MLB) can hide behind their claim of "best interest of the game" clause all they want, but they have been ignoring it all along, why now?

This year, for the first time in 48 years, there was not a living member inducted into the Hall of Fame.  How can that be? Barry Bonds was eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame last year.  He is the all-time Home Run leader with 762.  He holds the single-season record for home runs with 73.  Let us not forget he also stole 514 bases.  How can he be not elected into the Hall of Fame?

What about Roger Clemens? He won seven Cy Young Awards, had 354 wins and 4,672 strikeouts.  If he is not getting in the Hall of Fame then I have bad news for all the pitchers dominating the league, you aren't good enough to get into the Hall of Fame.

So I am being a little facetious right now if you haven't guessed.  Do I think Rodriguez should have been suspended? Yes, I do.  Do I think Bonds and Clemens deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?  That's a trickier question because they were well on their way before taking steroids.  The problem is much bigger than entrance into the Hall and suspensions.

Who is to blame in all of this? Everybody, we all bought in, but the baseball media are the ones that should come under scrutiny for this.  The hypocrisy that the baseball media shows is unbelievable.  They glorified these players as they were chasing records and titles.  They voted for them for MVP's and Cy Young's, then they don't vote those same players for entrance into the Hall of Fame.  I guess being on both sides of the coin is a safe place to be.

So if Bonds and Clemens can't gain entry into the Hall of Fame because of their possible link to steroids you would have to assume that their stats are null in void, right?  Wrong!  This is the worst part of the argument.  The career leader in Home Runs, not in the Hall of Fame.  The single season Home Run record holder, not in the Hall of Fame.  The single game strikeout record holder, not in the Hall of Fame.  Let us not forget about the career hits leader who was banned from baseball (as a manager) and is not in the Hall of Fame as a player, but that's a different argument.

What point is baseball trying to make with keeping Bonds and Clemens out of the Hall of Fame?  They want to rid baseball from any links to steroid use.  That's fine, I am on board with that.  There are currently two problems with the way they are going about it.  Baseball had not had a steroid policy when all these records were being broken, so technically no rules were broken.  It's not an excuse, just a fact.  Secondly, if you want to keep players out of the Hall of Fame, then you keep them all out, stats included.  Roger Maris should be re-instated as the single season Home Run hitter, Hank Aaron should be re-instated as the all-time Home Run leader and Kerry Wood would be your single game strikeout holder.  That would send the message.

It's time for baseball to right the ship and if means hitting the reset button then so be it.  The fact of the matter is that the MLB lost fans a long time ago and they really don't care that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are not in the Hall of Fame, I certainly don't.  I am a baseball purest and lost interest in the MLB a long time ago.

3D

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

Have The Patriots Lost Their Way

"The Patriot Way" has been the mantra that has been touted in New England over the last 10 years.  It exemplifies the business like atmosphere in which the New England Patriots conduct themselves on and off the field.  It is a higher standard to which the team and its staff puts on itself, it is a team first mentality that goes with success.  It has always been believed that if a player, troubled or not, found their way on the Patriots roster they could not help but succumb to "The Patriot Way".  It has always been believed that the Patriots would never associate with deeply troubled players, and if they did it was always perceived that those players were a low risk, high reward project for the team.

Patriot fans remember the drafting of Christian Peter in 1996.  A week later the team relinquished the rights to him because of his criminal past for violence against women.  The Patriots statement was that Peter's behavior was "incompatible with our organization's standards of acceptable conduct." That is the standard that New England Patriots had put on themselves and that is what the team and its fans have come to accept from "The Patriot Way".

I have to believe that "The Patriot Way" took somewhat of a hit this past week with the arrest of Patriots Tight End, Aaron Hernandez for the murder of Odin Lloyd of Dorchester.  How could this happen to a New England Patriots player?  When the story first broke, every Patriot fan could not help to think that there is no way this could happen to a player on our beloved team because it just does not happen with the Patriots.  As the investigation continued and the subsequent arrest of Hernandez came out, it became reality.  To the Patriots credit they cut ties and released Hernandez before the charge of murder was made public.

This has been a topic of conversation among many sports talk radio hosts and columnists for the past week.  It begs the question, is "The Patriot Way" a real thing or have the Patriots been hitting on twenty and drawing aces all these years.  I have to believe it is a little bit of both.  Up until the Patriots won a Super Bowl "The Patriot Way" was a real thing.  Incidents with players and the law were few and far between and they were always handled by the organization appropriately.  Then came the trade for embattled Cincinnati Bengals running back Corey Dillon.  Dillon also had charges of abuse against women for allegedly choking his wife in a domestic dispute.  That is the first instance of the Patriots contradicting themselves.  Dillon's behavior was not incompatible with the organizations standard of acceptable conduct because he was a Pro-Bowl running back that filled a desperate need for the Patriots.

Then there was the trade for Randy Moss, Albert Haynesworth, Chad Johnson and the return of wide receiver Donte' Stallworth.  All of these were designed to be pet projects and their presence in New England were uneventful but filled with skepticism.  The fan based cheered for them but were very protective of "The Patriot Way", thus the skepticism.  So drug charges, assault, child support and vehicular homicide were also acceptable conduct set forth by the Patriots?

Rich Garven of Telegram & Gazette stated in his column on Sunday that "The Patriot Way" was more reflective of what the players do on the field and not so much off.  With all due respect to Mr. Garven but the debate on "The Patriot Way" would not be going on if it did not include off the field incidents, and an incident such as the Hernandez one tarnishes that brand.  That is why the Patriots immediately released Hernandez upon learning of the charges.  That is why the team is offering to fans who own Hernandez #81 jersey a chance to trade it in for a new one at no charge. Because they are trying to restore the tarnish caused by Hernandez.

Have the Patriots lost their way?  I don't think so.  However, I most likely will never say that the Patriots would never sign a certain type of player because they don't fit the Patriot mold.  That's not fair to the Patriots but it is the reality of professional football.  The players feel untouchable and think they can do whatever they want.  Since the Super Bowl in February, twenty seven NFL players have been arrested for various crimes.  On the same day that Hernandez was charged with murder, Cleveland Browns rookie Ausar Walcott was charged with attempted murder.  Let's not forget Javon Belcher who killed his girlfriend, then killed himself.

There is a vetting issue in the NFL and when you are dealing with a multi-billion dollar business there shouldn't be.  David Steele of the Sporting News wrote that the league should fine teams when their players are arrested and charged with serious crimes.  The Patriots are going to lose $12 million because of Aaron Hernandez, which is enough of a fine.  The owners of the teams just need to be better about giving out their money to sociopaths such as FORMER Patriot Aaron Hernandez.

R.I.P. Odin Lloyd

3D

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