Dealing with the Pujols Disappointment

I got to watch Pujols hit #300 against the Cubs on July 4, 2008. One of many great Pujols memories.

Everyone who knows me knows that there are five truly important things to me: faith, family, friends, nature and baseball. Specifically St. Louis Cardinals baseball. The Cardinals winning the World Series this year was a highlight of 2011, but now Cards fans are left a little deflated after hearing that Albert Pujols is signing with the Angels. So, here’s a bit of a rant. Read at your own peril.

Update: It’s being reported that Pujols left money on the table with the Marlins. If true, it changes some of what I wrote below, but not the gist of it. I’ll update again when all the offers have been confirmed by every organization.

Admiring Meanness

If we’re honest we all have some meanness in us. I have seen some of the best people I know denigrate others behind their backs. I have seen compassionate people wish some degree of ill will on others, either professionally or personally. I have seen socially aware people completely disregard the exploitation of producers or the environment when deciding what to purchase and where to purchase it from. The truth is I have done all of those things before, and likely will again.

I sincerely believe that mean actions do not make someone fundamentally a bad person, but those actions are never to be honored or celebrated, which is exactly what this piece about Steve Jobs by Gene Marks does.

Taking My Talents to DC

(God bless LeBron for teaching us how to announce any career change. “Taking my talents to South Beach.” That still cracks me up!)

I guess I may as well use this blog for something, since I rarely use it for blogging. This is more or less a note to my friends to let them know of some big personal news for my family and me.

Those who know me know that, for better or worse, I can get pretty wound up about any social injustice that needs to be addressed. I get some right and I get some wrong along the way to be sure. There is no issue that I’m more passionate about than the abolition of the death penalty. It’s systemically biased based on race, socioeconomic status, mental capacity, ignorance and other factors. Innocent people have been executed, and even more close to it, often freed by chance. It’s expensive and ineffective. In short, even if you don’t disagree with it philosophically, it’s bad policy.

I have had the great privilege of being offered the position of communications and development director at a national death penalty abolition organization, Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation. It’s a great organizations that has been around since 1976, and it certainly fits in line with my policy and philosophical beliefs.

I start in a few days and will work from Little Rock until January, at which time Shannon, Cash and I will be moving to DC. That gives my Little Rock people 3 months to buy me drinks, go hiking, have dinner or the other things we enjoy together. I’m sure I’ll be a little more sappy and sad as January nears, but for now, let’s celebrate with a cold Diamond Bear somewhere!

Bin Laden and the Way

Osama bin Laden is dead and people are joyful, even giddy about it. I completely understand why. Like every other American who was over 5 years old on September 11, 2001, the images and sounds of death are indelibly seared into my memory. Planes flying into buildings, bodies landing with a thud onto concrete and asphalt 110 stories after they leapt. Noxious gas and debris coated people to the point that only tears and fear were visible through the dust. Anger, uncertainty and heartbreak rightfully hung over the country like an omnipresent cloud. It was a profoundly horrible time that we experienced together.

By all credible accounts, bin Laden was the leader of the group that caused that devastation. It is human nature to hate him and to want him dead, even to celebrate his death. I judge nobody for having that visceral reaction; in my human reactive response I share those sentiments. It’s the human way, but it is not the Way of Jesus.

To me, part of following Jesus is learning how he taught us to replace intuitive reactions with a scandalous love and grace. That’s true for day-to-day life—in decisions big and small—but a major event like bin Laden’s death gives us a more obvious and collective chance to examine the Way.

Jesus and Larry Kudlow

I suppose I’m alright with capitalism. (I hope my lack of enthusiasm was evident.) Really I can boil it down to one thing: (to modify Churchill) capitalism is the worst economic system except for all the others. I don’t believe in it religiously like a lot of people, and I don’t think it’s morally superior to many other economic philosophies that are often vilified (e.g. socialism, communism). Just like all the others, capitalism can lead to a completely morally bankrupt way of thinking about humanity.

A couple days ago the economist Larry Kudlow had this to say in the wake of the tsunami in Japan:

The markets are taking this in stride. The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that.

Kudlow later apologized, saying he had flubbed the line. I don’t believe his intentions were to sound that insensitive. And if a human being is physically placed in front of him and he had to choose between that person’s life or a great day for markets, I think he’d choose life. But I do believe the words were the result of how he sees the world, and it shows how immoral faceless capitalism can be. It was a classic Freudian slip.

My 2011 Oscar Picks

For those who are movie and/or Oscar geeks, here are my picks. Call me names, tell me how wrong I am, etc. For those who couldn’t care less, you may want to skip this post!

Best Picture
Will win: The King’s Speech
Should win: The Fighter

I have seen all 10 nominees and, frankly, didn’t expect The Fighter to be in my top 5. I sure had that one wrong. The acting from the entire cast was superb, with Melissa Leo, Amy Adams and Christian Bale being exceptional. It should also win Best Editing for the complex boxing scenes and the flawless way real clips of some of Mickey Ward’s fights were incorporated. Mostly though, I’m a little bit of a sucker for true stories that are humorous, heartbreaking and triumphant, and the story of Ward and his family are all of those things. The King’s Speech is the same and I’m going to be happy when it takes home the trophy, but for my money The Fighter did it for me this year. And I have no idea how/why Inception and The Kids are All Right are nominated.

Welcome to the Parenting Jungle

Contemplating life on top of Pinnacle Mountain. Actually, we were probably talking about Lightning McQueen.

Before I got into this whole parenting gig four years ago I was sure that people were overstating how complicated it is. I’m not talking about the daily challenges like sleepless nights, battles of wills, testing of patience and, at times, an utter inability to relate. I wasn’t naïve to how hard those would be. What I’m referring to are some hot-button issues that really get parental blood boiling, such as education, vaccines (although that should be less hot now.), breast feeding, corporal punishment and Santa Claus.

 

It’s not that I was unaware these were contentious issues, it’s just that I was confident in my opinion on each (as ignorant as that sounds now). I assumed that my wife and I could just make our choices, everyone else could make theirs and we’d all pat ourselves on the back and sing Kumbaya . Boy was I wrong. I completely underestimated a parent’s ability (including my own) to antagonize and belittle others, even if done unintentionally or subconsciously.

A Cloud of Suspicion for the Right

My first thought when I heard about Rep Giffords being shot was that some deranged “take back our government” type was to blame. I knew that would be a common initial reaction, but I’m usually the type that wants to get as many facts as possible before I react. I’d like to say that’s because I want to be fair, but it’s probably more because I don’t want to be wrong.

Opinions and reactions immediately started flying on Twitter. Some people stated unequivocally that Sarah Palin’s infamous “bullseye” map and violent language were the moral equivalent to pulling the trigger. I wholly disagree with that even if we learn the shooter is a Palinite. Others believe that while the ultimate responsibility lies with the shooter, Palin and others share some degree of responsibility in creating the atmosphere. That makes sense to me if we learn the shooter was motivated by them, but to this point we have no reason to believe that.

The silliest thing I heard all day was that politics shouldn’t be brought into this. The shooting by definition was political! Maybe people were too quick to blame partisan politics, but it is not an illogical theory of motive given the language embraced the last 3 years by many on the right. After all, words do have consequences. (My friend Kerri has a great post dealing with that point.)

At the very least, this could be a teachable moment for my many friends on the right.

Quick Thoughts on the Hall of Fame

Warning: BASEBALL JUNKIE POST AHEAD

There aren’t many things that baseball historians and junkies take more seriously than membership to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It’s the most elite and exclusive HOF of all the major sports and it should stay that way.

The class of 2011 will be announced in about 4 hours and I’m hoping that my decade-long advocacy for Bert Blyleven’s admission will finally come to an end. He and Roberto Alomar are the only two on this year’s ballot who would get my vote. To me they are no-brainers.

This time of year brings out a lot of passionate opinions. Here are some of mine:

Happy 20th to Pearl Jam

A blurry pic of Eddie & me from last month

20 years ago today at the Off Ramp in Seattle, Pearl Jam played its first gig. In those 20 years they have touched, sustained and entertained millions of people and, based entirely on their musical and artistic integrity, have had a prolonged career that has maintained relevance and positioned them as one of the most important bands in rock history.

I believe music literally can and does save people’s lives. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that without music I would be completely dysfunctional spiritually, emotionally and mentally. It has helped me discover and embrace myself, even (especially?) in those inevitable human times of self-consciousness, awkwardness, anger, and heartbreak. (Taken from my comments on Ryan Byrd’s recent post).