Thank You Vin Scully!

On September 23, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde Moments1 Comment

vinny

It’s impossible to imagine how it will feel not hearing Vin Scully describing the game of baseball. His insight into the players, coaches, managers, and owners; his preparation before every series with tidbits to keep viewers and listeners interested; and then there’s his vast knowledge of little bits of trivia and memories of the 67 years he’s spent behind the microphone for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That is just not something that can be replaced.

I listened to Dodger games with my grandparents on a transistor radio every summer while we laid beside Lake Gregory in Crestline, CA. My Dad always had the TV or radio on listening to the games and, the one thing he insisted on having last year when I moved him to an assisted living facility, was Time Warner Cable so he could have the Dodger Channel.

It’s sad to know that a generation of kids won’t know who Vin Scully is. They won’t hear his stories about long lost legends of the game, about how he delivered breaking national and world news or hear his memories about how historic times played into his baseball broadcasts. They won’t hear the thoughts that are so very uniquely Vin Scully. Come on, how many broadcasters see the camera operator focusing on a sleepy child with her thumb in her mouth and whip out, from memory (at just 2 months shy of 89 years old!), Shel Silverstein’s Thumb Suckers Poem?

Thanks to the internet, we can relive 5 of his best calls ever.

http://https://youtu.be/SLexiZHy9wI

Vin Scully’s Broadcasting highlights include:

Three perfect games (Don Larsen in 1956, Sandy Koufax in 1965 and Dennis Martinez in 1991) and 19 no-hitters.
Johnny Podres’ shutout of the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series, which gave the Dodgers their first World Championship.
The Dodgers’ first game in Los Angeles at the Coliseum on April 18, 1958.
The Dodgers’ return to the Coliseum on March 29, 2008 in front of a Guinness World record-breaking crowd of 115,300
The Dodgers-Yankees exhibition game on May 7, 1959 that honored Roy Campanella before a then-Major League record 93,103 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
The Dodgers’ playoff win over the Milwaukee Braves and World Series victory over the Chicago White Sox in 1959, which gave them their second World Championship; and other World Championship seasons in Los Angeles in 1963, 1965, 1981 and 1988.
Don Drysdale’s 58.2 scoreless innings streak in 1968 and Orel Hershiser’s 59.0 scoreless innings streak in 1988.
Hank Aaron’s 715th career home run that broke Babe Ruth’s Major League record at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974.
The dramatic 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, where Bill Buckner’s error allowed the Mets to force Game 7.
Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st, 72nd and 73rd home runs in 2001.
The rookie seasons of international superstars Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Hideo Nomo in 1995.
The four consecutive homers hit by Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 2006, the only time in franchise history that has happened
Back-to-back Division Series wins in 2008 and 2009.
Single-handedly getting A.J. Ellis to trend worldwide on Twitter in 2012.

Huge thanks to KTLA, Channel 5 in Los Angeles, for making it possible for all of Southern California to enjoy hearing “It’s Time For Dodger Baseball” just a few more times, even though we don’t have one of the few cable/satellite systems that The Dodger Station is carried on.

Reality of his loss will only hit home for me come 2017 Spring Training & Opening Day when the only voice I’ve ever associated with Dodger Baseball isn’t there. Only then will I be willing to accept that Vin Scully will have truly called his last Dodger Game.

Until then, I can hope that the Dodgers don’t blow it, make it to the World Series, and somehow, “The Powers That Be” manage to convince Vin Scully that he must broadcast the World Series for whatever network is broadcasting it! I’m sure Joe Buck, or whomever would be in the seat, would be glad to put their ego aside to sit beside the legend for what would truly be the swan song of his career. My fingers are crossed.

Thank You Vin Scully!

tyvin

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Twitter Users Are So Much Smarter Than Trump’s Campaign Staff!

On September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

Another day, another Trump campaign attempt to put one over on the American people. But really, if you think about it, they’re trying to fool the whole world, because Twitter is not exclusive to the USA.

In a nutshell: Monday morning, Donald Trump, using graphics created by his Campaign (or whoever does his social media posts, etc.) and citing @FiveThirtyEight as the polling group, took to Twitter and boldly thanked Iowa and Ohio for his leads in both states over Secretary Clinton.

Unfortunately there were a few glaring problems with his tweets. Shocker of shocks!

Eagle-Eyed former tech director for Bernie Sanders, Zach Schneider, saw the postings and noticed the prominently displayed Five Thirty Eight Logo in both tweets, which was odd because Five Thirty Eight doesn’t commission political “horse race” polls. In fact, if Trump, and even worse, his Campaign Manager, FORMER POLLSTER Kellyanne Conway, actually understood what the numbers in the numerous polls they were reading meant, instead of claiming that Donald Trump was leading by 3% over Hillary Clinton, they’d realize that the polls show he’s trailing in those states by 2%. Hmmm

Once Schneider tweeted out Trump’s use of a “fabricated poll attributed to @fivethirtyeight,” it, of course, went viral. Someone was smart enough (likely after a sternly worded note from Nate Silver’s legal team at 538) to take it down from Trump’s Twitter account, but Conway is still blatantly trumpeting the numbers out and attributing them to Five Thirty Eight.

You really can’t make this kind of comedy up. This is a man who’s spending tens of millions of his own money, who’s supposedly hired “the best” to help get him elected to the highest office in the land, and they make mistakes like this nearly every day! They make the Keystone Kops (fictional comedic incompetent cops) look organized!

Shattering the Glass Ceiling

On July 27, 2016July 26, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

glassshatterers I’m taking a short but sweet moment to reflect upon a really important historical moment for me and every woman young and old. Hmmm

Tonight Hillary Rodham Clinton added another job title to her resume:

Daughter
Lawyer
Women’s & Children’s Rights Advocate
Wife
Mother
First Lady of Arkansas
First Lady of the United States of America
Senator for the State of New York
Secretary of State
Democratic Nominee for President of the United States

A woman, not just any woman, a woman who has had to crawl through the muck and mud of Washington politics while being hosed down with gasoline and simultaneously dodging lit matches, first as a supportive spouse, then a member of the team and finally as the top dog poised to shatter the final and thickest glass ceiling, has earned the nomination of her party for President of the United States of America.

readyforhillary

It’s a proud moment in history that carries with it the irony that, if she is elected, she will earn the exact same pay as if a man were elected to the office and will have begun making good on her first campaign promise, “gender pay equality.”

genderpayequality

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Funny Video Whether You Vote Elephant or Donkey

On July 25, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

elevsdonk1 We’ve all seen political candidates come out to address a crowd with a popular song blaring in the background, but have you ever stopped to think about whether the candidate has the permission of the artist who sang the song, or the publisher who owns the rights to the song? I never have, and apparently neither have many candidates.

Last week Donald Trump pissed off Queen, who have requested he not use their music at his campaign events many times, when he took the stage at the Republican National Convention to their hit song, “We Are the Champions.” Queen guitarist, Brian May, took to Twitter and made it clear that he, and the rest of the surviving members of Queen, do not approve:

queentrump

Apparently believing that all mentions on Twitter are good mentions, the Trump campaign then used the Beatles classic, “Here comes the Sun” as Ivanka Trump took the stage on Thursday night. While she was the sole ray of sunshine in an otherwise nasty festival of name calling and mudslinging, the campaign again failed to get the proper permissions and the Estate of George Harrison, the song’s writer, was not amused, stating that it was unauthorized, offensive and against their wishes.

The issue isn’t new and one of the song use conflicts goes back to the 1980’s, when Ronald Regan was one of the first to use Bruce Springsteen’s massive hit, “Born in the USA.”

There is a great article, written in November of 2012, by Eddie Deezen for Neatorama.com, in which he describes how many Americans from every walk of life have so badly misunderstood the true meaning of the words of Springsteen’s song, and have turned it into the “ultimate All-American song,” when, in fact, it is an angry song about how horribly the Vietnam Veterans were treated upon their return home from war.

Over the years artists have taken offense to having their songs affiliated with campaigns and candidates haven’t always chosen songs wisely when trying to communicate their messages:

1984 – Ronald Regan (Republican): “Born in the USA” Bruce Springsteen says that his song is, “far from a Rah, Rah America song…that the song has a much darker side” he asked for the Regan campaign to stop using it and they did.
1996 – Bob Dole (Republican): He got shot down twice. First by Isaac Hayes and David Porter who co-wrote “Soul Man,” as performed by Sam Moore, and later the Blues Brothers; then Bruce Springsteen, who again did not want “Born in the USA” used by a politician.
2004 – John Kerry (Democrat): He made a choice that backfired on him when he chose Creedence Clearwater Revival’s, John Fogerty penned, “Fortunate Son,” which he wrote in response to the romance between Eisenhower’s son & Nixon’s daughter, making the dig that neither family would see a son sent to Vietnam. Kerry, a proud Vietnam Veteran, likely chose the song as a dig at the incumbent George W. Bush, who never saw action in Vietnam because of his wealth and family ties that kept him stateside. Kerry lost the election.
2008 – Rudy Guiliani (Republican): “Rudi Can’t Fail” The Clash penned the song as an ode to an irresponsible young man being criticized by his elders. FYI, Rudy Guiliani, while dubbed “America’s Mayor,” citing his grace, strength and stamina in the days, weeks and months following 9/11, did fail. He lost in the primaries and never made it past the nominating process.
2008 – John McCain/Sarah Palin (Republican): First McCain chose ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me” then he switched the campaign theme song to Heart’s “Barracuda” after adding Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate because it was her nickname in high school. Heart, of course, wanted nothing to do with that dumpster fire of a campaign. It failed.

John Oliver, host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, highlighted a few of the ironic songs the campaigns have used this campaign cycle with a touch of snark and then got a group of musicians who’ve had their music used without their permission, to collaborate on a very tongue-in-cheek song and video to try and get the message across to politicians in a way they might understand, a video resembling a campaign ad:

Copyright law and publishing rights are on the books for the protection of the artists. It’s time they put some muscle behind their tweets and start making the campaigns, who thumb their noses at them and continue to blatantly use their music, pay for their offenses. Take them to court when a standard cease and desist letter doesn’t get the desired result. Hmmm!

Legends Never Die, Their Words and Deeds Live On

On June 28, 2016June 28, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

I am really sad to hear about Pat Summitt passing away today. She was only 64 and her last five years were marred by Alzheimer’s, but nothing can erase the memories the rest of us have of her 38 years earning:

The most wins in NCAA Division 1 history.
She NEVER had a losing season in her 38 years at Tennessee.
But I think an even greater achievement was her UNPRECEDENTED 100% Player graduation rate in every one of her 38 years at The University of Tennessee.

She was a great role model for me and my fellow female players when there weren’t many women coaches achieving the same success as men. In “Reach for the Summit,” Pat said, “Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.” Powerful words that are true in life AND sports.

Coach Bobby Knight was a friend and fan of Pat Summit and was once quoted as giving her his biggest compliment, “She could have coached at any level, men’s or women’s.”

If you haven’t seen the ESPN Nine for IX about Pat Summit and how she brought women’s basketball to the place where it is today, do yourself a favor and go get it on iTunes or Amazon – both have it. You can also view it on the ESPN Sports Programming page by following this link. She also co-wrote 3 books with Sally Jenkins telling her history and giving her perspective on coaching: “Reach for the Summit,” “Raise the Roof” and “Sum It Up.” They are a few of the books I didn’t get as eBooks – they are actual real books on my shelf.

In the simple obituary there is a great quote: “This is one simple statement that Patricia Sue Head Summitt embodied, lived by and passed on to so many throughout her 64 years of life. She ‘won’ every day of her life because of the relationships she developed, nurtured and cherished. Relationships with her family and friends. Relationships with players, coaches, and fans. And most importantly, a strong relationship with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Alzheimer’s Disease is a brutal disease that robs people of their memories, their relationships and their dignity. I lost my Grandmother to early onset Alzheimer’s / Dementia, the same disease that Pat Summitt died from. I hope there is a cure in my lifetime. Hmmm

Without Gen X there is no Millennial

On May 11, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

generation-x While the Millennials are the darlings of the media (think Taylor Swift), Generation X (35-55 years old) are the parents of school aged children, and are/will be the leaders in government, industry and education for the next couple of decades. Hmmm

I am a proud 48 year old member of Generation X. I grew up in a rapidly changing medical, financial, social, and political climate. Between 1967 (when I was born) and 1985 (when I turned 18) a lot was happening in the world:

Flower Power is at its peak in California 1967
Civil Rights Champion Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated 1968
Man walked on the Moon 1969
Sitting US President, Richard Nixon, resigned amid the Watergate scandal 1974
Punk Music Exploded onto the scene 1976
Ronald Reagan elected US President, his inauguration ushered in an ultra conservative era 1980/1981
AIDS Epidemic began 1981 (Rock Hudson becomes most “famous” face to die of AIDS 1985)

In the preface to Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion, a collection of global essays, Professor Christine Henseler summarized Gen X as “a generation whose worldview is based on change, on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all.”

Born between 1961 and 1981, the roughly 84 million members of Generation X have been described in the media as

Latchkey Kids: Kids who came home to empty houses after school because their parents were at work or often away – I say this encouraged a strong sense of independence, inventiveness and entrepreneurialism.
The MTV Generation: Music Videos, Grunge, Alternative Rock, and Hip Hop are some of their contributions.
Heterogeneous: Embraced acceptance of social diversity: race, class, religion, ethnicity, culture, language, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Revolutionists: Instead of replacing individual leaders as their parents did via the vote, Gen X employed social, economic and consumer pressure to enact systemic and institutional changes.
Highly Educated: According to a 2009 US Census Bureau report, Gen Xers have achieved higher levels of academic achievement than any generation before them.
First Generation in the Internet Age: 97% use the Internet, 75% use Online Banking, 62% use Social Media.

On the social front, members of Generation X:

Witnessed and learned resilience from the economic struggles their parents faced in the 1970’s (End of Vietnam War; Recession; Worldwide Oil Shortage; High Unemployment; High Inflation)
More likely to be workers – 86% of adults work 40 hours or more weekly
More likely to be satisfied with their lives – giving an average score of 7 out of 10
Life revolves around the family – 2/3 Married and 71% have children – 80% of parents expect their children to attend 4 year college
Involved in their communities – Schools (PTA), Religious Organizations, and Local Sports Clubs

While my parents were very definitely of the Baby Boomer Era (those born post WWII but before 1964) they were different than many of my friends’ parents. Mine were high school students in the mid 1960’s, my dad served 4 years “in-country” during the Vietnam War, neither graduated from college, yet we lived a pretty upper-middle class lifestyle despite the challenges they faced raising a young family in the 1970’s and 1980’s. My parents’ attitudes more closely aligned with Generation X in many ways. They were quite involved in our lives, they coached our teams, took part in school functions, my father had his own business and they encouraged our independence and resourcefulness, not via the latchkey, but rather via a focus on education and participation in this thing we call life.

The media wants tag Millennials (A.K.A. Gen Y/ those born mid 80’s to mid 2000’s) as “World Changers.” They may very well end up being great, but I believe that it is Generation X that has truly brought meaningful change to the world. Without the fearlessness with which my generation attacked life, challenging old ways of doing things and striving for bigger, better and more of all things from science and technology to arts and entertainment, the Millennial Generation would have no spring board from which to jump into improving the future.

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Dreadlock Warfare

On March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 By ls1228In Extreme Blonde MomentsLeave a comment

dreads31n-4-web — White student assaulted by black university employee for, “Cultural Appropriation.”

The viral video of a black San Francisco State University employee physically and verbally assaulting a white SFSU student with dreadlocks has resulted in some titillating headlines and opened up a national debate on the topic of, “cultural appropriation.” HMMM

The black woman accuses the white boy of not having the right to wear is hair in dreadlocks. Newsflash, angry black woman, there is evidence of many cultures, not just those with black skin hailing from the continent of Africa or the Island of Jamaica, wearing dreadlocks. They are worn for many reasons: an expression of deep religious or spiritual convictions, a manifestation of ethnic pride, to make a political statement, or simply as a fashion preference.

The Old Testament (you know, from The Bible Judges 16:13) recounts the tale of Samson and Delilah in which a man’s potency is directly linked to ‘the seven locks on his head’
Hair matching the description of dreadlocks is mentioned in the Veda scriptures of India, dated to 1800 BC;
Today in India, dreadlocks are spotted among Sadhus (holy men);
Historic accounts suggest that Germanic tribes, Celts, Greeks and the Vikings wore dreadlocks;
Egyptian King Tut (1332 – 1323 BC) wore dreadlocks. It is often, wrongly, assumed that Egypt (officially known as The Arab Republic of Egypt) is an African nation. Egypt is actually the world’s only contiguous Eurafrasian country: a country whose land mass spans two continents from the northeast corner of Africa to the southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge known as the Sinai Peninsula which divides the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

The woman attacking the boy and accusing him of cultural appropriation doesn’t appear to be Egyptian. I can only assume that she is claiming it as part of her African heritage.

But no, that wouldn’t work for her argument either, as all of those cultures far pre-date the historically cited 1930’s Ethiopian Rastafarian protest-borne practice of men wearing their hair in dreadlocks until their Emperor, Ras Tafari, was returned to power.

Her argument certainly doesn’t hold any weight if she’s referring to dreadlocks as a right of Jamaican culture. Real mainstream cultural establishment came when dreadlock sporting, committed Rastafari, Jamaican Bob Marley came into his real fame with the worldwide success of his album, Exodus in 1977.

I’m not sure what culture this woman claims to be part of that this poor student was accused of stealing his look from, but I hope that she is prosecuted and fired for her assault. I also think she better review her knowledge of history before she continues spouting off at people. There are always video cameras/smart phones available to document public ignorance. Hmmm indeed!

An Extra Hour of Sleep (or Bar Time)

On October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 By ls1228In UncategorizedLeave a comment

Before you go to bed on Saturday night, “fall back.” Set your clocks backward one hour. If you live in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or American Samoa, who do not participate in Daylight Saving Time, this doesn’t apply to you.

Benjamin Franklin, first jokingly suggested the idea that Parisians could, “economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead,” in a 1784 essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris.

He wasn’t far off the mark: By changing the clocks an hour forward or backward to better align with the earth’s spring and autumnal shift in angle to the sun, the number of hours one could work productively increased during those seasons and scarce resources used for heat and light (then oil and candles now coal, natural gas and electricity) could be preserved.

Germany was the first to adopt the system in 1915 to save fuel during World War I. The British switched in 1916, and the United States followed in 1918, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which established our time zones. In 1920, the law was repealed. Dairy farmers opposed the time change, citing their cows, who can’t tell time.

During World War II, Daylight Saving Time was imposed again to save fuel. Since then, DST has been used on and off, with different start and end dates. Currently, DST begins at 2:00 A.M. the second Sunday in March and ends at 2:00 A.M. the first Sunday in November.

Officially the time when the change happens is Sunday morning at 2:00 AM. So, if you happen to be in a bar with a patron friendly owner, you may get an extra hour of bar time Saturday night. 😉 Hmmm

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