Indiana In Piscataway - Hoosiers Come from Near and Far

    The year after Curt Cignetti led to the Indiana Hurry'n Football Hoosiers to one of the most remarkable seasons of all time, the Hoosiers are not as strong. Four games in, there are chinks in the armor, along with real injuries. The running backs are the most dinged up. Turbo Richard, number one, was hurt last week against Northwestern on a cheap hit. But he should be back tonight. Dinged up.

    Lee Beebe, the number two running back, as of last night is out! His two hundred yards against the Wildcats perhaps took a toll. Number three tail back, Khobie Martin, has been out all year. He may come back the middle of this October, the middle of the twelve game regular season.

    Number four, by the name of Cuouno, is apparently out. I think he is a true frosh. The number five is another true freshman, and he might be the main runner.

    Not great. But, there may be some walk-ons that could get their schwerve on.

    With Cignetti you never know.

    Rutgers is down, so...

    IU by at least 21. Maybe, hopefully more.

    Go IU. Fight and recover. Let's prepare for tonight and the weeks to come.

 Flushed to the Pages of History

    Like in the books of Bible, this Edward, alias Eduardo, aka a few other things,

    Begat J, and M.  And E. and K. And finally B.

    They lived on and propered, and had their own kingdoms and principalities.

    He lived mostly happy with some travails.

    He worked, paid taxes, drove and somewhat managed vehicles.

    He liked some sports teams, and players,

    Got wrapped up in them, sometimes albeit unneccessarily.

    He was a Boy Scout, in his youth, in that uniform a few times.

    Later he donned other uniforms, even that of clergy.

    He lived and bounced among some languages.

    Wrote things privately, publicly, and withing official channels.

    Part I. Some of him.

 Saturn has 293 Moons. And other Randomalia

    There are about 200 sovereign nations across the earth.

    Palestine is not one of them.

    Nor is Puntland or Somaliland.

    Titan is substantially bigger than our moon.

    My wife thinks it is wrong that our moon does not have a proper name.

    Things in and our world can be wrong.

    Global warming appears to be wrong. Meaning, it is happening, but this is not right to let happen.

 Devin, Harold, and Me - Al Thalath Isdiqa'-- Whoops

    I meant this one: 

Who are Your Saviors? Martyrs? Witnesses? Heroes? Inspirers? Detractors... Can be the Same

    Jesus.

    Mohammed.

    Joeseph.

    Moses.

    Thatcher.

    Nelson.

    Jobs.

    Billionaires.

    Doctors.

    Parents.

    Religious leaders.

    

 Devin, Harold, and Me - Al Thalath Isdiqa'

    Once upon a time in the Middle East, among the sand and the barb wires of the Kingdom of the Al Sabah clan of the once pearl-rich coasts of that vital gulf, these three young men found themselves together. Although, they were not that young overall by age, but perhaps in wisdom and experience each had youth in his own way. Certainly not me, not young in count of years. I was turning or turned 51, an age that my own aged father proclaimed that a man (or woman, person) knows who he is and has nothing left to prove to anyone.

    Age 50, has proven everything?

    Tell that to my bosses, my co-workers, my wife, my children. Nothing left to prove.

    Sure. God grant me another 25 years to to try to prove a little more. Or maybe a lot.

    We came together under different reasons and circumstances. Military, sure. But God has His ways; I believe that He put us together for strong and (understandably) divine purposes.

    I called us the Thalath Isdiqa'- Los Tres Amigos. Individually we had our own powers, but as a trio we seemed to have an extra power and light.

    Not easy or even that sensible to explain. 

    God works in mysterious ways.

    According to Isaiah, His thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways not ours...

    But sometimes He brings us together for a spell.

    Live Devin, in his twenties, Harold, in his thirties, and young middle-age me.

    Peace. Salaam.

 Controversies in My Head - There are Plenty

    There are a plethora of things in my head. Some may be pertinent, others perhaps distractions. First of all (as my dumb computer "errored" and logged me out, erasing my last words here, baseball. Does baseball matter. In some ways, yes. Millions of us in many couuntries aspired to it, so now we watch the best of the rest. Verlander is retiring after his last start. He is all right. Good life, good wife. We think.

    The American systems works for most, right? Despite some hard histories here alone. (More on that later, with a focus on race.)

    My last year terrible White Sox have made the playoffs! It surprised me Friday morning. Cleveland finished first, but Chicago will play in the wild card starting Tuesday. Best wishes. I like Murakami a lot, as a newcomer, but I think maybe Tristan Peters might be the hero to me. Great stories with this team, my favorite in the American League since 1993... I guess.

    My computer froze. Did I lose any words? We must embrace technology.

    Okay, on to controversial things, more.

1. Global Warming. Is is real? Do we need to act more?

2. Palestinian issues. Do they exist? Who grants them status?

3. Blacks in America. More rights than immigrant Latinos? Do we care about the poor of all races? Is there white privilege across the board? In the U.S.? Is Canada better? Are countries in Europe better than the United States?

    I. My son explained to me that the U.S. has bigger vehicles because they get granted larger truck status, thus making it cheaper to have worse emission standards, and the car or truck does not have to be as expensive to make. Is this true in Mexico? Canada? I could see Mexico being more like the United States in more liberal or laxer emission standards. Canada seems cleaner to me. 

    Canada has a lot of wealth, and therefore power. A certain U.S. president may threaten them, but they are not a light weight. Crazy to think that we might actually threaten to take them. While we hardly handle Iran. Russia and China can chomp at the bit.

    But anyway, about global warming. We should spend more to conserve more. But when the real poor struggle to survive, and the fat cats are still greedy way beyond their means, it is harder to prioritize less pollution to our planet, as some people who should know better deny that it is happening, that global warming is real.

    It is. Our planet is getting hotter, more and more ice is melting everywhere. And that matters.

    II. Palestinians exist. They are a people with less rights than most in the world. Arguably, many of them are doing better than some peoples in part of Africa or Asia, or even Latin America. There are struggling poor everywhere. Of all races. But more of that in the last section.

    Gaza is a rough situtation. What will the United States, and Israel, and the United Nations determine? Will the Arab league step in and help? They have money. Power. Status. Influence. Can the Arabs learn to help themselves? The Shia Sunni divide continues to hold back the Arabs, for sure.

    My wife's grandfather McCabe asserted religion was the single biggest killer in world history. I see and acknowledge the point, but there are nuances. Religion does get exploited to justify killing and war, yes. But is this the case in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo? No. It is ethnic there. About class and status, and maybe language. Not so much skin color, but ethnic attribution. And national denomination.

    Palestinians have hurt their causes there, certainly. Israel has continued to gobble up land. No land, no negotiations. That has always been the Arab stance. It always will be. Land is everything.

    No land, no peace. The Israelis under Netanyahu and all their leaders have never stopped encroaching on more and more settlements.

    Although, Sharon removed the occupiers of Gaza in 2005. Then Hamas won elections. Then things got worse... 

    Israel and Palestine cannot co-exist. Millions of Arabs of the Holy Land have second class rights, or third class, worse than Pakistanis and Filipinos in Kuwait or United Arab Emirates, or even Saudi Arabia.

    Second class citizens.

    III.

    

    Blacks in the United States. Still underpriviged. Do they have to work harder? Is it more difficult for Latinos and other foreigners with less American citizenship status? Who has it worst? Are there white people in perpetual lower class status? Can education and opportunity overcome the barriers for all people to succeed?

    In my life, talent and privilege work there way in.

    My past heritage has helped me stay comfortable.

    Hmmm. Not cut and dry.

    Greta Van Fleet. I Saw You Stand. Paradigm Shifting song.

    I will write next in the one I though of in my car: Who is your martyr?

    People of all colors thrive.

    

Indiana Hangs on to Beat the Stubborn, and Talented, Northwestern Wildcats. Doubts Remain.

    Some of my childhood friends were at the game. Evan, a year older than me, and Rob Sa. and Chris Au., both a good 8 to 10 years older, I think. I recall both of them as young men, or young married, taking care of me as a babysitter or while my parents were away. Perhaps when Rob and Ellen did that I was in 7th grade. Chris, staying for an evening, I might have been seven. We liked him.Great folks in my estimation. All guys from my faith community.

    It was a Friday night. My wife mostly slept through it. She needed that break; I liked it.

    Indiana had the boon of letting their two on again/off again defensive linemen play, based on the latest court injunction or order. Weird times. On again and off again. Even up till game time.

    The offense of the IU football team did not do too well the first half. They got their first two points when the Wildcat QB fumbled in the endzone. Hoover, the Indiana QB, did some good things. Becker was stellar, and Turbo Richards was doing great until... the late hit out of bounds. He hobbled out of the stasium. Beebe took the load after, and did well. But this is bad news for IU. Khobie Martin, number 3, has been hurt till maybe mid-October. We need numbers four and five at running back to come in a bit, I think.

    IU led at halfitme, 12-0. Yes.

    The touchdowns were not coming. But the defense was doing pretty well. Scoring points.

    Until the second half. Aidan Chiles and his receivers and his main tight end tore up the IU defense for 22 points. I feel like the safeties for Indiana were lacking. Not enough tackling of the Nortwestern Quarterback either, who was savvy and wily. He impressed me, as did the guys catching those passes.

    Maybe Northwestern is really good, like top twenty? I look forward to see how they play out the year.

    Indiana? Did not play like they are top five. First half defense, maybe. But not the second. Luckily the offense did enough to stay ahead. A key two point conversion was stopped by the Hoosiers. That helped.

    Next stop: Piscataway versus the rather puddly looking Rutgers Knights.

    Some of us might be there.

    Yes. Go IU. 

    We may be developing and improving, as Coach Cignetti intimates.

    I like Devion Shandler. There are good receivers. Hoover needs to find them better. The tight ends, too.

    Play on