Bryce Still Climbing the Charts in April '21: 271, 269, now tied at 266 all time in homers

    I do not pay as close attention throughout the days; I took a weekend trip to Indiana and missed a few games, a couple home runs added by the former Nat great. Meanwhile Juan Soto is out for a spell and not progressing towards the top 1,000 as I had hoped. So we follow Mr. Harper. I may keep it up till he ends, who knows? Even as a Phillie...

    So, last week Bryce was tied with Gabby Hartnett, a 20 year player and Hall of Famer who played from 1922 to 1941, most of the years in between the world wars, which overlaps a great deal with the era of Babe Ruth. Hartnett played for the Chicago Cubs for all those years, and then at age 40, his last season, played 64 games for the New York Giants, clouting all of 5 long ones, hitting just 1 in 37 games in 1939 with the Cubbies, I imagine at Wrigley Field, which is still around; his hay day being a 37 homer year at Gabby's peak in 1930. The first year of the Great Depression was his best.

 

Tied at 269 are Gus Zernial, who played 11 years from 1949 to 1959, and Doug DeCinces, who played for 15 years from 1973 to 1987. DeCinces topped out with 30 home runs in 1982 with the California Angels. Zernial hit 43 in 1953, his career best year, but lead the league in 1951 with 33. Zernial went from the White Sox to the Athletics of Philly, then moved with them to Kansas City before hitting 12 more homers his last two seasons with the Detroit Tigers.

Here is the current list of the three men tied at 266 all time, at 238 home runs:

Averill made the Hall of Fame, playing from 1929 to 1941, retiring at age 31, after 13 years.

Lankford went from 1990 to 2004, done at age 37, after 14 seasons played.

Harper is in his 10th season, still age 28.

266.	Earl Averill+  (13)	238	L	HR Log
	Bryce Harper (10, 28)	238	L	HR Log
	Ray Lankford (14)	238

  

Joseph Smith, Junior: Human Enigma (1805-1844)

Joseph Smith, Junior (1805-1844): Human Enigma

    121 years since the epiphany in 1820, a story that has been recounted millions of times in most countries of the globe and has had some traction in many, mostly Christian (but not exclusively) nations on the earth, the trial, evidence, case, stories, persona, fruits, legacy, character, acts, reputation, and nature of the young American Joseph Smith, who died at the age of 38 and half years-old, is still pertinent to a few. It may grow with time, or it could dissipate.

   While the way of the 21st century is to go ever more increasingly secular, there are the religious traditions of various denominations that hold their powers, authorities, and influences in the modern world. Christianity certainly has its multifaceted followers of every kind. Apart from the modern trends of atheism, agnosticism, scientific empiricism, secular humanism, these systems that often avoid or negate the religious and supernatural beliefs and traditions of most religions, or existential explanations outside of modern rationales, beliefs of the modern world, plus established norms and laws have led us where were are today in the third decade of the 21st century.

 

Other strong religious faiths not in the Christian tradition are still very present in the world today, plus strong political governments and corporations, obviously Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism have huge numbers, while countries like China have their own type of state mandated core beliefs.  

   Back to Christianity: in the early 1800s a movement sprouted up, similar in some ways to others, because of the epiphany and the consequences or aftermath of it, by a young man originating from Vermont and upstate New York. He made very bold claims for his youth and stature, and followed it up with a persistent effort for the next twenty years until his death, viewed by the faithful as martyrdom to the cause.

   Joseph Smith, Junior, who was age 14 at the onset of his string of miraculous doings and claims, gained a reputation as a remarkable if not scandalous and salacious person of his own religious movement, officially named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and at times colloquially and often maliciously known as Mormon, due to a body of alleged scripture that he became responsible for by such name. Members then and since allege that knowing the veracity of that document will lead the investigator to know whether the man who would be prophet is true or not. There are a few thousand still today, who believe in the Book, the Book of Mormon, with also believing that Smith himself became corrupted and fell as a prophet. They of this variety are a few thousand or less, most of whom live around Independence, Missouri.

   Today in the world of 8 billion citizens, most people do not concern themselves with the life or times of Joseph Smith, nor the scriptures which he is responsible for claiming as holy revelations and doctrine, like the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, and some major parts of the translated Holy Bible. Many within Christianity see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as innocuous at best, or malign and false at worst. While it is fair to say that Christians and other people of belief or not recognize that the faith is well meaning and provides good work and actions, others as a  Either a pesky presence where it lies and operates, or considered by some a nefarious influence to others perceiving a non-Bible faith (we have the Bible, plus other scripture) or other different practices, like temple worship and vicarious ordinances for the dead, our ancestors; or simply the Church as it has grown and moves is seen as a competitor in a place of many fervent faiths, to include those with less freedom and openness (Communist China, Myanmar, most Muslim countries).

  For most, no matter the slant or environment, the question comes down to the legitimacy of Joseph Smith, Junior, and his "works". Others who more acceptably or openly ponder the faith and its messages and doctrines, perhaps take personal approaches about repentance through the grace of Jesus Christ, the majesty of His offerings and invitations, and the feelings and convictions of the Holy Ghost on a personal and more intimate level of experience, perhaps allowing feelings of the heart win over the rational calculations of the brain. I do not mean to say this is the irrational over the rational in making decision to accept or reject the faith of the Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, because to many believers in God and/or Jesus Christ the choices to follow Him/them is very logical, deliberate, and empowering.

   There are plenty of people in the West (I cannot be sure of views or opinions in non-Western contexts regarding Joseph Smith) who see him as a philanderer, a pedophile, a quack, and a fraud. On some levels the evidence may seem to point that way. As acknowledged, he did "seal himself" or marry a number of women after his first wife Emma, some of whom were underage. For some people that I know that is enough to slot the Prophet Joseph as off the table of respectability and reason. In 1992, not long after being home from my two year Church of Jesus Christ mission in South America, I remember reading an article/essay in my local paper, perhaps syndicated from somewhere else around the nation depicted Joseph Smith as a sexual predator and a multi-count bigamist, a sham and a fake. A danger not just to the status quo of Christendom, as a false prophet, but simply a bad historical person in any context. 

    In this negative light, the Book of Mormon or any religious claims originating from such a person and his foundations would appear evil or at best misled. 

   Great prophet, a la Moses of the ancient times, or scofflaw, hyperbolic raconteur and fraud, sexual predator? Quite a range of possibilities and outcomes as to the persona and identity of this man, "A Rough Stone Rolling" as coined by some; the claims and the revelations or truths that his followers support and spread and uphold versus those that dismiss him as a huckster or worse.

   I was planning on writing more about Smith, a very common English name but not a common man. Some of us revere his works and presence, less commonly if I might say.  He still reverberates into the 2st century as I write this, his legacy growing in some parts of the world. We his believers hold up the One that he hailed and worshiped more: none other than the Christian God, Jesus Christ. But people like me can understand all the trepidation and misgivings, the doubts and accusations, the rational arguments and dislikes and disgusting takes, those that simply see all religions and their creators or disseminators as wrong, counter to reason and science and true facts. Can supernatural beliefs hold up over time? Can the holy people that we hold up as though remain in such affixed positions? Are they all merely humanly ensconced like the rest of us? It's possible.

 

Alas. 

 

Suffice it for now. 

Enigmatic.

Stigmatic.

Quixotic.

And a hundred other adjectives.

Publishing these words now...

  

Bryce is 271 All Time, tied with 4 others: Jay Bruce done at 122 All Time, age 34

Bryce Harper made it to 271 yesterday in a 2-0 victory, and has achieved 235 career homers this early in his 10th season.

Jay Bruce just called it quits after his 14th season at age 34. 319 all time, tied with father and son power hitters Cecil and Prince Fielders, they having accomplished that many long balls in 13 and 12 seasons, respectively.  

Congrats to Mr. Bruce. Not bad to almost be top 100 all time.

 

Here is who Bryce is tied with after his third homer of the 2021 season:

271.

Johnny Damon (18)

235

L

HR Log

Bryce Harper (10, 28)

235

L

HR Log

Bill Nicholson (16)

235

L

HR Log

Ben Oglivie (16)

235

L

HR Log

Dan Uggla (10)

235

R

 Sixty or So Days in the Fulcrum

"Write what you know"; that is what they say. 

I don't know all that I don't know, that is certain. I remember thinking about that fact or set of facts around eight years ago when I was spending time in a known yet unknown province of a generally war-torn country, a place that some call the "Graveyard of Empires". I guess Alexander the Great went there with troops over 2,000 years ago, helping the Pax Romana take root farther across the Earth. And other powers have settled there since, to include the British, the Soviets, now us Americans.

    History.

   Sting sings in his first solo album, Dream of the Blue Turtles (circa 1985), "history will teach us nothing." This quote likely borrowed and issued by someone else older and wiser. A repetitive theme, upon which many of us can agree. We continue to commit mistakes, and many of those mistake others have committed before us. It seems that too often we cannot learn from our repeated mistakes.

   Hatred, jealousy, competitive greed and avarice, exploitation, violence, on and on... Bad things occur and recur. 

    We do learn or we should learn from the "poets, priests, and politicians" (to quote Sting, again), or we can  perhaps derive lessons and truths from the historians and writers, the wise people and sages of the times and ages. What do we learn, who do we become because of it, what do we aspire to know as a consequence? Who de we list to serve?

   When I was 24 years-old I had the opportunity of a lifetime; now as a 50 year-old, twenty six years past that remarkable summer for me, more than twice that age and having lived some more and seen more and reflected more, read more, been taught more, but also having forgotten some things, and likely not having learned many if not some of the most crucial things that I could have or should have learned, incorporated, internalized, and benefited from. 

   In these last few days, early April, celebrating the Resurrection of the the Savior with Easter, the first half of this spring month, 2021, I have contemplated the time, finite yet somehow eternal, half or mostly forgotten, yet etched and lived, completed, that I was able to do in the what my religious college refers to as the Holy Land.

    Some do not see Israel and Palestine as Holy or sacred, because many do not acknowledge the supernatural aspects of the lands of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, later Moses, David, and eventually for Christians Jesus and the Apostles. Then centuries later it became more significant and holy for the believers of the Prophet Mohammed Quereshi, Peace and Blessins Be Upon Him.  Jewish, Christian, and Muslim believers view the areas on the east side of the Mediterranean, the modern state of Israel, and the occupied territories of the Palestinians, as the "fulcrum" of history for their heritage and the locus of most or many of their holiest locations.

     Jerusalem, in the center of the region, is the fulcrum of the fulcrum, but, there are many other spots of this small pivotal country and its regions that are considered holy and pertinent to the past heritage of faith of a few billion world citizens, yet this Holy Land (to the believers) also plays a seminal part in the current and future of the belief systems, a place that is the "central shaft", a swivel point or hub for so many other things, which involves religions, politics, sociology, military affairs and concerns, trade, perceptions, human rights, and on.

   Some Palestinians consider themselves continued victims of the European Holocaust, the awful reign of Adolph Hitler, targeting mostly Jewish people but many others. Why do they think this way? Israel came to be because of that terrible time and genocide, and now the Palestinian homeland has been at times brutally occupied ever since.

    Many Americans do not see it this way. More Europeans see it from the Palestinian angle, but we have to be careful of coming across anti-Semitic. Dangerous signals and messages, but above all, there is too much hate and competition for these places... 

    There are few simple or easy ways to fix the issues, the claims to Israel and Palestine.

    Again, the analogy of a fulcrum, a site of importance that allows other parts to move and operate. To me, as I understand physics, mechanics, and reality, a fulcrum is a place of pressure and is vital to the functionality of a system or set of systems that continue to move, or not.

Below is the Oxford definition of the word:

fulcrum

[ˈfo͝olkrəm, ˈfəlkrəm]NOUN

fulcrum (noun) · fulcra (plural noun) · fulcrums (plural noun)

1. the point on which a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots.

   synonyms:

   central shaft · axis · axle · swivel · pin · hub · spindle · hinge · pintle · kingpin · gudgeon · trunnion 

    

   1.1a thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation.

   • "research is the fulcrum of the academic community"

ORIGIN

late 17th century (originally in the general sense ‘a prop or support’): from Latin, literally ‘post of a couch’, from fulcire ‘to prop up’.

Powered by Oxford Dictionaries

     

    Once upon a time in the middle of the 1990s I was able to be in and around this "fulcrum" of history and humanity for sixty days; it was summer. What did I see, feel, learn, be impressed by, bothered by, vexed by, or pleased with, impressed by? What did I miss? What have I forgotten? What shook me, or left me different? What did I not learn? Prior to this in-person visit, for more than two decades I had seen and learned and shared things from afar, but then I was there. Did it make a difference that I was so close to the locations of the Bible and the wars, as opposed to reading it in books and watching films and television series about it?

 

   I am not sure. Hence this review and discussion, the musings of 26 years later...

   I will number things as I recall and recount, to help a bit of the flow.

 

  1. Flying into Tel Aviv on the American international flight was long. We flew from JFK, New York City; I do not think that we laid over in Europe. Maybe London? I do not think so. A year later I found out that this flight, that the very plane, apparently, blew up over the ocean on the way to France. It was ruled as a mechanical error, not a terrorist act or an accidental U.S. missile, but either way it was a bad way for those passengers to disappear so violently. We never know when a trip may not work out.

   This is conjecture and reflection after the trip, certainly humbling. We do this after so many lessons and life experiences, we review and recall what might have been: we live on, get hurt at times, take ill, or even die. I did not do any of those negatives. Hurra. And hurrah.

   2. As we alighted onto the tarmac of Tel Aviv, this late day of June, the last week of that summer month, I believe in the morning (as we  flew overnight), the largest amount of passengers aboard seemed to be Israelis or Jewish; they did something that came across as heartfelt and emotional, thankful and excited. They applauded. They were home, it seemed. And, for a guy like me, a student and believer in the Bible, having never been to any of Asia, or Africa, one who had done his share of studies, travels, classes, actions, life goals, based on the God of the Holy Land, it was a bit of a homecoming for me and my fellow students. We were a group of about 155, mostly Americans (or all?) some of whom I had met, and many others that I would soon come to know. 

 3. I probably saw armed security at the airport with uzis (Israeli-made sub-machine gun); I had been in airports like that in South America. Security was a big deal. We were warned never to leave a bag unattended or it might be targeted as a bomb.

 

 4. We boarded one of four buses to ride inland to Jerusalem and our study center. It was a Mediterranean climate, like Chile where I had lived.  Dry lands and rocks, not too green, but the palm trees and other scrub brush. Buildings and homes were made of rock, like that found in the surrounding environment.

 5. The Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, finished around 1987, is a beautiful building complex, which has tremendous views and vistas of the Old City. The Palestinians appreciate it, take wedding photos there, and it is a nice, quality edifice. We were blessed to have such a nice place, with both Arab and Israeli security.

6. The Kidron Valley, with the summer dried up "River Kidron", is only a small wadi-like creek separating Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives from the Old City and the ramparts of the Jewish, Greek, and Muslim Quarters.Parts of it smelled of rubbish. We would cross it down the hill to approach the city of central Jerusalem.

7. There were many Christian churches all around. I thought that being in East Jerusalem there would be more mosques, and as a Jewish country more synagogues. No, as I see it now: this nation is the fulcrum. More on that later.

8.  The Arabs and Israelis, with the scattered other nationalities among them, were hard to distinguish at first glance. I had thought I would be able to tell the differences more easily. If they dressed modern, for 1990s, they looked as though they were the same.

10. My fellow Americans could be pleasant but also be a source of consternation. This went for me, too.

11. I had good professorial teachers, both of religious knowledge and secular history. They were all Americans, U.S. citizens, but many or most had spent many years living and breathing up their versions of the Middle East, to include Egypt. Westerners in an Eastern land. Some of them knew Jewish culture or practice extremely well.

12. We traveled through the Negev Desert, south to reach the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Sinai Peninsula, which is Egypt but still part of Asia. The land of Moses and the 12 tribes and their wanderings, dozens of generations ago and a bunch of us Western Christians seem to resonate with the story, as we have undoubtedly Westernized it to our fashion, but in the Christian sense we see our history connected through the Abrahamic patriarchies, back and back to Adam and Eve.

 

13.  I have been raised to be Christian, in an "American"  (U.S.-based and originated) organization, and outlier among Christendom in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, yes, but Christian and devoted in many ways like millions of others in many countries and cultures. A devotee in most senses of the word. Being in this atmosphere, also as a large aficionado or student of history and current affairs, this was an amazing place to be. The crossroads of so much of who we are and portend to be, according to many. And, there is the drama of the ugliness remaining in history, too, the pain and the bloodshed. All of it was here.

14. Linguistically I had been studying and exposing myself to Arabic and the cultures of the Middle East for years, both formally and informally. It was really satisfying to be up close and personal with many things and elements there. I had taken two college years, more or less, to try to get closer to the knowledge and understanding of the  ancient and modern grand mysteries of the world: there is so much to learn. I wanted --I always have wanted -- to know key things, to explore with the mind, heart, soul. Some might call that intellect, but at minimum I deem it a penchant for curiosity. This was a scratch of that itch, or itches, for sure. Over a decade and a half later, much of those mysteries and itches still remain. And here I am, still searching through my mind, heart, and soul, still searching, thinking about, contemplating, reflecting, wondering, gathering, observing.

15. We are all sensors. I watched in the the late 1970s as Iran and Afghanistan went through their internal and revolutionary struggles; men in turbans in foreign lands and desert landscapes crying for justice and vengeance, the mujahadeen of those awful scenes of blood, toil, and explosions. I watched the bullet ridden streets of Beirut into the 1980s, the other images of Palestinian hostage takers of airlines landing on grounds across the globe, pushing their grenades and firearms out the pilot windows, demanding their needs and wants, a cause bigger than money, you could feel the urgency despite not understanding the urges to such acts, so desperate, daring, usually futile, yet so bold.

 

16. I had many sublime and good religious and spiritual experiences in this study abroad and these famous and less known locations. I had a good time, there were really good people that I spent time with. It is hard to express what it all meant and means and can mean to me, to my faith, to my country, to humanity, to history.

 

    Can you see some of my dilemma? How do we all fit in this space of love and hate, toil and strife, milk and honey, strength and pride, humiliation and vexation, all mixed together?

   

Summary

   I was in the land of the Arabs of the Jews, and still more Christians; a place of refuge and relief, and at the same time a place of occupation, angst, and suppression, awesome jet planes and well armed troops in every other sector, stone throwing boys against the tanks and water cannons on an animated Friday afternoon, suicide bombers at the bus stops, Bible sites surrounded by Roman and Chaldean and Philistine and Canaanite and Hittite and a hundred other -ites' ruins, all centered on the Place, the elevated table, the sacred ground where Father Abraham was to sacrifice his only begotten, whether Isaac or Ishmael, according to traditions. Two thousand years later another singularly begotten man of some renown laid Himself in a lowly meadow, which was in essence a raised platform of humanity and souls, an olive press, in modern terms a fulcrum, that would squeeze the life blood from him like the fruit of the ancient trees surrounding Him. As C.S. Lewis featured a hill where all the creatures of creation and all the Sons and Daughters of Adam would congregate at the Last Battle and thereafter, where the world, our once and future Celestial Earth, was bigger and brighter and deeper and richer, more aromatic and defying any definitions and  descriptions of its beauty; so we have come to Mount Moriah in the Old City where millions approach it, and cover their heads in utter respect for the Master of the Universe, the Lord of Lords, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Yes, I went there for a few short days twenty six years ago. Two months go fast, memories and moments are left alone, dry up, are forgotten from the conscious memory; perhaps the subconscious holds on more effectively.  I try to go back there, to the Holy places and the smelly grounds, the sun and sand and rocks and fields, in my dreams and in some waking moments, like this. I may go back still, all things in due course. I invite you to go, to see, to smell, to feel, to live and even die in a way there, to take in and absorb the fulcrum of our human history, where our shared ancestors fought for their rights and temples and beliefs and kingdoms or fiefdoms, for spouses and sons and daughters and legacies and some heresies.

   Set yourself in the pivotal point of humanity, the fulcrum of the ages, the sacred and the profane, the humble and the lifted up. The exalted, the debased. The Holy City, the Arabs call Jerusalem al-Qodz, as do the Farsi speaking Persians, as a billion plus other billions look to the city and land at the center of their holy and less than holy thoughts and aspirations, millennial plans and prophesies; prognostications and hopes of a future City of Peace, a World of Mighty, Massive Finality and Unity.

   Justice will prevail, Israel will prevail, God will prevail. Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah will bear His great, powerful, arm, and His own will know Him. They, hopefully we, shall bow their and our heads, kneel as a lowly beast of burden, prostrate themselves as vassal to His Lord, but even more, a baby chick to the great mother hen.

   Go to the center point, the hub, the fulcrum, and be crushed in the wonder and glory of it all.

   I would like to go there once more. I want all of us to go to that raised setting, too. Deeper, farther, richer, brighter, fuller, fairer, nicer, kinder, warmer, cleaner, more glorious and simple than the mind can understand. So plain and sublime that you will know it as you do your own home, your own mother, your own life and future and past. You will be there, and God will say it is good, and well done.

  

 

    

Bryce Harper Makes it to 275 All Time; Chris Davis Done at 156 at age 37?

Bryce Harper Makes it to 275 All Time; Chris Davis Done at 156 on the list at age 37?

Bryce, the now third year (2.5 with the pandemic of 2020) Philly out of the City of Brotherly Love, has made it to 275th all time, tied with four others, with two early April homers in the new full season of 2021. He should get a few, he seems to be in good shape. He could or should hit 40 dingers this year, all things normal. No more crazy COVID-19 cancellations; no wars, hurricanes, riots, pandemonium, or other national or natural crises or catastrophes. We continue to pray for normalcy in almost all things, and baseball. Nothing doing in Toronto, yet either. We are too sick down here in the states for those healthy Canucks up north. No disrespect mean to our neighbors to the north; I truly enjoy and love Canada. They are uptight about all the travel during the pandemic, and we understand the concerns. People get sick and die, arguably too much.

Here are players that Bryce is currently tied with, plus the guy before:

275.	Carlos Gonzalez (12)	234	L	HR Log
	Bryce Harper (10, 28)	234	L	HR Log
	Gary Matthews (16)	234	R	HR Log
	Kevin Mitchell (13)	234	R	HR Log
	Paul Molitor+ (21)	234	R	HR Log
280.	Cliff Floyd (17)	233 L    HR Log

Not a bad list. CarGo was a pretty nifty hitter for 12 years, Gary Matthews, the "Sarge" with the beloved Cubs, was a big burly guy at the friendly confines, for much of his 16 years. Kevin Mitchell had some memorable years with the San Fran Giants, and maybe the Mets of Queens. Paul Molitor was a Hall of Famer in his long 21 year career, memorably with the Brewers (American League then) and finishing with the Blue Jays, I believe a champion, speaking of Canada.

Cliff Floyd, at 280 all time and 233 home runs in 17 seasons, is not bad. He played with the Expos and a few others, and was big, and strong, and talented.

     I wish to make a note about long time former Oriole Chris Davis, who is now age 37 and apparently done with his interesting career. He achieved 156th all time on the leaders board in home runs with 295 in 13 seasons. Too bad he could not make the 300 club, which 151 players occupy. The difference between 156 all time and 151 is not great, but to say one has joined the 300 club is elite company. Those magic historic career numbers for the greatest: 151 guys with 300; only 57 with 400; 27 with 500; nine with 600; the triumvirate of the greats, Ruth, Aaron, and Bonds. They all bespeak their generations, in many ways.

Davis fell off the hitting charts precipitously and painfully in 2019 and 2020 (the 60 game shortened season of last fall). The pandemic shortened season saved a lot of embarrassment and provided was rewarding to many teams and players, for simply participating, especially the Dodgers. Congrats to their consistent greatness for many years. First time since the 1988 miracle workers with the Bulldog Orel Hershiser.

   I wish Davis well and I empathize. A great player in his day who hit a wall, and now will be just shy of the bigger group of 151.

Returning to Bryce Harper, the man who bats left but throws right, is still young at 28, and now in his 10th season. He is not as good as mind-boggling Mike Trout, but Bryce and a few others like Machado and Arenado or some Astros and others do not have to be to get their career numbers into the 300s and 400s, as is expected, all things normal enough.

 And, if things are fortuitous enough for some of the above, they may become the legends of 500, 600, and 700.

Trout is now at 306 career homers, tied at 142nd all time, only 29 years old. Pujols is 41 years old, with 663 career homers, still knocking them out.

Baylor Bears Triumphant Over Formerly Undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs

Baylor Bears Triumphant Over Formerly Undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs, 2021

    I was prepared for the Dogs to go undefeated and match the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, a home town team that I was too young to appreciate when it happened. I was ready to move on, and let the Zags have that greatness attached, taking from my home state of Indiana and my alma mater.

 

    But the Bears showed up and played better. Quite a bit better than their previously perfect foes. I think, as many others, that the Saturday night UCLA game took some out of them, the West Coast Conference darlings of the last 20 or so years. The WCC more recently added my Utah alma mater Brigham Young as an opponent, which has raised the level of play in this smaller Catholic dominated league; Gonzaga may have been lagging for the championship last night due to a scramble and classic game with another former school of mine, UCLA. Meanwhile the Baylor Coach, Scott Drew, comes from the Hoosier state and foiled the dandies of Spokane, Washington.

 

    Bob Knight's Hoosiers remain the perfect team from the Bicentennial, 45 years ago; Gonzaga joins Larry Bird's 1979 Indiana Sycamores as the last perfect team to be spoiled in the final. Four other college division one teams entered the tourney perfect, including a loaded, scary, Kentucky team not too many years ago, and a crazy good UNLV team in 1991, but they lost in the Final Four semis.

   Scott Drew, the architect of of this awesome Baylor squad, grew up in northern Indiana, then graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis.

   I guess the ghost of the Hoosiers is haunting Gonzaga and all these undefeated teams since.

   The spirit of '76.

  It remains in Indiana, in Monroe County, at Assembly Hall. Not where they played last night, at Lucas Oil Stadium at Indy. Or rather, the phantasm may have done its haunting there. And kept things secure 50 miles to the south.

   

 China: The Past, Present, and Future

    I just finished reading a 10 page special report about the youth of China, the jiulangghou, or something like that. In the Economist. This magazine is one of the best on the planet. Check it out.

[I started this in March; I will finish it now in April, 2021, hopefully].

 

      Some 118 million? or 180 million of their generation born in the ... 1990s? Or 1980s? I have to re-visit the details to make it right, but the point was how a large cohort of Chinese younger generation are doing things in patterns and trends that affect China now, and into the future, and thus the world.

 

    China is obviously a huge part of our planet. It always has been; in some ways in the 21st century it will be more important than ever. Why? The large population and the long, rich, deep history of China has always been an intrinsic part of our shared human history, but now the flows of money, influence, power, military, and cultural politics is bigger than ever because the Chinese government, which in its unique way represent the many more than billion people of the this now wealthy and strong nation, a juggernaut that continues to up-size and expand, will have ever more sway in all the goings and doings, comings and goings of our interactions. Prices, fuel, drugs, commodities, ecosystems and pollution, arms, space travel, technology, art, communication, legal battles, maritime claims and fishing, human rights and religious freedoms, art, travel, academics. They are one fifth of the world's input, if not output, in many ways.

   Xi Jinping is the head of the people, and the Communist Party, as the other presidents before him, taking the reigns from Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin before them, one from 2003 for the previous ten years, and the latter from 1993 through '03.  Could we envision a female Chinese leader? Not yet. How do the Chinese deal with LGBT+ issues? Not as open as the West, assuredly.  Apparently their plans are more about economic prosperity and might, a much more collective vision of success than the rest of the more free thinking and liberal Western world, where rules of human behavior have their free thoughts of individuality and expression, beyond the needs of the millions, the West has turned toward the lone consumer and his/her/their rights rather than some super collective which was Marx and other communists' dreams, which resulted in the countless nightmares of all of us.

    All of this is subjective to me and my knowledge and impressions, which is not the least informed of my contemporaries; I follow quite a bit of conventional wisdom, albeit Western-based, and religious from my angle. But I do read the major articles from American and other sources, to include the British-based Economist and few other foreign sources. Sure, I am an American, and I tend to think conservatively, but I am open minded and realistic to fathom that the world can be very good and cooperative and also can be very bad, very dark and scary. Both things can be happening at once, even.

    Take this pandemic, for example. Likely started in China' they are acting as if they did not start it purposely, in a science lab in Wuhan, that only some 4,000 plus died of it, less than 100,000 contracted it, and that they are not to be blamed for all the misinformation and since obfuscation of the truth and records that have tracked it, grossly impairing the rest of the world in the scientific and medical communities and likely costing millions of lives and heartache, not to mention the loss of employment, education, stress, increased drug use, violence, suicide and death. We have all witnessed this, or most of us have in the United States. China needed to cooperate more fully and they have not. Ask international bodies like the World Health Organization, not just the Atlanta-based CDC (Center for Disease Control). China has been woefully non-transparent, which is par for their course.

 

    The Uigher of Xinjiang have been amassed in concentration camps in the hundreds of thousands for the intent of "re-education", mass forced labor, and more recently I have come to find out systematic rape and abuse.

    No, China. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

   Fact check: The youth of the 90s in China number 188 million now. They have many more men than women, and would currently be in their twenties. Most are singletons.

   Other facts gathered from the special.

   1. Many youth are returning home to their rural roots after college education. It is not as necessary to stay in urban centers to be successful and get along.

   2. The city of Chengdu appears to have a rebellious vibe, a place where original people of expression and almost dissent is the trend.

   3. Civil and political rights in Hong Kong have now become normalized to the rest of the nation, to the chagrin of many of them and the rest of the world.

    China offers much good, much bad, and simply a lot to chew on. Do some Americans and others choose to raise their children learning Chinese still? Is this the continued pattern in the West?

    Will Chinese controls on pollution work to reduce gases and dangerous toxins from the environment and atmosphere? Will Chinese foreign students commit intellectual espionage which will only go to benefit their military (People's Liberation Army) and the Communist Party?

   There was more I was thinking about in the past regarding this great nation, as Western countries exploited China in the last centuries, and there is ample resentment from that, not to mention the occupation of Japan last century... 

   But this will do for now.

   Chew on it.

The Russians are Still Coming

 April Fools, 2021. Russia is still Russia. 

   The Russian Empire, as it were, has been a growing presence for hundreds of years, and despite the wishes and even metrics of negative decline that are observed of it, Mother Russia seems to be as active as ever, marching on with power and influence.

    The United States and the Western countries fear this, some more than others, because Russia has proven to be belligerent and cruel, even as recently as the last few years, for the West more recently in Syria, defending the now considered pariah son of Hafez Al-Assad, Bashar Al-Assad. Many of us naively believed that the Arab Spring of 2011 would sweep away such lifetime autocrats, but this son has proven as sticky and gritty as his father, or even more so. His dad was bad back in the 1970s and 1980s; now the son has proven even worse. But the country is not what it used to be, which is comforting to many, where at least some independent Syrians, claiming to be free or liberty seeking, or the oft abused Kurds are staking their claims, but along with the necessary presence of Turks, in formerly controlled Syrian sovereign space of the north. The U.S. has its stakes south nearer Jordan and Iraq, and then there are replete Shia powers, to include both Lebanon to the southwest and Iraq and Iraq to the east, closer and farther, respectively.

   Russia swooped in militarily in 2015, as a surprise to many, to save the Assad regime against the freedom fighters and the jihadi terrorists, not to mention Irani-backed militias, this a repressive government and country that had leaned socialist/communist in the past, friends of the former U.S.S.R. Surely Russia wishes to have power, control, influence, military sway, and placement in a vital part of the world. This was after the crazy paradigm changing year of 2014, where after the nice and peaceful Winter Games in Sochi (southern Russia), the Russian government supported the ethnic Russians of eastern Ukraine to overtake Crimea, a hugely important part of the former Soviet independent and Western leaning bread basket and wealthy Soviet Empire.

   Russian military had their way in Georgia in 2008, and practiced a lot of warfare in the interior Autonomous Republic Chechnya in the 1990s, a very grisly affair. Russian shows no signs of changing, as perpetual president in place Vladimir Putin will continue to push the might is right policy of pushing its way and politics through money and troops, now to include mercenaries and former military "advisors" in many conflicted nations.

     Mercenaries travel and military advisors consult and guide, a lot like the United States, sure, many would argue fairly. But, there are profound and subtle differences between Americans who go around the world as pay-for-hire versus the Russians, and this from an American, I admit my biases. We all like to make money, this is the root and driving force of so much weapons traffic and armed conflicts in many hot and cold spots across the globe. 

   The Russians have their aims, culturally, militarily, politically, economically, and in sheer force of geography. Sea ports, trade, power and control. Expansion, as truly great (powerful and/or terrible) nations do.

   And thus, this empire has not ended, and it looks to grow again after a few decades of seemingly diminishing. Romney was right when laughed at in 2012 in the fall debate; China looms there, too, but the Russians are more like us in many ways, and thus they are the competition against which we are pitted for places in Asia and hearts and minds in Asia, Africa, South America. Apparently we know and purport that they care a bit about U.S. domestic politics and our home affairs as well. The Russians wish to make us as divided as possible in cyber wars and social media, makes sense. Soft but passive-aggressive war and and interference, or "influencing", as some call it now.

    Russians: not all bad, but certainly not all good.

    We have similar goals and aspirations, claims and strategies. We have competed with them harshly before, and we continue to do so.

   The Great Game is still afoot, the British are with us, as other Western powers, as they of the English-speaking isle based empire fought Russians going on two centuries ago, and perhaps the theory of Halford Mackinder is actually and truly in effect, for "he who controls the center [meaning Asia, the world's largest land mass] controls the world." This theory was developed largely before the oil and gas deposits were discovered and exploited, and also before maritime and air and now space transport and conveyance were so strongly at play. With satellites and cables and the Internet of Things, the world has changed in its geographic "center", as it was. But some things from the 19th century have not changed. Key spots and choke points are still key to the world's power structures. He/she/they that hold the most vital territories win the game.

   And the quest for world power continues; Russia will not rest.

   Neither will we; we stay vigilant. Whether we vote left or right, the American people do not sleep too easily on a country with forceful ambitions, whether in the Western Hemisphere next door, ever true the Monroe Doctrine, or across the oceans where we send troops for essential or debated flareups. We have our own problems in house in the 2020s, certainly, but we are used to seeing problematic bullies crop up across the maps. It happens every generation, at least.

 

   We will see you around the corner, sooner or later, big bullies. Threaten your own people of their rights or the smaller countries by your side, we stand by ready to counter your coercion and potential violence or suppression.

 

   Although Star Trek or Arthur C. Clarke in the 2001 Space Odyssey film series predicts, someday we may be friends, or much more friendlier when it comes to dealing with each other and our neighbors, maybe the West and the East, that great land ruled by Moscow, will get along in good fashion as time progresses. Who knows?

   Till then.

  

Tear the Scab Off and Heal, Hoosier Basketball Fans

    IU has a new basketball coach hired a couple days ago in the 63 year-old former super player Mike Woodson, acquired for a hefty price in the ending week of March Madness 2021.  The entire Division I tourney this end of winter into spring is being played in Indiana for reasons of Covid-19 protocols. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers finished poorly and are not there! Guys are transferring after the latest unsuccessful coach is fired in Bloomington, my dear home town of sports and nostalgia. However, I recognize the curses of such nostalgia, and now we must exercise those gods and demons of the past, while resurrecting others... 

 

    We, the Hoosier faithful, have had other promising new coaches since the departure of legendary Bob Knight's forced  replacement Mike Davis, three times in the last decade plus, in Kelvin Sampson, Tom Crean, and Archie Miller. They all tried. Of course they did. Paid good money. Sampson got caught for cheating, and he learned from it, while now his mighty good Houston Cougars will face another former Indiana connection in the well coached Scott Drew's Baylor Bears. Two Texas teams vying for college basketball greatness, a place us Indiana fans use to know and revel in. We loved it. But again, this love for the past helps us torment ourselves in the present and since, since we have had the joys and delights of being the best, the last team standing

    Then there is Gonzaga and UCLA on the other side of the brackets of the Final of this spring, as all of us are surviving the pandemic; the bracketology that I have failed miserably in predicting in our family brackets challenge, because I guessed heavily on Big-Ten teams, highly rated but all failed pretty spectacularly, which lead to my ruin . Gonzaga is the best of the present, and UCLA has been the best of the past. They go head to head, a rare match up from the West Coast.

Ghosts. Those are the ones that haunt us, tantalize us, drive some of us to be less family-oriented than we should be, less committed to church or other good causes than we ought to be, mesmerizing me with the hopes of a great victory over some ranked team, or a good old fashioned beat down of a marginal one.

   Indiana is supposed to be both the giant and the giant killer, as it was in the past. Fun to watch, like living out the fantasies of Bible and adventure stories, all wrapped into one.

   The Indiana tradition of excellence in roundball in Bloomington started long before my parents moved there in 1967. The second year of the NCAA tourney, in 1940, back in the Great Depression, those old time Hoosiers won the crown, a good year plus before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. They followed up with another championship banner at the end of the Korean War in 1953. But then enter the former Army coach Robert Montgomery Knight, and the really good times were in session.

   The heralded 1976 undefeated team, followed by the "Celebrate Good Times" Isaih Thomas-led Hurry'n Hoosiers of '81, and then finally the poised and unruffled overachieving Steve Alford champions of 1987, Knight's last of three. We struggled to see Knight not get back to much success, Duke overwhelming a very talented 1992 Final Four squad, and then fading off into ignominy. The new century brought the zero-tolerance policy, the firing, and the litany of coaches since, to include short lived assistant and former player Dan Dakich.

  Ghosts, goblins, demons, and witches have haunted us since. Players from Indiana who avoid coming. Others that do but leave early, or play injured, or just end up being not good enough.

   It has been too long since any March success. We are haunted. We need to excise the ghosts and phantasms of seasons past.

   Perhaps Gonzaga going undefeated in a few days will allow us stalwart hangers-on of former greatness of the 70s team to excise the mystical power of that era, to move on and let us open up our souls to a future team without the pressure of those past expectations.

   Mike Woodson had to deal with those hopes all four years in Bloomington, and he never met them as a player. 

   Now he is here in the twilight of his career as a coach, doing the same thing as the others attempted for the last twenty one years. A life time of no banners.

    The quest for number six. 

    Since the fifth banner in 1987 when I was in high school, Kentucky has added three, North Carolina four, and Duke five. Even UCLA added another, to top out at eleven total.

   UConn and Villanova had added multiple rings, and other schools have done well: Florida, Kansas.

   Let's see what the next six years bring with Woodson and those that he can convince to play in B-town. Six is the key to making the miracle and the mystery unfurl.

   The wound of recent decades will be healed, in time.

   We hope.

  Go, Hoosiers. C'mom Mike, bring us home.