Four of the Five Never Winners have a Chance 100 Games In - 60 or So to Go

    I am a fan of the Nationals and the White Sox. They both are playing well enough to make the post-season. But, I admit, I have enjoyed watching them both win the World Series. The D.C. Nats in 2019, the same year I went to Louisiana the last time, and 2005, when I was ensconced in Angol, Chile. The Pale Hose had their year. 

    Who is left, these Never Winners? They are the fingers and thumb of one hand. 2026 may change some fates. Perhaps the Old Man and the Sea watches for such white whales or fish? A catch is a catch, an obsessive passion for bringing in the beast, whatever it is (m-dashes needed), to capture and conquer. A ring, a win, a bounty 

    The woebegone Colorado Rockies are down and out. When will they ever have a championship caliber team? Who knows? My daughter has not been in the state quite a year, yet. However, she nor her boyfriend care for baseball, so that is two less fans of the game in the mountainous climes surrounding Denver. Alas, the mile high city must suffer with the forlorn and the vanquished Rockies. Long gone are the days of Larry Walker, Vinny Castillo, and other greats. No pitching, or not enough in the high elevations of the Rockies, the same moniker curses them to mediocrity.

    The ball flies and pitching is forever pained and bruised. How can a World Series come here? It snows in October, right? Somewhat cursed, these would-be ski bums. Well below .500 with a week to go in July. No chance.

    How about the okay, middling, but talented San Diego Padres? No reaching the dynamic Dodgers up the coast, but a wild card team can get hot, as the Nationals did seven years ago. They have talent, as we know. Machado, Merrill, having a down year but could rebound, and the once-caught cheating Fernando Tatis. They need better clutch pitching, I am sure. It would be really dandy to see these lovable losers do the thing this fall. Go Pads. Pods.

    Three more with even better seasons and chances: the Milwaukee Brewers, playing lights out. Tampa Bay Rays, doing so well. And last, but not least among them, are the Seattle Mariners. What could be if the Pacific Northwest were to bring home a crown of the World Series?

    What will be this fall? Los Angeles again? The Braves? The Yanks? The Beantown Red Hose? The Phillies? 

    Let's get some new blood, some new legends of the Fall Classic. Padres versus Mariners? Rays versus Brewers? No beer, only victories. 

    We do not need Kurt Kobain Jimi Hendrix drugs to get high. We just need some beautifully played series and games.

    See you this fall. 

    Baseball.

 Which of the Sins Have Hold of Me?

    A close friend asked me yesterday, Sunday, what sins or bad habits do I have. I listed a few, maybe four. Then I realized that the Seven Deadly Sins are applicable to a lot of us, so I volunteered that I am affected by 6.5 of the seven. What are they?

    

1. Pride, or vainglory
2. Greed, or covetousness
3. Lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire
4. Envy
5. Gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness
6. Wrath, or anger
7. Sloth, or acedia

8. Yes, I have suffered from all of the above.

9. And the sins are sub-sins of the above.

 Scotland 1268

    There once was a noble family in the highlands that had a parcel of children. They had raised them successfully and most of them into adulthood. Their third child, a son, went to be a preacher in the mainland, to work for the Lord in the southern Mediterranean, where he mixed with Moors and Mohammedans. He enjoyed inviting them to partake of the sacraments of Christ.

    They were the McNamaras; their name was good. Their son, Scotty, returned and met with a young lady that he fancied. She came from the coastal lowlands. She was nice, and pretty, and they both liked and loved each other, but they were not completely sure of their future together, so they held off from becoming fianced to one another.

    One day, almost tragically, but not quite, Scotty fell from a horse-driven cart, and hit his head tremendously. He did not die right off but things were serious. His family drew him in and got him the best medical and spiritual treatment. His beloved, or near beloved, but not fianced, came to see him bedridden.

    But the McNamaras were not sure that this was best for him. Maybe the passions or feelings that he had for her, Melinda, would agitate him and cause him further ruin, and rather than allow him to rehabilitate, the connection would worsen him.

    Melinda had a hard time understanding. But she had faith in God, and she forbeared, and felt that Scotty would recover as God almighty would want him to.

    But it hurt not to see him, or speak to him, even though she felt that she knew that he wanted her to be there. The family wanted what was best for their son.

    30 years later, the tale was written.

    And faith withstood the test of time.

 What Languages do You Get? What Cultures do You Partake In?

    I speak English. My parents are from Massachusetts, so we have that affectation from New England. Funny stuff. Almost wicked funny.

    Booth and Hall are from there. Some connections. Like I have through professional colleagues. A couple from Maine.

    My cousins still up there.

    Mark and Karen.

 Glad I am Not Elon Musk - Let Me Count the Ways

    Call me a hater, sure. I do not like this guy, who I have never met, for a few reasons. Part of me is jealous for a few reasons, like intellect, power, and wealth.

    But I am truthful when I declare that I am grateful not to be him. Why

    1. Not cool to be partially responsible and associated with at least 700,000 people suffering and dying.

    Not cool. Has this happened? USAID disruptions and defunding alone have led to many deaths. Mostly in Africa. The facts are largely findable, and the numbers may vary. 

    Musk is a year younger than me. I hope to outlive him, but we shall see. But I am willing to bet by the end of his days, he will resent and regret the influence that the president had in pushing him to cut off millions of dollars of humanitarian and medical aid to desperate, sick people, in likely dozens of countries.

    Shame on him and us. Deplorable. Sick. Sad. Wrong. We do not let people die like that.

    Hitler does. Stalin does. Pol Pot does. Idi Amin does. The U.S. president and the wealthiest man in the world?

    What in the world. Where are we? Who are we? When are we?

    I have children, so does Musk. I am luckier by far.

    I feel bad for him in some ways. As much I can be down on some of my own luck and wondering about savings and the economic hopes that I have for me and mine, Musk has a lot of weird or crazy legacies that I would not want for me.

    I am not perfectly normal; I have failed in many ways. But I would not trade my fate for his.

    Ex-wives and lovers?

    No. I am blessed.

    Counting my blessings that I am not him.

    Strange way to account for things, but true.

    Blog it. 

 A Covenant People, a Zion of Christianity

    There are all types of Christians. But the people of the covenant of the Church of Jesus Christ are a people of choicest choices.

    We are inheritors of the Abrahamic covenant, to have prosperity and land, peace and posterity for ever and ever.

    I gave a talk quoting prophets and the Prophet, Jesus Christ. In Doctrine and Covenants He told Joseph that if we are not one, we are not His.

    Let us be His. I quoted President Oaks, Lehi, spoke of our commitment to Heavenly Father, to come here and serve Him. And then Brigham Young, which he spoke of exaltation. Becoming more like God, going back to Him.

    My talk had some basic notes about these things. Individual and collective covenants with God.

    More later.

 Love is Blindness; Love is Seeing - Love is Amazing

"And I love her." 

--The Beatles

 I Shall not be Cuckold to the Ghost of Another

    I had her.

    She was mine.

    She still is.

    But there was a moment,

    A day, 

    A year,

    When I lost her.

    I was lost, she was wandering.

    Looking for me.

    I had to find out where I was.

    Who I was.

    And find her where we were.

    We were ours.

    We were ours.

 The Nationals Played Good and Then Failed, All 3 Last Games Against the Yanks

    The last three days before the All-Star break, our hometown Nats were above .500. Bu the Yankees climbed back into each game in the last innings, swept the home team, and now the long-time struggling Nats are one below. 48-49.

    A shame, reallly, because they had good starting pitchers, okay offense, enough to win... But did not.

    Three times in a row.

    I hope that they recover.

    The last part of the season awaits. We shall see.

 Lindsey Graham: Dead at 71

    I found out this Sunday morning that he had died unexpectedly of a rare or random illness. 

    Surprise. One of the most powerful, popular Republicans in the Congress, in the Senate.

    This year, 2026, may not be a very good year for Republicans. The ongoing war and missile attacks with Iran have driven up oil prices everyhere. The Strait or Straits of Hormuz may have been a bottleneck and plugging up not only petroleum, but vital materials like fertilizer are bringing up prices for farmers and in turn us, the food consumers.

    President Trump and his leaders may not fare well in elections this fall. Midway through his second term. Elections in the meanwhile have favored some of his elected officials but have slanted more towards Democrats.

    Lindsey. Strong southern accent, but quite articulate and bright.

    He tried to be president, like so many others. 

    May his memory, causes, and efforts, be remembered for their virtues and benefits and American people.

    Rest in peace, Senator Graham.

    It makes me reflect on my own political and party aspirations, hopes, and beliefs, but more on those later.

 Soccer at the Highest Level: Enfuraiting, Dumb, Wrong

    Off sides is dumb. Not very right.

    Tonight a Swiss player was given a yellow card and booted because he "simulated" a trip, originally blamed on the Argentine?

    Balderdash.

    Not the beautiful game that some claim. 

    It's ugly. Like the "hand of God" Maradonna in Mexico City. 

    Nope. Not God at all.

    Football.

 Dear Mom, Happy 86th!

    Hi. I thought of writing something yesterday, but I am doing it now. The day after your birthdate. You were born the last of five young children, when both your mom and dad were 44 years-old. In the summer of 1940, when the Great Depression was about to end because the Germans were marching across Europe and the Japanese were a few more seasons from bombing Hawai'i.

    Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and raised in Hanover, rural parts south of Boston.She became a nurse and went to West Africa to help save the world. She met my dad, and they married in Freetown, and then us kids came along in Bloomington, Indiana. Where you lived most of the rest of your life, with the exceptions of vacations and the Mayfield work trips and the two missions to southeast Asia. She was close to her sisters, especially Alma. Alma, I just found out (when I talked to Terry), had a serious health condition lately, and spent a week in the hospital and is doing okay now. 

    Alma is hanging in there, age 89 or so.

    You liked to cook, but you also liked to eat out. And you could be particular at restaurants, asking the waiter or waitress to take the food back and get it better. Not always, just enough to be memorable. You loved antiques. You liked to gamble. Certain games, maybe blackjack and roulette? You would go to some horse and dog races, too. The dogs were somewhere near Boston, I think. I would stay at aunt Alma's and try to watch some shows, or read some books. 

    You had me over to dinner a lot, on Sundays or Thursdays, mostly.

    It was nice to visit with you when I moved back to Indiana for two years. It was nice to talk to you when I was in Indiana... When I was 27 and 28, and then later when I was in Afghanistan, but diagnosed with the terminal cancer.

    You stayed in good spirits.

    I think that you tried to spend some good times with the grandchidren, but there were some down times, too.

    You hung in there.

    Today is July 11, Saturday. The days have slide by since I wanted to write this. I will knock it out.

    It is nice to speak to you, one way or another. In prayers or songs, in stories or jokes.

    I met a Peace Corps service person last night, named Wendy; I got a chance to tell her about you in Togo and Sierra Leone, and later Cambodia and Indonesia.

    Jenny, your daughter, said maybe you felt more at home in some of those poor places. Not everything is accounted for by wealth, but it creates different environments and cultures, for sure.

    You were sweet and a blessing in all cultures. Especially mine, as a son with you close and far.

    You were my darling angel mom; not perfect. Always loving. I miss you, and I wish you a happy week, month, year.

    I could go on more; it is easy to speak to and speak about my mom. A lively, colorful, "empathic" as decribed by others, person, who I will always love and cherish.

    Here, there, and into eternity.

    Love you. Glad you made the trip, and all the trips.

    

 Forgotten Places, Unthought of Races

    Lots of islands out there, many of them habited, that no one thinks of most of the time. Georgian Islands and few more where I thought I could leave my remains. In the southern ocean or parts of the souther Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. Reunion, and Mauritius.

    Nauru, Tuvalu, and many more. The Chuuk Islands and Micronesia, Federated States.

    The northern most islands of Canada, big and small. Outer and inner wastes of Siberia.

    I try to remember you.

 The Nationals Can Play! With Some More Pitching, Maybe...

    They can score. One of the best teams in the majors. Abrams made the All-Star team, but they have some other pretty decent hitters and runners. 

    They are over .500, 47-45. Some relievers have blown some wins, and Nunez blew a game by not running hard. That was a couple of months ago; I think he learned his lesson.

    Their defense is okay. Some of the guys will hit better throughout the year, I think. Bring their batting averages up. And win, more?

    My daughter, in college, says I write too much about baseball. Yes, that is possible. But it is better than football, or soccer.

    Terrible rules. Not American enough. Off sides? Get out. The minutes? The delays? Faw and fie upon them.

    Anyway, go Nats.

    Baseball is cool.

250 Years

 Maybe I Have Covid

    But I get some days off.

I should have written more. About our nation's past, present, and hopefully future glory.

But we are thankful for our birthday as a country that has been this successful, this long.

The U.S.'s Last Four Wars - Plus Secondary Ones

    I was discussing, with a friend, about the last conflicts of the most powerful country in the world. We, the United States.

 What have they been?

    Arguably: 

    Iran -2026

    Afghanistan - 2001-2021

    Iraq - 2003-2010

    ISIS- (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan) 2014- 2019

    Secondary terrorist wars - Somalia, Yemen, and other African and Asian countries - 2001 to present, 2026

    Was Samuel Huntington right about the Clash of Civilizations thesis, where the cultural differences of the hardline or devout Muslims of sharia would be the dividing dichotomy from the modern, secular west?

    We could argue that the wars that we have fought have pointed to that.

    Thinking about it. Evidence of yes and no.

 Welcome to Division One, FBS - Top Tier Football, North Dakota

There are states that do not not have Football Bowl Series teams, even though there are 138 teams across the country. 

They are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Montana, and Alaska. Seven.

North Dakota has been removed from the list because North Dakota State has been added to the Mountain West, as that conference added them and Northern Illinois to bolster their numbers while the PAC 12 has been reconstituting itself with former Mountain West schools.

One state wonders? Hawai'i, Wyoming, Minnesota, Connecticut... And New Jersey. And Delaware. I think all the rest has two or more, or up to 10. Like Texas and Ohio.

What a game. 

Go IU. BYU.

 Winning and Losing

    We want to be champions of our own stories. Sometimes we are the goats, the losers. Overall, we wish to be the heroes of the arcing narrative, from beginning to end. Birth to death, we wish to be the protagonists. 

    Sometimes we are the enemies of our own stories. We can ruin our own paths. But the point is to eventually overcome and be the winner.

    In life we can have regrets and embarrassment in past trials and blows, times where we failed. But did we recover and come back, stronger, wiser, better than before?

    Through faith in higher powers that works.

    But in reality we can fall and not recover so well.

    When we disappoint our parents, our teachers, our bosses, our children, our spouses.

    When we see a light or a spark or a smile of love and acceptance that was once there but it has gone away.

    We try to get it back.

    To win, to prevail.

 Indiana Hoosier Football: We are Number 126!

    Indiana, under maverick master Curt Cignetti, went and did some of the most unthinkable last year, culminating this January and winning the national championship, ending with a 16-0 final unblemished record. Wow. I will still think this was a pipe dream 5, 10, or thirty years from now. Till my dying day.

    IU has historically been one of the worst programs in college football. Futility year in and year out, despite some good years or epochs on occasion, like 1945, 1967, 1979, 1988, 1991. 2007 was all right, and 2020 (the pandemic season) was decent. But overall, Indiana has been a door mat in the spectrum of the college football world.

    Not any more. Cignetti has made them a powerhouse. Since 2024.

    That said, in its 138-year history of playing intercollegiately, IU is ranked 126th in winning percentage, now out of 138 teams (135 qualify as having enough seasons, maybe 12, to qualify), which means that Indiana has a long way to go. A .424 winning percentage. Behind Buffalo at .425.

    The top programs are 1) Ohio State, .737, 2) Alabama .733 3) Notre Dame .733 4) Michigan .732

5) Bosie State .724.

    And then there college football teams, FBS, or Division I, that ranked 6th through 125th, with better winning records that IU at Bloomington.

    Of course, many or most of them have not won a national championship as Indiana has just done. So, neener neener, neener.

    BYU, my other alma mater, beloved team, is rated 36th all time, with a decent .584 winning percentage. In 101 years of playing. 

    Maybe a few more Cignetti years of greatness can get us to 100th all-time?

    Here's hoping, Hoosiers!

    Go IU. Fight, fight, fight!

Houses of Worship and Human/Godly Progression

    I have missed many church Sundays in a row. Five? Going back into May. I was paying my dues to my country, my profession, and attending a different kind of mass, or sacrament. Not religious, but more secular. I led one session of a non-denominational Bible class one Sunday. Maybe three ago? Attended by three of us. Better than nothing.

    However, this is not my  community, and this is not the goal. The goal, or objective of orgnized religion-- any of them-- is to improve the soul and souls of all of us, bringing us closer to God and one another, His creations. Buddha, Allah, Krishna and Vishnu, or Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We need them, or they need us to be together in communities to be more effective.

    I need my fellow church goers to be a more complete believer and practioner.

    I need them, they need me, and God needs me to be individually whole and collectively participatory.

    Organized religion does work, especially when it is not exploitative. It can be twisted and used for malign purposes.

    God is supreme; He is in charge,  but allows us to make gross errors and mistakes. He needs us to organize ourselves and be active in doing good for more, more of His creations.

    I need to go to church this Sunday. Get right with my God, and His Son, and my fellow saints.

    Sin miedo ni temor.

    The longest church-less streak since perhaps my sick month of July into August of 1990 in Chile.

    Even at Fort Polk in 2019 I attended a Protestant and Catholic service, and I was maybe only down there 26 days... Less Sundays than this time.

    I need my Sunday worship service to plug in to what God has for all of us, starting with me.

    We must understand better how these consecrated places of worship are for our good.

 Presidents of the United States of America - Comparisons

Abraham Lincoln grew up in poor circimstances, and made it to D.C. where slave states decided to rebel. He was what our nation needed for freedom. It was an awful, bloody, Civil War. But we advanced.

    Donald Trump grew up wealthy, and successful. The American people chose him twice. Wanting success and prosperity. Does he deliver to most Americans what we desire? So some think he is too impulsive or Anti-foreigner. Maybe.

    

    Biden tried to carry over Obama initiatives of fairness and opportunity. Bush struck out for fundamental values.

    Clinton, the other Bush, Reagan. Carter and Ford, then back to Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower. Truman and Roosevelt, back to Hoover and into the 1920s. Coolidge, Harding, who else one hundred plus years ago?

    We, the citizens, the historians, the scholars, the eonomists, the analysts. We look at them now and in the past to assess their leadership, or cowardice, or courage. Their mistakes and their triumphs. Their skills or their bumblings.

    Life and death decisions, morally correct or wrong choices and stumbles. They have many people advising them, including the U.S. people.

    We the people.

    May we be good and triumph.

    

    

 Between Life and Death -- Thoughts

    I was told that some people died. I believed it. My heart was troubled, and it was moved to think of others. Including the survivors. We lose people all the time. But hopefully not too close. We pray and take care not to be hurt or cut down in the same ways.

    But it comes, and closely. It will, it does.

    Am I negative, am I pessimistic? No, this is our reality.

    Surely, we celebrate life. Youth, and middle age, and old age, all of it.

    We love and cherish the living. But we recognize those that have passed on.

    Perhaps no one died?

    Perhaps we all surived a trying month of tests and trials?

God bless us.

    The living and the dead.

    Like the writer of Ulyssess, James Joyce, in 1922. His long short story.

    The Dead.

    I heard that 

 Gratitude for Science and History

    We must be grateful. Most of us. Some have it harder than others.

    Because the same life and science that allows us to live and breathe

 Germany is Out! Way to Go, Paraguay!

    Raus, ausschlander! Get out! They have had enough success for a few lifetimes, in my opinion.

    Good. Gut. Enough of the dominant powers. 

    We want some underdogs.

    Netherlands eliminated by Morocco. Poor Dutchmen. The best team never to win it ever.

    Who has won? Uruguay. Brazil. Italy. Argentina. Germany. France. Spain. Is that all? Ever?

    Only those 7? Wow. We need more. I have mentioned Mexico. England. Who else? Of course, the U.S.A. Or... a developing nation, even better. Who is left?

    Belgium saves itself...

    Algeria still alive, with Austria... Paraguay.