Why does Major League Baseball even bother playing the All Star Game?

Major League Baseball's All Star Game has become nothing more than a silly exhibition game at this point. It's almost as a bad as the NFL's Pro Bowl.

Some of the players don't seem to approach the game as a competition. Just a different generation, perhaps. People and culture change, so maybe today's players just don't feel the same type of emotion about the All Star games as those 40, 50, and 60 years ago.

Then there's the money factor. Today's players earn so much in salary that the extra dollars that they collect from winning the All Star Game is almost insignificant. Why expend the energy and risk getting injured for a small amount of money? Forty years ago, those extra bucks could mean something to a player.

Inter-league play that began in 1997 has also diluted the excitement surrounding the All Star Game, as well as the World Series. It used to be that fans would see players from the American and National Leagues compete against each other only in the World Series and the All Star Game, so the midsummer classic had more drama and intrigue. Now that we've seen mixing of the leagues, the All Star Game has lost some of its luster. Even the Yankees-Mets rivalry isn't as intense anymore. Back in the early 1980's George Steinbrenner put a halt to the annual New York Mayors Trophy game between the two teams because it was so upsetting for him to have the Yankees lose to the Mets. Today, it's just another series against another team. Ho-hum.

The All Star game began feeling more like an exhibition in 1997 when pitcher Randy Johnson let a pitch fly over Larry Walker's head, just as entertainment, since Walker had previously expressed his fear in standing in the batter's box against the hard throwing lefty.

Major league's baseball's All Star Game accelerated its downward slide due to two incidents in 2002. Outfielder Tori Hunter made a sensational catch on a fly ball hit by Barry Bonds, robbing Bonds of a home run. Bonds picked up Hunter on his way off the field, with the two laughing. That display enforced the idea that the players weren't taking the game as seriously.

Then when Bud Selig ended the game in a tie, due to both sides running out of pitchers, the All Star game was seen as somewhat of a farce. Managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly felt it was more important to get everyone on their rosters into the game - meaning winning the game was on the back burner.

Selig's lame attempt to instill some competition into the All Star game by declaring the winning league would have home field advantage in the World Series hasn't had much of an effect. Why would a player from a last place team even care about that? And, what if he was traded by the July 31 deadline to a team in the other league that had a shot at the postseason? Where would his allegiance be then?

Inter-league play has become meaningless and should be ended. For the All-Star game, give the players on the winning team a ton of money, like $300,000 each. Players on the losing team would only get $15,000. That would make them compete and take it seriously. Maybe then it would again become the Midsummer Classic.

http://www.mlb.com/

The Lack of Leadership at American Colleges & Universities

In another post I wrote about how American are not always leaders. I don't want to only pick on them; there's other areas where a lack of leadership is clear. American colleges and universities, for one. An example of the lack of leadership from college presidents and other upper level administrators can be found in New Jersey. several years ago the state was allegedly going through a "financial" crisis, and the former brilliant governor Jon Corzine wanted to save money by asking state workers to take unpaid days off - employees were locked out, and not paid. Some unions at the state colleges agreed to have their workers take ten unpaid lockout days, while other unions agreed to take seven days. The college presidents and other managers? They took less, most only two or three. Why? They claimed that the state (governor's office) said they would have to save a "percentage" of state funds, not take a certain number of furlough days. So at higher education institutions like Montclair State University, high level administrators took only two unpaid days off.

How is this a lack of leadership?  Well, if there really was a financial "crisis" - unlikely to be actually true, as it was more the Governor and other elected officials trying to win over voters by trying to show they were "saving" tax dollars - real leadership would have been the college presidents standing up and together saying, "New Jersey is in a financial crisis; so we're all going to take ten unpaid days off to help the state save money, and we hope all other state workers do the same."  Now that would have been true leadership. What is not leadership is being a weasel and saying, well the amount of money we were asked to save was a percentage, and it only came to two days for us. Please. What a bunch of slimeballs. Only interested in serving themselves, not students or taxpayers. College presidents in the U.S. are overpaid as it is, so what would taking less pay mean for them? Come on. College presidents are almost as bad as some CEO's.

An NFL training camp practice battle to watch: Minnesota Vikings' OT Matt Kalil vs. DE Jared Allen

The Minnesota Vikings' first round draft pick, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, is entering the NFL as the top-ranked lineman from the 2012 draft. It will be interesting to see how he fares in practice against All-Pro defensive end Jared Allen, the league leader in quarterback sacks with 22 last season.

Before the draft some scouts believed USC's Kalil was close to perfect as a blocker, and one of the most complete offensive tackles to come out of college since Tony Boselli - also from USC - who was the second player selected in the 1995 draft by Jacksonville.

Once the helmets and pads go on in July, the rookie will be tested by one of the best pass rushers - and all around ends - in the game today. Allen will undoubtedly make Kalil look less than perfect during training camp practices. But if Kalil can just hold his own against Allen, Vikings fans will have hope that the rookie will be able stand up against most opponents in the regular season.

The Kalil-Allen matchup will probably be reminiscent of practice battles in past years between Vikings' linemen. In the 1990's offensive guard Randall McDaniel and defensive tackle John Randle went head to head, and in the 1970's offensive tackle Ron Yary and defensive end Carl Eller lined up against each other.

All four of those players are now in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Vikings fans are hoping that Kalil and Allen will play up to the same high standards. If they do, Minnesota will be on its way to improving last season's 3-13 record. And, the future will look bright with Kalil at the key position of left offensive tackle. Last year's number one draft pick, quarterback Christian Ponder, won't have to worry as much knowing that his blind side is protected.



source for statistics: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/http://www.nfl.com/http://www.vikings.com/

Why do Americans want politicians, not leaders?

These days there's more campaigning than governing going on. It seems like many Americans enjoy the nonstop campaigning and blame-games that all politicians seem to take part in. Maybe that's why reality shows have become popular. I think they're boring - why would I want to watch people argue about everyday stuff that I see myself everyday - but lots of folks just seem to get off on it. Then the majority of us get disgusted because the important things don't get taken care of.

Does the American government even belong to "the people" anymore? Those who have a lot of money to fund their "causes" seem to have most of the control over policy issues.

Politicians in the United States need to become leaders who will serve the public and deal with the tough issues in order to secure our nation's future. We have dilemmas now (energy, health insurance, job creation) because politicians in the past pushed things under the rug for so long. We need leaders, which means those who will be straightforward with people about what will be best and how long things will take to get better. And for us the people, it means making some sacrifices, something Americans haven't been asked to do in a long time.

Crazy Job Search/Interviewing Stories, Part VI: Montclair State University

<sup>I interviewed for a few jobs at Montclair State. One director I met with had this look of shock on her face when I said I didn't reveal my salary history, that to me salary is something to be negotiated after a job offer. Another committee I met with spoke among themselves for a while before even acknowledging I was there. A stress test perhaps? Or are they just morons who have no idea how to conduct a professional job interview? I guess I'll never know for sure, unless one of them reads this and responds. Wouldn't you try to engage the candidate and try to make them feel comfortable? I would. I would want to give a positive impression. Montclair State certainly did not.

Actually for another job at Montclair State the person who interviewed me, a guy named Chuck, actually called me back afterwards, and said, "I just wanted you to know that you interviewed well, even though we picked another person." I said, OK, who did you hire, just out of curiosity? There was no sound on the phone, for a second, then Chuck said, "We hired an African American woman who worked in the President's office." Oh. Well, nice to know I had a fair shot at the job!</sup>

Crazy Job Search/Interviewing Stories, Part V: Rutgers University

I know a lot of people out there who read this are just going to poo-poo my stories as sour grapes. But hey it's just my opinion; it's just that people seem to behave differently when they are hiring for an open job.

I interviewed at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, for three different positions. One was in the graduate career center. That one wasn't too unusual. But another time I interviewed with the undergraduate career center; I met a woman named Lynne who was an assistant director. She could not have looked any more disinterested during our brief interview. It's like someone had dumped the task of interviewing on her and she resented it. So she asked me a couple of questions, I answered, trying to demonstrate some enthusiasm, trying to make some kind of connection with her. Then she asked me if I had any questions; I asked one, she made a quick reply, and then said, thanks for coming in. We left the conference room and walked back to her office. She opened the door, and I don't remember what I said exactly, something along the lines of thanks for meeting me, I'm really interested in the job, etc., smiling as I said it. What did she do? She frowns and slams the door in front of me! Look people, if you're not interested in a candidate, fine, but there's no need to be rude. At least act like a civilized human being.

Another time I interviewed for an assistant director of the student center job at Rutgers Newark. I went into the conference room and there was about ten college administrators sitting on both sides of a long table. They asked me to sit at the front. I did and promptly sank into a chair that was lower than the others. I guess they like looking down at people. Anyway only one person, the dean that I would have been reporting to, asked me any interview questions. The rest of them just sat there and stared at me. Eventually the security director help up a flyer and asked me what I would do if I some supposedly radical group consisting of black people came to campus for some type of student program. Then he picked up a flyer and growled that they were going to be there next week, and slammed the flyer down on the table. The black folks sitting at the table said nothing; didn't even look at him. I'm not sure what my answer was, but I'm pretty sure it was generic. I was interested in the job (for some unknown reason) so I didn't show any bias one way or another. Anyway the interview ended and I left. Never heard from them again, thankfully. I mean, who knows..was it all some sort of act to see how I would respond to people just staring at me? How I would respond to an angry security director? Maybe. Or maybe they're just a bunch of wackos who have no idea how to conduct a professional job interview. I don't know. I don't really care either...I'm just glad my own diploma isn't from Rutgers Newark!

Memo to Joe Girardi: update the chapter in the Binder about utility players

Poor Eduardo Nunez. Asked to play the outfield without any experience. Joe Girardi and the front office have all that material and statistics, yet they throw a guy who's never played the outfield before into the fire. Just because he wanted to get another right-handed bat into lineup against a lefty pitcher? That's a questionable strategy.  I understand they're short players because of Swisher's injury, but put Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez in the outfield and just let Nunez be the DH. While Jones and Ibanez aren't gold glovers, at least they can still make the routine plays. The Yanks could have given Nunez more time in the outfield during spring training, if they had wanted him to be more of a utility player. Time to update the binder, Joe.