Thoughts for the Day, December 11, 2024: RIP Rocky
Why I officiated and never coached
Last night’s basketball game between Michigan and Arkansas was a prime example of why I chose to officiate rather than coach. The highs and lows of coaching a team were on full display.
Near the ten-minute mark of the first half, Michigan was leading Arkansas by 15 points 29-14. By the time the game reached the ten-minute mark of the second half Arkansas was leading Michigan by 18 points 78-60. This is a 33-point swing in the game. With one minute left in the game, Michigan had a chance to tie the game or go ahead on their last three possessions, which did not happen as Arkansas prevailed 89-87.
If I was coaching in a game like this, I would have been pulling my hair out. If I was officiating the game, I would have just enjoyed the ebbs and flows of the game, however, I probably would have been pissed off that Arkansas let Michigan back in the game and prevented me from coasting the last five minutes of the game.
*************************************************************************************
The original "Rocky" died yesterday
Excerpts from the Detroit Free Press today: Rocky Colavito, the wildly popular and powerful slugger for the Detroit Tigers in the early 1960s, died on Tuesday at age 91 in Bernville, Pennsylvania, after a long illness.
During his four years with the Tigers as the cleanup hitter, Colavito slugged 139 home runs and knocked in 430 runs, averaging 35 homers and 107 RBIs a season. In 1961, the best year of his 14-year career, Colavito belted 45 homers and drove in 140 runs.
Colavito arrived in Detroit just two days before the start of the 1960 season in one of baseball’s most noted and shocking trades, as the Tigers dealt 1959 batting champ (and fan favorite) Harvey Kuenn to Cleveland for Colavito, who had tied for the 1959 home run title after hitting four consecutive homers in Baltimore and gracing the cover of Time magazine.
The trade of hitting stars was a stunner for all involved, A trade of this kind had ever happened before.
Youngsters on sandlots throughout metro Detroit routinely imitated Colavito’s on-deck and batter’s box rituals.
The slugger would hold his bat with both hands over his head and pull it down behind his back. Stepping into the batter’s box, he pulled up his flannel sleeves to help free his shoulders, and often did the sign of the cross before slowly pointing his bat at the pitcher three times.
“My on-deck routine was simply a stretching exercise that helped release tension, and my pointing the bat was really a timing device where I was kind of saying ‘Put the pitch right there,' because as a power hitter, you are looking for a ball to drive,” Colavito said in a 2010 interview. “I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to me and said that when they were kids, they would imitate me.”
When a ballgame was over, win or lose, Colavito was famous for signing autographs for fans.
To this day, I imitate Colavito's signature stretching exercise as part of my daily stretching routine. I think about Colavito every time I do the exercise.
***********************************************************************************
Give the workers a brake
From Bridge Michigan, Michigan’s work zones and school buses will be equipped with cameras to reduce speed, prevent crashes and catch those who fail to stop. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a group of bipartisan “commonsense” bills on Tuesday aimed at increasing road safety through use of automated speed enforcement systems in work zones and stop-arm cameras on buses...
Individuals caught on camera who exceed the speed limit in a work zone by 10 miles or more can be issued a written warning using a form that is created by the automated speed enforcement system for the first violation. They will be fined up to $150 for a second violation that occurs within three years of the warning and may be charged up to $300 for subsequent violations.
I like this law, until I get caught.
*************************************************************************************
We need an immigration strategy, not a gut reaction.
Here are the seven main points from a report on immigration by the NY Times. It highlights the need for a bi-partisan immigration strategy. Politicians have been talking about developing one since World War II, but so far it has not happened. Like the deficit, politicians like to talk about it, but they don't want to do anything about it. It is always the other guy's fault.
1. The immigration surge since 2021 has been the largest in U.S. history, surpassing even the levels of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Total net migration — the number of people coming to the country minus the number leaving — will likely exceed eight million people over the past four years, government statistics suggest. That number includes both legal and illegal immigration.
2. Even after adjusting for today’s larger population, the surge is slightly larger than that during the peak years of Ellis Island traffic, when millions of Europeans came to the United States.
3. The share of the U.S. population born in another country has reached a record high as a result. That share hit 15.2 percent in the summer of 2023 (and continued rising over the past 18 months). The previous high of 14.8 percent occurred in 1890, and the share remained high for decades afterward.
4. President Biden’s welcoming immigration policy has been the main reason for the recent surge. During his 2020 campaign, Biden encouraged more people to come to the U.S., and he loosened several policies after taking office.
5. More than half of net migration since 2021 has been among people who entered the country illegally. Of the roughly eight million net migrants who came to the U.S. over the past four years, about five million — or 62 percent — were unauthorized, according to an estimate by Goldman Sachs.
6. The unprecedented scale of recent immigration helps explain why the issue played such a big role in the 2024 election. Polls showed that the sharp rise in immigration was unpopular with most Americans, especially among working-class voters, some of whom complained of strained social services, crowded schools and increased homelessness.
7. The recent immigration surge has probably ended
***********************************************************************************
Quote of the Day: "To fine these schools $100,000 is like worrying about mouse manure when you are up to your ears in elephant s—t." Nick Saban on College Game Day when asked about the B1G fining U of M and OSU on the flag planting episode.
Orchid of the Day: Alving Bragg. "The Manhattan district attorney is not powerful outside of his own jurisdiction. He has little to bring to bear against the president of the United States. But Alvin Bragg, who won a hard-fought conviction, stood up for it today and stood up for it against Donald Trump. His courage should inspire us. It is a measure of the courage we are all capable of. We do not have to accept Donald Trump and the demise of the rule of law as inevitable." From Joyce Vance's Civil Discourse blog.
Onion of the Day: Michigan men's basketball team for their continued turnover problem. This team is too talented to be in the bottom 10% of turnovers per game. Turnovers were the primary reason behind both of their two losses this season.
Question of the Day: Do you support using cameras and radar to address speeding in construction zones?
Video of the Day: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” - Winnipeg, MB - 11-13-24
Feel free to share my blog with others. To receive the blog in your email, please use the subscribe/sign-up button which is located at the bottom of the blog below the Video of the Day or send an email to me at thomasdbiggs@gmail.com and I will start the process for you.