BASEBALL SEASON IS OVER FOR 2010

That saddens me. Oh for some it will go on. But why bother? For some--the usual suspects, it's been over since before Spring Training. Low budget teams, mid-low market spenders just can't compete anymore. Along with one noted but loved perennial loser from a Midwestern state beginning with I.

But for Cardinal Nation, great things were expected. Coming off a quick playoff end to the Dodgers last season, the team was expected to win again. Fortified by the signing of a long term deal to Matt Holliday, it looked like a cinch for the birds to take the weak NL Central.

Didn't happen. But what did happen was exasperating. They beat all the good teams. They had a winning record against all the division champs. But they couldn't beat the low lifes. Teams that couldn't win at least half their games, feasted on the Cardinals this year.

Now how did that happen? A Cub pitcher (no, that's not an oxymoron) who surrendered 6 runs to the Cardinal AAA team a week before, was the winning pitcher against the parent club allowing only 1 earned run in 6 plus innings. And that's just one example.

So a team built around Pujols, Holliday, Rasmus, Molina, and .300 rookie hitter John Jay. So a team stabilized by pitchers Carpenter, Wainwright, and rookie of the year candidate Jaime Garcia, strengthened by the addition of Jake Westbrook. So a team whose save guy was an All-Star last year and is flanked by three relievers who consistently hit 95 plus on the radar gun. So a team managed by the third winningest skipper in ML history. So all those so and so's can't play/ can't produce a better team. At least a team that whips the likes of the Pirates, Astros, Diamondbacks, Cubs, and Mets.

Well the baseball season has been as strange as the weather this year. No one could sum it up better than Charlie Brown. In only 200 days, though the 2011 baseball season will begin. I'm ready. But only if the Cardinals get back to their winning ways.

OUR SON IS WAY COOLER THAN I

But then again, most that know us both would say in that snarly way,"Well, yeah."

Our oldest grandson turns 10 on Friday. On Tuesday his G-Ma called the house to find out if he got his drums or not. He didn't.

But the message went through on the machine where she had asked if he gotten his drums.

Our son, who was at his oldest daughter's softball game out of town, heard the message later that evening and called. He was very calm and waited for me to explain.

It seems that his son who has had guitar lessons decided that he was going to play the drums at school this year. Evidently, he had only shared that with us. There was a school Music Fair where instruments were brought to school for sale. There were no drums.

How he thought he was going to buy them, is an unknown factor that was omitted from our conversation with our grand.

Having heard the message, our son thought we had bought and shipped a drum set to his house for our grandson's birthday. And his mother was calling to see if the boy got his present from us.

Now had I been our son and I thought my father had bought a set of drums for our son without sharing that information with me, I would have been pretty upset.

Not our son. His call was one of confirmation. Not that he wanted his son to play the drums; he just wanted to know about it.

I think, though the only drums he prefers are drumsticks. On the grill.

BOBBY VINTON

When I called up this Dale Chuhuli picture we took a few years ago at the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale, I wondered what I was going to write about. A big Chuhuli fan, I'm expounded about him before. A desert-dweller, I've also written about living in the Sonoran and reminding people that there is a lot of green in the desert. At least where we reside.

So with those options out, I waited, and it came to me. I'd write about Bobby Vinton. We saw him once in Las Vegas at a convention where he sang a song right next to our table. Blue Velvet, I think it was. He looked ok even with the stage make-up he wore. I remember thinking something like "I never would have believed I would have been this close to Bobby Vinton and heard him sing in person." But I'm like that. I remember when we were in Finland, I thought back to Carl Baker's 6th grade classroom where I drew a map of Sweden, Finland, and Norway and colored it with those colored pencils. I think Finland was red. Maybe blue, too.

Or as a hostess on a recent cruise shared with me, "I never thought I would ever see some of the places I have been to." I concurred.

When I reflect on Bobby, I remember Brenda Wagner taking me home and turning by the junior high in their little gray chevy singing along with I'm Mr. Lonely. She, of course, could hit the high notes and laughed at my not being able to. War was on my mind then as a senior in high school that Fall. I already knew people in Viet Nam. I could imagine the reality of the song.

Some other buddies of mine were already in college, one at the Naval Academy. I'd written him a time or two and I thought of Mike that night.

I'm not sure if that song, that night or the long drive to Murray State with my parents and aunt made me decide to stay in MTV and attend MTV Community College or not. But it was part of the process.

I'm glad I stayed or I might have been characterized by another Vinton song, I'm Mr. Blue.

SYNERGISM

When geese fly. They'd never be able to cover the distances they glide, flap, and soar unless they did it in a gaggle. Changing leaders once in awhile. But keeping the same formation. If you listen closely, their honks are really saying, "I don't know but I believe/ we'll get there by Christmas Eve. Sound off, Honk. Honk..." well you get the idea.

Twenty mule team Borax was the same. When they were taking borax out of the desert, they found that instead of using one standard 12-mule team to pull one wagon, they could use 20 mules to pull two wagons full of borax plus a water wagon. It was and still is all about working together for the greater good.

But it can also be for the greater bad. Take the haunted house pictured. At least the spooky house pictured. Few would go in the house alone. But empowered by another or three others, suddenly we're strengthened. I might even be the first to go. As long as there was a group behind me. Even if I knew if was wrong, dangerous, or just not right (to differentiate between something I know is wrong and something I know is just not quite right) I might go with the power. The false sense of security and acceptance to do something I shouldn't.

So, I guess sometimes synergism can be spelled sinnergism.

OLD SCHOOL ONCE AGAIN

Tell me why the older I get, the old school-er I get. Now, first of all, you think this is a tennis entry. With Rafy Someone playing Natal or Pre-Natal yesterday after a rain out (see I'm on the cutting edge) tennis has interrupted NBC's soap operas for live coverage so it must be big.

Don't worry soapers; the story lines will pick up where they left off. But the only thing I'm going to write about this 1925 tennis outfit is that I would think it hard to play in it.

Now to my old school. Basketball uniforms for men. I'm so old school that girls didn't have basketball teams. Only one I knew ever played much. Donna Jean. She was good, too. I never liked to guard her because she had once been a junior high girlfriend of mine and I was afraid I might foul her. She was also quicker than me. (I know it should be I, but when you're writing about sports, you get some leeway. I never liked to guard anyone quicker because they tired me out and took away from my shooting. Which is what I wanted to do anyhow.

But when I was in uniform or in PE class and I had to play some D, I remember pulling up my already shorts to give me some more quickness. One with always small thighs, it wasn't that my shorts were too tight; I just wanted to feel freer to run.

Today's uniforms (by the way, most laugh at our short shorts) would not have suited (pun) me. Baggy, long, not for me. I'd rather play in sweats. Plus, I think they look bad. Like they're trying to cover up bad legs.

So in 85 years from now, when people look back at today's uni's, I'm sure they'll laugh and wonder how the heck anyone could play in them. Somehow, I don't think it'll take that long for that realization.

WHAT A GREAT INVENTION

The Suicide machine. Which reminds me of a friend. Who quit smoking after 15 years. When he quit, he was 24.

I knew another 9-year old who smoked. I think he quit, too. At least he's still alive.

I'm not sure why smoking looks good. But it does. Or Hollywood wouldn't show so much of it. Sharing a cigarette with a woman, even a drag off hers, is kind of a declaration. For more sharing.

When we had 3 of our grandkids in Coronado for less than a week this Summer, it took a little effort to get our 7-year old to take a long walk on the beach and then uptown for some morning browsing. We, being grandparents, resorted to the bribe one day. Offering him a chance to go buy some candy from an old-fashioned candy store.

Outlawed in their home state, packages of candy cigarettes were available in the California store. Which is what he bought. A mandatory picture followed. No Facebook appearance yet for him with the bubblegum ciggy. At least not yet.

I sympathize with smokers. Those who don't want to quit and those who do. But for the lady in the picture--forget about it. No one's nicotine habit is that bad. Unless.

Unless those are candy cigarettes and she has a sweet tooth.

LIE LIKE A BABY

My wife will tell you that there are some things I can't get over.

Darius Miles taking a swing at MTV Ram James Wilson in the Super Sectional the year the Rams were rated #2 in the nation. Miles not only didn't get kicked out of the game, he also got away with carrying the ball all night and numerous other infractions that referees overlooked.

The Patriots steal of the Super Bowl against the Rams. Again, lousy officiating allowed the Bellicheat team to mug Ram wide receivers the whole game. In addition, Coach Cheat had videotaped the Rams practice session. And they did it to other teams, too, over a period of 7 years. "Two or 3 seconds after the Tampa Bay defensive coordinator sent in a play to safety John Lynch, the quarterback of the Patriots had it in his helmet." Drew Bledsoe, the qb, confessed, "75% of the time, Tampa Bay ran the defense we (New England) thought they were going to run."

On a similar note, Kurt Warner once stated that the Patriots knew ahead of time a play the Rams were going to run and it was one they had not run all season. Hmmm.

The missed call by umpire Don Denkinger to give the 1985 World Series to Kansas City instead of the deserving St. Louis Cardinals is yet another one I can't seem to get past.

Then there is former Iowa basketball assistant, Bruce Pearl. In the mid-nineties he harassed Illlinois player Deion Thomas to the point that Deion told him Illinois gave him an SUV so he signed with them instead of Iowa. Pearl with his steady tape recorder turned in Illinois for recruiting violations and cost the Illini many scholarships because of the penalties the powerful but somewhat inconsistent NCAA doled out. Thomas, by the way, dated a girl who lived in our son's dorm that year. As much time as Thomas spent at Illini Towers, our son never spotted him driving the fancy SUV. When asked about it, Thomas replied that he did not receive anything illegal but told Pearl that to get him to stop bugging him about why he chose Illinois over Iowa.

Now it seems that Mr. Pearl is being investigated by the NCAA for recruiting infractions. He's already admitted his guilt in some areas. His AD has already cut his salary and imposed some other penalties hoping not to have a full investigation that could result in loss of scholarships and other sanctions.

And wrong as I may be, well, let's face it, as unforgiving (and that's wrong) as I am, you can imagine a big smile on my face. It's for real.