Today's sports news

Can’t we just let high school kids be kids? Yes, I realize it’s a different world today than the world in which I grew up, but what is with this expectation that high school athletes are suppposed to be focused on a game two weeks from now?

When I played, back in the days before computers (somewhere between the slide rule and calculator, but definitely after the abacus) I was just as concerned about a date for the homecoming dance as I was for the homecoming game. My apprehension was more about a potential conflict between the opening of the playoffs and the opening day of hunting season rather than our opponent in the playoffs – the trophy buck not the trophy.

It is my hope that all the hype about a football game 2 weeks away is a far bigger concern of the fans and parents living vicariously through their kids than the kids themselves.

The good news about sports is that we have fans. The bad news is sports is that we have fans. Amazing that an outstanding athlete’s diet is never an issue until he has a bad day. One bad game and out comes some beer-swilling carnivore placing the blame on a vegetarian diet.

I-49 North Leg: Are We There Yet?

Anyone who has been on any journey of any significance with passengers is probably quite familiar with the annoying question, "Are we there yet". My standard answer to that question is, "We're getting closer". While my response is accurate it is never sufficient to keep the question from returning with increasing frequency.

The only way to properly and irreversibly deal with the question is to either arrive at the destination or provide a means to determine the distance or time from the objective. The I-49 north leg project is a journey that is taking much longer than expected. The children in the back seat (myself included) just can't help asking with increasing frequency, "Are we there yet". Just like the family trip, we are on our way along the I-49 journey but the answer, "We're getting closer" just does not satisfy.

I offer the following as we proceed with completion of the I-49 project. First, take no detours, don't stop to read historical markers, take no breaks, and get there as soon as possible. Second, set up a web site accessible to the general public that will allow information as to where exactly we are on this lengthy trip. The site may include weekly project updates (yes, weekly) from DOTD, information for bidders of contracts, a graphic representation and aerial photographs showing project completion status, capability for bloggers who want to exchange thoughts about the project, and a folder for suggestions.

ARE WE THERE YET? This tool of accountability, measurement, and public information will help answer the question, facilitate project completion, surface possible cost savings, and will provide answers the public desires.

Pivotal election year

Everyone recognizes that this is a pivotal year in the Louisiana legislature.

In our political world we have a constant struggle between philosophy and realism. Realism always trumps philosophy. For evidence you don’t have to look any further than how the Republican controlled Congress rivaled, if not exceeded, the spending and pork distribution of the era of the Democratically controlled Congress.

Due to term limits, the Louisiana legislature will experience unprecedented turnover this year. That extensive turnover means that those returning will come in with relatively higher knowledge, experience, and seniority than ever before. Not just relatively higher, but significantly higher. For example Patrick Williams (D - Shreveport) has only a partial term under his belt, but he will enter the legislature in the top half of the legislature, seniority wise

Louisiana like every other state in the Union has one main geographic divide. Louisiana’s is roughly described as north or south of the I-10 corridor. Northern Louisiana fights for its share of government spending every legislative session, but generally only gets the scraps, because south Louisiana holds a significant majority of the population and hence political representation compared to north Louisiana.

This election gives north Louisiana a chance to tilt the playing field a bit more northerly than in the past, but only if we vote to send back our incumbent and/or experienced legislators. Experience, knowledge, and seniority quite simply translate into power and influence. Those people will get the plum committee assignments and leadership positions. That bodes well for our area.

Cities and parishes along the I-10 corridor have already banded together to leverage what they can from the government. It is time for northern Louisiana to do the same. But until they do form an I-20 and/or I-49 coalition, all we can hope for is the power and influence of experience and seniority to fight for north Louisiana’s needs in the legislature.

This is not a year for on the job training in the legislature. That is why my support of legislative candidates is behind those with experience and incumbents.

Messages and messengers

School bus drivers sought to bring attention to the issue of extreme heat issues on school buses. Caddo Parish School Board member, Tammy Phelps jumped on the messenger instead of the issue. For some reason she could not come up with a sound argument as to why the school board and administration did not adequately provide for the well being of students cared for on the buses. I would think that a school board member’s (and anyone else associated with the schools) first concern is to the children, not how the school board will look in the eyes of the public.

How ironic that her effort to quash criticism, she has brought it to the forefront. That seems to always be the case when the powers that be try to muzzle critics. But at least Ms Phelps has done the district a service as well; now students have a great reason to study the First Amendment.

Too often political arguments are not really about the issue, often times they are arguments only because an issue may affect the way a group appears. Anytime a person makes a political statement for one side or the other, a political hack’s mouth will open and spurt venom. Here’s a foolproof way to judge those political issues

Examine the debate and ask yourself, “What is being attacked here?” If the criticism is an attack on the messenger, then the original statement had too much merit to effectively argue against it.

Recently the US Senate sought resolutions to attack the messengers in the “Petraeus or Betray Us” newspaper ad and Rush Limbaugh’s criticism of a group of soldiers. Neither side wanted to debate the issues involved in either case. They only sought to discredit the messengers. Odd too, is the fact that both of those first hack jobs on Petraeus and the soldiers were intended to attack the messenger as well.

MoveOn.org found it easier to attack the messenger that the message. Limbaugh couldn’t effectively argue the soldiers’ statements, so he too attacked the messenger.

Our political leaders are frequently criticized for the lack of civility in our government. In my younger days, civility was more common. In those days issues, not people, were discussed. Messages were attacked, not messengers.

Enjoy your seasons, y’all!

My Montana friends say they wouldn’t enjoy the south, because they would miss the seasons. Obviously they don’t know that Louisiana does indeed have seasons; we just don’t have to be hit upside the head with a 2x4 to let us know the season has changed.

They have been scraping frost from their windshields for more that a month in the Big Sky Country. Its been snowing in the northern Rockies for weeks. Last weekend Montana State University played their homecoming football game in three inches of snow. That’s not unusual for October in Montana; it will continue to snow off an on for the next 7 months. Enjoy your seasons up there, y’all!

In Montana you had to go out in sub-zero temperatures and shovel the driveway just to get out to go to school, work, to the store, or in Grandma’s case to get to her weekly hair appointment.

Those Montana friends complain about the heat and humidity of the south. You know what? We don’t have to go out in the extreme heat and shovel humidity. I’ll take that trade-off any day.

So how do we measure the seasons? In Montana it was something like this for me:

As a kid fall began with the first day of school.

In high school and college it was the first day of football.

As a geography teacher I used the scientific purity of defining the seasons by the relationship of the sun to the earth: summer and winter solstice (longest and shortest days) and spring and fall equinox (the days with equal hours of sun and dark).

Then there were the psychic seasons: First frost – last frost; Snow tires on - snow tires off; Golf weather – ski weather, Mow the grass - rake the leaves - shovel the snow.

Now our forecast is showing that summer may finally be over here in Shreveport. Enjoy the cool, dry air.

What if it had been tarring and feathering?

The incidents at Jena present a lot of learning opportunities. The noose “lesson” taught at Grambling not one of them. It wasn’t appropriate for the age group or for any age group. It is never appropriate for anyone to put another’s head in a noose to teach a lesson, unless it is for a legal execution.

My wife, when shown the photo of the little girl being held up in the noose, said, “What would they have done if Jena had been about tarring and feathering.”

To those that say putting a noose in a tree was a harmless prank, it wasn’t. It was purposely inflammatory in the same way that putting a Swastika on synagogue or burning an American flag at ground zero in New York City would be.

The first lesson is for adults to act be the adults and set an example of how to use wisdom and common sense rather than childishly inflaming the situation with inappropriate words and actions.