I became interested in NASCAR last year after I wrote a sports book—part of which included a section about the sport. I started watching NASCAR the last few weeks of the 2005 season and I was sorry to see the last race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway come and go—especially after seeing what driver Mark Martin did.
As he battled for the lead with Greg Biffle, Martin realized something. Biffle's car was better, so rather than wrecking himself or Biffle, he backed off and allowed Biffle to win. Afterward, Biffle was highly complementary of Martin's actions. Turns out, Martin has been known for such actions for a long time. But that one action turned me into a huge fan of Mark Martin and of NASCAR in general.
As the 2006 season got underway in Daytona in February, controversy was brewing because of a practice called "bump drafting," that a high number of drivers were using. Drivers who use this technique pull up behind slower cars and bump them to let the driver of the slower car know that he needs to move over, or sometimes aggressive drivers do it to get their opponent's car "loose" so they can pass the slower car.
Through the first few weeks of the 2006 season, the controversy about the practice continued to grow. A couple of races ago, in Bristol (TN), Kurt Busch bump drafted Matt Kenseth and knocked Kenseth's car up the track far enough for Busch to get around him with just a few laps remaining. Busch went on to win and Kenseth wasn't real happy about the way Busch did it.
When Kenseth was asked how he decides when he needs to be aggressive and when he needs to back off during the heat of battle, he said that he asks himself this question: "What would Mark Martin do?"
Mark Martin has never won the Nextel Cup Championship and he's in the final year of his 24 year career. And while I'm sure that he desperately wants to win the championship this season and go out on top (he's currently in the top ten in points), I'm guessing that he has to feel the ultimate amount of satisfaction in hearing what Kenseth said about him. A piece of Mark Martin will continue racing after he's retired, and I think I already know who my new favorite driver will be.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
America's Forgotten Heritage
This is a post from my previous blog:
World magazine ran a story called "The Conservationist" in their January 29, 2005 issue that spoke about the direction the National Endowment for the Humanities is headed under Director Bruce Cole. World said that under his leadership the agency "has returned to the role of preserving America's heritage."
At the end of this article, World cites recently released statistics from the NEH about what Americans believe about our heritage. If the statistics are true, then we are in big trouble. According to the NEH:
51 percent of American high-school students think Germany, Japan, or Italy was an ally of the United States during World War II.
Wouldn't you like to know which countries these students actually believe we fought against? I wonder if Hitler or Pearl Harbor would ring a bell?
40 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know within 50 years when the Civil War took place.
How is this possible? Couldn't they have ruled out the 1700's since we didn't become a republic until late in the century? And surely they knew that the Civil War didn't occur in the 1900's. So, which century is left? Just a simple guess of somewhere in the middle of the 1800's would have put them within 50 years.
56 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know that Abraham Lincoln was the president during the Civil War.
Wouldn't you like to know who they think the president was during the Civil War?
40 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know that the document establishing the separation of powers in our government is the U.S. Constitution.
What other document has the authority to establish power in our government?
69 percent of voting-age Americans think that Karl Marx's principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" either is (35 percent) or might be (34 percent) a quotation from the U.S. Constitution.
No wonder Marxism runs rampant in both political parties and on far too many college campuses. Sixty-nine percent of voting-age Americans actually believe that the underlying principle of Marxism is found in our Constitution. Doesn't anybody actually read the document any more?
Zero percent of America's top 55 colleges have an American history requirement.
As telling as this is, shouldn't students already know the basics of American history by the time they reach college? Shouldn't they have read the Constitution? Shouldn't they have some idea what a democratic republic is in contrast to Marxism?
And how ironic is it that taxpayers are funding a department like the NEH to tell us that our students have no concept of their heritage while at the same time our government is failing miserably to educate our students?
World magazine ran a story called "The Conservationist" in their January 29, 2005 issue that spoke about the direction the National Endowment for the Humanities is headed under Director Bruce Cole. World said that under his leadership the agency "has returned to the role of preserving America's heritage."
At the end of this article, World cites recently released statistics from the NEH about what Americans believe about our heritage. If the statistics are true, then we are in big trouble. According to the NEH:
51 percent of American high-school students think Germany, Japan, or Italy was an ally of the United States during World War II.
Wouldn't you like to know which countries these students actually believe we fought against? I wonder if Hitler or Pearl Harbor would ring a bell?
40 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know within 50 years when the Civil War took place.
How is this possible? Couldn't they have ruled out the 1700's since we didn't become a republic until late in the century? And surely they knew that the Civil War didn't occur in the 1900's. So, which century is left? Just a simple guess of somewhere in the middle of the 1800's would have put them within 50 years.
56 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know that Abraham Lincoln was the president during the Civil War.
Wouldn't you like to know who they think the president was during the Civil War?
40 percent of seniors at America's top 55 colleges do not know that the document establishing the separation of powers in our government is the U.S. Constitution.
What other document has the authority to establish power in our government?
69 percent of voting-age Americans think that Karl Marx's principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" either is (35 percent) or might be (34 percent) a quotation from the U.S. Constitution.
No wonder Marxism runs rampant in both political parties and on far too many college campuses. Sixty-nine percent of voting-age Americans actually believe that the underlying principle of Marxism is found in our Constitution. Doesn't anybody actually read the document any more?
Zero percent of America's top 55 colleges have an American history requirement.
As telling as this is, shouldn't students already know the basics of American history by the time they reach college? Shouldn't they have read the Constitution? Shouldn't they have some idea what a democratic republic is in contrast to Marxism?
And how ironic is it that taxpayers are funding a department like the NEH to tell us that our students have no concept of their heritage while at the same time our government is failing miserably to educate our students?
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Reconnecting Generations
This is a post from my previous blog:
I am currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. You're probably aware of the premise of the book, but in case you aren't, it's about a demon named Screwtape who corresponds via letters with his nephew, another demon, named Wormwood about Wormwood's charge—the person that Wormwood has been assigned to tempt.
This book is a fabulous treatise about human nature and how easily our motivations can be warped to lead us astray. In one of the letters, Screwtape writes this to Wormwood:
"And since we cannot deceive the whole human race all the time, it is most important thus to cut every generation off from all others; for where learning makes a free commerce between the ages there is always the danger that the characteristic errors of one may be corrected by the characteristic truths of another. But thanks be to Our Father and Historic Point of View, great scholars are now as little nourished by the past as the most ignorant mechanic who holds that "history is bunk.'"
I know that this is fiction and C. S. Lewis himself said in the preface that, "Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle." Even with that warning, I can't help but think Screwtape has a point in the passage above.
In our entertainment-driven society, people seem less interested in staying connected to previous generations than we once were. I fear that we've become so self-absorbed that we fail to see the relevance of what generations before us had to say. Or worse, we believe that we're more enlightened than they were. Either way, we've turned our backs on what they had to say and consequently, we've detached ourselves from them.
And in the process we've given up the chance to "be corrected by the characteristic truths of another." If you think I'm right, buy a book this week that was written more than 40 years ago and read it. Or forgo your favorite television program one night and watch a documentary on the History Channel or A & E. Or talk to an elderly relative and begin to record your family history. Do anything that will connect you to a previous generation.
I am currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. You're probably aware of the premise of the book, but in case you aren't, it's about a demon named Screwtape who corresponds via letters with his nephew, another demon, named Wormwood about Wormwood's charge—the person that Wormwood has been assigned to tempt.
This book is a fabulous treatise about human nature and how easily our motivations can be warped to lead us astray. In one of the letters, Screwtape writes this to Wormwood:
"And since we cannot deceive the whole human race all the time, it is most important thus to cut every generation off from all others; for where learning makes a free commerce between the ages there is always the danger that the characteristic errors of one may be corrected by the characteristic truths of another. But thanks be to Our Father and Historic Point of View, great scholars are now as little nourished by the past as the most ignorant mechanic who holds that "history is bunk.'"
I know that this is fiction and C. S. Lewis himself said in the preface that, "Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle." Even with that warning, I can't help but think Screwtape has a point in the passage above.
In our entertainment-driven society, people seem less interested in staying connected to previous generations than we once were. I fear that we've become so self-absorbed that we fail to see the relevance of what generations before us had to say. Or worse, we believe that we're more enlightened than they were. Either way, we've turned our backs on what they had to say and consequently, we've detached ourselves from them.
And in the process we've given up the chance to "be corrected by the characteristic truths of another." If you think I'm right, buy a book this week that was written more than 40 years ago and read it. Or forgo your favorite television program one night and watch a documentary on the History Channel or A & E. Or talk to an elderly relative and begin to record your family history. Do anything that will connect you to a previous generation.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
The Greatest Generation
A couple of nights ago I had a long conversation with a friend the covered many topics, but they were all related; the war in Iraq, generations, American culture, and the future of our nation. The common theme that wove these topics together was hardship, and more specifically, whether or not the current generation (the one in which I am part of) and the one that follows me is too soft to maintain our nation for the generations that will follow us.
My friend, who is about 15 years older than I am, didn't raise the question. I did. I'm well aware of the fact that the generation before me made huge sacrifices in Vietnam, and the one before that made them in Korea, and the one before that made them in WWII. My appreciation for the people who have died in uniform defending our country deepens by the day. But, as many others have noted, something about the WWII generation made them special—some call them "The Greatest Generation."
Tom Brokaw wrote a book by that title. Here's what he has to say about the WWII generation in a blurb on the Random House website: "As I walked the beaches with the American veterans who had returned for this [40th] anniversary, men in their sixties and seventies, and listened to their stories, I was deeply moved and profoundly grateful for all they had done. Ten years later, I returned to Normandy for the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion, and by then I had come to understand what this generation of Americans meant to history. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."
I agree with him, but not just because the men who fought there had the courage to fight the war. (Click here to watch a 13 minute speech that President Reagan gave in Normandy in 1984 and see if you can keep from getting misty eyed by their courage.) But also because nearly everybody in that generation contained that same courage. Not long ago, as I was going through things in my basement, I came across ration cards that my grandparents used during WWII. Ration cards were issued to civilians and limited the amount of meat, sugar, coffee, gasoline, and other items they could purchase. A slogan that could be heard again and again during that era was: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
This is the same generation that endured the Great Depression, so they understood what "doing without" meant. They were tough. And after the war was over, they were even tougher. I'm of the opinion that generations are made tough through trials. And I'd like to think that if our generation was called upon to make such sacrifices, that we could. Leaving aside the argument about whether we ought to be in Iraq or not right, our current generation in America has certainly shown the ability and courage it takes to fight when called upon. But what about the rest of us?
We've had so many things handed to us. Parents who didn't push us hard. A government that hands out checks which fosters a sense of entitlement. A fascination with pop culture that no longer even pretends to border on self-obsession. Self has been proclaimed king. And our knowledge of history is severely lacking. According to statistics released by the National Endowment for the Humanities a little over a year ago, 51 percent of American high-school students think Germany, Japan, or Italy was an ally of the United States during WWII.
What will it take to make those of us who are under 40 tougher? I have no idea. Perhaps the aftermath of the current war will bring us face to face with soldiers who have indeed made huge sacrifices. Maybe our leaders will one day call upon us to make sacrifices rather than promising us a better lifestyle. And maybe the current culture war will cause parents who haven't been engaged to become engaged.
Thinking about the big picture is just too overwhelming though. Thankfully, much of life happens in the small picture, which means, all of us can do something. We can teach our kids to respect elders. We can make sure they understand the sacrifices previous generations made. We can read history books to increase our own appreciation. And we can still talk to members of the greatest generation. Some of them are still alive and would love nothing more than to have one person ask them, "So what was it like…"
My friend, who is about 15 years older than I am, didn't raise the question. I did. I'm well aware of the fact that the generation before me made huge sacrifices in Vietnam, and the one before that made them in Korea, and the one before that made them in WWII. My appreciation for the people who have died in uniform defending our country deepens by the day. But, as many others have noted, something about the WWII generation made them special—some call them "The Greatest Generation."
Tom Brokaw wrote a book by that title. Here's what he has to say about the WWII generation in a blurb on the Random House website: "As I walked the beaches with the American veterans who had returned for this [40th] anniversary, men in their sixties and seventies, and listened to their stories, I was deeply moved and profoundly grateful for all they had done. Ten years later, I returned to Normandy for the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion, and by then I had come to understand what this generation of Americans meant to history. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."
I agree with him, but not just because the men who fought there had the courage to fight the war. (Click here to watch a 13 minute speech that President Reagan gave in Normandy in 1984 and see if you can keep from getting misty eyed by their courage.) But also because nearly everybody in that generation contained that same courage. Not long ago, as I was going through things in my basement, I came across ration cards that my grandparents used during WWII. Ration cards were issued to civilians and limited the amount of meat, sugar, coffee, gasoline, and other items they could purchase. A slogan that could be heard again and again during that era was: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
This is the same generation that endured the Great Depression, so they understood what "doing without" meant. They were tough. And after the war was over, they were even tougher. I'm of the opinion that generations are made tough through trials. And I'd like to think that if our generation was called upon to make such sacrifices, that we could. Leaving aside the argument about whether we ought to be in Iraq or not right, our current generation in America has certainly shown the ability and courage it takes to fight when called upon. But what about the rest of us?
We've had so many things handed to us. Parents who didn't push us hard. A government that hands out checks which fosters a sense of entitlement. A fascination with pop culture that no longer even pretends to border on self-obsession. Self has been proclaimed king. And our knowledge of history is severely lacking. According to statistics released by the National Endowment for the Humanities a little over a year ago, 51 percent of American high-school students think Germany, Japan, or Italy was an ally of the United States during WWII.
What will it take to make those of us who are under 40 tougher? I have no idea. Perhaps the aftermath of the current war will bring us face to face with soldiers who have indeed made huge sacrifices. Maybe our leaders will one day call upon us to make sacrifices rather than promising us a better lifestyle. And maybe the current culture war will cause parents who haven't been engaged to become engaged.
Thinking about the big picture is just too overwhelming though. Thankfully, much of life happens in the small picture, which means, all of us can do something. We can teach our kids to respect elders. We can make sure they understand the sacrifices previous generations made. We can read history books to increase our own appreciation. And we can still talk to members of the greatest generation. Some of them are still alive and would love nothing more than to have one person ask them, "So what was it like…"
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Randal McCloy
You find out what people are made of when they are on the brink of death. They think about or do the thing that matters the most to them. Why spend time doing anything else?
Randal McCloy, the only miner out of thirteen miners who survived when the Sago Mine in Tallmansville (W.V.) collapsed in January, was certain that he was going to die. Carbon monoxide filled the air at much higher levels than is safe for breathing. The miners began to write farewell letters to their families. One miner lasted 10 hours before he died from inhaling the poisonous air. For some reason, McCloy was still breathing 30 hours after the disaster.
"Well, we all knew there was nothing you could do," McCloy is quoted as saying in an interview with Matt Lauer. "We all knew that. We knew we was going to end up taking the bullet on that one."
McCloy decided that the time had come to write his own farewell letter to his wife Anna and their children, Randal Jr. and Isabel. Here's what he said: "Anna, I love you so much. To my son, trust in the Lord. To my daughter, stay sweet. Don't grieve long. I want you to be happy in life." He signed the letter, "Daddy."
How could he have said any more? He expressed his love for his family. He told them to trust in the Lord. And he didn't want this to change his family—he wanted his daughter to stay sweet and he didn't want them to grieve long. He didn't gloss over the fact that his family would grieve his death. He allowed them that. But he was concerned that his death might keep them from eventual happiness and he didn't want that to happen. That's what love looks like.
Somehow, rescue workers got to him and he was still alive. The neurosurgeon who has worked with him since his rescue said this about his condition upon arrival: "He was in terrible shape when he got here: in shock, collapsed left lung, in kidney failure, heart failure, liver failure. Really nothing working right and in a deep coma."
He has brain damage, he has vision problems, he's weak, he needs help to walk, and he's going to be in therapy for a long time. But, last week, he was released from the hospital and he got to go home to the family that he obviously loves. How cool is that?
Randal McCloy, the only miner out of thirteen miners who survived when the Sago Mine in Tallmansville (W.V.) collapsed in January, was certain that he was going to die. Carbon monoxide filled the air at much higher levels than is safe for breathing. The miners began to write farewell letters to their families. One miner lasted 10 hours before he died from inhaling the poisonous air. For some reason, McCloy was still breathing 30 hours after the disaster.
"Well, we all knew there was nothing you could do," McCloy is quoted as saying in an interview with Matt Lauer. "We all knew that. We knew we was going to end up taking the bullet on that one."
McCloy decided that the time had come to write his own farewell letter to his wife Anna and their children, Randal Jr. and Isabel. Here's what he said: "Anna, I love you so much. To my son, trust in the Lord. To my daughter, stay sweet. Don't grieve long. I want you to be happy in life." He signed the letter, "Daddy."
How could he have said any more? He expressed his love for his family. He told them to trust in the Lord. And he didn't want this to change his family—he wanted his daughter to stay sweet and he didn't want them to grieve long. He didn't gloss over the fact that his family would grieve his death. He allowed them that. But he was concerned that his death might keep them from eventual happiness and he didn't want that to happen. That's what love looks like.
Somehow, rescue workers got to him and he was still alive. The neurosurgeon who has worked with him since his rescue said this about his condition upon arrival: "He was in terrible shape when he got here: in shock, collapsed left lung, in kidney failure, heart failure, liver failure. Really nothing working right and in a deep coma."
He has brain damage, he has vision problems, he's weak, he needs help to walk, and he's going to be in therapy for a long time. But, last week, he was released from the hospital and he got to go home to the family that he obviously loves. How cool is that?
Monday, April 03, 2006
Opening Day 2006
Today is Opening Day of the 2006 baseball season. I love Opening Day.
For me, baseball is one of the many little nuances of life that I enjoy. I've been a baseball fan since I was a young boy. My uncle, who used to live in
After one of his visits, I flipped on the radio at home to listen to the Royals and I haven't stopped listening to their games since. One year, many many years ago (1985), my Royals won the World Series. Since the early 90's they've been horrible. Last year, they posted their worst record in franchise history. They spent a little money during the off-season, so hopes are a little higher in
I love the strategy of the game. I love to listen to the same announcers all summer long. I love going to the games and drinking in the ballpark atmosphere. I love watching the athletic plays. I love watching veterans who are barely hanging on, but not wanting to let go. I love watching rookies try to prove that they belong. And I love to watch veterans who play the game the way it was meant to be played (not many of those exist anymore).
Yes, it's Opening Day. And even a Royals fan can be optimistic on Opening Day.
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