The Paterno Postscript

When I hear the name Joe Paterno, my mind immediately drifts back to the 12th man.  It was a football game that put Penn State on the national map and a heartbreaking defeat for my Kansas Jayhawks in the 1968 Orange Bowl.  Kansas had stopped Penn State's try for a 2 point conversion late in the game when the officials flagged the Jayhawks for having 12 men on the field.  Penn State converted, winning the Orange Bowl and completing an undefeated season that gave the school a big shot of legitimacy in the eyes of the national media.

I always respected what Paterno accomplished at State College.  But by the mid-1990's it was clear Paterno needed to retire.  The truly great coaches know when to leave the stage.  John Wooden did,  Bear Bryant did, so did Tom Osborne and his predecessor Bob Devaney.

Paterno's ability to hold onto his job despite some pretty average teams over the last 15 years shows just how powerful he was inside the university.  The Sandusky scandal would have been stopped 14 years ago if Paterno had stepped up and called out his assistant.  I think what happened was a generational misstep on Paterno's part.  He wanted to protect the school, himself and his friend.  He didn't realize the serious nature of sexual child abuse because it was a subject taboo to a man of his age.

In my opinion Paterno's legacy is undone by his careless actions.  Those actions speak to the larger problem of the unbelievable power that is now assembled in 50 or so college athletic departments across the United States.  I can guarantee you that incidents have occurred in the last decade at a handful of our power house collegiate programs that would measure up to the Baylor murder cover up or Sandusky's locker room escapades.

Drugs, rape, and murder are part of the culture many of these young athletes are exposed to and they bring that baggage with them to college.  But we shouldn't expect it from our exalted coaches.   The next big scandal awaits.  But nothing will change, not with all the money that's at stake.

Some Baseball Life in Kansas City

Kansas City loves baseball.  It positively glowed for the 2012 All Star Game.  It marked the first time in a generation that a real sense of excitement enveloped the city.

What most of America doesn't know is that the Royals were the epicenter of the sporting culture of Kansas City and the 300 miles that surrounds it for a solid 20 years.  It took Carl Peterson taking the Chiefs off life support Ewing Kauffman's death to slowly eat away at the top spot the Royals enjoyed throughout the 70's and 80's.

Kauffman Stadium was stunningly beautiful Tuesday.  Of all of butt-ugly cookie cutter stadiums built in the 1970's on The K survives.  In fact the whole sports complex is still something else and despite all of the problems that grips Kansas City it remains a source of public pride.  And forget all the clamoring about a downtown ball park, the two renovations done at Kauffman over the last 20 years have served the ball park well.  Kauffman is a great place to watch a baseball game.

What's sad is what David Glass let happen to this once proud franchise. He pissed off the entire city when the team was struggling and he hinted at moving the team to the National League.  It threw the whole ownership change into a six year plus turmoil from which it never recovered.  Then when it looked that no one with the deep pockets needed to keep the team in Kansas City would step up, Glass resurfaced, the public having forgotten and forgiven his horrendous missteps and welcomed him as the owner.

What a disaster.  He ran the team like a Walmart cutting corners and running in and out an array of washed of free agents through the team, allowing the farm system to flounder and letting good players slip away to other teams.  Then he hired Dayton Moore, a man from the Joe Burke/John Scherholtz school of baseball and every so slowly, but surely, watchable baseball has returned to K.C.

If Glass would just spend a little more and lock in some of these talented players to long term deals, the team could thrive.  The Royals can draw 2 million plus every year.  Kansas City loves good baseball and goes ga-ga for great baseball.  The city deserves it.  The fans have earned it.  But I don't know that it will ever happen with David Glass as the team's owner.

Fire, Kingdoms and Injury

Even though the rainy season is underway in Florida fire is a constant threat.  A major fire shutdown the interstate on Sunday and the smell of smoke hung heavy in the evening air even though the blaze burned more than 10 miles away.  The stench of smoke stayed strong Monday morning making it easier to deal with the fact that I couldn't go out for a morning run.

It's been two months now since I've been able to train consistently.  First it was my left hamstring that was bothersome.  Just when I had a handle on that problem my right calf started bothering me.  It started as soreness behind my right knee and then it worked it's way deep into my calf.  I've run 20 miles in the last eight weeks.  The only saving grace is that if there is a time of year to be injured it's right now.  The heat is here but without the usual humidity, hence the fire problem.

Sunday afternoon the Czarina and I escaped her unending home renovations to see "Moonrise Kingdom."  It's Wes Anderson's latest creation starring a slew of big name stars.  But in this instance two youngsters steal the heart and soul of this compelling love story.  The writing is crisp, quirky and smart.  The film is beautifully shot as well.  While it falls short of the smart humor of "The Royal Tennebaums" it's well worth a watch.

Felix vs. Tamroh

It was the race that would USA Track and Field a good dose of primetime reality television for a sport that is dying a death by a thousand cuts.  Jeneba Tamroh suckered punched USATF denying it the splash of publicity that it wanted.  The question is, where does the blame fall?

The fact that USATF didn't have any contingencies in place for a tie is beyond belief.  This should have never been an issue dragged out over 9 days.  As soon as the finish line judge with the help of a committee reversed itself (the right decision in my opinion) the athletes involved should have known the consequences.

Instead after an exhausting week of racing and media scrutiny a 22 year old girl was suddenly was put in an eat shit or die situation leaving her in a hopeless emotional quandary.  You could see it in her eyes during Sunday's interview with Allyson Felix.  Tamroh was teary eyed as she acquiesced to the idea of a run-off.  She didn't want to race again for a spot on the Olympic team that she felt in her heart belonged to her. 

Felix comes off as an unfeeling bitch for denying her supposed friend and training partner a chance to run an individual race in London.  I think any criticism directed toward Felix is inherently unfair.  She is a better runner than Tamroh, period.  Felix is doing what she feels best for her number 1 goal and that is to win Olympic gold at 200 meters.  She knows barring a miracle start in London she won't medal in the 100.  Heck, she won't even make the finals.  But neither would have Tamroh.  But Felix believes the 100 rounds will hold her in good stead when it comes to running the 200.  I get it.

The losers in all of this is the USATF.  Stephanie Hightower is a wreck as the President and Chair.  But we knew that already after the Doug Logan debacle. Here was a chance for supposed PR genius Max Siegel to step up and sign and polish a turd into a diamond.  Instead the turd exploded and left track and field in a world of shit.

As for Tamroh, I really don't feel sorry for her.  She had a chance to step up and show some courage.  She had a chance to step in and salvage a disaster for a sport she professes to love, a sport that she wants to make a living at as a professional.  What she did today was anything but professional.  But it's not entirely her fault, most of the blames goes to Hightower and Siegel.  Only a 4 X 100 relay gold for Tamroh, Felix and the U.S.A. will help heal the wounds the sport inflicted on itself with this dead heat disaster.

The Waterman Way

It took me a long time to ratchet up the nerve to write this one.  But I think the last year has shown the steady slide underway at one of the strongest broadcasters in Fort Myers that actually started long before their mind blowing decision to show Craig Wolf, an employee of 17 years, the door a little more than a year ago.

While WBBH remains a competitive force in the market, a series of personnel decisions has left it vulnerable.  The comedy of errors began five years ago when they left popular morning weatherman Jim Syoen walk over money.  That decision precipitated a slow steady decline in their morning numbers and forced management to flip-flop Robert Van Winkle and Haley Webb and then switch the pair again after the move failed miserably.

Wolf anchored the news for WBBH in Fort Myers and was in large part along with co-anchor Kelly Burns, a major reason why the NBC station became competitive with CBS powerhouse WINK TV.  Television news is a cruel and heartless business.  Waterman Broadcasting exemplifies the worst of those traits.

I know this because against my better judgment I went to work there in the fall of 2006.  I lasted four.  At Waterman Broadcasting isn’t about good journalism, it isn’t about good storytelling, it’s about being aggressive to the point of obnoxiousness.  It's about the art of the oversell, and above all it’s about ruling the staff, made up mostly of young impressionable journalists, through fear and intimidation.

The station does one thing extremely well.  It's investigation team is top notch.  They constantly break great stories and win awards doing it.  But the big I-Team stories appear only in sweeps, four times a year.  The day-in-day out in over-hype, over-sale, takes a lot of luster over what their investigative team accomplishes.

Darrel Adams relishes and encourages a dog eat dog approach to the running of his newsroom.  Those that hammer back and stand up to the unending bullying and brow-beatings by his management team will rise through the ranks and survive.  Those that don’t are thrown by the wayside regardless of how good a producer or reporter they are.  It’s a savage place and the strategy worked as they steadily ate into WINK's massive ratings lead turning it into a two station slug-fest.  WINK three years ago responded by beefing up their news operation and WBBH failed to take advantage of its staff size which it enjoyed for several years to wrest the top spot away from WINK.

The thing that made Craig Wolf stand out is that he refused to part-take in the mind games encouraged by Adams.  Wolf just wanted to do good television and beat the competition.  I think this was partly his undoing.  He’s over 50 and he’s making good money and put his family before his job, hence his decision to leave the 11 p.m. news a few years back.  That made him vulnerable.  Ratting out the station for its God awful working conditions to OSHA didn't help and that led to his ouster.

But the other show dropped in less than a year when Len Jennings, another straight forward good guy, who shined when he was moved into Wolf's spot, announced he was heading to greener pastures.  Len's opportunity to go to KMBC in Kansas City represented a professional coup.  Suddenly WBBH is suffering through to major departures and the aftermath of a failed weather staff shake-up.

The final twist comes with the return of Krista Fogelsong.  The one time FOX anchor in the market left with her tail tucked between her legs.  She overestimated her value to the station and overplayed her contract demands while a strong replacement sat in the wings, Amy Wegmann.  Fogelsong was shown the door and the station didn't miss a beat when they promoted Wegmann.

Now WBBH is hoping Fogelsong will stop the morning ratings slide.  Call me skeptical, bitter, or narrow-minded but I don't see it. WINK is coming and coming on strong.  And according to Nielson, WFTX, my station, won the key demos in the late evening news race.  Where will this all stand in two years or so.  I have no clue.  But if FOX can get its prime time programming sorted out.  It's going to be a three station race and the third station won't be Waterman's bastard step-child, WZVN.

Americana

Neil Young follows his own heart.  His musical whims can exact an exasperating toll on his fans.  "Fork in the Road" served itself as a powerful message at a time of economic disaster but it fell short of the impact of the power delivered by "Living with War."  "Greendale" delivered a strong warning about our ecology and the strains delivered on our lives by the ever present, style over substance driven media. 

The last decade has seen some incredibly power music punctuated by "Prairie Wind."  But missing in the decade was Crazy Horse. Neil delivered Crazy Horse, but in a way that has left many fans scratching their heads.  "Americana" is a collection of old time ballads and working songs with a power acoustical tradition.  But Neil delivers these classic like a shotgun blast with Crazy Horse and the whimsical backing provided by a children's choir.  Some of it works, but as a cohesive theme it feels lacking.

Neil's earned the right to try just about anything he wants.  I was highly skeptical of Bruce Springsteen's "Pete Seeger Sessions."  It took me a long time to embrace this music from the boss.  Bob Dylan's double whack at blues standards "Good as I've been to You" and "World Gone Wrong" in the early 90's served as a launching pad that propelled Dylan back to some of his best writing and the classic "Time Out of Mind."

Neil's allowed to stumble.  But in the shadow of the epic "Le Noise", "Americana just comes off as rough as a corn cob.  Another follow up with Crazy Horse apparently awaits in the wings.  I hope some rib rattling rock and roll awaits.  We've waited much too long for the return of the Horse.

Running with Debby

When of the few times running is bearable in the summer in Southwest Florida is when a tropical storm comes through.  Debby officially arrived on Saturday although it's been raining off and on since the middle of the week.  I headed out the door Saturday afternoon to enjoy the relatively cool weather (under 80 degrees) and the relentless, sometimes heavy rain.

Running in tropical storms is a lot of fun.  Debby is more rain than wind.  Although Debby is producing more than its share of tornado warnings in our area.  Fay which came in 2008 packed a lot more wind and a lot less rain.  What's odd is that this late spring/early summer has been amazingly lacking in humidity.  The rain from Debby will go a long way in easing our drought conditions.

The biggest right now problem is my conditioning.  Since hurt my left hamstring in early May training has been at best, sporadic.  It wasn't until the middle of this week I could tell the muscle was ready for me to resume running in earnest.  Despite biking and using an elliptical I have lost a ton of conditioning.

Saturday's run told me a lot as I crawled along at 10 minute pace for just 3 miles.  I know two things.  I am not going to travel to Kansas to run Lake Atwood in three weeks.  I probably could run 10 miles at just under 8 minute pace but it would be a less than enjoyable experience.  The other is that rushing to get into shape to be able to do that would put me at risk of hurting the leg again.

Our racing season is a good five months away so I have refocused my goal.  I'm looking ahead to the Sand Rat Race in early October.  I haven't run it in a half dozen years or so.  It will give me a chance to go back to Kansas, see friends and enjoy the trails along the Kansas River.