Random Thoughts for Friday, May 7, 2010

Several different thoughts about this past week’s events:

I think it’s officially NUT season in New York City. This past Saturday night, Pakistani-born and naturalized US citizen Faisal Shahzad parks a Nissan Pathfinder loaded with explosive materials in Times Square. Just two nights ago, someone parks a rental truck on the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge (also known as the Triborough Bridge), gets out and runs away. What’s next? Someone dressed as a nuclear bomb leaning against the front entrance to Yankee Stadium? Don’t get any ideas, Red Sox fans…

So the FBI and NYPD tracked down Mr. Shahzad and arrested him off an Emirates Airlines plane bound for Dubai en route to Pakistan. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly tries to compare himself to Jack Bauer of 24 and pats himself on the back for a successful 53-hour manhunt. Mr. Kelly, spare us your self-kudos and please shut up. You and your fellow law enforcers were minutes away from letting Shahzad get away. This man was able to buy a one-way ticket out of the US, WITH CASH, and proceeded without incident or delay to the departure gate. While you and your team were in the middle of multiple doughnut and coffee breaks, did it ever occur to you guys to ramp up checks on no-fly zones and New York-area airports? Maybe you should watch a couple of episodes of Castle and see how your rapid paced police work compares. I think you’ll find ABC offerings closer to your reality than FOX. That’s the problem with New York City’s civil executives since 9-11. Too much talk, big talk, empty talk, and most of it too self-gratulatory and self-promoting. Before Ray Kelly there was Bernie Kerik, and we all know how life’s treating him lately. And let’s not forget New York’s current and previous Napoleonic mayors, Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani. They also talk a good game, but they only know how to get really tough with Squeegee men and cars parked by civilians.

So New York is now bracing for a new round of terrorism scares, courtesy of the Taliban’s “B list” membership. Last week it was an SUV near the Times Square Marriott. Today it’s a cooler near the same location. Either the Taliban is plotting against us one hotel chain at a time, or Marriott’s corporate honchos better start reviewing guest lists to see who they’ve alienated lately.

By now we’re all slowly trying to absorb the murder of Yeardley Love, 22, the young lady who played women’s lacrosse at the University of Virginia. Her former boyfriend, George Huguely, also 22, and a member of the UVA men’s lacrosse team, confessed to killing her. Both were due to graduate college this month. I don’t want to go into the case, or what Huguely’s attorney said about murder being a “tragic accident”, or even Huguely’s prior encounter with the law. What I do want to do is give credit to two excellent articles from USA TODAY well worth reading: Wednesday’s Sports Cover Story by Erik Brady (“This is tragic on many levels”), and Thursday’s Keeping Score column by Christine Brennan (“Virginia tragedy preventable”).

Both Brady and Brennan wrote about the shock experienced by the UVA community, where no one saw it coming even though there were warning signs. Agreed. The entire university community needed to see and pay attention to the warning signs, but it also needed to be consistently vigilant – students, athletic departments, academic departments, faculty members, administrators, and support staff alike – not just about domestic violence, but about personal behavior, interpersonal relationships, and stress levels of all members of the campus community. What happened in Charlottesville is not just a UVA issue, just like campus shootings were never just a Virginia Tech issue.

A few days ago, ESPN Radio’s Bonnie Bernstein tweeted, “Yeardley Love 's death strikes an even more tragic chord recalling how close our student-athlete community was at [the University of Maryland].” While I understand where Bonnie’s coming from, a university campus has many different close student communities, be they athletic, academic, social, fraternal, religious, or service-oriented. I’m sure Yale’s medical and graduate students alike were rocked to their core when Annie Le was murdered last September by a lab technician she supposedly annoyed. What we all need to remember is institutions of higher education are hotbeds for stress, transient interpersonal relationships, and often an unhealthy collision between intellect, emotions, and personal goals. As someone who has taught undergraduates since 1984, I’ve seen my share of young adults “snap” under the most benign circumstances, and this behavioral overload is not exclusive to students under the age of 23. Students as well as university faculty and staff members are under any number of stresses or juggling an equal number of issues while trying to move forward in adult life. Just like employees who “go postal” in the corporate sector or any other workplace, our nation’s college campuses all have the potential for emotional implosions and explosions. In fact, it’s a wonder how what happened at UVA hasn’t happened already on every college campus in the United States.

My point is not to minimize Yeardley Love’s murder, but to emphasize that her murder is sadly a manifestation of an underlying symptom that’s way too overlooked and exacerbated by the “culture” of campus life for too many undergraduate and graduate students – the inability to COPE. Remember, these are young adults, grown children away from the cocoon and safety of home and parents. They go from a semi-controlled life of home and high school to highly expanded liberation, too often without sufficient guidance, a firm sense of responsibility or accountability, much less a solidified sense of right versus wrong. Just as I’ve argued that the NFL Rookie orientation is inadequate enough to sustain wise choices by first-year or veteran players, the same can be argued about freshman orientations on our nation’s campuses. Just as I’ve argued the NFL needs to consistently provide periodic in-service seminars for all players, coaches, and front office personnel regarding on and off-field conduct, college campuses need to provide similar seminars to students throughout all years of their studies. Chronological or academic maturation does not automatically include intellectual or emotional maturation.

Speaking of NFL players and off-field behavior, could someone explain to me what thought process or moral compass former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor uses in life? Don’t discuss with me whether he “raped” or “RAPED” a sixteen-year-old girl in a hotel in Suffern, New York last night. Explain to me WHY he was in that Suffern hotel in the first place, and why he was within ten yards of a sixteen-year-old girl! At his arraignment, LT (the original, by the way) said he simply wanted to get home to his wife in Florida. Lawrence, WHY weren’t you home with her in the first place? This is more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not being where you SHOULD be, not having your priorities straight as a 51-year-old man with a family and a personal rap sheet longer than a Bill Parcells play list. I’m not speaking as a fan. I’m speaking as a generational contemporary. I’m speaking to a fellow former football player around my age. PLEASE, Lawrence, GROW UP and act our age!

And please stop telling us you were set up, or that the girl was 19. You STILL should’ve been home watching TV and going to sleep next to your own wife. Case closed!

We wonder where the behavior patterns of Ben Rothlisberger and other NFL bad boys come from? Just look at Lawrence Taylor, poster child and patron saint for repeatedly questionable behavior. As was discussed this morning on ESPN’s First Take, our lasting vision of LT may no longer be breaking Joe Theismann’s leg, or an over-the-shoulder chop sack of Richard Todd. It will be watching him in an upstate New York courtroom, just like we don’t remember OJ for breaking 2,000 yards on a snowy December day at Shea Stadium in 1973. We remember him trying to put on a leather glove in a Los Angeles courtroom, or standing in a Nevada courtroom in an orange prison suit.

Speaking of bad boys and the NFL, let’s give three cheers (NOT!) to the Cincinnati Bengals for signing Adam “Pacman” Jones. Does anyone have an over-under on how long it will take before the Bengals regret this personnel move? Do Vegas bookies yet have odds on what Pacman’s next legal mess will be? Better yet, did the Bengals put every possible restriction and stipulation into Jones’ contract? Did they also remember to include shooting spitballs in all dining facilities and establishments? If we’re going to monitor his behavior, let’s be completely thorough about it, right?

Oh, and let’s get this straight… no one seriously wants to sign former Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell! My advice to the former number one draft pick is to sit back, work on your diet (FYI, there’s really nothing wrong with eating fat-free yogurt or cottage cheese a little more often) and conditioning, and keep an eye on other teams’ injury reports.

Kudos to my buddy Jon Saraceno at USA TODAY for Wednesday’s NFL Insider article on St. Louis’ top draft pick, quarterback Sam Bradford. However, I need to stay true to my word and refer to his new team as the Lamb Chops until I see proof head coach Steve Spagnuolo understands how to build an offensive line that will keep this kid upright for the entire season. If your line’s made of Swiss cheese, your quarterback’s gonna taste yummy with mint jelly. Sorry, I couldn’t resist…

While I’m passing out cheers to journalists, I also want to make sure Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter is acknowledged for his articles on the Dez Bryant-Jeff Ireland pre-draft interview story and the current state of the Oakland Raiders (feel free to fill in your own adjectives). Also, if you’ve never read Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, you don’t know what you’re missing. He recently wrote a terrific article on the Arizona immigration law. And, of course, thanks to all the various sportswriters who paid tribute to dearly departed Voice of the Tigers, Ernie Harwell, especially Mike Lupica, Bob Raissmann, and Gary Myers at the New York Daily News. And I highly encourage everyone who loves sports to subscribe to Len Berman’s Top 5 at www.thatssports.com. Len also had a wonderful tribute to Ernie Harwell that continues to grow from others’ contributions to his site.

Speaking of Arizona, did anyone notice how much or how little TNT discussed the political statement by “Los Suns” during Wednesday night’s game 2 win over the Spurs?

Additionally speaking of Arizona, is John McCain running to his right enough for primary voters yet?

Perhaps I’m crazy, or completely alone on this, but I don’t think Milton Bradley deserves to be treated like Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Let’s face it; there are head cases and then there are nut jobs. As perpetually cranky as Bradley is, we shouldn’t mistake him for having the potential to “go nuclear.” We really don’t know what kinds of emotional issues and stresses he’s been carrying around through his professional baseball career. I think it’s a big step on his part and the Seattle Mariners’ part to get him the mental health help he needs and now finally seeks. I wish Mr. Bradley all the best for his quest for mental tranquility and a return to hopefully a rewarding baseball career for years to come, possibly with the Mariners until his far away retirement. Instead of snickering about Bradley’s long-awaited cry for help, maybe we should pause for a second and wonder how wonderful Albert Belle’s career could have been if he did the same fifteen years ago.

Speaking of nut jobs, when does Sarah Palin visit the Gulf of Mexico to chant “Drill Baby Drill”? Or does BP have budgetary issues these days and can’t afford her appearance fees?

Is it just me, or isn’t it rather strange to see Paul Konerko of the White Sox leading the majors in home runs so far this season? While we’re at it, isn’t it refreshing to see Toronto’s Vernon Wells, the Mets’ David Wright, and Konerko’s teammate Andruw Jones all showing better power numbers compared to last season?

Are you as impressed as I am by Colorado’s pitcher Ulbaldo Jimenez? In case you haven’t noticed, he’s still tossing shutout innings since his no-hitter last month in Atlanta.

Has anyone noticed how difficult it is for MLB teams to win on the road this season? Going into this weekend, only the Phillies, Giants, Twins, Yankees, Rays, and Jays have both winning home and away records (The Brewers are 8-7 on the road, 4-8 at home). If the home and away records of Tampa and Toronto don’t make you appreciate how competitive the AL East is (Boston is 9-8 at home, 6-6 away), then you’re too busy whining about the Yankees and their outrageous payroll to notice an interesting four-team race is heating up for the summer.

Has anyone noticed Joe Torre, Lou Pinella, and Bobby Cox looking less and less like the Sunshine Boys while their Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves continue to underachieve? Or are these teams really underachieving? Gotta wonder how smart those spring training prognosticators are sometimes. Then again, it is only Mother’s Day weekend.

Oh, speaking of Mother’s Day weekend, not only do I wish all moms a special weekend (well, excluding a former mother-in-law who shall remain nameless…), I want to remind everyone to watch Saturday Night Live this weekend, hosted by America’s grandest mom (even though she’s never had children), 88-year-old Betty White, our favorite grandmother in “The Proposal” and a true golden lady with or without being a Golden Girl. And while you’re watching, try to keep the Humane Society in your thoughts, as it’s Ms. White’s beloved charity organization.

Did anyone notice a small news item about former Miami Dolphins wide receiver O.J. McDuffie winning an $11.5 million medical malpractice lawsuit? The former team doctor plans to appeal. According to USA TODAY, he called the ruling a travesty. I find it interesting you can sue for that much money over an injured toe. Gee, if I sued for all of my past football injuries, at the clip McDuffie sued for, I could probably get enough money to buy the Dolphins.

Have you noticed college football schedules are out? Looking at my Temple Owls, their schedule makes me wonder if the clock was turned back to 1980. Season opener at home with Villanova. Road trips to West Point and Happy Valley. The only games missing seem to be Syracuse, Rutgers, Delaware, and William and Mary.

As I wrap up another week, I’m reminded once again that I’m getting older. Tomorrow is the anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah. I won’t divulge how many years ago that was, but it’s been a lot since I stood up and read my portion of scripture. What do I remember most from that experience? All the fountain pens my relatives gave as part of Eastern European tradition. Those were the days… when Jeopardy on television qualified as a “video game”.