Harleys, Cars, Girls & Guitars

I'm Rooting for Duke and John Scheyer

Yes, I am. And I'm doing it because Duke often plays four white guys. I'm tired of black guys dominating football and basketball, and I want to see white guys return to those sports in large numbers. And, I really like John Scheyer.

If you watch basketball a lot, as I do, you know that the announcers are constantly trumpeting some “first” for black players. Good for them. Throughout the NCAA tournament, the real story has been the return of white players to the game in large numbers. Northern Iowa, Butler, Duke and a bunch of other teams field a lot of white players. No mention of this by the announcers.

If Duke wins the NCAA, that would be the first win by a dominantly white team in decades.

Haven't got anything against the black guys. I'm just tired of white guys being wimps who can't compete. And, as European white players have proven in the NBA, there is no reason white guys can't compete. The reasons why black dominate... well, I don't think it's all talent.

Black athletes, by and large, aren't really going to school. This is true from elementary school through college. Kentucky's team featured a cast of black guys who were pretending to go to college. That's a pretty significant competitive edge. White guys are almost always really going to school. This rebounds badly for black guys when they don't make the NBA or European ball. They go home and work at lousy jobs the rest of their lives.

Black athletes are encouraged to have macho, killer attitudes. Oozing testosterone is cheered on if you're black and male. White guys have been getting their butts kicked for 50 years if they display this kind of machismo. This is also a distinct competitive advantage for black guys.

John Scheyer, Duke's point guard, is a good case in point. The kid is Jewish, for Christ's sake! If he had the angry machismo of Chris Paul, he'd be a terror. Scheyer is the classic white player... polite, quiet and respectful. Even so, Scheyer is a great player... who seems to have no chance to be drafted in the first round by the NBA.

Scheyer is supposedly not athletic... the usual put down for the white athlete. I've watched him a dozen times this year. He persists in beating the black point guards who are supposedly better than him. Check out his stats versus Sherron Collins, the supposedly superior black point guard of Kansas: 

• Collins, 15.5 pts, 4.5 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 2.4 turnovers
• Scheyer, 18.2 pts, 4.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.7 turnovers

Scheyer is clearly the better point guard.  He drives past every point guard he plays, and gets to the hoop. Yet, Scheyer has been labeled “slow.” He also posts up and scores over every point guard he plays.  I've seen this with my own eyes.  It is not an illusion.  And Scheyer's team is in the Final Four.  Collins' team isn't.

An intelligent NBA coach would be well advised to draft and play Scheyer at the point. If he's given the opportunity, Scheyer is going to be a Hall of Fame player. That is, if he's given the chance.

So, I'm rooting for my own kind to win the NCAA. I'm rooting for Duke and Scheyer. I want to see white guys playing like macho studs. I'm looking forward to the day when a white guy is the leading scorer in the NBA. It's about time.

Emergency Squad “Cabin Fever” Dinner

Last Friday night, the Karaoke Queen and I attended the appreciation dinner for the Woodstock Emergency Squad at New World Home Cooking.

Food was pretty good. I especially liked the BBQ chicken. Had a couple of glasses of wine. My nose promptly turned red the next day.

That's my squad in the above picture. From the right: (1) John Rushkowski, lieutenant of the Rotron squad, (2) Laurie Heaven, a fellow EMT, (3) Rich Edelson, captain, (4) and Jeff Seigel. Seated is Ritch Parrish, who taught my EMT class.

In this final picture, John Rushkowski is handing out awards to Ritch Parrish and Phil, whose last name I don't know. Phil was a fellow student in my EMT class.

A good time was had by all.

How to Learn Keyboard Parts… Slow it Down in Soundbooth!

Soundbooth is the audio editor in Adobe's Creative Suite 4 . One of its most amazing features is its ability to slow down an audio track while still maintaining that track at its original pitch.

So, say you want to learn the keyboard part to Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man." The damn thing goes by like a blur. Here's the opening bit from the original.

Ramblin' Man... Original

Crack the track open in Soundbooth and transform its to to extend the length to 150% of the original. A three minute song magically becomes a four and a half minute song! Everything is now much clearer.

Ramblin' Man... 150% Longer

My iMac rips a song from a CD quickly. Just drag the icon from the CD onto the desktop and open the song up in Soundbooth. No utility software required.

I'm still learning Soundbooth. On the PC side, I used Sound Forge for years. Don't know yet which package is better.

We Gotta Do Something About It

I don't care for the direction of U.S. politics. President Obama seems headed toward establishing federal ownership of the entire economy. Racial and sexual quotas deliberately discriminate against white men. Obama seems to identify more with the Arab states than Israel. The “green economy” baloney is just a smokescreen for paying off Obama's political cronies.

So, what am I gonna do about it? Well, just about nothing... that is beyond bitching in this blog and with my friends.

Years ago, I tried to do something about it all. What a waste of time and energy! That time would have been better spent making money or advancing my career as a musician.

Political involvement is a bad habit... sort of an addiction. Gets the heart pumping. Passing the time arguing with people about the issues of the day seems so important while you're doing it, and then... Years later, you look back and it was all bullshit.

I grew up an ardent Republican. During and after college, I became a Democrat. I got the same indoctrination from my professors that the kids get today. No change there. Cars are bad. White racism is the cause of black peoples' problems. The U.S. is a nasty imperialist predator. The commie line never changes.

As I grew tired of the Democrat's bullshit, I tried being a Republican again. This didn't do any good either. The Republican party refuses to address the issues that really matter to me, namely the racial and sexual quota systems and illegal immigration. So, basically, I'm on my own. And President Bush spent money like a drunken sailor. Of course, President Obama has set new standards for profligacy that were once unimaginable.

If you want to be outraged, go ahead. Be my guest. Do something about it. Take a look at what's going on in Canada with Ann Coulter. That's our future. If you want to see clearly where Obama and the Democrats are taking us, check out Detroit. Black machine politics, Democratic of course, have been running Detroit for 40 years.

I'm going to focus on making money and playing music. The rest of it... what the hell! It's beyond my control.

I'm finding useful things to do with my time... studying Lynyrd Skynyrd, playing with Big Joe, taking a walk around the lake, and making some money.  The rest is all bullshit.

Woodstock Fire Department

I attended a one day driving class at Woodstock Fire Department today. I'd hoped that I'd be doing some driving, but it was an entire day of class. Sleepy.

All these years that I've lived in Woodstock, and this was my first visit to the Fire Department. The Rescue Squad occupies a different building a block away on Route 212. During each break, I took a walk to shake off the sleepiness, pulled out my iPhone and took some pictures. The Godzilla, below, was on one of the panels of our big ladder truck.

And, the pic below is of the control panel on the ladder truck.

And, finally, the antique fire truck below is on display in the window of the Fire Department. I've driven by and admired it from a distance, but I've never seen it close up.

The course was given by an instructor from VFIS, an insurance companies that specializes in the4 emergency services. Approximately 50 firefighters and rescue squad volunteers attended the session. The ladies produced an excellent lunch of Italian sausage sandwiches and salad.

Another certificate to laminate and keep in my wallet! Next up... actually driving the ambulance.

Cooper Lake Thaws! Spring Finally Arrives in Catskills!

At nearly 1000 feet elevation, spring arrives about 10 days later than down in the valley. I walked around Cooper Lake yesterday, and took along my iPhone.

I had to touch up the photos a bit. The iPhone image is not as saturated or bright as pictures produced by my Canon Digital Rebel. What can you expect? I had to push up the brightness and contrast in Photoshop. But, I didn't want to carry a big camera.

You can still see snow near the top of the mountains. Around my house, most of the snow is gone. I'm going to pull the Harley out of the garage and go for a ride today or tomorrow.

The ice pack is slowly thawing in the lake. The wind and rain storm last week brought down a lot of trees and branches. As soon as the snow completely clears, I'll be out cleaning up the yard.

The swamps and sloughs around the lake have completely thawed. I expect to see minnows soon. In a month, the peepers will begin to sing their mating song.

Thinking about getting a dog to keep me company out here in the boonies. How in the world did I end up out here? Well, that's a long story.

Thank God, spring is just about here! As I get older, winter becomes more of a burden. Moving to Florida or the Philippines looks more attractive.

What the hell! The good times are here again. Soon, the bear will be dragging herself out of her lair and prowling around the back yard.

Cubs Open 134th Season in 20 Days!

The Cubs played their first game on April 25, 1876. Back in those days, they were known as the Chicago White Stockings. They won their first game, against the Louisville Grays, 4-0.

Above, a picture of the 1876 Chicago White Stockings.  The history of the Cubs precedes the Battle of the Little Big Horn by two months. General Custer had already been scalped when Cap Anson first took the field for the Chicago White Stockings.

Back in the 19th century, the Cubs were the powerhouse of baseball. They won the first National League championship in 1876, and dominated the league for until well into the 1940s.

Good weather today in Woodstock. Temperature may hit 60! I'll take a walk around the lake this afternoon. The sunny weather makes me think about baseball. Wish I was a kid again, walking to the ballpark with my glove and bat.

I've got tickets for a game at Wrigley! Taking the Karaoke Queen and Mom out to the ballpark.

We've got the horses to make a run for the National League pennant this year. I'm thinking about switching my TV subscription to Dish or DirectTV, so that I can get all the Cubs' games.  Both carry WGN, the Cubs superstation.

Just what I need. 162 Cubs games, broadcast daily. That will certainly help me get some work done.

"Let's play two!"  The immortal words of Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.

Big Joe Vaccarino Does “Lay Down Sally”

Big Joe Vaccarino posted this one over on YouTube just a few hours ago.

Didn't know Big Joe had the computer camera thing going!

Good tune. We've been playing it together. Maybe we'll make a video of it as a duo for comparison sake.

Then again, maybe not!

Legends of Illinois High School Ball

The internet created a whole new layer of sports mania. With the advent of weblogs, fans of every team appointed themselves “reporters.” So it is with fans of my alma mater, the University of Illinois.

In the dark ages, before the internet, I learned the identity of Illini basketball players when they finally played in a game at the college level. The blogs and sports sites now identify future Illini when they are in 8th grade!

So, I've been following the careers of Jereme Richmond and Meyers Leonard for years. These two young men are the star recruits for next years Illini basketball team. Richmond (the black guy above) plays for Waukegan High School, and Leonard (the white guy in the picture) plays for Robinson. Waukegan is a traditional Chicago suburban powerhouse. Robinson is a cow town in south central Illinois. Myrna once spent a couple of weeks there on a freelance consulting job.

The high school basketball tournament takes over the state in March. Both Waukegan and Robinson won their sectional tournaments, so they are playing in the Elite Eight. Waukegan plays in the 4A bracket, which is for big schools. Robinson plays in 2A, which is for small schools. My hometown Watseka Warriors didn't get out of the first round.

Who knows how Richmond and Leonard will play at the college level? In high school, they are giants playing against little kids. Richmond is 6'8” and Leonard is a seven footer. College ball will be the first time that they play on a regular basis against players their own size. Richmond is a McDonald's All American, so big things are expected of him. Small town players seldom make it in big time college ball, so Leonard is suspect. He's also skinny as a rail. The big bangers in the Big Ten will try to push him around.

Basketball is a mania in Illinois and Indiana. John Wooden, the great UCLA coach, was born in Hall, Indiana in 1910, and he played his college ball at Purdue. Indiana University is one of the great citadels of basketball history, much to the dismay of Fighting Illini fans. Illinois dads hand their baby boys a basketball at birth. My father was no exception.

My tiny home town of Watseka had a couple of great moments in the state tourney. The 1963 team made it to the Sweet Sixteen before being clobbered by Stephen Decatur. Back in those days, the tourney threw every high school into the same class. The small schools got their chance to play the big boys.

I remember the night we played Stephen Decatur vividly. The entire town shut down. Every citizen of Watseka attended the game. Decatur's team was all black. Watseka's all white. Decatur was big and fast, with a point guard that just ran our boys ragged. It was no contest. Final score 93-73.

The school bus returned home in a convoy of fans in their cars. As the convoy approached town, all the town's fire trucks and police cars drove out to meet them, sirens and lights on full blast. The parade continued into the center of town for a late night celebration.

Back in the day, 1952 to be exact, little Hebron won the state championship, led by the Judson twins, Paul and Phil. Hebron High School boasted 98 students! Paul Judson went on to become an All American at Illinois.  Illinois dads repeat this story endlessly to their sons.  The message:  just because you're from the boonies, you don't have to be a nobody.

I'll keep an eye on Richmond and Leonard in the state tournament. I'll have to check around to see if there's any way I can get the games on TV or the internet.

Peter the Sailor Man

My good friend, Peter Allemano, recently spent some time in California with Scott Marrs, an excellent photographer. Peter sent me this photo from his session with Scott.

Peter was a pro model for many years. Like my late wife, Myrna, Peter can transform himself in amazing ways when the camera is turned on. Myrna and Peter worked together on a couple of corporate videos. I haven't looked at those in a long time. That was some pairing!

When I first looked at this photo, I thought of Buster Keaton, the great silent movie star. Keaton was a comedian, of course. But, his face always projected sadness and reflection, just like Peter's.

Another of Peter's friends thought the picture conjured up Popeye the Sailor Man, and I can certainly see that, too. Peter definitely has the biceps for that.

I don't think that Peter will object if I tell you that he just turned 55, and that he's a few years past recovering from a stroke. The diamond is made more interesting by the flaw, in my opinion. Peter used to be absolutely perfect. Now that he is struggling with that flaw, with his mortality, he's become a far deeper person.

I'd suggest taking a look at Scott Marrs's site. It features an interesting Flash interface, and quite a few fascinating images.

Well, blow me down!