|
| (Folks, I haven't been updating my Xanga as frequently because I've been terribly busy, but that doesn't mean that I don't watch what goes on in the news. Take a look at yet another example of the malais of the American professional sports world involving Pete Rose, who's a repeat offender. While this is, in my mind, the least of the sports world's problems, it certainly exhibits the further deterioration of the love and passion which has united fans from coast-to-coast for many decades by these athletes disregard for the source of their financial successes. So, without further ado, here's Pete Rose's latest run-in with the face of stupidity.) Pete Rose Swears at Little Kids
 Posted Aug 2nd 2007 12:48PM by Pat Lackey
Filed under: Reds, NL Central, MLB Fans, Cincinnati
 Last week the US Army hosted a "Reds' Legends Baseball Camp" for kids in the Cincinnati area. Given the name and all, they invited a bunch of Reds' legends to come and talk to the collection of 7-to-14 year olds assembled. Apparently, they thought it was a good idea to invite Pete Rose to come talk. It wasn't. "It was a complete embarrassment," said Staff Sgt. Steven Tischer, commander of the Colerain-Highland Ridge U.S. Army Recruiting Station that sponsored the baseball camp for 7- to 14-year-olds. "You don't swear in front of kids, that's just common sense. He dropped the F-bomb and the S-bomb. He told them winning is everything and if you get second place you're just losers."
I asked Tischer about Rose's July 26 visit after getting an e-mail from Renee Collins of Mason, who went to the camp with her son and some of his teammates.
"It was such a great week," she said. "My son goes to camps a lot and this was by far the best. It was so wonderful except for that one hour."
Now I don't mean to be critical, but what good could possibly come from inviting Pete Rose to speak at a baseball camp for kids? Yeah, yeah, Charlie Hustle and all that, I know. But the guy has a bit of a reputation for lying, gambling, and lots of other things that aren't good for a 7-to-14 year-old baseball camp. What did they think was going to happen? | | |
| Hello everybody! I apologize for not having updated this in so long, but I have been extremely busy with church socials and other gatherings, plus planning for a vacation which, as it turns out, has been cancelled and thus has caused me to lose $167 on my hotel room. Anyway, life has been really, really good. Some of you will think this is silly because I know that many segments of our society tend to frown on anything religious, but I have found peace in my life through God, and have been going to church now since the end of last month. I've made so many new friends as well as rekindling some old friendships and acquaintances, and the peace I told you about that I have achieved through prayer, God and Jesus is real, folks. I never would have believed this to be possible for me several months earlier, or even just a few weeks ago, but this is great, and I've never been this optimistic about life in my life. It's sort of like the story I told you, when I told you about looking into a sun set on the day my church's Sunday School group returned from whitewater rafting, and how I had for the first noticed that I looked at a day as something positive as opposed to it being a dark and dreary day, or worse, wishing that I was dead. It was like God was speaking to me using that visual, telling me that I was, at that point, home, free from the pestilences plaguing me as it has all mankind since the beginning of original sin. It really has changed my life totally, and I feel like I can totally focus on life better because I now know that I don't have to rely solely on logic and reasoning skills anymore, that faith is now on my side when I can't answer for something which occurs. On the vacation front, well, that's another story. Remember that I was originally supposed to go up to Virginia to visit relatives and go to sites in and around the Washington, D.C., area? Well, that's all been cancelled. Dad has developed kidney stones and is obviously in a lot of pain, and has yet to pass them. We're not sure if he's going to, so it be that he will have to have them extracted from his kidney(s). However, the worst part of the story, at least on my end of it, is that I had paid ahead of time on Priceline.com the full amount of the hotel room around Dulles Int'l Airport that I would be staying at, but as it turns out, because I cancelled, I couldn't be refunded due to the service's "no refunds policy." I thought I saw that I was paying a set amount ahead of time to reserve the room, but apparently it was the full amount, and because of this, I am now out of $167. I have ZIPPO in the way of cash in my bank account, so I'm having to lean on my parents a bit in this circumstance to get me through before my next check comes in. This is not totally a bad thing, however, because I may get to go up to Chicago in the fall or in December sometime to catch a Chicago Bears football game at Soldier Field with either Dad or my friend Justin Darnell. I have plenty of people I've come to know up that way through Internet connections on DaBearz.com or some of my other blogs, and one or two of them have expressed interest in possibly helping me get around the city since I know jack-diddly about Chicago. Anyway, you guys take care, and I hope everything goes well for you on the last day of the week before you begin your weekend adventures. Take care, and God bless. | | |
| What the hell? Who would've known that I actually like any element of the great outdoors at all?!?
Today, as you might recall my mentioning before, was my grand trip to the Ocoee River in Ducktown, TN, located like you're heading towards Murphy, NC. I met members of the First Baptist Church of Powell group across the street from the church in the parking lot, and from there we ventured in one of three vehicles down towards Cleveland, TN. In Cleveland, we ate at this lil' pub which is evidently a landmark in town (and had some beautiful ladies working there to boot), where I enjoyed a lunch of an American traditional-but-bland favorite: chicken tenders with fries and a Coke. The food was delightful, but then it was off to Ducktown to tackle the wild rapids of the Ocoee River.
Along the way, nerves built up amongst those in my van I was a passenger in, but once we were there, there was no turning back (and you know me, I never back down from a challenge!). Once the sunscreen was on and we were out of the vans, it was to the buses to transport us to the loading docks of the river, which were located by the dam. We arrived, suited in our safety gears (paddles for rowing, life preservers, helmets), and were once again briefed on what we should expect and how to react/perform in given situations. And then, it was off to the grand rapids!
The trek was approximately five miles, and along the way were many dips, currents, rapids, rocks, and at times, sheer tranquility in the Ocoee's waters. I managed not to be washed out of the boat despite some extreme currents due to my strategy of focus my weight towards the inside of the boat whilst paddling. The manipulation of inertia was the trick, as I managed to ride the waves and attempt to brace against the forces rushing against me as the raft would land/push forward and thus cause me to accelerate ahead. On top of that, well, I was just bound and determined that no force was going to knock me from that raft!!!
Eventually, the journey across the river concluded, and we returned to the company's service station to maintenance ourselves (e.g., change clothes, dry off, showers if we so chose to take them). From there, we returned to Cleveland and ate at Moe's, where I consumed only one fajita due to my aches and pains sustained from the rafting. However, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, and plan on doing so eventually.
Around 8:45 this evening, I arrived home. I'm currently relaxing, because tomorrow, I will feel like Hell! I'm going to begin attending the FBC singles group. The people are really friendly and down-to-Earth, and I just think I'd be a good fit with those people. I really think that for the first time in many, many years, I looked at a sunset with thoughts of how magnificent waking up in the morning truly is rather than looking at a sunset as something gray and diametrically opposed to the very essence of what gives us Life.
That, indeed, may well be the foundation of Faith in the Universe, if one were to attempt to wager his or her soul that there is no deity. Perhaps I have found a reason to finally look again at the complex make up that is the universe, and will thus attempt to examine this further.
Peace out, ya'll!
| | |
|   | | |
| Hey folks! Yes indeed, it's true! I finally have a schedule! I never thought (well, I can't say that, but I knew it would be difficult) it would happen because of all the hell I've gone through this summer with getting my shit ready for UT, but I'm all set and ready to go in the Fall. I'm taking 12 hours of classes. It's really all I could do since I couldn't get any other classes at other times, either because they were taken up or they weren't offered this term. Below are my classes: History 261 (World Civilization) - LEC 11:15-12:05 MW
DIS 9:40-10:55 R History 319 (Modern Europe, 1750-1914) - LEC 12:20-1:10 MWF History 320 (Modern Europe, 1914-Present) - LEC 2:30-3:20 MWF Philosophy 111 (The Human Condition: Knowledge and Reality) - LEC 10:10-11:00 MW; DIS 9:05-9:55 F All in all, it's a pretty good schedule considering everything. I don't have a class which starts prior to 9:00 on any day, and I'm off all day on Tuesdays. It's a win-win situation! The only thing I wish I could have taken is a class in political science, since that's going to be my minor. Oh well. Something has to give, eh? lol Well, I'll let you all go. I'm waiting on a phone call since I'm supposed to have coffee this evening with my friend Jessica Whitson. You all take care, and I'll talk to you later! | | |
|
