Football Thoughts - Ohio State

Observations and questions mostly.

- Have the Buckeyes covered a spread yet this year? I believe they were 5 touchdown favorites today. Didn't come close to that one.

- Has Urban installed a new system for the defense as well as the offense? If not, then Fickle's job is in serious jeopardy! Even if they did, he hasn't rallied the troops yet and I feel if we don't see marked improvement by the vaunted Silver Bullets before year end this could be the end for Mr. Fickle.

- Urban has continually told the fans that this team really isn't that good. They aren't where he'd like them to be. That is painfully clear, at least to me.

- Braxton Miller will be included in some preliminary Heisman talk, but only borne from necessity. He's shown some flashes of awesomeness so far this year but he is not consistent enough to really be a serious contender. The rest of the team around him is so off that he stands out like a bright light in a dim room.

- Are the Buckeyes the best team in the Big Ten? Unfortunately it looks like it. I say that because quite frankly I agree with Urban's assessment of this team and. the rest of the Big Ten looks dismal which is not good for the league. It also means as a Buckeye fan I'll hear s*** from the ACC and SEC fans out there. Nothing against them, after all, watching some of those teams play it's clear they are head and shoulders above anything the Big Ten is producing this year.

If you think I'm being hard on my beloved Buckeyes you would be correct. I've heard a lot of talk about them being the best team in the Big Ten. Of being able to go undefeated. Is that a possibility? Sure it is. Do I think it'll happen? Absolutely not.

I love the Buckeyes and will cheer for them as hard this year as I have any other year since the time I can remember. I'm also trying to state what I see as the quality of the Buckeyes and the Big Ten this season. Please feel free to comment and/or tee-off on me in the comments.

Shouting in Stereo

As a society I have noticed that more and more some people like to express themselves in terms of black and white - no grey area. Absolutes, no balance.

• All iPhone owners are sheep - too stupid to realize their phone is inferior to any of the Android offerings and willing to line up for a shiny paperweight.
• All Muslims are evil and are only out to hurt America.
• All poor people are just lazy and don't want to better themselves and just want to mooch off of the government.

I assure you these are not my views on any of those listed above. What has happened to us that we so easily stereotype someone? I bring these three up because they have all been prevalent in my social network circles (Facebook and Google+).

The iPhone vitriol was much, much worse on Google+ than Facebook. I think so because Google developed Android and Android users have naturally flocked to Google+. I'm not saying all of them, but I notice more support for Android than Apple's iOS there. The derogatory statements made over, of all things, a phone. I read an article written that compared these arguments to kids in high school making fun of others because they didn't wear the trendy clothes or have the right shoes on.

Muslims are being persecuted because some radicals are using a pathetic attempt at slander to rile up the troops and bring down the infidels. If you look though, you'll see a lot of support from many Muslims in those same countries where they are rioting trying to support and protect our people there. Saying all Muslims are evil would be the same as saying all Christians are evil because of the movie made that they are protesting or 1000 years ago when the Christians invaded the Middle East in the name of God to use any means necessary to eradicate the Muslim faith.

And of course the lazy people statement was thrust into the spotlight from the political statements (not intended for public consumption) by the Republican Nominee for President. I've seen statements supporting what he said like "the truth hurts" which I find absurd because not everyone you see receiving government support is lazy and/or willing to just leach off of the government for as long as they can. In fact I would be willing to bet that the majority of them would much rather have the opportunities that so many others have to improve their lot in life.

A person that I consider extremely wise taught me several things about 10 years ago when I first became a manager with the company I currently work for. She taught me about the value of diversity, that we need to embrace each others differences to make us all a better group as a whole. I was the quality manager at the time and one thing that she said to me has stuck with me ever since - "You can't assume a person is making the mistake on purpose". What I took away from that is, not everyone is out to do the wrong thing. I like to believe that as human beings we are inherently good. While we may have some bad eggs among us, the people that fall into the generalities listed above are few and far between.

Do we have the right to be mad at those bad eggs? Sure we do.
Is it fair to lump in the innocent with those bad eggs? Not at all.

I hope if you take anything from this post it's that you take pause before making a general statement to the public on these social media sites. Think before you speak, and realize that not all people are 'players'.

Never Forget

Like last year, I'm going to use others words to express the significance of today's anniversary. I received this e-mail a couple of weeks ago from my aunt Hannah (love that woman!). As soon as I read it I knew I was going to utilize it in today's post. I am one who tries to find a silver lining in a dark cloud. When I made this mindset change about 10 years ago I found I was a much happier person in general. Finding silver linings in one of the darkest days of American history can be daunting, but here is one such story:

Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:

"On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that "All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

"No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately--no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request. 

"While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

"We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, New Foundland to have it checked out.

"We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! .... that's 11:00 AM EST. 

"There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason." Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground Control in Gander told us to stay put. 

"The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.

"Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

"Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.

"We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

"Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

"About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. 

"After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again, but not to expect that call for a while.

"We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.

"Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time.

"Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days. What we found out was incredible.

"Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.

"ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests." Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. 

"Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

"Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

"Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S.airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or 

late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully. It was absolutely incredible.

"When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. 

"And then a very unusual thing happened. One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said "of course" and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte. 

"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!

"The gentleman, a MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well. As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students in college education.

"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a far away place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them. It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today’s world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good and Godly people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward.

"God Bless America...and the Canadians."

NOTE: Today, August 13, 2012, I verified the story. The scholarship fund has reached $1.5 million dollars and 134 students have benefited from the fund.

Word Pt. 2 - Ignorance

ignorance |ˈignərəns|nounlack of knowledge or information : he acted in ignorance of basic procedures.

Whoever said ignorance is bliss was full of it. Maybe if I could be ignorant of all of the ignorance out there, especially when it's blasted on Facebook... The topic that has struck my ire today is the damn 'Money Bags' posts that make their way into Facebook every time a month has 31 days. Did you know that there are 7 months every year that contain 31 days? When a month contains 31 days three of those days of the week will occur 5 times, and guess what else, they always occur in order (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, Saturday, Sunday and so on - there are seven of these possibilities!). So, do you really, really think the possibility of the Friday, Saturday, Sunday combination can only occur once every 823 years?!? Seriously? On top of this, I have seen two people already post that there will be 5 Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this October (2012). Folks, look at your damn calendar before you post ridiculousness like this! Or do me a favor and actually think about what you are posting before you put something so damn ignorant on your wall...

Here's a link to Snopes to explain exactly how often the 5 day occurrence really is and what the f*** Money Bags really means and what to do to try and get that damn money.