Enough Already ... its not LIFE AND DEATH

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER:

the views expressed by THE GEEK are his and his alone. They may or may not agree with yours .... DEAL WITH IT!!!!

With the constant swirl surrounding who did what or when and with whom again stalking the new baseball season it is time for this blog to take a firm stand as regards this. I have been a fan of baseball since before i can remember attending Oakland A's games from 69-present on a regular basis and the occasional foray into Giant's territory as well for at lest one game a season. I love both teams and root for both -- yes even during the inter-league games i want both teams to play their best.

However my enthusiasm has been dampened in past years not because im losing my love for the game but because im losing my patience with people who cant seem to talk about anything except for STEROIDS.

so here is my thought .... I admit it i use steroids and have ever since i was 19-20.... i have athsma and one of my inhalers is a steroid ... its administered by my doctor and i take is as directed. Whew i feel so much better knowing now that all my records that i compiled in my years of intra-mural play with the USAF can get their richly deserved asterisks. I also had knee surgery to tear out and replace the cartilage ... again im glad for the opportunity to clear this up as well.... but wait thats right knee surgery or tommy john surgery or lasik eye surgery those are all medical procedures done under medical supervision but no one is saying that those "performance enhancing" procedures should have records with asterisks.

So here we go again .... having a mostly uninformed or misinformed group of people deciding what is and isn't an accepted practice. "Greenies" were prevalent during the 50s and 60s in sports but you don't hear anyone saying that records of those people should be stripped either ... nor that they are unfit for the hall of fame. Lets face it there are felons in the hall folks ... serious crime felons but no one complains about that.

Its time we all quit trying to make baseball when we were kids seem so much more pure than it really was.... our rose colored view of the past in all its elements is not so much how it really was but how we wanted it to be.

A doctor performing graft surgery so a pitcher can pitch 10 more years is acceptable and no one puts any asterisks on their accomplishments but a player who gets from medical personnel a supplement that helps strengthen muscles or heal quicker is cited and ostracized?????

please say it aint so joe ....

Medical science has progressed steadily since the beginning of time. Today's records are going to be shattered in decades by players with robotic arms laser focusing eyes or advances in nutritional medicine that we have no idea about today just as aerobics were not widely known about in the 40s. It always been this way and it will always be that way. and those of you who think that ball players from the 1900-1930 era would not have taken advantage of EVERY medical advance had it been available in their time are fooling yourselves ... they would have in a heartbeat and everyone knows that too.

Anyway my advice is quit harping about it all and just enjoy the game ..... because in 10-15 years it will be new advances in medicine and if we don't realize that we will be back again griping about how that new generation of player has such an advantage over the players of the 1990-2005 era.

and since its baseball again .... my april predictions ....

AL West - Oakland .... and not just for sentimental reasons.
AL Central - Cleveland
AL East - Toronto
AL Wild Card - New York

AL Champs - Cleveland

NL West - Giants but only for sentimental reasons (i think the LA team really will)
NL Central - St Louis
NL East - New York (ending Atlanta's long run)
NL Wild Card - Atlanta

NL Champs - St Louis

World Series Champs - Cleveland ... thus ending another long drought.



And now a few words about real heroes .... On March 23, 2006 a true American Hero passed away. I was privileged to meet him, shake his hand and give him a salute in August 2004 at the Faith on Fire Camporee held in Oskkosh, Wisconsin; at which he was one of our honored guests. His name is Desmond Doss and he is in the greatest tradition of America a true hero. Winner of the Medal of Honor for action in WWII during the battle to take Okinawa ... thus becoming the only NON-COMBATANT to ever win this nation's highest honor.

This Ladies and Gentlemen is what a REAL HONEST HERO looks like. Our movie stars and sports heros are nothing when compared to Mister Doss and millions of others like him who served, bled and died in many cases for the cause of freedom, the cause of honor, the cause of right.

Desmond T. Doss seemed an unlikely candidate to become a war hero. As a devout member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, he would not drill or train on Saturday because his church recognizes it as their Sabbath Day. He would not carry a gun because he believed all killing was wrong. He wouldn't even eat meat after seeing a chicken flopping around with its head cut off.

23-year-old Desmond Doss entered service as a medic for the 77th Infantry Division. From the beginning, the other men in his company made fun of Doss for his beliefs. Even though he worked long, hard hours to make up for not working on Saturday, the men cursed, ridiculed, and taunted him. Each night as he knelt beside his bunk to pray, the men swore at him and threw their boots at him. When Doss quietly read his small Bible, as he often did, the men cursed him even more. One man even went so far as to tell him that he would personally kill Doss when they got into combat. Not only did the men not like Doss, even though he did nothing to them, but the Army just didn't know what to do with a soldier who would not work on Saturday, who wouldn't carry a gun, and who didn't eat meat. At one point, his commanding officer tried to initiate a Section Eight (unfit for military service) discharge, but Doss vehemently fought the move, saying he really did want to serve his country, he just didn't want to kill. He remained in the Army to the great displeasure of most of his officers and fellow soldiers.

By now, his fellow soldiers were used to his reading the Bible and praying, so it didn't seem unusual when, on that April 29th morning in 1945, he suggested that they might want to pray. They were facing a sheer 400-foot cliff that split the island of Okinawa known as the Maeda Escarpment. It would be necessary to attack and capture this area. The men of Company B bowed their heads as Doss offered a prayer for safety. Then they began to struggle up the sheer cliff face. His unit captured the 400-foot Maeda Escarpment in an incredible sweep in which not one man was killed and only one minor injury was sustained. When a photographer arrived to capture the moment and asked how they pulled it off, Doss' company commander answered, "Doss prayed!"

However on May 5th the tide turned against the Americans as the Japanese launched a huge counterattack. Enemy fire raked Company B and almost immediately 75 men fell wounded. The remaining troops who were able to flee, retreated back down to the base of the escarpment. Left at the top of the cliff were the wounded, the Japanese, and Desmond T. Doss. For the next five hours, while his wounded comrades fought back their attackers, Doss began to lower man after man to safety down the face of the cliff using little more than a tree stump and a rope. Doss said that he just kept praying that the Lord would let him rescue one more man. No one knows for sure how many men Doss lowered to safety that day. The Army determined that this medic, whom no one had wanted in the Army, had personally saved 100 lives. Doss humbly said it couldn't have been more than 50. Because of Doss humble estimate, when the citation for his Medal of Honor was written, they split the difference and he was credited with saving the lives of 75 of his fellow soldiers.

His MH Citation reads:

Desmond Doss, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. He was a company aid man when the lst Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

Other unknown, unsung real heroes are men like Mike Sprouill, Director of the Food Bank of El Dorado County who make it their duty to see that no one goes hungry on his watch; or Officer Jim King (deceased) of the Sacramento Police Department who served to protect his fellow man and the hundreds and thousands like him who patrol our streets in the cause of freedom and peace; women like Mindy Ryan and Lori Bull and men like Howard Bryant and Rich Kubota -- life savers in the medical field; Teachers like Don Lovelace, Jerry Zappia, Marsha McMullen and Marilee Griswold who gave and still give of their best for the youth of our nation.

I have always admired those who were athletically gifted, those who were artistically gifted because i wanted to be and loved to be involved in both sports and the performing arts ... i was never very good though but i played because i loved to ... baseball, football, basketball, acting, singing and band .... yes i was a band geek and even today i admire the actor who can fulfill their role to its utmost ... morgan freeman, clint eastwood, james gandolfini, denzel washington, rene russo, meg ryan, sandra bulllock just to name a few and i greatly admire athletes who can do amazing things that no one else can ... like barry bonds, kobe bryant, wayne gretzky, danica patrick, picabo street, bret favre; but there is and always must be a huge difference between admiration of talent and admiration of character .... REAL HEROES don't depend on talent ... they act on CHARACTER.

A Few Random Thoughts in Passing

Barney: "Nip it in the bud! You got to nip it in the bud! ... Nip it! You go read any book you want on the subject of child discipline, and you'll find that every one of 'em is in favor of bud-nippin'. ... Only one way to take care of it."

Andy: "Nip it."

Barney: "In the bud."

There was just something about him that made you laugh ... the lone bullet in his pocket, his "me-they" voice lessons ... and a seemingly endless repertoire of facial and body expressions.

As my blog info so politely informs you i am a frustrated comedian. There has always been something about comedy and humor that appealed to me as a communicative forum. this last week the world lost one of its GREAT funny men ... Mr. Don Knotts, forever known to persons of my era and even a few years older as Bernard P. Fife, Deputy Sheriff, Mayberry.

Mr Knotts was pure comedic genius not just in words but in the physical side of humor as well ... one of my favorite physical comedy scenes is the one that featured Barney and a flea-ridden mutt named Blue who Barney was going to turn into a tracking dog. Don Knotts was one of the few who could pull off the scene of gamely yet almost failing to pull the unwilling dog into the office on a leash around the half closed door ....

They dont make them like Mr. Knotts anymore and we are all lessened by his absence. Farewell Mister Limpet ... you truly were one of the best ever.

This next item should make your blood boil over ... i can tell you mine did.

PFC Joshua Sparling of the 82nd Airborne division was wounded in Ramadi, Iraq and while recovering at Walter Reed Medical center was sent a sick "death-wish" card over Christmas. It was the only Christmas Card he received.

As reported on by Michelle Malkin and Sean Hannity there is a growing effort to ask our readers to send your thanks and well wishes to PFC Joshua Sparling or to any wounded military member c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue N.W., Washington, DC -5001. PFC Sparling's leg will have to be amputated below the knee--but he wants to "get back to [Fort Bragg] and "jump right back in his unit (the 82nd Airborne)."

Also please check out Landry's Life for pictures and more in-depth information on how you can send thanks to other service members at home and abroad.

As a proud veteran myself who spent a lot of his time in foreign countries, i can tell you that NOTHING beats knowing that the folks back home support you and wish you the best. Please take a brief moment of your busy life to remember and thank those men and women who stand on the front line of defense so you can ENJOY that busy and free life ....

A few final thoughts ...

All of us lead such busy lives filled with stress anxiety, "running to and fro" and increasing our knowledge as the prophet Daniel records. I know for myself there are many people i KNOW i should call or e-mail or visit but i always seem to be rushing around and never quite find the time. Perhaps you have had this experience as well. I need ... no need is not urgent enough .... i MUST ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT FAIL .... take the time to do the needful things in life.

For many weeks now i have known of an old family friend who was suffering from terminal cancer and though i expressed my thoughts to members of his family and asked them to pass on my best wishes and concerns for them i also kept telling myself i needed to stop by and make that personal visit and contact as well -- but things kept being busy and i never seemed to find the time.

Mister Bob passed away this Sunday past and in his passing MY time for showing him my concern and appreciation for him has also passed and nothing on this earth can ever change that fact and i am left with dealing with the "coulda shoulda woulda" of another missed opportunity to serve and help my fellow man.

and so ... i ask my loyal readership to keep me honest ... remind me of the IMPORTANT things in life ... not the job, not the toys, not the food .... but the people; the friends, neighbors, family and loved ones who truly are the most important thing (or should be) in an otherwise meaningless existence.

I hope that we, all of us, will remember to in the words of the old well worn cliches "strike while the iron is hot" and "seize the day" to accomplish as much lasting good as we can each day and not put it off until the 'morrow.