Thanks, Danny

A year ago, my oldest son, Danny, a techie lad with a human touch, helped me set up my very own blog, The Write Way. After twelve months and 88 blogs to date, I now reflect back on how much fun I've had reseaching topics and writing the blog. I thank him for his help, for without it, this blog idea would still be in the can.

What exactly is a blog? I've heard it said from some of the prigs on the sidelines, "that writing a blog is a time filler for the retired or the underemployed." That may be true for some but not for all. I tend to think of it as a creative outlet for a singular voice of which we all have. We all have a need for self-expression. Some people write. Some people talk. Some people paint. Some people compose. Some people do. Some people blog. But whatever a blog is, it is unmistakeably one's own. Is it petty? Sure. Is it self-indulgent? Of course. But that's all good. In my case, I won't delude myself that it is by any measure Hemingway-esque, rather, it's The Write Way-esque.

Simply, it's a joy to write my blog. What's most enjoyable for me has been re-connecting with many of you via the blog. Friends and relatives that I haven't heard from in years are now reading my blog because something in it, bad or good, resonated with him/her. And that is what is so much fun for me. It connects me with all of you on some different level throughout the year.

So after 88 blogs, what did I write about over these past 12 months? Of the 88 blogs, the golf world accounted for 32 blog entries, the most by any category. Followed by family, sports, politics, business, human events, travel and folly.

Golf dominated the blog because it is so familiar to me. But in the course of writing about golf, I discovered that golf is so much more interesting than just the game itself. The forever curious world of golf not only on the course, but more importantly, off the course, is doubly pleasurable for me. I suspect you'll read more golf blogs in the months to come peppered with occasional rants against injustice, corruption, diminishment and moral debasement offset by blogs on hope, heart and heroes.

So as I wrap up this year of blogging, I thank you for reading the blog. It has been my joy. More golf, family, sports, politics, business topics are on the way...there are so many stories out there yet to be stamped by The Write Way.

Cheers and may 2011 be healthy, safe and prosperous for you and yours.

Holy Cow! He's outta here...

Here's a story that rings true of the Christmas season. It is a unique story of a baseball player...a very good professional baseball player with the Oakland A's organization. His name is Grant Desme.

Earlier this year, Grant Desme, walked away from a lucrative career in professional baseball to take up his cross for Jesus Christ. He is now studying and preparing for a new career at a Catholic seminary in Orange County, California.

Predictably, his decision to leave the seduction of wealth and fame for poverty and selflessness was head scratching to most. Why would one forsake it all for something that appeared to be so less?

In looking at the 2010 Baseball America Prospect Handbook that lists all the top minor league players, Grant Desme was ranked #8 in a talent rich Oakland A's farm system. The 24 year old 6'-2" outfielder with a strong arm and an even stronger bat was projected to be in the heart of the A's lineup in a couple of years. He was on a track for baseball stardom on a strong young team. But life got in the way. Jesus had other plans for Grant.

One day, after years of quiet prayer in trying to resolve his inner conflict of serving managers and owners versus serving the one true Lord, Grant walked into GM Billy Bean's office and told Billy, he was leaving baseball for the priesthood. A stunned but cerebral Beane said almost nothing until he said, "You cannot serve both. God speed to you, Grant."

His decision was sports scribes and bloggers fodder for the better part of that week in January. The why question was the first question asked repeatedly of Grant. Why leave baseball with so much talent and so much upside? With grace and purpose, he clearly and simply said, "Baseball is a good thing but I felt God was calling me to more. I love the game...truly I do. God gave me great ability to play the game I have always loved. But I'm going to aspire to higher things. Baseball is just a game." He smiled peacefully as he spoke.

During this past year, I have thought of Grant alot. His conflict. His decision. His faith. His future. And in thinking of him, I always arrive back to where I started, with Jesus asking me "to come, follow Me."

May you all have a Merry Christmas.

The Euros are coming...the Euros are coming

Caution: For Golf Fans Only. Pictured above is Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood. Two professional golfers about as different as Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Larry and Moe, and Bush and Obama. Guess who is number one in the world of professional golf? Not the one with the smiling brandishing chicklets. The current #1 in the world is Englishman, Lee Westwood. The one in blue fending off the glare of the chicklets. 2010 was Tiger Woods' and most of the US players "annus horribilis." On the other hand, 2010 for the Lee Westwood and the European Golf tribe was "annus mirabilis." Horrible year for the Americans. Year of wonders for the Euros. Can you imagine teeing off in 2011 and being introduced by the chirpy voice of Ivor Robson of the UK, "on the tee from Great Britain the #1 player in the world, Lee Westwood." Gulp. Westwood thinks for a moment, I'm the best player on the planet. And not only that, I'm better than Tiger Woods who grossly owned #1 position for 5 plus years, won 71 PGA events, 14 Majors, winless in 2010 yet still made $90mil on and off the course and has more girlfriends than George Clooney and I'm #1. Not bad for a bloke who has never won a Major, has bad teeth and a has swing only a West Texas driving range pro would like. I hope I hit the fairway. Hit away, please. It's the first year since 1994 (held then by the voluble Nick Faldo) that a Euro claimed the #1 Golfer in the World status. The British golf press appears to be in "gobsmacked" astonishment over Westwood's feat. True to form, the British scribes assign blame for Tiger's self-inflicted golf demise to "pranging his car against a fire hydrant in the middle of the night" thus rearranging his life, than simply, praising Lee for playing exceptional golf for the last year in claiming #1. Throw a guy a bone. Lee had 12 Top Ten finishes around the globe that included two victories and three top 3 finishes in The Masters, the US Open and The Open. He missed the PGA with a wrist injury. Notwithstanding Lee's success, 2010 also trumpeted the arrival of a mature band of brothers from Europe, most notably Graeme McDowell, who can flat out play against anybody...anywhere in the world. Don't believe me? Look at the current World Golf Ranking (11/28). In the top 11 players in the world, 7 are Euros. Westwood, Kaymar, Casey, Donald, McDowell, McIlroy and Poulter. In the top 30, 17 are Euros. In the top 50, 21 are Euros. The Euros are young, sanguine and fearless. Conversely, in the top 10, 4 are Americans. Woods, Phil, Stricker and Furyk. In the top 30, 11 are Americans. The Americans (less Ricky Fowler) appear old, choleric and unsure. Obviously, there is a movement going on here. Is this a trend or an aberration? I don't know. I'm not signaling a tectonic shift in power from them to us or abdicating anything to the fellas across the pond yet. As Englishman Paul Casey soberly stated when asked about the European dominance in golf in 2010, "Sure, we were good in 2010 but one year doesn't mean a whole lot." I'm from Missouri, show me one more time. Then I'll believe. Arguably, 2010 in the world of golf was the best non-American year in the history of professional golf. It was dominated by the Euros. The Americans were defeated at all the major tournaments including the Ryder Cup, less the Masters. Whatever happens in 2011 will be great drama on both tours for a golf fan like me. But as it looks now, I'll be following the Race to Dubai alot closer than the Fedex Cup in 2011 until I see some magic from the Americans. Suddenly, the talent rich World Tour with stops in Hong Kong, Valderamma, St. Andrews is seemingly more appealing to me than the US Tour with stops in LaQuinta, Charlotte and Memphis. And behind the curtains of this real life drama rests Chubby Chandler, agent to the current #1 player in the world, gleefully rubbing his fat big hands. Feasting at the prospects.

OHIO FOOTBALL "The Cradle of Coaches"

Ohio. The Buckeye State. My family and I spent 5 winters there...in Cleveland. Made us strong, pale, fat, patient and football fans for life. You see, football in Ohio is the holy grail for all Ohioans, natives and transplants alike. It's a transformative experience for all who live or have lived there.

I'm not referring to the National Football League's Cleveland Browns or the Cincinnati Bengals, but, more importantly, grade school, high school and, most notably, college football. Ohio parents hook up their kids to a football IV while still in diapers and they become forever hooked. Don't believe me, check out the Dawg Pound at Browns games or the Horseshoe in Columbus on game day.

We thought we knew football. We didn't know jack about the game until we went to Cleveland. Once you're in Ohio, you become inculcated into the mania of football. You have no other option or distraction. Quite frankly, there isn't that much else to do. Sorry Cleveland friends. Football fills the stage of life and that's ok. Lake Erie is not much fun in November.

Football in Ohio is THE enduring faith of the faithful by which everything else is measured. In the fall, Friday nights are reserved for the high school games. Saturdays mornings kick-off the grade school games while the afternoons are spent in Columbus, Cincinnati, Kent, Toledo, Youngstown, Alliance, Springfield, Bowling Green, Oxford or wherever watching and rooting for the home college teams. Sunday afternoons are reserved for the Browns and the Bengals of the NFL. By Monday morning, win or lose,, you'd think you'd be "footballed out." No chance. No relief. Another week...another game...another refill of football IV pleasure, please.

One weekend, we saw a grade school game on Saturday morning at John Carroll University. That evening, we traveled down to the Rubber Bowl in Akron and saw a high school game between St. Ignatius and Canton-McKinley played a savage game in front of 25,000 screaming fans. And on Sunday, we saw the Browns lose dispiritedly to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the old Cleveland Stadium. The entire weekend's weather was "football weather." Gray. Damp. Cold. Ohioans love that. "Football should be played outdoors and in foul weather" is a buckeye chant. When it comes to football, two football hotbeds, Texas and Florida, have nothing on Ohio.

Because football in Ohio has such historical roots and is such a big deal, it should come as no suprise that Ohio has produced some of the greatest coaches and players in the history of the game. As far as coaches are concerned, here's a list of coaches both past and present who were either born in Ohio, went to school in Ohio or coached in Ohio... check this list out:

Past
Woody Hayes
Bo Shembechler
Paul Brown
Ara Parseghian
Lou Holtz
Earl Bruce
Don Shula
Chuck Noll
Urban Meyer
John Gruden
Chuck Kyle, St, Ignatius

Present
Jim Tressel, The Ohio State University
Les Miles, LSU
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Mike Stoops, Arizona
Bo Pellini, Nebraska
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Jim Harbaugh, Stanford
Ron Zook, Illinois
Nick Saban, Alabama

These are huge names in the history of football and Ohio lays claim to all of them. Remember, this is a state with less than 4% of the US population but 15% of college football's major conference head coaches were born there...the most of any state by far.

So as you get comfy in front of the tube for the upcoming bowl season, you'll see Ohio's influence everywhere. There's Tressel in the sweater vest pacing the sidelines in the Sugar Bowl. Miles will be weaving his crazy witch doctor magic on the Cotton Bowl carpet. Stoops will be chewing out his players at the Fiesta Bowl. And, Jim Harbaugh will be glaring at some official(s) at the Orange Bowl. Remember this, they all have buckeye roots and that in and of itself is pretty astounding...yet predictable...they are Ohio folks. Football is in their DNA.

Finally, for those who may not know, guess where the Football Hall of Fame is? O-H-I-0. Canton.

Go Buckeyes beat the Razorbacks on January 4.

Erin Go Broke! Oh, Brother!!

INTRODUCTION.
Well chalk up another letter and bonafide economic casualty in the The Five Little "P-I-I-G-S" acronym for troubled sovereign debt-laden countries in the European Union. One of the "I's" is now offensively labeled for my beloved, Ireland. The other squealing piglets are: Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.

THE REST OF THE SAD STORY.
Ireland is broke. Their banks are bankrupt. On Tuesday, the Bank of Ireland ATM and on-line systems failed. The EU is ready to bail out the Irish with 100 BILLION EUROS to recapitalize their banks. Very sad. But don't blame the potatoes this time. Blame the potato-heads. Those who ran the Irish government and the economy into the River Liffey with their reckless "Celtic-tiger" policies of spend now and pay later schemes are to blame. And who suffers? Not the feeble politicians or the corrupt bankers but as always the taxpayers...the little people...that's who! Outrageous injustice strikes again.

For the last 25 years of poor governance and sloppy bookkeeping, there are many individuals to blame for the sorry Irish woes of today. But, in the world of what have you done for me lately, the two relevant poster children of bad politics pictured above represent Ireland's embarassing failure of today.

One's the current Prime Minister of Ireland, Brian Cowen. The other is the currrent Minister of Finance of Ireland, Brian Lenihan. Over the two plus years in office, they have demonstrated one thing in common: incompetence. Both compounded the generational governmental excesses by their joint furtive denials of the pending apocalyptic Irish financial collapse. The earmarks were evident. Numbers were alarming. Yet, they were ignored. The leaders could have done something before "hitting the iceberg." They didn't. Another pint please and full steam ahead.

On Lenihan, The Financial Times signals him out to be, "the worst financial minister in Europe." That's a damning statement in the competitive context of the other feckless financial ministers in the EU. On Cowen, The Guardian lays the hardwood on him, writing, "...Cowen is not blessed with good looks or great communication skills...his handling of the current financial and political chaos has been nothing short of a PR disaster."

Incredibly, these two career politicos represent a growing number of elected leaders in the world that have no business governing anything...less a country. How these foolish guys and gals become leaders in any country remains one of the throbbing mysteries of life to me. And it happens all around the globe...all the time. But we only have ourselves to blame, don't we? We elect these disingenuous and narcissistic scroundrels...time after time.

In Ireland, the deficit and debt problems have been mounting for years. The deficit for 2010 is the largest deficit in the EU at 19 BILLION Euros. A trivial number for us Americans whose deficit for 2010 is $1.4 TRILLION. (To put Ireland's deficit number in the proper context, Ireland's population is 1.5% the size of the USA.) The debt in Ireland exceeds 90 BILLION EUROS. In the USA, our mountainous debt climbs by the second, now at $13.8 TRILLION.

So what happens now on the Emerald Isle? Cowen wants out. He says Ireland needs a new government and fast. The bookies on Grafton Street are laying odds 11/4 that Lenihan resigns by New Years Eve. And the Irish Parliament votes next Wednesday on whether to accept the terms from the EU and the new banker of the EU, Germany. All the while, the vultures circle high above the Ring of Kerry.

Simply, the Irish have no choice but to grab the lifeline and change their carefree ways. In the deal with the EU, they have four years to turn it around. What happens if they don't? Austerity will turn to anarchy...that's what.

EPILOGUE.
Could the grim Irish problem happen here? You betcha. If we don't wake up now and address the gravity of our debt mess we will be the sixth P-I-I-G-S-usa. And guess who will be offering the lifeline to us, our kids and our grandkids at a grave cost? The big bad wolf that's who. "C-H-I-N-A". And they aren't too lovable...just ask (sorry, not allowed) the imprisoned government subversive 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo.