O' say I can see

Maybe its because its summertime, and I love the 4th of July, or maybe its my OBSESSION with country music (New Country Music), or the fabulous 70′s era I’m constantly inspired by …. or maybe just because, “I really do want world peace” - Gracie Hart Miss Congeniality style. Whatever it is, American flags on tee’s are fantastic. Rock it with your flares, with your boyfriend cut off shorts, or your skinnies. Tuck it in, or leave it out. Wear it baggy, and roll the sleeves.

Before you read anything else, go to the Kansas City Star’s Web site and read this goodbye column from Joe Posnanski. As my buddy Kevin Scobee (who says he threw 88 but I swear looked 92 from behind the screen) says, bring a hankie.

Of course, it may be more poignant for him because Kevin has moved to California to find himself and his fortune and he misses his home town. He should miss it, but he should also be adventurous and brave and he should do what young writers do: live and see in order to write. You aren’t writing just when you’re at the keyboard; you’re writing every damned time you really look at what’s going on around you. As Least Heat Moon says, writing is “witnessing,” and the key to witnessing is seeing. Seeing in bold ital. Read more…

courtesy of kansascity.com

It wasn’t that long ago we learned about Royals left-handed pitching prospect Danny Duffy and how he had decided it was best for him to leave the game of baseball for awhile to focus his attention on other things. Of course, there were a number of things said at the expense of a young man that had spent the majority of his young adult life bussing around the middle of nowhere, to pitch once a week, on limited funds, and what we can only imagine because he decided he’d had enough, limited fun.

That decision was met with some mixed emotions from the public, and on this website, with some of the more radical opinions of those speaking mostly out of their own jealousy, saying that Duffy would someday regret this decision to pass up chasing a “dream”. I took offense.

It isn’t our place to decide what is best for someone else. I looked at it more from the aspect of the kid had a job, no different than waiting tables or working the window at the local bank, and didn’t like it. Plain and simple. Sure the job was baseball and while those other occupations, and thousands others, can be done by just about anybody, the job of Baseball Player at the professional level can only be done by a certain few.

So because of that there seems to be a different qualifier put on decisions athletes make because everyone else wishes they could do what they do. Some even perhaps know they could do what they do but through injury, timing, or just not having the necessary drive to make it happen, they just didn’t make it, so there’s a sense of “how many people would love to be in your position” thinking. And that attitude isn’t fair to put on another person. Read more…

courtesy of mlbblogs.com

A few days ago Top 10 Kansas City Royals prospect Danny Duffy decided he was going to leave professional baseball. After having an outside shot at being a part of this year’s pitching staff either to start the season or almost certainly during, an injury caused a delay to his big league dreams. Well, maybe they weren’t his dreams after all.

I’m sure in the next couple of weeks, and months, we’ll begin to hear about the circumstances that led to Duffy to leave pro baseball*. I’m sure in the next couple of days, and months, we’ll begin to hear, even though we’ve already started to hear some, about how he’s a quitter and how he’s throwing away a tremendous opportunity, or how he’s a myriad of derogatory adjectives. I’d like to caution all of us to not get caught up in the world of nonsense that is sports blogger rage.

*Since Duffy, there have been two other Royals minor leaguers have decided to leave the organization. They won’t be last. They won’t be the last in all of professional baseball this year.

All we know, all we need to know, is that a young man has decided that at this time in his life, baseball is not for him. For whatever reason. We can only begin to speculate why or what, but doing so would be irresponsible. We’ll find out soon enough. Someone will talk to someone, who will talk to someone, and we’ll have our “answers.” As if we needed some anyway. Unfortunately until then, Duffy is going to be chastised for somehow being less of a man. Read more…

Huey Lewis does

No matter how smart or capable you may wish you could see yourself as being, there are still those moments in the still of night when all is silent that your thoughts become muddled amidst the doubt and regret over the past. The only comfort one can have in those nights, I’m thinking – I’m hoping – is that it is that way for most everyone.

We’ve been given these incredible gifts as humans of thought, and compassion, and conscience, and personal choice, that it could almost be a hindrance to the “normal” everyday life. Whatever that means. The curse of being someone of intelligence is the curse of never being able to shut it off. It goes, and goes, and goes.

Where is the end? Where is the moment of clarity? Does it ever happen? Read more…