I have been a mavs fan my entire life. When I was in the 5th grade, I was an honorary ball boy for the Mavs (a great birthday present from my parents). I had my picture taken with Brad Davis, handed Mark Aguirre a towel to wipe spilled beer off of himself, and I pushed a broom around the key to wipe up sweat throughout the game. It was tons of fun to be so close.
I was a Mavs fan through the Quinn Buckner fiasco, the 13-69 season. I even had a Mavs clock on my wall during these dreadful years.
When Mark Cuban bought the team, I was ecstatic. He has done a lot to make Maverick basketball so good. Last year, beating the Spurs and making it to the finals was so great. It was terrible when they lost 4 in a row, but even with that debacle, I thought we always had this year.
We win 67 games this season.
And then, we get Golden State - a 42 win team. This has been the most painful Maverick basketball to ever watch. They have shown no heart, have played horribly, and have allowed some of the most annoying players to beat them.
If Dirk wins MVP tomorrow, this will only be more embarrassing. Jim Reeves said it best this morning in his column when he imagined phones ringing off the hook at the NBA office of people asking for their MVP votes back. I think back to Jordan, Olajuwon, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, Wade - all those guys stepped up their game in the playoffs. Dirk, with the Spurs series an exception, has not. He has failed.
People give Arod a hard time for meaningless stats. He puts up huge numbers every year, but when it comes to a clutch hit, Arod disappears. Dirk is the new Arod. In last night's game, Dirk hit two threes at the end of the game, after the Mavs had lost. That is much like an Arod solo HR when the Yankees are down 10-0 in the 9th. "Meaningless offense" as my brother would say.
While my Maverick fandom has survived coaching from Buckner, Clemons, Adubato, and Gar Herr, with players like Bradley, English, Blab, Laettner, etc. stinking it up, I am not sure that my love for the Mavs will survive a loss to the Golden State Warriors in Round 1.
I know there are many more important things in the world to be upset about and that it is just a game, but I was looking forward to spending every other night for the next two months watching NBA basketball, talking about rules for watching sporting events, going to bed way too late, wearing my Mavs shirt 20 times in two months. But, when the Mavericks are gone, so is my viewership. And I am not sure it will be back next season. But at least this year, the Mavs cannot complain about the refs. There is no doubt who has played harder and better during this series. Maybe the Mavs will put it together and win three straight. But thus far, they haven't played 3 good quarters this series, so how will they play 12?
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Partial-Birth Abortion Ruling
Today, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld a law banning partial birth abortion (Gonzales v Carhart). Finally, after years of being thwarted by the courts, today is a victory for pre-born life. As I read the Supreme Court decision, I was sickened by the description and acceptance by some people of the procedure described as follows (quoting in Justice Kennedy's majority opinion from the Court's testimony):
" 'At this point, the right-handed surgeon slides the fingers of the left [hand] along the back of the fetus and "hooks" the shoulders of the fetus with the index and ring fingers (palm down).
" 'While maintaining this tension, lifting the cervix and applying traction to the shoulders with the fingers of the left hand, the surgeon takes a pair of blunt curved Metzenbaum scissors in the right hand. He carefully advances the tip, curved down, along the spine and under his middle finger until he feels it contact the base of the skull under the tip of his middle finger.
" '[T]he surgeon then forces the scissors into the base of the skull or into the foramen magnum. Having safely entered the skull, he spreads the scissors to enlarge the opening.
" 'The surgeon removes the scissors and introduces a suction catheter into this hole and evacuates the skull contents. With the catheter still in place, he applies traction to the fetus, removing it completely from the patient.' " H. R. Rep. No. 108-58, p. 3 (2003).
This is an abortion doctor's clinical description. Here is another description from a nurse who witnessed the same method performed on a 26-week fetus and who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
" 'Dr. Haskell went in with forceps and grabbed the baby's legs and pulled them down into the birth canal. Then he delivered the baby's body and the arms--everything but the head. The doctor kept the head right inside the uterus... .
" 'The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors in the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out, like a startle reaction, like a flinch, like a baby does when he thinks he is going to fall.
" 'The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening, and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby went completely limp... .
" 'He cut the umbilical cord and delivered the placenta. He threw the baby in a pan, along with the placenta and the instruments he had just used.' "
It is hard to imagine that our culture has accepted partial birth abortion for so long. It is also hard to imagine how people do not consider the aborted babies human lives. Clinton vetoed a ban of the above procedure while in office, and the Supreme Court ruled a similar ban unconstitutional a couple of years ago. But this is a more conservative court - and a more humane one. This ruling shows the power of appointment granted to the President; the addition of Roberts and Alito by Bush have swung the Court, at least temporarily, to a more pro-life bent. And it shows why the presidential race and the congressional races of 2008 are so critical as well. More than likely, the next president will nominate judges to replace Justice Stevens and Justice Ginsburg - the two most liberal judges on the bench. And the next Congress will have to approve or deny those appointments.
There is still a long way to go. This ban only prohibits the partial-birth of the baby followed by the removal of his or her brain. This ban does not prohibit the following description also described in the Court's ruling:
After sufficient dilation the surgical operation can commence. The woman is placed under general anesthesia or conscious sedation. The doctor, often guided by ultrasound, inserts grasping forceps through the woman's cervix and into the uterus to grab the fetus. The doctor grips a fetal part with the forceps and pulls it back through the cervix and vagina, continuing to pull even after meeting resistance from the cervix. The friction causes the fetus to tear apart. For example, a leg might be ripped off the fetus as it is pulled through the cervix and out of the woman. The process of evacuating the fetus piece by piece continues until it has been completely removed. A doctor may make 10 to 15 passes with the forceps to evacuate the fetus in its entirety, though sometimes removal is completed with fewer passes. Once the fetus has been evacuated, the placenta and any remaining fetal material are suctioned or scraped out of the uterus. The doctor examines the different parts to ensure the entire fetal body has been removed.
The procedure just described is still permitted. Moreover, 90 percent of the 1.3 million abortions a year take place in the first trimester, unaffected by the ban.
Today's ruling is a victory for the unborn, albeit a small one. But with continued pressure and education, hopefully this will mark the beginning of a major movement to cease the killing of 1,300,000 lives each year in this country.
" 'At this point, the right-handed surgeon slides the fingers of the left [hand] along the back of the fetus and "hooks" the shoulders of the fetus with the index and ring fingers (palm down).
" 'While maintaining this tension, lifting the cervix and applying traction to the shoulders with the fingers of the left hand, the surgeon takes a pair of blunt curved Metzenbaum scissors in the right hand. He carefully advances the tip, curved down, along the spine and under his middle finger until he feels it contact the base of the skull under the tip of his middle finger.
" '[T]he surgeon then forces the scissors into the base of the skull or into the foramen magnum. Having safely entered the skull, he spreads the scissors to enlarge the opening.
" 'The surgeon removes the scissors and introduces a suction catheter into this hole and evacuates the skull contents. With the catheter still in place, he applies traction to the fetus, removing it completely from the patient.' " H. R. Rep. No. 108-58, p. 3 (2003).
This is an abortion doctor's clinical description. Here is another description from a nurse who witnessed the same method performed on a 26-week fetus and who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
" 'Dr. Haskell went in with forceps and grabbed the baby's legs and pulled them down into the birth canal. Then he delivered the baby's body and the arms--everything but the head. The doctor kept the head right inside the uterus... .
" 'The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his little feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors in the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out, like a startle reaction, like a flinch, like a baby does when he thinks he is going to fall.
" 'The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening, and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby went completely limp... .
" 'He cut the umbilical cord and delivered the placenta. He threw the baby in a pan, along with the placenta and the instruments he had just used.' "
It is hard to imagine that our culture has accepted partial birth abortion for so long. It is also hard to imagine how people do not consider the aborted babies human lives. Clinton vetoed a ban of the above procedure while in office, and the Supreme Court ruled a similar ban unconstitutional a couple of years ago. But this is a more conservative court - and a more humane one. This ruling shows the power of appointment granted to the President; the addition of Roberts and Alito by Bush have swung the Court, at least temporarily, to a more pro-life bent. And it shows why the presidential race and the congressional races of 2008 are so critical as well. More than likely, the next president will nominate judges to replace Justice Stevens and Justice Ginsburg - the two most liberal judges on the bench. And the next Congress will have to approve or deny those appointments.
There is still a long way to go. This ban only prohibits the partial-birth of the baby followed by the removal of his or her brain. This ban does not prohibit the following description also described in the Court's ruling:
After sufficient dilation the surgical operation can commence. The woman is placed under general anesthesia or conscious sedation. The doctor, often guided by ultrasound, inserts grasping forceps through the woman's cervix and into the uterus to grab the fetus. The doctor grips a fetal part with the forceps and pulls it back through the cervix and vagina, continuing to pull even after meeting resistance from the cervix. The friction causes the fetus to tear apart. For example, a leg might be ripped off the fetus as it is pulled through the cervix and out of the woman. The process of evacuating the fetus piece by piece continues until it has been completely removed. A doctor may make 10 to 15 passes with the forceps to evacuate the fetus in its entirety, though sometimes removal is completed with fewer passes. Once the fetus has been evacuated, the placenta and any remaining fetal material are suctioned or scraped out of the uterus. The doctor examines the different parts to ensure the entire fetal body has been removed.
The procedure just described is still permitted. Moreover, 90 percent of the 1.3 million abortions a year take place in the first trimester, unaffected by the ban.
Today's ruling is a victory for the unborn, albeit a small one. But with continued pressure and education, hopefully this will mark the beginning of a major movement to cease the killing of 1,300,000 lives each year in this country.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Virginia Tech and What We Learn
The obvious question is, "Why?" Why did this happen? Why did Cho Seung-Hui feel the need to kill 32 people yesterday? Why wasn't he stopped? Why didn't the administration do more? These are all questions we will be asking in the coming days. At least until we who weren't directly affected resume our normal lives and forget about what happened.
It was hard to watch via the internet yesterday as the death toll rose throughout the day. It was hard to try to put myself in the shoes of the students in the classroom, or the professors - what would I have done? No one expects that to happen. The administration thought the first shooting was purely a domestic affair and was over, so the decision to shut down a campus of 26,000 students wasn't made. It's hard to fault the administration - again nothing like this had ever happened before. But I can only guess that internally the administration is second guessing themselves severely.
I can't imagine the terror in the classroom. I can't imagine the loss that families are feeling today. I can't imagine the horror witnessed by some. I can't imagine what the students who skipped class yesterday are thinking. I can't imagine what the girl who went to the building only to find the doors chained must be thinking. Was she upset that she was running late to class that day?
The media is describing Cho Seung-Hui as a loner. It seems like they are always loners. We talk about it. We hear stories of how we must include the loners. And then, we go back to our old ways of excluding or at least not trying hard to include the loner. Why do we so quickly slip back into our old habits?
It's just sad. What do we learn? I don't know. And where was God? It's a question that has been asked for thousands of years - from at least the time of Job. I remember when the Wedgwood shooting happened many years ago, the pastor, Al Meredith, said that God was in the same place He was when Jesus was hanging on the cross - on His throne and in control.
It was hard to watch via the internet yesterday as the death toll rose throughout the day. It was hard to try to put myself in the shoes of the students in the classroom, or the professors - what would I have done? No one expects that to happen. The administration thought the first shooting was purely a domestic affair and was over, so the decision to shut down a campus of 26,000 students wasn't made. It's hard to fault the administration - again nothing like this had ever happened before. But I can only guess that internally the administration is second guessing themselves severely.
I can't imagine the terror in the classroom. I can't imagine the loss that families are feeling today. I can't imagine the horror witnessed by some. I can't imagine what the students who skipped class yesterday are thinking. I can't imagine what the girl who went to the building only to find the doors chained must be thinking. Was she upset that she was running late to class that day?
The media is describing Cho Seung-Hui as a loner. It seems like they are always loners. We talk about it. We hear stories of how we must include the loners. And then, we go back to our old ways of excluding or at least not trying hard to include the loner. Why do we so quickly slip back into our old habits?
It's just sad. What do we learn? I don't know. And where was God? It's a question that has been asked for thousands of years - from at least the time of Job. I remember when the Wedgwood shooting happened many years ago, the pastor, Al Meredith, said that God was in the same place He was when Jesus was hanging on the cross - on His throne and in control.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The Great Game of Baseball
So life truly began again yesterday. Spring is here. And now I have a reason to read the Sports Page every day. To me, there is no sport that even compares to baseball. Baseball engages all your senses. Sight - freshly chalked foul lines, green grass mowed so evenly, freshly watered dirt, the list could go on. Sound - the crack of the bat, the smack in the catcher's glove of a fastball, the strike call of a really good umpire. Smell - freshly mowed grass, leather of a glove, spring air. Taste - cotton candy, ballpark hot dog, bag of peanuts. Touch - the grip of a baseball, the way a bat feels, the passing of concessions down the row. One's whole person gets involved in baseball. I am glad it's back again. And I'm glad there are 161 games left after the way the Rangers disappointed in game 1.
One of my favorite things about the great game of baseball is talking about former players. During last night's broadcast, Tom Grieve and Josh Lewin, in the span of an inning, made reference to five centerfielders connected to the Rangers. First is the current centerfielder, Kenny Lofton. Next, a catch by last year's centerfielder Gary Matthews, Jr., a camera shot of the Rangers' firstbase coach Gary Pettis, and a reference to the speed of Damon Buford and Tom Goodwin. (I hadn't heard their names in a long time!) So, I began to think of all the Ranger CFs I could remember: Greer, Hulse, Brower, Nixon, Nix, etc, etc., etc. In college, we used to try to come up with the most obscure Ranger names we could think of. No one ever does that with football or basketball, do they? Well, anyway, I'm glad the season has started.
One of my favorite things about the great game of baseball is talking about former players. During last night's broadcast, Tom Grieve and Josh Lewin, in the span of an inning, made reference to five centerfielders connected to the Rangers. First is the current centerfielder, Kenny Lofton. Next, a catch by last year's centerfielder Gary Matthews, Jr., a camera shot of the Rangers' firstbase coach Gary Pettis, and a reference to the speed of Damon Buford and Tom Goodwin. (I hadn't heard their names in a long time!) So, I began to think of all the Ranger CFs I could remember: Greer, Hulse, Brower, Nixon, Nix, etc, etc., etc. In college, we used to try to come up with the most obscure Ranger names we could think of. No one ever does that with football or basketball, do they? Well, anyway, I'm glad the season has started.
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