matt weighs in

I am really proud of my vote and the millions of others cast for Barack Obama on Tuesday. The campaign he ran over the last 20 months, from the bottom up, as it should be, is something to admire. I really hope he can continue this momentum of hope and change as he steps into the White House on January 20, 2009.

As happy as I am, I cannot be all-out, jumping-up-and-down thrilled about all the votes cast on election day. Democrats won the big one and gained in the Senate and House, so it was a very good night to like the color blue. However, in Minnesota, Republicans probably held on to two of the seats that were most heavily contested and watched throughout the country.

Michelle Bachmann, in the 6th District, won re-election over El Tinklenberg, which didn’t surprise me, really, but still disappoints me that so many people can’t see through her facade and didn’t understand that she did not do anything to warrant another term and spouts nonsense almost every time she has a microphone in her face. I’m not proud of that district today.

The other, even bigger contest, which surely won’t become official until after a mandatory recount is finished (and most likely not until after some time in court), is the Norm Coleman-Al Franken dogfight for a Senate seat. I am surprised that Franken finished close enough for a recount, but it makes me a little mad to think that if the Democrats somehow could have come up with just a little bit better candidate, then no recount would need to occur. People were itching for Coleman to go, but Franken, if the recount holds true, just wasn’t the man to do it. He said a lot of the right things, but people didn’t like his past and didn’t think he was the right person to speak for MN, since he hadn’t really spent much time here before 2007. Again, if the vote holds true, I wonder if there will be a push for instant runoff voting or some other voting mechanism of ranking your preferred candidates, as Dean the Independent did no favors for either Coleman or Franken.

But, the final vote count I am most disappointed to see, if current counts hold up, is on Proposition 8 in California. Tuesday was a great, historic day for the United States of America, where people of every color, age, income, sexual orientation and geographic location came together as one to elect an African-American man as President. It was a day to help push the dark history of inequality in our country further into the past, to move us forward in working together, believing that anyone, no matter what they look like or where their family is from, can rise up, give hope and provide the leadership we need. And then, because of a vote on one proposition in California, the ugliness of inequality might rear its ugly head for another day. I have not heard one single valid reason, and I have searched on the web and in person, that makes sense in continuing to deny people the legal right to choose the partner with whom they wish to spend the rest of their life. And saying only that “Marriage is between a man and woman,” “It’s disgusting,” or “How can they choose to live that way?” immediately disqualifies you from speaking more on the subject. Changing the Constitution of a state or country to deny people rights of equality that they deserve as humans on this planet does nothing to help move our country forward. It does no help at all.

When you are at home with your family, your married gay neighbors do not diminish the love you feel together.
When you are in your car driving to work, the married gay couple in the next lane does not make you less safe.
When you are on vacation at the beach, the married gay couple taking a relaxing walk in the sand does not make the sunset less beautiful.
And when you are playing with your kids outside, the married gay couple raking their leaves in the front yard of the house they bought, on which they pay property taxes and in which they are only hoping to live a happy and fulfilled married life together, should have no impact on the happiness you feel in your own life.

How do people, just because they are straight, more positively influence our life and the way we live than someone who is gay? And how is it, that on the same day we did so much to break barriers of inequality that sometimes seemed too high to even fathom bringing down, people voted to build those walls back up against your gay friends, your gay family members, your gay co-workers, all your gay fellow citizens?

I had tears of joy on Tuesday night, as I watched Barack Obama humbly accept the duties and responsibilities as President-elect of the U.S. We know it won’t be easy, but he, and those he chooses to help him, will do great things for our country. I just hope people realize that there are still inequalities to overcome. There are still dreams and equalities for which to fight. It just doesn’t seem right that we did so much good and may have done so much bad in one election day.

Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain said that he’s going to suspend his campaign and return to Washington until a compromise is reached on the Wall Street bailout bill. He also proposed to Democrat Barack Obama that they postpone Friday night’s debate to focus on the economy and find a solution to the current problems.

I don’t have a problem with them making a trip to Washington to hold talks with their peers on what the best course of action is, nor do I have a problem with suspending the campaign for a couple days, if for no other reason than it will hopefully spare us seeing ads on tv every 3 minutes. The current state of the economy has many people spooked and deserves special attention.

My problem is with McCain’s ridiculous proposal to postpone the debate on Friday night. The first debate is supposed to focus on national security issues, which I believe McCain would want to jump on, no matter what is going on…it’s his strongest play. Couldn’t a few questions be thrown in regarding the current economic bailout bill, so the American people can get a taste of what the candidates are thinking? McCain and Obama should want to get in front of a national audience as much as possible, at this time, so they can tell us what their thoughts are themselves, instead of us getting it second-hand from the usual suspects in tv, radio and newsprint.

I don’t think McCain showed very good leadership and executive decision-making when he chose Sarah Palin as his VP candidate, and now this offer to postpone the debate. I think the offer is a major political gaffe and shows much less leadership ability than Obama, who proposed earlier in the day that they work together on an economic statement to be released jointly.

No good can come in this election, and folks will have a harder time making up their minds, if the Presidential candidates do not meet face-to-face, as scheduled. In May, maybe it would pass, but not with six weeks to go before a very important election for the country.

I first read this story on Friday morning and thought there has to be more to it. Kids don’t just get suspended for buying souvenir swords on a trip. A quick Google search Friday night after putting Elliot to bed led me to this discussion going on at www.topix.com, including comments by kids from Eagan and Apple Valley claiming to have been on the trip.

I assume that since it was a school-sponsored trip, the administration felt all rules for school grounds expanded wherever the students’ traveled in Europe. They had swords in their possession, which could be weapons, therefore the administration ruled they had to be suspended.

I’m not sure I can agree with this, since I will also assume that they were allowed some free time to explore on their own. Also, the swords were apparently in taped-up boxes ready to be shipped home. Other students had to have snitched on them, but if the boxes were taped, how did officials determine what was inside? Was there also an invasion of privacy here?

The kids and parents had to sign some kind of waiver to go on the trip. I would be very interested in reading this waiver, as it did specify policy on alcohol and weapons. I think the schools are really going out of their way to enforce their zero-tolerance policy in this situation. How is it showing favoritism, as some would argue, to these students if the administration would have ruled that what they did was ok?

I just cannot wrap my head around seeing that this decision was right, and your comments to help me understand are welcome. The swords were in a frggin’ box, for cryin’ out loud.

My dad was a superintendent of schools for our district for about 25 years, so it will be interesting to get an insider’s point of view on this. What are your thoughts? I guess the redeeming part of this story, if there is one, is that the kids get to continue their studies at home, so the senior should still be able to attend college in the fall.

On Tuesday, Laura posted a story about having to make a snap parenting decision regarding discipline, after Siena went all Mike Tyson on her at dance class (luckily, no biting was involved). Thanks to those of you who e-mailed or wrote comments with your thoughts of support, encouragement and/or “stick to your guns.” Although we have implemented some of the Supernanny methods (I never thought we would stop seeing Siena in our bed at 1:30am), our only real reference points are our own instincts, how we were raised and what we hear from or discuss with others.

There are great parents out there, some really horrible parents out there, and then the rest of us who sorta get along day-by-day, decision-by-decision. We hope we’re getting closer to being great parents than sliding the other way. Most days, I think we get by just fine with only minor struggles such as when, what and how much snack to have. Other days come with closed fists.

What the hell is that? I don’t hit Laura or the wall or anything else in the house (I usually don’t even fluff my pillows), so it makes you wonder why she thinks that it’s ok to go around slugging us. We know she has lungs, so why can’t her displeasure just come with a loud, “Noooooooooo,” or something like that? Is it too soon for her to understand that Laura bruises like a peach? Imagine that conversation:

“Siena, don’t hit mama, she bruises like a peach.”

“Mama’s eating a peach? Is peach a fruit?”

Yes, it’s a fruit, but no, she bruises like a peach. Like, she gets an owie if you do that.”

“Mama has an owie?”

“Ugggh.”

In this instance, I would have handled it pretty much the same as Laura, which is good, as it’s important to be on the same page for major parenting things such as discipline. Siena now knows that the threat of leaving somewhere fun or not going somewhere fun is there if she misbehaves. I believe that next time we’ll have to follow through with our threat, so as not to set the precedent that we’re not serious (as some of you suggested using good examples).

We also enforced some other consequences for how she behaved before dance class. So, she (maybe) has the memory of almost leaving dance and how that felt, plus she has other consequences to serve over the next few days as reminders of what happened.

I need her to remember this, for I can’t be leaning in to give Laura a hug and have her pulling away due to bruised arms. Imagine how that would look in public.

It’s nearing one of my favorite times of the year – tourney time. March might just be my favorite sporting month of the year, which you might think isn’t saying a lot. However, I usually celebrate my birthday over Super Bowl weekend in early February, making it one big party after another.

Let’s just call it even.

Everyone knows about March Madness. An insane 3 weeks of basketball, office pools and upsets culminating with one team cutting down the nets in their One Shining Moment.

Minnesota has it’s own version of March madness, when the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) holds the state championships for five sports in five weeks – girl’s hockey, wrestling, boy’s hockey, girl’s basketball and boy’s basketball. I have fond memories growing up of attending all of these events with my family, even though we lived in southern MN and had to drive two hours each way and be in a hotel for 10 nights out of 35 in those 5 weeks. We always had great tickets, since my dad was on the MSHSL, and could visit the MSHSL suite or party room to watch all the events, if we chose. We chose to…a lot.

Growing up in a small town, we didn’t have hockey, and I hardly watched it, as I was engrossed in basketball, girlfriends, and shooting pool and who has time for a sport your school doesn’t even play? However, the state hockey tournament was my favorite of them all, followed closely by the boy’s basketball tourney.

I guarantee that my sister Sara and I can still recite the simple, but effective, Roseau Ram’s crowd cheer, where they basically just spell out their name and yell it really loud. Maybe we loved it because we were sitting just outside the MSHSL suite in the old Met Center in Bloomington or in the old St. Paul Civic Center – the buffet spread really made the whole experience, as well as the elevator guy who would give us tickets to the MN North Stars about every other year.

I talk about all this, because of this emerging story out of Colorado. The high school playoffs are about the kids, their shining moment as a team and towns coming together to support their own. Sacrifices are made so all teams can travel to the game site, hotels are booked and families uprooted for days to celebrate the experience. So, for the Colorado High School Activities Association to be so inflexible that they won’t reschedule a Saturday afternoon game, so a Jewish basketball team doesn’t have to play on their Sabbath is ridiculous.

To be honest, I’m actually surprised this isn’t already resolved. There have to be games all day in that gym, so why, if the team does make it that far (they still have one game to play), didn’t the CHSAA rule that this team’s game be moved to Saturday evening after sundown, if necessary? It’s really a simple solution that one of those fools should have brought up.

They will crush this team’s dreams and goals, not to mention all the bad publicity they will inevitably receive (read more of the Rocky Mountain News for comments and opinions on this). The league needs to reverse it’s decision, too, so it can avoid a possible discrimination lawsuit based on the league’s own rule that it doesn’t allow games to be played on Sundays, get this, FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS. They have no leg to stand on by being so inflexible, and if the team moves on, expect the CHSAA to do the right thing, and make tourney time in Colorado a memorable experience for everyone for all the right reasons.

[UPDATE, 2.29.08:] The Jewish team in Colorado lost their basketball game Thursday night, meaning the CHSAA was let off the hook. They avoided having to reverse their decision, which they didn’t want to do. This absolutely baffles me. I’m not one to believe much that off-the-court stuff affects players when it comes to playing the game, but these are high school kids, not professionals making millions for what they do, and this whole controversy (not of their making) had to weigh on them. By the way their girl’s basketball team was in the same boat, but they, too, lost on Thursday night.

How are we supposed to view all the bowl games played every year to end the college football season? I know many people would say, and do it quite loudly, that they are meaningless and not even the “national championship” game is worth the 30-40 day wait after conference play has ended. Others would argue that the bowls are an annual tradition and that they all need to be played to give college kids one last game to play as seniors and go out as winners. I completely fall into the former category, with much added venom towards those who say a playoff in Division-1 cannot happen.

The only traditional bowl anyone really cares about, as far as I can tell, is the Rose Bowl played on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, CA. There is a parade in the morning, and it has long been called the “Granddaddy of Them All.” Even when it isn’t a great match-up, the Rose Bowl prefers to have a Big Ten team face a Pac-10 team (this year’s game featured Illinois versus USC, which everyone correctly predicted would be a blowout), and it still is the most talked about bowl game there is, besides the “national championship” game.

Now, people have thrown out their versions of what the college football playoff would look like, the most recent of which I read in the Star Tribune on Sunday. In it, the columnist, Jim Souhan, argues that the big four bowl games all take place on New Year’s Day. These games would be the playoff quarterfinals, with the semifinals and National Championship to follow in the weeks after that. Not a bad option, but I don’t like it, because it would put the college playoff games up against the NFL playoffs in January, and as much as we like football, we don’t need the whole sports page covering football.

I would rather see the playoffs take place in December after the regular college season has ended. I am not sure exactly the best way to choose the teams, yet, but this is what I have come up with for a playoff, using this past 2007 season as an example, and it still allows for bowl games, as we know them, to continue.

There were 14 weeks between Saturday, September 1, 2007, and Saturday, December 1, 2007. This would have allowed teams to play 12 games, have one bye week during the season, and then have conference championship games on December 1st, if the conference chooses to do so.

The playoffs would be 16 teams – I see three ways the teams could be chosen. First, use the computer system currently in place for the BCS rankings and take the top 16 teams. Second, form a committee to choose the top 16 teams, such as they do in college basketball for March Madness. Third, and my least favorite option, include the conference champions and then somehow fill the rest of the spots with other teams (based on the computer ranking system or by a committee?).

I guess I prefer they use the computer ranking system to determine the top 16 teams and let the fun begin. Who could argue that the final BCS poll showing the top 16 teams to end the 2007 season do not deserve to be in the playoff? Going back to the dates on which the 2007 college football season fell, the 1st round (16 teams) would have taken place on Saturday, December 8th, the quarterfinal round (8 teams) on Saturday, December 15th, the semifinals (4 teams) on Saturday, December 22nd, and then to top it all off, you would have the National Championship played on New Year’s Day between the top 2 teams in one of the 5 major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange or Fiesta). The championship game would rotate year-to-year from each site and would take place in the evening on January 1st.

The other 4 bowls, played during the day on New Year’s Day, would then choose their teams from those who lost in the previous rounds of the playoffs. The semifinal losers would play in one bowl, the four quarterfinal losers would take two other bowls, which leaves only one major bowl to choose it’s teams, which could be from the losers of the 1st round. The other 6 losing teams form the 1st round would then be chosen for the lesser bowl games that take place from December 20th-31st.

This seems confusing in writing, but put it down in brackets on paper what I have proposed here, and you’ll see that it can work. There would be great match-ups, there could not be any debate about who deserves to be where, because it’s all determined on the field, and those greedy fools who are blocking this playoff from happening would still get paid, because all the bowls, as we know them, would take place (I would even allow the championship game to be played the day after New Year’s for maximum exposure). But the best part? You would have a true National Champion in college football.

Random thoughts on the sporting world heading into the last weekend of 2007:

* Has anyone cared about the bowl games, yet? You know a playoff is needed when the biggest story, so far, is whether or not a guy on the sidelines (not even a coach, player or trainer) touched a bouncing ball before his team recovered. Even if he didn’t touch it, shouldn’t they have been penalized for all those guys being on the field, which would give the other team the ball back anyway? Apparently, Chris Jessie is the head coach’s stepson and in charge of coordinating the team’s travel and hotel reservations. And he’s on the sideline of a bowl game. Oh well. There is a BS in BCS (one of my favorite sayings, by the way).

* KG won’t let the Celtics slow down all year. I doubt they’ll match the Bulls’ 72 victories from ’95-’96, but damn, he has lit something under Paul Pierce that will carry them to a #1 seed in the East and well into June 2008. However, is it possible that KG’s current team sets the all-time win record, while his former team sets the all-time loss record? Can’t wait to see the outcome of their Feb. 8^th game at Target Center (note to Laura: that’s close to my birthday).

* NBA season has 6 months to go? Maybe thoughts on that another time, although it is now more intriguing than it has been in years. I miss “NBA on NBC” – one of my favorite lead-in tv musical anthems of all-time. I know some of you are humming it right now.

* I believe the Vikings blew their season last Sunday night at home against Washington. Win and they were in the playoffs, which no one could have foreseen after 34-0 in Lambeau. I heard the guys on KFAN’s morning show (AM-1130 in the Twin Cities) talking after the Washington game that if it had been outdoors, instead of in the ‘dome, the outcome would have been different. Really? What part of this Vikings team is so tough that playing in 18 degree, snowy weather gives us more faith in them to produce in such a huge game?

* I think the Giants will beat the Patriots, leaving the Pats 15-1 on the year. I want them to go 16-0 and win the Super Bowl (since the Vikings will be out of it, of course), but the Giants seem to do something every year to save Tom Coughlin’s job. They’ll win this game, giving them 11 wins, then won’t do much in the playoffs, but he’ll still have his job and that constipation-type pained look on his face.

* Johan’s still here, so I have hope the Twins will re-sign him. By the way, less than 2 months until pitchers and catchers report.

Happy New Year to all and to all a big drink!