Football: Florida Gators Still in SEC Title Hunt

I'd better get this written before Saturday, because on that day this article's message may be a moot point.  But the fact remains...at this late point in the season approaching mid-November...that the University of Florida football team, incredibly, is still in the running to win the prestigious Southeastern Conference championship, despite having three losses.  But their win over Georgia three weeks ago gives them the tiebreaker if the two end up with same conference win-loss records.  And in a three-way tie with the Bulldogs and Missouri, Florida would prevail as long as the Tigers lose their upcoming game at Tennessee...a distinct possibility.  So right now, in terms of conference records, Missouri is 4-1, Georgia is 5-2, and Florida is 4-3.  This Saturday, if higher-ranked Auburn wins against Georgia and Florida beats South Carolina, the two East Division contenders will finish their conference schedule with 5-3 records.  That would leave Missouri, who plays Texas A&M on the road Saturday, Tennessee in Knoxville the following week, and then closes at home against Arkansas.  They could well lose all three games, although as far as Florida's title hopes are concerned they need only lose to Tennessee and to either Texas A&M or Arkansas.

If all this happens...and it very well could...Florida would be going to Atlanta to play the West Division winner, which at this point looks like either Mississippi State or Alabama (the two play each other this Saturday).  Naturally, if the Gators went on to a big upset victory in this speculative title game, they still wouldn't be in contention for the national championship playoffs.  But for head coach Will Muschamp, just getting to the title game would be a great turnaround from the desperate position he was in just a few weeks ago after losing a close game to LSU and being humiliated by Missouri in Florida's homecoming game...

Just Finished Reading Brandon Sanderson's The Alloy of Law

I recently completed fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy...a series that I liked a lot and which ends as trilogies should end: "conclusively".  Yet, Sanderson has now seen fit to go back to this fantasy world of mist and allomancers (people with the inherited ability to burn metals that give them temporary superhuman powers).  Set a few centuries after the the original series, the world has changed.  It is now becoming more and more technologically advanced, and the original fantasy format is now changing to one more of a science fiction/alternate reality nature, with a remarkable similarity at times to Stephen King's celebrated Dark Tower series (especially regarding gunslinging and train riding).  As a matter of fact, the protagonists Wax (Waxillium Ladrian) and his sidekick Wayne are sharp-shooting lawmen in a wild west scenario.  The Alloy of Law centers on Wax's developing worldview as he comes to grip that Miles, one of his fellow lawmen, has turned outlaw and is leading a popular revolt.  However, there seems to be a mystery nobleman behind the scenes manipulating Miles.  Also thrown into the mix of the story are love interests for Wax: Lessie, Marasi, and Steris.  The story about Lessie really reminds me of  The Dark Tower...especially book number four.  As it turns out, not only is Wax an excellent shooter, but he, along with Wayne, Miles, and Marasi are all allomancers who possess special abilities to burn certain metals.  The story progresses to a showdown between Wax and Miles...guess who wins?  Hint: the next book is due out in a few months!

I have to admit that I didn't particularly enjoy The Alloy of Law as much as Sanderson's masterfully conceived and written first trilogy.  There is no special, new world here to discover...just variations of the old, which has evolved in accordance with the way that trilogy's final volume, The Hero of Ages, ended.  Still, this book was an interesting, fun story that often has more in common with the western genre of fiction than fantasy.  Well, western combined with sci fi, like, as I said before, The Dark Tower.  Or even The Wild, Wild, West...

Yes to Movie and TV Episode Reruns, No to Sports Reruns

I have a tendency to watch my favorite TV shows and movies over and over again, enough though I thoroughly know their outcomes and can often recite the dialogue word-for-word just before it is spoken.  But when it comes to watching sporting events, even those that feature my favorite teams or solo athletes, I dislike reruns and avoid them with a passion.  The only exception to this is if a rerun of a game is rebroadcast and I don't yet know the outcome.  Then it's like I'm watching it live.  Only one problem with that, though, and its a frustratingly recurring one...

I'll be on a channel showing such a rebroadcast, say, for example, of the English Premier League of soccer, with "my" team Arsenal playing in a game from the previous weekend that I haven't yet seen, and I'll sit down to watch it.  Everything will be fine for a few minutes, when suddenly the little scrolling "information" line at the bottom of the screen will start displaying final scores...and the final score of the game I've begun watching will prominently be shown!  I've seen this happen too many times and wonder why they don't just withhold the score of the one game they are showing...they can show still all the other final scores, for all the difference that makes.

Another gripe I have with sports reruns is that there is almost always enough going on that they don't have to keep showing the same game again.  I find this especially annoying when I'm on the Univision Deportes (Spanish language sports) channel and watch a live broadcast of one of Mexico's top-tier Liga MX soccer league games...say, pitting Pumas against Tigres.  I watch the game, enjoy it, and a few days later am ready to watch another soccer match on Univision Deportes...but find that they are showing a rerun of that same Pumas-Tigres contest.  Why not show a different game...it doesn't even have to be from Liga MX.  They could show a lower Mexican league game in that time slot...or even one from some other country's soccer league, for that matter.

It isn't just a "soccer" phenomenon, these sports reruns.  I regularly scan through the upcoming sports broadcasts on the many channels I get and often run across football, baseball, and basketball games that weren't just played recently, but rather months or even years earlier.  I don't get it with these reruns, but then again I imagine some people wouldn't get it about my own absorption with reruns of my favorite movie and TV episodes.  To each his own, I suppose...

Disparate Framing of Political Debate on Sensitive Issues

When I hear various political issues brought up in the media, the two main opposing sides of the debate will usually frame it in entirely different ways.  Often the two sides will engage in a verbal dance of sorts, with neither side coming to grips with what the other is actually saying.  One such recurring pattern to political debates is what I call the "rights vs. funding" argument.  Take an issue in which one side, usually on the political left (but not always), is pushing for what it perceives as a basic right to be promoted and recognized by society and law.  Without necessarily attacking the issue head-on, I often see the opponents of such efforts (usually on the political right) instead attacking the notion that, once a "right" has been established, then the party whose "right" needs to be respected has the "right" to expect others in society to subsidize their exercise of it...through government mandates and taxation.  This is especially true regarding anything that falls under the umbrella of "medical" or "health" care.  If you have a certain "right" that involves going to the doctor or pharmacy, then for some reason everyone in society is now obligated to collectively pay for your exercise of said "right", even if what you are doing is an elective choice and not medically necessary. From what I see, the main justification for the argument of government (and, ultimately, the taxpayer) stepping in to pay is that by not doing so, those in society who don't have enough money are in a disadvantageous position and that this makes things unfair...so we all have to pitch in.
   
So with issues like abortion or birth control, the left will argue about the right of people, especially women, to be able to freely make reproductive choices in their lives...which they say is none of the government's business, much less anyone else.  At the same time, the right will counter-argue that just because someone has a choice, that doesn't give them the right to make everyone else pay for it through the government.

Naturally, there are some very serious ethical, moral, and religious issues concerning abortion and birth control.  Those supporting choice and open access to birth control will argue that it is a matter of privacy and others should mind their own business while at the same time use the "inequality" issue to argue that the very same people who are supposed to mind their own business and respect their private choices have to fund those choices.  But the left will argue about restrictive laws and the closing of abortion clinics while the right will argue about making people pay through the government for what many of them see as the immoral behavior of others.

I see a similar pattern of argumentation when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration.  Proponents of the more liberal reform measures will argue that this is both a human and civil rights issue, while the more conservative viewpoints stress that others (namely, those already legally here) should not have to pay for what was obviously an elective, willful choice of people to flout the law and cross the border illegally.  Here again is the disparate framing.

I think I'm going to keep a separate little journal along my side whenever I watch C-Span (showing US House of Representatives proceedings) or C-Span2 (showing the US Senate) during the next year.  It will be interesting to see the different angles of the debates going on regarding various issues that the two sides take...along with their justifying arguments...and see how many of them focus on "rights" vs "funding"...

ESPN Analysts Display Lack of Probability Knowledge

Yesterday, on ESPN's Sport Center, they were going on about how badly the Los Angeles Lakers are doing so far this year, going winless in their first five games.  One point they brought up was the upcoming schedule for them, with Kobe Bryant and company favored to lose each of their  next eight games.  There were actual percentage probabilities given for the Lakers to win each game, with the figures hovering around the 30th and 40th percentiles.  Then one of the announcers got to the point of all this, which is that they may well lose all eight games and start the season off at 0-13.  I beg to differ...

I didn't get all of the percentage predictions of each game (I wonder how they even arrived at them), but I think I'm being pretty conservative at saying they averaged about a 35% winning probability given for each game (it's probably higher).  That means that the losing probability for each game is .65: for the Lakers to lose all eight of their next games, you would need to take that probability to the eighth power:

(,65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)(.65)=.032 , or 3.2%

In other words, even though the Lakers may be heavy underdogs in each of the next eight games with only a 35% average chance of winning each one, the probability of them losing ALL eight games is only 3.2%!

This is a glaring example of how otherwise very intelligent and educated people can falter the minute they go any distance in interpreting statistical data or anything dealing with probability.  Will the Lakers actually lose their next eight games?  Maybe, but it's not very likely given the input data...

Just Finished Reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22

You know you've written something significant when a defining principle expressed within it becomes enshrined as an integral part of the culture.  That is what happened with Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch-22, which I understand was embraced by the anti-war counterculture movement of the late 1960s....not to mention becoming a standard high school/college English class reading assignment (groan) for millions.  The title words "Catch-22" refer to a situation in which, no matter what one does, the result will be unsatisfactory...and it is the process itself that always leads to the undesired ending.  It is a kind of "double-bind" that isn't necessarily personal in nature but often is embedded within official social institutions...like the Army of the author's World War II experiences.

During World War II, Heller served as a bomber pilot, based on a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy.  Likewise, his protagonist, John Yossarian, is such a pilot with many missions already under his belt.  He is ready to go home, being certain that if he keeps flying missions over the enemy then he will be shot down and killed.  And, for most of the Army pilots, he would already have had enough flights to qualify to go home.  But his own commander, Colonel Cathcart, is trying to become a general by "volunteering" his men to more and more flights, continually raising the flight limit.

Yossarian visits the base's physician and tells him that he (Yossarian) is insane and therefore to please confirm this fact so that he can be sent back home.  Dr. Daneeka responds by saying that, for anyone to be sent home, they must make the request for it...but the act of making such a request reveals that they are rational and not insane...and hence ineligible to be sent home.  Yossarian then points out to Dr. D one of his fellow pilots and asks him whether this individual is insane.  The good doctor responds by agreeing that he is crazy and eligible to go home...and he can request it.  But the moment he does so, then he is committing a rational act and therefore is sane and ineligible.  This is the book's main illustration of the principle of "Catch-22": an algorithm of interaction and logic that always leads to an unsatisfactory outcome, regardless what information is given initially.  Certainly I've seen this process repeated in many, many situations over the course of my life: it's not just an "Army" thing...

Catch-22 is loaded with these types of circular arguments among its many characters.  The ultimate effect is that everything is a farce, and it would be hilarious were it not for the fact that all were in the midst of a brutal war where people were being killed and injured.  This story ruthlessly satirizes the command structure of the military, but could be applied to just about any group in society that depends on a hierarchy of authorities.  It also exposes, with the character of mess hall officer Milo, who has become rich by developing an intricate trade system in the region (and even making enemy nations Germany and Italy "shareholders"), the two-faced nature of business...quite willing to work against the national interests if there is a profit to be made...and how they are continually given a "free pass" and not held accountable for their seemingly treasonous acts because they are engaged in the high and noble act of "free enterprise"...

I heartily recommend Catch-22 and, unlike an English teacher, won't be grading you on your reactions.  It isn't long at all, but it does contain very much concentrated, intense dialogue...intense in the sense that there is a lot of reasoning going on here...albeit often very faulty reasoning.  It is also very big on humor...my favorite character is the misunderstood Major Major Major Major (continually accused of looking too much like Henry Fonda), who pulls his own brand of  "Catch-22" on others by refusing to see anyone unless he is out...

Voted Today, We'll See How It All Turns Out

After getting off from work this morning at 7:30, I drove over to my local precinct and voted on this Election Day.  The voting room (unlike with recent low-turnout elections) had other voters besides myself, but there still weren't that many.  Maybe now, with the polls open until 7 PM, there are more people casting their ballots.  Anyway, I made my voting choices exactly the way I said I would a few days ago on this blog.  I'm sure that some of my candidates and issues will win and some will lose, but regardless how the results tally up, I feel satisfied that I performed my civic duty and participated in this representative democracy of ours.  After I got home, I was getting pretty sleepy, it being at the end of my "day" as it was, but I thought I might write a short blog article urging people to vote and post it on Facebook.  But when I got on Facebook, I could easily see that there were already several postings from others exhorting people to vote.  So I waited until now...but at this posting there's still time for you to vote if you're registered!

There is a lot of talk on TV about the close US Senate races (in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Kansas, and Georgia) being decided today, and how the Republicans might well be on their way to the first Senate majority they have had in eight years.  It should be interesting watching the cable news channels tonight as the results start coming in.  Unfortunately, regardless whether the Democrats or Republicans end up controlling the Senate, we'll probably still be stuck with their old leaders: Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell both need to step down and allow more persuasive and less antagonistic leaders to step up.  But I seriously doubt that they will, seeing how much each one craves power...

Reviewing Lev Grossman's Magician Series Before Starting Third Book

Many of the different series of books that I have read over recent years were already completely written by the time I began with them, making the process of covering them all relatively quick, with little time between books for me to forget characters or various aspects of the story line...Stephen Kind's Dark Tower series is an example for me.  Then again, there are other series for which the author is still writing new books every few years or so...George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is a case in point.  For these series, I have experienced the need to review the previous books before I begin on the next, newly published installment.  This also applies to the new (and presumably final) book in Lev Grossman's Magician series, the third book of which , titled The Magician's Land, has just come out and which I just got from Amazon on my Kindle.

I have just finished rereading the first book, titled The Magicians, and will start on book #2, The Magician King, tonight.  This is a great fantasy series with characters of depth and refreshingly rooted in our "real" world instead of the typical make-believe continents with the obscure, hard-to-read maps and "epic", convoluted history.  Not that Grossman hasn't inserted his own imaginary land into the story in Fillory (which he clearly and deliberately has fashioned after C.S. Lewis' Narnia), but the characters are based in our own world and time frame.

I'm glad I'm going through this review of the first two books in the series. Had I not, I know I would have been missing out on many details that will probably be referred back to in the new book...

Looking Ahead at Upcoming Half-Marathon Races

I'm looking ahead at the half-marathon calendar before me, specifically for the races available for the next few months here in northern Florida.  I see a few ahead that I might be interested in entering:

November 16 (Sunday): St. Augustine Half-Marathon
November 30 (Sunday): Space Coast Half-Marathon...in Cocoa
December 20 (Saturday evening): Starlight Half-Marathon...in Palm Coast

...and on New Years Day 2015, the annual John Walker Memorial Half-Marathon will take place here in Gainesville, on the Hawthorne Trail.

I think I did something like this preview on my blog last year, too, but didn't feel I was in good enough shape to run in a half-marathon at the time.  Now I feel differently, but I still have this sense of inertia about stepping forward, registering, and then getting out there and running them.  But I do have a good feeling about the November 16 and January 1 races...I'd love to run through St. Augustine!

Next January and February will feature the Ocala and FivePoints (Gainesville) Half-Marathons, respectively.  I'd like to run in both of these races.  Should I finish the winter half-marathon season down here in Florida will four more races to my "collection", that would be, at least for me, quite a feat.  So let's see how I do in the next few weeks...

Can't Figure Out This Game Called Football

Being an avid Southeastern Conference fan in college football, I was amazed three weeks ago how severely Georgia manhandled divisional rival Missouri 34-0.  After all, the Bulldogs were operating without the services of their star runner Todd Gurley, who has been (and still is) under suspension for alleged violations of NCAA rules concerning autographs.  If anything, the game was considered to be an evenly matched tossup, but the Tigers instead were humiliated.  So Missouri's next opponent, the Florida Gators, must have been thinking that they weren't all that tough after all...besides, this was a homecoming game for Florida, in that difficult stadium for visitors known as "The Swamp".  Instead, Missouri proceeded in turn to thoroughly humiliate the Gators, 42-13...a 29-point margin.  Ouch.  But who was Florida's next opponent?  Oh-no, it's Georgia, the team that, by 34 points, beat the team that beat Florida by 29...that sounds like they're 63 points ahead of the Gators.  This was going to be a blowout, right?

Well, that game finished early this evening, and it wasn't Georgia prevailing by nine touchdowns.  Or even one.  The final score? Florida 38, Georgia 20.

Go figure, if you can...

My October 2014 Running Report

In October, 2014, I ran a total of 310 miles, the most I have ever accomplished in a month.  I did it not by amassing great, long single runs, but rather by running several times during the course of the day...with my longest single run for the entire month coming in at just 6.3 miles.  But my longest "calendar day" running mileage was 26.7 miles, done over the span of October 4.  I ran on every day of the month.

By running more often instead of going on very long runs, I am endeavoring to achieve a balance between training for longer distance races while taking care of my body to avoid injury.  So far it's working, although I have yet to run in a race since my Five Points of Life Half-Marathon back in February, here in Gainesville.  I had been considering the recently held half-marathon in Apalachicola, Florida, but because they insisted on race packet pickup the day before...no exceptions...I passed up on it.  I could have made the drive over to the race and back, but I wasn't going to stay overnight at a hotel there, just because of their asinine policy...which was probably designed to make entrants stay overnight at one of their hotels!  In November, I'll have several opportunities to run in different races and will try to get in at least a couple...

Just Finished Reading Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path

Daniel Abraham is a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy stories who often collaborates with others...and likes to use pseudonyms.  Although his ongoing fantasy series The Dagger and the Coin is a solo project published under his own name, Abraham has nonetheless  been receiving much encouragement with it from his friend, George R.R. Martin, of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) fame.  And as I have earlier written in another article, Abraham's series bears a remarkable resemblance to Martin's.  For one, the characters all have within their personalities...even those being presented as "heroic" protagonists...a rather objectionable brutality.  Also, there is a conflict going on in the central kingdom (with a weak king and serious questions about succession) between the protagonists, who want to suppress the common people and maintain strict authoritarian rule under the nobility, and the antagonists, who have allied themselves with the farmers and other commoners to push for more reforms.  So as a reader I feel that the author is persuading me to take the "good guy" Dawson's side and oppose "bad guy" Issandrian...but I prefer the latter.  Another "hero", Geder, is also extremely brutal and selfish...but he likes to read books, so I guess I'm supposed to like him, too!

In The Dragon's Path, the character Dawson reminds me of Martin's Ned Stark, Geder reminds me a bit of his Tyrion, and there is a subplot across the continent that features the characters Cithrin and Marcus.  Cithrin is like a cross between Martin's Daenerys and Arya, and Marcus resembles Jorah Mormont in that both men are feeling a growing love toward a young woman they are protecting who has a sense of destiny (with Marcus it's Cithrin and with Lord Mormont it's Daenerys).  There is also an extensive historical past with dragons ruling in both series, as well as an aggressive, strange religion that carries sinister foreboding as it spreads.  In a departure from Martin, though, Abraham's human population is divided into several extremely distinct "races", some with scales, some with heavy fur, some with tusks, etc,. and an ongoing mystery as to why it is so divided...

The series name The Dagger and the Coin refers to the great dynamic conquering forces in this fantasy world (and our own, for that matter): war and finance...and seems to be engaged in the question of which of the two truly reigns supreme.  In spite of the relative lack of innovation in The Dragon's Path, I like Daniel Abraham's writing and appreciate how he presents his characters, who already are memorable to me.  I want to know what happens next after this book, and the author has obliged with three more installments in the series, with more to come...

Early Outbreak Convinces Me to Get Flu Shot

Yesterday I decided I had put it off long enough already and got my annual flu shot.  I usually don't get it until a little later in the year, but this year so far quite a few people have already come down with the flu...and my doctor has already told me that, due to a continuing medical condition, I need to get a shot each year.  That's no guarantee that I won't come down with it, though: the last time I caught the flu, a little more than ten years ago, I had gotten a flu shot but to no avail.  Still, the game here is to increase my odds...which also includes being careful to wash my hands often, especially before eating...and otherwise keeping my hands from my face.

You can choose to get all worried and excited about the Ebola virus and the latest news scoops about it. But while that's going on, the flu is quietly spreading through the population, debilitating many and even killing a few in the process.  It is much more of an immediate health threat than Ebola...and it's also something you can take effective action to help prevent for yourself and loved ones...

Just Finished Reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

I've just finished reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, published in 1878 and considered in literary circles to be among the very best novels ever written.  Its setting is primarily in Russia of that time period, specifically in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the countryside around them.  The main characters are of the noble class, still separated to a great degree from the peasantry and working class and with their own society and customs.  Naturally, the chief protagonist is the title character, a young woman named Anna Karenina, who is suffering through a marriage to a man much older than her, and for whom she feels no love.  Onto the scene strides young Count Vronsky, a free spirit with the habit of seeing women as potential conquests, and the two fall head over heels in love with each other...of course, placing her in a precarious situation with her marital infidelity.  But instead of continuing their affair confidentially, Anna decides to openly reveal everything to Karenin, her husband...which turns out to be a critical mistake.  For, it seems, extramarital affairs are quite commonplace among the Russian nobility...but the participants follow certain rules of discretion that serve to protect themselves with their marriages and social standing.  Because of Anna's outspokenness, though, she instead suffers public disgrace from her affair.  Vronsky wants to marry her, and eventually she also desires a divorce from her husband with the same aim...but by that time Karenin has changed his mind about granting her one.  What happens next? I leave that to you, good reader, to discover for yourself...

Although Anna Karenina is the "official" main character in this story, I feel rather that a rural land-owning nobleman named Constantin Levin truly fits that role.  I also believe that the author spoke his own philosophical beliefs and questions through this character.  I had earlier written on this blog that I could find no character in Anna Karenina with whom I could empathize.  Well, I did come to appreciate Levin, a character strongly reminiscent in his awkwardness regarding Russian noble society to Pierre, Tolstoy's protagonist in his earlier work War and Peace. Levin has his own love interest in young Kitty, who happens to be Anna's brother's niece (ultimately, it seems, everyone in nobility is related). One of the more humorous parts of the novel is when Levin, invited to participate in the government's nobility-run legislative assembly, finds himself completely baffled by the political process, stumbling through different proceedings without knowing what he is doing.

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy explores in depth the feelings of his characters and their inner motivations for what they say and do.  So this is a psychological novel of the first order.  But also covered is the Russian society contemporary to Tolstoy's writing...not only the inner social dynamics of the nobility, but also the sometimes changing, sometimes stagnant relationship between that nobility and the "lower" classes, complete with the misunderstandings and mistrust separating them.  And on still another, and very significant level, religion and God's role in people's lives are discussed through various characters...mainly from Levin himself at the story's end.

I don't know whether Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is the best novel ever written, but I did enjoy it and recommend it.  But as for my own preferences, I liked his War and Peace more...

The 2014 General Election As I See It

The 2014 general election is in full swing here in Alachua County, Florida, with early voting now available.  For me, I cast an early ballot in an election a few years ago but greatly prefer the election day ritual at my local precinct (which this year is on November 4).  Besides, it gives me a chance to check up on what's going on at my precinct site, which just so happens to be the community senior recreational center (which I'll be eligible to use in less than two years).  This year it's no high-glamour presidential election...just the governorship of Florida at stake, along with some state cabinet positions, a U.S. house race, a couple of county commission races, a county tax collector race, five district judge retention questions, three state constitutional amendments, an Alachua County referendum...and an Alachua County nonbinding straw ballot question.  For me, that's plenty to vote on, but I predict that less than half of the eligible voters will cast their ballots this election...while a portion of the non-voters will complain that the Republican Party is trying to suppress the vote with their reasonable (to me) demand for adequate identification at the polling place.

However, my political alignment tends to fall on the Democratic side, so if you are one of those politically hysterical types who automatically equate the Democratic Party with evil and tyranny, you're welcome to stop reading now...and placidly continue on with your own conception of reality.  But at this point I don't see any compelling reason to side with the Republicans in any of the races...especially in the contest for governor between incumbent Rick Scott and his immediate predecessor, Charlie Crist.  After mudslinging at Crist in ad after ad for being a corrupt and flip-flopping politician while blaming him for the international recession that happened after the banking crisis of late 2008, Scott then had the nerve to put on an ad implying that he was above such mudslinging and that only Crist was showing attack ads.  What hypocrisy.  But none of this is why I'm planning to vote for Crist...I just feel he is a decent man (albeit, granted, a somewhat slick politician) who accepts that he would be the governor of ALL the people in Florida, not just those with his own narrow ideological perspective (which I feel is the case with Scott).  That's not an endorsement from me, though, and others are encouraged to follow their own convictions (or hunches, if they aren't sure) about how they will vote.

In one of the county commission races, I was going to go for the Republican there, since on the surface he sounded as if he would make road repair a top priority.  But actually, John Martin would rather hold back on needed repairs because he opposes a proposed sales surtax specifically earmarked for those projects (also on the ballot) and instead insist on doing everything within the budget as it is.  While an admirable stand at first glance, it is an unrealistic one that is destined to further delay needed road work.

Regarding the state constitutional amendments...No.1 is for water and land conservation.  On the surface it seems like a good idea, and I'm going for it.  No.2 is to legalize medical marijuana use and production.  I think this amendment is rather phony in that those supporting it the most are viewing it as a transition to the general legalization of pot (a transitional path that Colorado followed).  And since I have my own suspicions about certain potential producers of the plant wanting to get an inside track on the industry when that general legalization does occur, I'm opposing this amendment on principle.  Amendment No.3 gives the governor power to appoint vacancies to the judiciary.  But unlike the advise and consent requirement for presidential appointments on the federal level of government, I see in this amendment no checks provided on whomever the governor may choose to appoint...so I'm voting "no" on this question, too.

As for the remaining two questions on the ballot, I'm going to "hold my nose" and vote for the proposed Alachua County surtax, because our roads are truly in a deplorable state here.  And the straw ballot question is just political posturing about whether one would support a U.S. Constitutional Amendment only recognizing individual human beings as "persons" and not group entities such as corporations or labor unions...and that spending money is not an expression of free speech protected under the First Amendment.  Implied in this argument is the notion that people are too stupid to filter through the myriad campaign ads that inundate them during the campaign season, many financed by corporate interests.  My answer is that if they are that stupid, then they deserve the stupid government they end up electing: let us carefully avoid restricting our own precious freedom of association and the expressions that arise from them...  

Need Close Games in This Year's World Series

Major League Baseball's World Series continues tonight with a change of location to San Francisco, with it knotted up 1-1 between the Giants and the Kansas City Royals. I wonder, though... if the games continue to develop like the first two...whether anyone outside the two metropolitan areas involved will be interested.  For 7-1 and 7-2 scores are not exactly the kinds of games that tend to rivet one's attention up to the very final out.  And here's the paradox: the various playoff series that have led to this 2014 edition of the World Series have pretty much been blowouts...if you just look at the tally of games won and lost.  But almost every game comprising those "blowouts" has been very close and decided by one or two runs, with many having to go into extra innings to decide.  So, say instead of the 7-1 and 7-2 scores for the first two World Series games we had 4-3 and 5-4 scores.  Even if the same team had won both games...even if that team had gone on to sweep the Series four games to none...it would have been much more entertaining viewing than what we've had so far.

I'm rooting for San Francisco in this Series, but it would disappoint me if they won the next three games with lopsided scores.  I like those tight, tense games that bring in all the teams' extras and relief pitchers into the equation and can dramatically turn on just one pitch.  Of course, if a team I care for more, like the Tampa Bay Rays or Miami Marlins, had been in it this year, I would have been very happy with them routing their opponent each and every game, damn the boredom...

Personal Running Records As I Age

When I resumed running in earnest in 2007 after a thirty-year layoff from the activity, I was fifty years old.  In the seven years between then and now there have been two opposing processes at work regarding "personal records", as they pertained to my best running times for particular distances.  Since my earlier running "records" back in the 1970s were mainly about shorter distances like the quarter mile, mile, and two-mile race, those personal marks still stand and haven't been approached in recent years.  But for the distances I have now embraced, such as 5K, 10K, 15K, half-marathon, and full marathon, I have been working on personal record times for them (especially for the longer distances).  And the first of the aforementioned processes, which is the positive effect of my training and increased fitness and endurance, has given me a good sense of progress with those records.  The main event I'm focused on now, which is the 13.1 mile half-marathon, has my personal record time at 1 hour, 50 minutes, 53 seconds...which I ran in early March, 2013 in a race in Tavares, Florida (a few miles north of Orlando) when I was 56.  Since then, due in large part to plantar fasciitis in my right foot (drastically alleviated through more adequate running shoes) and an adverse employment shift change that has upset my sleeping patterns, my general endurance and running fitness had a setback...but in recent months I have been making a comeback.  My endurance is increasing as well as my speed for the longer distances.  But it is now here, as I just turned 58 and am getting no younger, that the second process is starting to kick in: I am aging and, as this happens, new personal records will be harder and harder to come by until, finally...regardless how fit and trained I am for my age, my best times will be a thing of the past and they will gradually decline.  So while personal records are always a good thing to pursue, I need to be realistic and run for other reasons...

Racist Taunts Cause Soccer Stadium Ban in Moscow

Yesterday I was watching a UEFA Champions League soccer game between Manchester City (of England) and Russia's CSKA Moscow team, with it taking place at the latter's stadium.  The game was exciting, although disappointing (Manchester City, after building an early lead, slipped and ended up with a 2-2 draw).  However, the most remarkable thing I observed wasn't the game itself,  but the desolate, empty stadium surrounding it.  It seems that CSKA Moscow has been placed on a three-game stadium ban because of its fans' racist jeers against opposing teams' players.  And this isn't the only Russian soccer club with a problem in this area: two others have recently undergone censure for racist taunting by their fans at players whose great crime in life apparently is that they don't look like them.  I think this is sad...and a bit hypocritical,  For I remember growing up in the Cold War days when the Soviet Union, which was predominantly Russian, would endlessly propagandize against racism in America and how they, themselves, embraced  and welcomed different people from different races and cultures.  What a lot of bunk.  They're just like everyone else in the world...not better, not worse.  Racism is a problem that permeates all societies...and the ones that act as if they don't have a problem with it are probably the ones with the biggest problem...

Attended First University of Florida Football Game in 37 Years

Back in November, 1977, I was looking forward as an on-campus University of Florida student to a quiet Saturday roaming the campus and mulling over a few thoughts I had been considering.  But the day before this Saturday, which happened to feature the Gators football team homecoming game against Utah State, my mother phoned me telling me that the family of a relative she had known in childhood were inviting me to the game with them.  Not wanting to seem ungrateful (to her) or unsociable (to them), I accepted the offer and sat there suffering through what in retrospect was actually a pretty exciting game.  Florida, which had been heavily favored to run up the score over their opponent, had to come from behind in the second half to win a thrilling homecoming contest.  Those were the days...

As this year's UF homecoming game against the Missouri Tigers (a much more viable opponent) approached, Melissa told me that a friend of hers and her husband, who had tickets to a section of the stadium called Touchdown Terrace, weren't going and would we like to go in their place.  Sure, I said, and after decades I found myself back in the old football stadium...only now we were overlooking the northern end-zone...back in 1977, we'd be floating in air, with only the east and west sides existing back then.  We enjoyed the amenities, including a pleasant buffet dinner, and sat down to watch the game unfold.  I predicted it would be a close contest...was I ever wrong!

Missouri took the opening kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown, giving them a lead they would never relinquish 11 seconds into the game.  Then followed a succession of Florida errors...three interceptions, three fumbles lost, a punt returned by Missouri for a touchdown.  With 5 minutes to go just in the third quarter, the Tigers had built up an insurmountable 42-0 lead.  Florida was able to mount two concluding drives to bring the final score a little closer at 42-13.   It was a pretty humiliating defeat, yet on paper it looked as if (if you disregard the turnovers) Florida easily outplayed Missouri, doubling them up in total yardage and first downs, and with a greater time of possession, third down efficiency...and fewer penalties.

The problem with Florida's performance was that Muschamp attached too much loyalty to Jeff Driskel as the regular starting quarterback and, despite his obvious difficulties in passing accuracy and managing the offense, kept putting him back in there.  I remember a different Gator coach, Steve Spurrier, who was fortunate to have one year, in Terry Dean, the top-ranking passer in the Southeastern Conference.  But because Dean wasn't performing to Spurrier's high standards, he sacked him in mid-season in favor of Danny Wuerffel...who later went to on win the Heisman Trophy and lead his team to the 1996 national championship.  What a difference between Spurrier and the present coach!  After yet another dismal performance by Driskel, I even wonder whether Muschamp will STILL stick with him when they face Georgia in a couple of weeks. Florida's only two scores were both engineered with backup quarterback Treon Harris managing the offense, and he showed confidence and poise.  But regardless who was in there, it was plain to me that Florida's offensive line had a meltdown Saturday night, creating many quarterback sacks, fumbles, and "hurry-ups" (for both Driskel and Harris).  And, dang it, when one of Driskel's passes did hit its target, the receiver was as likely as not to let it slip right through his hands.  Another problem area with the Gators was their slipshod kick and punt return coverage.  But the defense had a pretty good day, considering everything else.  Maybe this game was Muschamp's swan song as head coach, maybe not...but I don't think very many people around here in Gainesville have much confidence in him any more...

In spite of what was happening on the field, though, Melissa and I enjoyed our experience at the stadium...although I wish I had brought a pair of earplugs to mitigate the extreme loudness of the place.  The band, cheerleaders, announcers... you name it, were all great, and they stuck in there with the same spirit even long after the game was a lost cause.  And the fans were pretty revved up as well, almost all standing up in the bleacher sections for almost the entire game and participating in the noisemaking and the "Gator chomp".  Yes, we had a great time.  Hope they resolve this coaching and quarterback mess somehow, but I'm not losing any sleep over it...

San Francisco Will Play Kansas City in 2014 World Series

The 2014 Major League Baseball World Series has been set, and the pairing is unexpected: Kansas City vs. San Francisco, both wild card teams.  However, this isn't the first such matchup: in 2002, Anaheim and San Francisco, both also wild card entries that year,  played their exciting seven-game World Series, with the Angels winning it.  But this year is the first that both wild card teams had to get by that tense (and silly) one-game playoff just to get to the regular divisional playoff series.  And that's quite a feat for even one team!

I have to admit to a little disappointment that Baltimore couldn't at least get a couple of wins in their 4-0 sweep by the Royals for the American League pennant, but am very happy with the National League outcome: I've come to enjoy following the Giants, and beating the pesky St. Louis Cardinals in the process (four games to one) for the pennant was just icing on the cake!  In spite of the lopsided series win-loss totals, though, the games themselves have each been close, exciting contests that have often gone to extra innings to decide.  These types of games really display the value of the team as a whole, with its substitutes and relief pitcher lineup playing significant roles in the late innings (as well as managerial decisions regarding them)...if they hadn't come through as they did for KC and SF, they wouldn't have gotten this far.

So now it's the World Series, and I have my clear favorite: San Francisco.  If the Royals want to win two or three games in the process, I won't begrudge them that concession, though. The first game is slated for this coming Tuesday evening, to be played in Kansas City...