Remember the Alamo: The Endgame in Chess and Life

The Endgame in Chess and Life:

Placing a big priority on learning Chess endgames positions is futile if the player makes too many mistakes before the endgame even arrives. Most major mistakes made in a typical chess match likely come a long time before the endgame, and are far costlier than being able to execute a KRP vs. KR endgame appropriately. Said another way, short-term tactics employed prevent the long-term strategic theory of endgames, which comes in handy when there are only a few pieces left on the board. Or shortly, you dig your own grave long before you are killed.

A current “international chess champion” believes that:

“This (Endgame) is one of the most important phases in chess, because while it’s possible to make a comeback from mistakes made in the openings and middle game, it’s almost impossible to make a comeback from mistakes made in the endgame – as they are usually the last mistake made in the game. It’s also an area where one can score a lot of points, as it’s usually one of the phases less studied by opponents.” (end quote)

It makes sense. Victory hangs in the balance.

So what happens when you are in a position where every move you could make causes you to lose the game (or at least significantly worsen the position).The German word for this predicament is called “Zugzwang”. Is this the way Custer felt at Little Big Horn, or the band playing on the Titanic deck? Like what’s called a “Hobson’s Choice” (which is not a choice at all, b/c the “choice” is taking what is available or nothing at all), or being struck between a rock, and a hard place? As pressure dissolves all good strategies, tactics end up dominating the game execution. I think back poignantly to the mind-numbing, paralyzing horror of the patriots stuck during the Siege of the Alamo. Full disclosure, I'm a native Texan so forgive me for starting from the Texas perspective:

• Bowie and Travis led about 200 “Texicans” in the defense of the Alamo for 13 days but eventually the invading Mexican army overwhelmed them. This happened near San Antonio TX. All good 7th grade Texans learn this in public school history. But what was it like to be there, and know the odds of defense against an insurmountable force? Did “strategy” ever enter the frantic war-room discussions or was this a suicide mission? Did the enemy “surrounded” the Fort before they knew it? At what chilling moment in this Endgame did their fate become frighteningly clear?

• On March 5, 1836, after fierce fighting, Mexican artillery stopped shelling the fort. Their defensive positions weakened so, President General Antonio López de Santa Anna planned an all-out ground attack on the garrison just before dawn on March 6, 1836. Mexican soldiers would go over the walls in waves, risking hand-to-hand combat to fully and finally kill the rebellion called the Alamo.

The Queen is lost, painted warriors appear on the ridge, bullets fly, the band plays on…

Realizing the end is near, how feeble, exposed, and out-of-control one must feel? Dread rises as a fever, slowly strangling life out of the victim. A knotted gut, sweating brow, but most of all an overriding “confusion” seeps under the door like drifting fog. How is this actually happening? Looking at the Chess board, gulping, blinking, realizing there aren’t many moves left, you have found yourself in the astonishing “Endgame”. Keep up the fight, but don’t lie to yourself looking out over the precipice at a “Check-mate” on the board; it will not go away without one. more. move. ##

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Award winning, Best selling Author, and one of my Heroes

Meeting a Legend Before He Leaves Us:

Author David McCullough has written on Presidents and history for 45 years; winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He received the Pulitzer Price twice and also the National Book Award. It was an honor this week to finally meet him and shake his hand. His wife of 60 years, Rosalee was delightful; she exhorted us to never stop reading out loud to our children.

His new book about the Wright Brothers comes out on May 5, 2015; a result of digging deeper into the story of these remarkable men and finding much that he did not expect: www.davidmccullough.com

In his book about Paris in the 1800s he chronicles the vast influence of the returning Americans who grew, learned, and flourished in Paris. It's unique to consider the massive early French influence on the initial formation of the USA.

He imports the cause/effect, action/reaction, give/take of human nature that is studied in the field of History. He believes Truman, John Adams, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt are the greatest presidents, but that all the "great" presidents were readers of history.

One of the best interviews I have ever watched was conducted on the Charlie Rose Show where David McCullough spent 52 min. recounting his great life in the study of history. McCullough told us in person, he loves Charlie Rose and was delighted at how well that interview turned out!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/249382

He stresses how important reading, writing, and the liberal arts are to education, which [at 42:20] he claims it is the basis of who we are as a nation [centering the discussion on Education at 43:30].

He states [at 12:34] the essential nature of the study of history to any position of leadership, and that a liberal arts education is the under-pinning of any further profession because of the depth it adds to the student in later years [11:48]. (Oh, how I agree!)

Mr. McCullough reminds listeners that the "Arab Spring" and other democratic uprisings show that the peoples of the world want what we take for granted here: the opportunity to live under a Bill of Rights, individual freedoms guaranteed by laws, and not men, and the ability to learn and develop our own strengths. "This is the country's great strength," he says. He adds that much of this civic development is provided by teachers, especially teachers of history (his son is a teacher).

 

He carried himself with dignity, grace, charm, and a sense of purpose. His work stands by itself but as a person, I found him sharp, engaging, and funny; although it doesn't appear this way in the picture above snapped of us at the meeting. In every way he was a humble human being who you'd love to have as a professor.

(Quote) "I think it's important to remember that these men are not perfect. If they were marble gods, what they did wouldn't be so admirable. The more we see the founders as humans the more we can understand them." by David McCullough

Blog post ©Mark H. Pillsbury

 

Up and Down the Radio Dial

My car’s SiriusXM® satellite radio musically illuminates my long commute to work and back home. 

Every day I’m amazed at its wide variety of music stations; I'm carried like a time-machine to realistic memories which make up the tapestry of my life through the decades. The main lanes are: #70sOn7, #80sOn8, #90sOn9, #OutlawCountry, and #DeepTracks.

Magical alchemy takes place mostly in my sub-conscious; but today it was so startling that I had to write about it. The particular song, and the back-story in memory are too long to tell; but even in the age of the iPod® digital device, a simple car radio still provides emotional feedback on timeless wavelengths, bearing a gift beyond price, almost free:

“All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted;
Not so coldly charted. It’s really just a question of your honesty?”    Lyrics by Lee ©UMPG

I’m allowed the privilege of  sliding up and down the radio dial; virtually placing the needle down on an imaginary spinning vinyl record of a prior age. In the first few seconds of listening, even hearing a few bars or words of the song; narrative prescience of memory recalls exactly where, when, and with whom I associate this tune.

Songwriters have very little time to move toward their chosen endings, structuring parts of the music to match the lyrics. In reality, this confinement means that every song is over before it begins. Wouldn't it be nice if our life stories had the kind of “up” ending that writers hope to bring to their songs? Often the story just doesn't allow the kind of ending we’d secretly hope for.

It is Aristotelian to describe a story (or a life) like this: “A beginning requires nothing to precede it, and an end is what requires nothing to follow it; however the middle requires something both before and after it.”

One of our strongest human desires is that Aristotle’s equation is not true; we want our “middle” to count for something and we know the significance of what came before us and what succeeds. Our lives play like the radio dial I mentioned before: our beginning comes from the histories, biases, character, education and family circumstances.

The big middle, the life we lead, is made of years of lined-up in particular points, like grooves on a record. Set us down in any one of those grooves and the rest of the story plays like music. No specific song is better or worse than any other one; in fact, maybe these musical notes compose all the riffs of one song: our life.

What follows the end? That’s another topic for another post.

“Sing me back home with a song I used to hear,
Make my old memories come alive.
Take me away and turn back the years,
Sing Me Back Home before I die.”
©Merle Haggard

©Mark H. Pillsbury (2015)

Coming back to Earth (Installment #4)

Thoughts on my 

High School Reunion

After 30 years I realized that these are my people,

Diverse and transformed but still very mindful.

Cutting through the fray, bringing the truth into view,

Walking through the years was humbling and new.

With knowledge and understanding, classmates poured out their hearts;

Where do you live, howzur family, where do I start!?

So many present, too many missing;

We did a whole lot of hugging and even some kissing.

Happy smiles, warm hugs, I can’t believe we’re pushing 50.

Girls from Dallas were fabulous, and the boys looked nifty.

You’d think after three days, we’d run out of bull,

But knowing that time was short was a subconscious pull.

Which night was most special, whom did you meet?

I came home with a throbbing head and raspy voice, but I was tapping my feet!

After such long separation, what did you see?

Did you hear what I said, did you listen to me?

History shared, good or bad, up or down;

Some brought spouses, some came from faraway towns.

Will you meet me in Dallas, not in just 5 years, but ten?

For a few this was it; we’ll never see you again.

Loud music, cheap beer, laughter and yelling,

If there’s a better plan for ’23, the officers aren't telling.

I’m glad there were no good-byes, we went quietly into the night, the DCC shut us down and closed all the doors very tight.

There wasn’t enough time to tell every story,

Try as we did, we couldn’t rehash all the glory,

Some of us were bigger, some of us were grayer,

Most had some bruises when you peeled back a layer.

Joy, freedom, relief, forgiveness, grace, humility, concern.

I met this with every friend to whom I would turn.

New faces, old lines, new stories, old truths,

Where did the time go? Squandered on youth?

I saw football stars cry, there were heathens squeaky clean;

Some of the nicest ladies I met, as coeds were quite mean.

Schadenfreude gave way to grace,

Humility overcame pride,

This reunion was lived from the inside.

All of us are damaged, everyone by now is broken;

These deep truths resonated in every word that was spoken.

As a large tree spreads its branches, so has the Class of 1983: crooked bends and gnarled bark showing the perennial effects of its growth.

However, the comfort & grace provided by its majestic canopy gives all who see it confidence and peaceful shade from the brutal environment.

I am so thankful for the blessing of returning to Dallas, and coming together again for my 30^th reunion. It surpassed all my expectations, which started pretty big, as you read on August 5^{th  (previous post).}

We have a wonderful group of friends and a solid base to which we will return, Lord willing, in 10 years. Thank you for an enduring set of memories, especially Saturday night when Jason spoke. I’m sure often I will pause to remember, until the images fade. 

By then, in another decade; more poets, sages, elders, and saints will arrive with more stories to tell; and I fully expect the relief and gratitude then, will exceed even this memorable event. Words really cannot express that loving spark between two old friends, who look deeply into each other’s eyes and relish the moment of remembrance and celebration of the present. 

We've come to an understanding that aging is a journey with many unplanned stops; and that we are so appreciative to have made it this far. Walls came down and the Spirit entered over the rubble. Loving camaraderie transcended gender, age, body shape, socio-economic status, geography, even history; as time’s leveling effect set us on a course of winsome reunion. 

Soaring on the updraft of good times, I glided home on the long migration south to Houston, landing firmly in reality on Monday morning. No voice, bronchitis, too much unfinished work. 

But we saw a glimpse of heaven and I will never forget it.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Movie Review: LINCOLN

DreamWorks film "Lincoln" (2012)

(Houston, Texas)  Movies allow us time travel, expanding our horizons, opening us sometimes to depths of emotion we did not realize we carried. History’s power as storyteller derives from actual events; yet knowing the end of the story, the dramatic depiction still holds our attention. It happened to me watching the new movie “Lincoln.” I wasn't impatient for the end of the movie, and hardly noticed its extreme length. I rarely recommend the time and money this film requires of its viewers, but I do today.

The adept telling of history strengthens the foundation of our Republic, grounding it ever stronger in the truth; allowing viewers to probe their ordinary world with the tools of experience. Director Steven Spielberg accomplishes the impossible task of telling Lincoln’s story with aplomb, placing special emphasis on the passing of the 13^th Amendment by Congress in 1865. This central narrative showed how the abolition of slavery effected the drive toward peace in the Civil War.

Euclid’s simple scientific truth profoundly affected Lincoln’s thinking about human equality. Elemental to the geometry of Euclid was this statement, “things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other.” Abraham Lincoln likened this principle as truth that could be applied to the fight against slavery: he saw the “same thing” as God; therefore, as equals created in God’s image, African slaves were equal to white Americans, however difficult the consequence of this truth. This is the only scene I will discuss, and even though it is short, its power is immense: Lincoln steadfastly believed equality under law was worth defending, even through the shedding of blood.  

The acting ensemble, including dozens of politicians, generals, and White House personnel, gave the appearance of reality while not taking the spotlight from the main character. Spielberg’s use of light in profile shots formed a corona from the differentiated rays of the sun blasting around Lincoln’s body in many scenes. This bright aura reflects his uncommon magnanimity; another way of visually showing the saintly reverence Lincoln deserves. Most of what we've learned about history is wrong, but this movie gives a fair account. The South is not demonized, the Congress is shown for what it is (a hyper-lobbied mess), Lincoln struggled with a difficult family life as the war raged, and the force of personality often superseded his political and intellectual talent.

The pantheon of Spielberg classics receives another member into its prestigious Hall of Fame. This movie is a national treasure and should not be missed. (150 minutes, DreamWorks)

©Mark H. Pillsbury

8 Weeks to Decide

Today's thoughts on eight (8) weeks to decision 2012:

©Bob Simpson/Chicago

With almost 20,000 homeless children in New York City, which is the highest number since the great depression, and 400,000 school kids cut loose in Chicago today b/c their teachers will not teach, I am deeply concerned about these examples of “at-risk” young people in America.

With per capita-GDP (per worker/gross domestic product) still 1.9% below 2007 levels enjoyed before the recession, and 8 million people out of work but not counted as unemployed, because they stopped looking for work, my concern for our country grows today. People are getting by with less or nothing.

With a new record national debt reaching $16 Trillion last Friday and over 30% of our IOUs held by the Social Security Trust Fund (literally borrowing against our future), it is no wonder the approval rating for our government is only at 30% favorable. Government spending has reached epic proportions, outstripping the revenues it collects and forcing higher deficits. This civic course is unsustainable.

photo by Luis Robayo ©AFP/GettyImages

With military deaths from suicide outweighing combat deaths by a two-to-one ratio this year, and two consecutive years of Pentagon budget cuts over $525 Billion, I am deeply concerned about the quality of life for our most dedicated public servants in uniform.

With the 2012 drought estimated to cost close to $80 Billion in related losses, second only to the 1988 drought, and next to Hurricane Katrina, and USDA rating 50% of the 2012 corn crop "poor" or "very poor;" there are thousands of food producers and farmers with dry ground and crumbling budgets this year. The long-term effects may rival the Dust Bowl era, and we consumers will be hit also.

I don’t know whether these separate problem-sets inter-lock, but there are large sectors of the population that are hurting today like no other time in American history, and as a patriotic citizen I hurt with them in a real way. I too am looking for a better opportunity.

Although I recognize that our history includes many dark chapters and times of uncertainty, today I find no comfort in the past. Today, I feel pain, and I am fearful that many forces of evil are intermeshed within these intractable problems. Sometimes I cannot sleep for worrying.

In my huge city, traffic snarls, crime surges, and the economic recovery is slower than expected. Due to economic pressures, too many families missed a vacation this summer, and there hasn’t been a pay raise in years. The question of “quality of life” weighs heavy on my heart this morning.

Our receptivity to change at this crossroads time in American history has to be significant, and the national election is just eight (8) weeks away. This is a decision-point. Nevertheless, the divide between candidates, worldviews, and political persuasions seems like a massive chasm. The election will swing on those who are currently “undecided,” independent, or never have voted before. These groups seem invisible at this point, but they will decide which direction the country turns.

New Hampshire by ©KALIM SALIBA

Each candidate will try to reach 270 electoral votes on Nov. 6 and the decision comes down to trust, confidence, and one’s outlook on the future. Doesn’t the voting decision relate to the value the administration has added or detracted over this past four (4) year term, the confidence that the leadership and plans exhibited are acceptable this time, and/or whether or not the voter feels like they are confident that they will be better off with one of the candidates as chief executive going forward?

Additionally, both parties have full slates of leaders farther down the ballot up for election in both state and federal legislatures, an important component to governance. Which President would work best with those groups? It is momentous to think about, and there isn't much more time.

I realize there are dozens of issues not mentioned here that resonate with numerous different voting blocs, especially those in the “social” category, like healthcare, abortion, or gay-marriage, but I do not have the space or time to argue those. The point is that I am very concerned with the quality-of-life in our country, and one of the big turning points in our civic life which might affect these problems, is right over the next hill. This is a time of deep contemplation and prayer for the future of our beloved nation, and I hope you share this perspective in your own way and I would invite you to comment herein below.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Dinesh D'Souza - CPAC 2012 speech - It launched a Movie: 2016

Dinesh D'Souza - CPAC 2012 speech - YouTube: "http://youtu.be/Z6QOscKvUjU"

'via Blog this'

This Speech has been made into a Movie, by Dinesh D'Souza (YouTube video above)

Why wouldn’t this country’s media dig deeply into a relatively unknown candidate? Why did the pleasure of overcoming an historical barrier override the typical journalistic effort applied to a major candidate?

Did they review carefully the life of Barack Obama as they did candidates like George W. Bush or John Kerry?

Who were the most influential people in the life of Barack Obama, considering he never knew his father? So many facts about Barack Obama are left unexplained.

How does Obama’s history of leftist, radical, socialist/anti-colonial politics match with the accommodating image of a moderate, post-partisan candidate portrayed in the 2008 campaign? What happens after Obama does not have to campaign anymore? The movie suggests what the country will look like in 2016.

Why did Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, and so many of Obama's mentors get pushed aside during the campaign? If the American people knew who Obama was they would see he is not an ordinary Democrat. He's not just a Chicago-style influence peddler/community organizer, he has a global vision unlike any other president in our history.

Frank Marshall Davis

I came to these conclusions about the next term of an Obama presidency:

1. What can relieve some of the pressure on the government to bring in more revenue? More taxes. The CBO estimates the new tax burden will be 3% of GDP.
2. Has the power and prestige of US foreign policy increased or decreased during this presidency? It has been a twisted and confusing foreign policy and ultimately islamic power in the middle east has risen and our standing and the standing of Israel has decreased. (Iran, Libya, Syria, Egypt... do they seem consistent?)
3. The movie sets forth a dichotomy between two worldviews that anyone watching the movie has to decide between?  Oil drilling, NASA, radical Islam issues: Libya versus Syria, Iran versus Egypt, bigger government, healthcare, re-aligning American foreign policy away from Israel, there are so many parts of the Obama story that puzzle me.
4. Even if one supports Obama, but has not read his books, it is worth to see how the scholar and political writer Dinesh D'Souza peels back Obama's own words in the books that many of us did not actually read?! Even if you think you know a lot about the president, there is stuff in here which is surprising, and it comes right out of Obama's mouth.
5. Much of the movie is taken with drilling into the words of Obama's story as previously written, and interdicting the his story with more factual research. This is the kind of work that America's media aristocracy chose not to do. For some reason he just got a pass. Maybe that will not continue in a second Obama term.

I learned many things from this work and highly recommend that anyone interested in politics, history, presidential power, or current events, take time to go see this movie as it tries to interpret what Obama will do with a second term. It opens all over the country on July 27, 2012.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Fireworks in Houston, night of Celebration

Fireworks in Houston - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

John Adams wrote that the second day of July 1776, "will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. 


It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." (The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, p. 142).

He knew! John Adams knew that over 200 years later, on a hot, sticky night like tonight in Houston, Texas, USA, we would get together and make fun, illumination, celebration, and joy in the freedom wrought that day in 1776. Tonight I am so thankful for family and friends with whom we celebrated: good food in a feast, cold beverages, cut grass upon which to sit, and famous fireworks borne out of a free club at which we gathered. Now I can say after re-convening in a house with a mighty air-conditioner and a shower that I have been transported with enthusiasm, and ready to sleep with the peace bought for me with the blood of patriots. I am not worthy to enjoy such blessings, but by providence I will accept them and sleep soundly in God's greatest country on the green, fragile home we call Earth. President Adams, it was celebrated tonight in Houston and all over this republic, it was a festival for which you would have been proud, as it was commemorated as you decreed, may God save these united states once again in this hour of peril. Amen.

Poll Shows Popularity Of Pro Football Continues Growing While Baseball Slides - SportsBusiness Daily | SportsBusiness Journal

Poll Shows Popularity Of Pro Football Continues Growing While Baseball Slides - SportsBusiness Daily | SportsBusiness Journal:

'via Blog this'

Much has been written about baseball, the national pastime, although it almost defies description. Resembling chess with finely shaded details and subtle strategies; it is as common as many things in our history, each player standing around in familiar positions. Its languid pace, long season, saturation of coverage through the large network of minor leagues, huge field of play, and history dating back to the late 1800s make it a unique part of American culture.

Some like baseball for its cleanliness, the stark white home uniforms and exact chalk baselines. It is a game in which numbers tell a story: baseball fans recall vital statistics better than football fans. Author George F. Will believes overall its fans are smarter than their gridiron counterparts. Nevertheless, as Sports Business Daily reported (see link above) Jan. 26, 2011, Harris-interactive poll shows those adults surveyed favored professional football over baseball by a wide margin. As an example, television ratings for any big NFL game amount to a 20 share compared to a 10 share for baseball. Football involves careful pacing, repetition, and the short attention span of the male observer; men huddle, agree to a plan, line up, hit each other, run around like crazy, call time, rest, regroup, and then try again. Over and over this goes up and down like the returns on a stock. It is violent, yet stylized warfare, where combatants can get a bonus for damaging another man's body. Baseball is intricate, comfortable, and convivial, like a picnic game only with occasional crowd noise.

Like our country’s history, baseball’s place in my own story is significant. I played the game every year from grade school on, although not well; attending games through high school, college, and law school. I’ve been to Wrigley, Fenway, Comiskey, and Yankee Stadium; Fulton County for a World Series and Omaha for a College World Series. My first summer of college, UT won the NCAA national championship, and at the old Arlington Stadium I saw Nolan Ryan’s seventh no-hitter. It weaves in and out of my life like a tapestry, its timelessness sealed within memories. I courted my wife at the Ballpark and watched the strangest World Series (game 6) ever last October with my parents. Many of baseball’s great moments are “mano-a-mano” showdowns similar to a duel in the streets, lived out in slow motion; one punch at a time. It seems more like art than sport, a reflection of culture, as well as an integral part of it.

Maybe because of its history, baseball is a frequent canvass on which is depicted modern culture: George Will’s Men at Work, Movie: The Natural, Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, John Feinstein’s Play Ball, Movie: A League of Their Own, Roger Kahn’s The Boys of Summer, Movies: Moneyball, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, the road trip saga by David Lamb, called A Stolen Season, Don DeLillo’s Underworld about the shot heard round the world, or Chad Harbach's debut novel, The Art of Fielding, is as much about literary fiction as it is about baseball. These few examples come to mind, but it is a sport which for decades has been discussed voluminously in all kinds of media. Authors love to write about this sport.

During the 2009 season, despite the nation’s worst economic downturn in 80 years, 30 Major League Baseball clubs drew 73,418,479 fans during the season, producing the fifth largest total attendance in MLB history. New stadiums, often financed by public funds, have been built in place of almost all the monolithic old concrete wonders of the 1970s. Youth leagues produce local product woven into the fabric of small-town America, culminating each year with the Little League World Series, a spectacle not unlike the World Cup in its international coverage. Baseball is still popular even though the research shows that football is the preferred national sport in the new century.

Popularity over Preference

Football is more technological, with slow-motion TV replay an integral part of officiating. It is like the modern mechanized corporate world in which we live, often called the ultimate team sport. When cultures change so do their games; baseball harkens back to more serene, agricultural economy which works with no deadlines, only outcomes. Until you get 27 outs the game is uncertain. Football has a time clock, used almost like a factory laborer punches out, ending the work day.

Quoting George Carlin, “football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.” Carlin concludes, “Baseball’s object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!”

Demographics is Destiny

Another relevant question is whether baseball has been eclipsed by other sports within the growing minority cultures of African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans?

In traditional Hispanic markets the World Cup draws much higher interest than baseball and in poor African-American high schools, the chances of earning college scholarships are much better in football than baseball. "A Division 1 football program can give out 85 scholarships, and baseball teams only 11.7," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, and EVP of MLB. "If you're an African American kid and you need help to go to school, do the math."

A regular fan of the sporting life enjoys many different games, the balls and rules representing all the facets of the athletic pop-culture. Baseball will have to live with a smaller market share and aging fan base, as it plays with a smaller ball; like the paradigm shift brought on my Billy Beane in Moneyball, focusing on base-runners getting across home plate. Baseball continues to drive fans to big stadiums, reaching mostly the 40+ age group with family friendly daytime experiences in beautiful pastoral settings. Conversely, live professional football and basketball venues resemble a gentlemen’s club, or worse a strip joint. Super Bowl halftime shows don't fit within the confines of the modern ballpark.

Baseball is still an innocent game, despite the recent PED scandals, and congressional hearings. Since the Black Sox threw the World Series in 1919, scandal revisits periodically and baseball proves resilient. Symmetrical stitches endlessly wrap around the baseball, just as hope renews with training camp every year in warm destinations as the first bright days of spring burst into blue skies. The season ends in the cold chill of approaching winter. Cyclical like the laces of the ball itself, there is never a greater hope for fans as there is in spring training, the whole season in the future. As fans do every year in the dry Arizona heat, or looking at prospects in the Florida sun, let us join in the wonder: could this be their season?

©Mark H. Pillsbury
(composed 03/07/2012, pictures for personal use and historical reference)

Listen to this sermon at www.christtheking.com (Aug. 7, 2011)

Christ The King Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas
Click on the hyperlink above to the front page of CTK website: you can listen to the most recent sermon:

Rev. Eric Priest's sermon on Psalm 10 this Sunday August 7, 2011 talks about the idea that we tend to judge life by success: the point of life is to get ahead and then stay ahead! Eric discusses Psalm 10 in light of 3 types of atheism, which was a fascinating way to see modern worldviews. It made me think of a couple of things I read recently:

“In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things, the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity. The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not the ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done… with a frankness and offhandedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means… The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success as a standard.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ethics (published 1955)

“In direct contradiction to the American Dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face-to-face with their need for Him. In the process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could never have mustered up or imagined. And in the end, He makes much of his own name.” David Platt's Radical (Random House 2010). (thoughts on 2 Cor. 12: 9-10)

How do you feel about your weakness, and what is your Achilles heel? On his blog, Rick Warren recently talked about what Adam and Eve did to hide from God and said additionally, "what is your fig leaf?"

Charlie Rose - An hour with David McCullough

Charlie Rose - An hour with David McCullough

Author David McCullough spent a career writing on Presidents and history for 45 years, winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom (see image above), the nation's highest civilian honor.

In his new book about Paris in the 1830-1900 he chronicles the vast influence of the returning Americans who grew, learned, and flourished in Paris. The unique, massive, early French influence on the young USA, such as support during our revolutionary war, cities, monuments (SOL), land (LA purchase), nomenclature, as well as society, arts, sciences, writing, etc. all have great French influence, he notes.

McCullough and CR discuss the cause/effect, action/reaction, give/take of human nature that is studied in the field of History. He stated Truman, John Adams, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt are the greatest presidents, but that all the "great" presidents were readers of history.

He states at 12:34 the essential nature of the study of history to any position of leadership, and that a liberal arts education is the under-pinning of any further profession because of the depth it adds to the student in later years (11:48)

Later in the program he again stresses how important reading, writing, and the liberal arts are to education, which at 42:20 he claims is the basis of who we are as a nation (centering the discussion on Education at 43:30). This is an inspiration for any educator!

Mr. McCullough reminds listeners that the "Arab Spring" and other democratic uprisings in recent months show that the peoples of the world want what we take for granted here: the opportunity to live under a Bill of Rights, individual freedoms guaranteed by laws, and not men, and the ability to learn and develop our own strengths. This is the country's great exceptional trait. He adds that much of this is provided by Teachers' noble work (his son is a teacher 49:28).

Remarkable is the story of one of his life's inspirations: John Hubbard, a California history teacher who taught David to remember what happened, to whom and why, not so much dates and facts as was taught traditionally in high school. This was a breath of educational fresh air to McCullough's young mind. (see 48:17)

One of the best interviews I have ever watched; conducted by Charlie Rose Show on June 9, 2011. David McCullough spent 52 min. recounting his great life in the study of history, he is a dear jewel of our country worthy of great respect.

tiny url for interview:
http://tiny.cc/oqeyw