The SoapBoxers

It’s September already, and baseball season is winding down (unless you’re a fan of the Cubs, in which case the season has been over for a long time).

This is always a bittersweet time of the year.  I love pennant races and the playoffs, but hate to see the season end.  As always, this has been a strange and wonderful season.  Let’s look back.

First, of course, we’ll start with my Colorado Rockies.  It’s been a disappointing season at Coors Field.  The Rockies started out 11-1 before fading out of contention in May.  Injuries played a part (particularly with the pitching staff), as did sub-par offensive performances by some players.

The biggest news of the season, of course, was the trade of Ubaldo Jimenez to the Indians.  I like Ubaldo, but when you get the chance to nab Drew Pomeranz in a trade, while also picking up some other pieces, you have to make the deal.  Pomeranz is recovered from an appendectomy and will make his major league debut on Sunday against the Reds.

Troy Tulowitzki continues to make the case that he is the best all-around shortstop in the game – and one of the best players, period.  While playing gold glove caliber defense, Tulo has also contributed a .305 average with 30 homers and 103 RBI.  How impressive is that?  His closest pursuer among NL shortstops in homers and RBI is Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies.  Rollins has 14 homers and 58 RBI – 16 homers and 45 RBI behind Tulo.  And while Tulo is indeed killing the ball at Coors Field (.960 OPS), he’s also posted superb numbers on the road (.897 OPS).  Considering that the typical hitter has an OPS 31 points higher at home, Coors doesn’t seem to be inflating Tulo’s numbers much at all (especially if you believe in the existence of a Coors Hangover).

If the Rockies were in contention, it would be difficult to argue against Tulo as the MVP.

One of the most unappreciated performances in baseball is coming from another Rockie, Chris Iannetta.  Iannetta is much criticized for his poor batting average (.238), but a high number of walks elevates his OBP to a quite good .370, and he has 12 homers in just 320 at bats.  I’m sure the Rockies are going to cut ties with Chris at some point, and a team that properly utilizes him is going to get good value.

The most disappointing performance for me this year was Ian Stewart.  I’ve always liked Stewie, and he has shown good power (54 homers in 1242 career at bats) but has struggle to make consistent contact.  His batting average sank to a career low .156 this year and stands at .236 for his career – not high enough for a third baseman.  He’s been in a funk all year, and with just 122 at bats, didn’t get a chance to hit his way out of it.  I think a lot of people forget that Stewie is still just 26.  I see him as a possible reclamation project – but probably in another uniform.

OK, so what’s going out outside Denver?

Justin Verlander is kindling the argument of whether or not a pitcher can be MVP.  Personally, I’m OK with this.  While it’s true that a starting pitcher plays only once every five days, his impact on those games is far greater than the impact of any other player.  Verlander is already at 21 wins and is the main reason why the Tigers were able to push the Indians aside and claim first place in the AL Central.

Zach Greinke made news in the spring with an basketball-related injury and then got off to a slow start.  However, after posting a 5.45 ERA prior to the All Star break, he has a 2.41 ERA since.

How good are the Phillies pitchers?  Four of them have 11 or more wins and an ERA of 2.85 or better (Halladay and Lee are a combined 32-12 with a 2.48 ERA).  Conventional wisdom suggest using a three man rotation in the playoffs – but might the Phillies go four deep and have their guys 100% fresh for each start?

Remember when Albert Pujols was going to miss a couple of months with an injury and cost himself a bunch of money when he wouldn’t be able to prove that he still had his power?  I think he’s OK.

The National League has no interesting races this year.  The closest divisional race is the NL West, where the Diamondbacks hold a 6 game lead over the Giants.  Even the wild card race is a yawner, with the Braves holding a 7.5 game lead over the Cardinals.  In the AL, the Yankees and Red Sox are having their annual battle for the division title, with the Devil Rays putting together yet another strong season.  The Rangers hold a 3.5 game lead on the Angels in the best “loser stays home” race.  Angels rookie Mike Trout has hooked some media attention by making the best of his second call-up to the majors, stringing five homers on his line in just 84 at bats.  Is the 20 year old from Jersey up for good?

And finally … we’re a week away from the release of Moneyball.  I hope the movie is as good as the book (but I doubt it will be).

Quarterbacks– A couple of guys I like here that will not immediately come off the board but can help you out. First is Josh Freeman – The Bucs are young and people forget they won 10 games last year. Look for even a better performance this year. Also he is a bigger name, but the Cowboys are not going to be ahead in many games so grab Tony Romo to get you some big time stats. Be a little more cautious of him however in leagues that penalize for throwing interceptions

Running Backs – Love me some Ryan Matthews. He was highly touted last year but was banged up early, never really looked to be in shape, and was a large bust as a rookie last year. Have a short memory here. He will get the load of carries for a Chargers offense that was #1 in the league last year.

Legarrette Blount is another guy I like (wow two Bucs players early on) He came on late last year and since he is in Tampa flies under the radar. He should be on yours

Wide Receivers – Former Stud now turned sleeper is Chad Johnson ( I am calling him by his real name since he got shut down by the Jets last year and then never followed through to change his name back) He is with the Pats, Brady has to have someone to throw to…and let’s face it….the Patriots have NO running game at all. Dez Bryant – See my comment from Romo above. Miles Austin still will get the brunt of the coverage which means a healthy and big play maker Dez will get plenty of chances to shine

Tight Ends – Heath Miller – Big Ben is in town for all of the games this year, and with and aging Hines Ward, this guy becomes and even more popular target for the Steelers offense.

Kickers – I will go to the homer card here and take the rookie from Nebraska Alex Henery – He steps right in with the Eagles who have had David Akers…well …forever. This is one of the harder places to kick in all of the NFL due to the wind conditions as well as the fan base, but the Eagles will have plenty of opportunities to score. If you have to have a rookie on your team, this is the guy to have as he is about the safest bet to score 130-150 fantasy points.

College Football Week 1 recap

The early talk of the college football season is not the fact that Johnny G picked straight up upsets by Bowling Green and more impressively the Baylor Bears over TCU. Nope, the newly rolled out uniforms of the Maryland Terrapins made the twitter world blow up last night. If you think these looked funky, wait until you see what they will roll out later this year with some other color combinations that they have available in their arsenal.

Once again Notre Dame proves that they are horribly over-rated in the polls and now have a distinct possibility of starting 0-2 as they face Michigan this week.

Boise State blows out a super over-rated SEC foe in Georgia. Boise State has 17 returning starters and a bunch of seniors….Georgia well…they could not even beat the Colorado Buffaloes last year. This was about the easiest upset pick of the week in Johnny’s opinion. Boise now has a clear path to undefeatedness once again but will they get a shot at the title game once and for all? I am sure the talking heads on ESPN will be rolling this out all day today…too bad I am not home to watch it.

Until next time…stay classy Dubuque Iowa!

Labor Day is a day of celebration.  The celebration is sometimes not understood by the majority of people benefitting from the day off.  Labor Day is the recognition of organized labor in the United States.  That’s right conservatives, a national holiday for Unions.  So the question arises, why a holiday for labor, don’t they get off for all of the other holidays?

When the first “informal” Labor day was celebrated in the late 1800’s, there were no official holidays, there were not even official weekends.  The majority of corporate workers (admittedly not the majority of people as most people worked their own farms or small businesses) worked at the pleasure of the company.  If you were a coal worker, you lived in company housing, shopped at the company store and usually owed the company more at the end of the month than you paycheck was worth.  Then if you got hurt or killed, your family was thrown out to make room for a new worker.  There were equally deplorable conditions in the garment industry, transportation and others.

Labor unions started in Europe in the 1600’s to protect the integrity of specific trades.  You could not sell your services as a carpenter unless you were a recognized member of the carpenter’s union.  This ensured quality for the whole industry and ensured higher compensation for the members of the union.  In the United Sates and England, labor unions took on the abuses of industry during the industrial revolution and into the 20th century.  These abuses were real and dangerous, there was no Department of Labor or OSHA.  The government even sent out thugs to break up protests, including beatings and killings.  Most people today cannot claim that the union movement was not needed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

For those of you who are not union members (called free loaders), you have a lot to celebrate as well.  Two day weekends, the 40 hour week, federal holiday, sick leave, vacation, and even disablity insurance are all the result of the labor movement.  There were and are companies that provided these benefits without the need for union or governmental pressure (to get and keep the best employees), but for the largest industries, there is no evidence that they would ever have changed the policies that resulted in the labor disputes of 100 years ago.

Now comes the question as to the necessity of unions today.  There is a strong effort today by the federal government to revitalize unions.  Union membership has been dropping over the last 30 years.  So of this is because the unions won.  The major grievances have been addressed.  New workers do not have the history to understand what was achieved and what can be lost.  But there is another driver.  After World War II, union leaders became separated for the union membership.  A myth arose that in order to negotiate with corporate leaders, union leaders had to be of equal compensation with staff and support.  Early union leaders were the guys willing to walk up to a line of armed thugs and tell them off, true works and true heroes.  Today’s leadership is just another layer of management between the worker and the corporate leaders.  This extra layer spend the money of the rank and file on things the ordinary worker does not understand.  So today, there are law suites against unions for using funds to lobby for legislation or bonus for leadership.

To answer the question posed above, unions are definitely still necessary.  We simply cannot depend on the government protecting our rights and ensuring proper treatment.  The government has been on the wrong side of the argument too many times (labor and civil rights are just tow examples) where force has been used to suppress legitimate complaints.  Are unions effective in their present form?  That question is up for debate.  When the federal government has to step in to assure membership, something is fundamentally wrong.  When the most significant issue being pushed by organized labor is “card check” is to remove the rights of union members (elimination of the secret ballot in union activities), things just do not seem right.

Enjoy this last hurray of summer.  Celebrate labor as one of the three pillars of what makes America great; Military strength, Agricultural independence, and Labor Union.  We owe our lives, our comfort and our livelihood to every other American we share this great nation with.

When I was in high school, we filled out questionnaires to gauge our interests.  When the results came back, we were given handouts about which careers would be a good fit.

Most people received info on a few careers.  Two of us received the entire handout, with information on dozens of different careers.  The computers had choked on our answers and couldn’t really determine where we fit.  Even at this early stage, The Man was learning not to pigeonhole the Kos.

I ended up working in IT.  It’s an interesting job on most days, a good company to work for, and my co-workers are great.  Often, though, I wonder what it would have been like to end up in a different job.  Here’s my list of dream jobs.

1.  Baseball player.  I’m 36, so the window is really closing on this.  Lack of talent could also be a roadblock.

1B.  Baseball General Manager.  If I can’t play the game, why not control the game?  The general manager is in charge of nearly every aspect of team operations, from the annual draft to trades.

2.  Writer – As the Beatles would say, I want to be a paperback writer.  I’ve had an interest in writing since elementary school.  In recent years, I’ve been working harder toward this goal.  It would be great if I can eventually become a full-time writer, but barring that, it’s a fun part-time gig.

3.  Paleontologist – You didn’t see that one coming, did you?  I’ve had a deep interest in dinosaurs since the day I was first made aware of them.  I’m sure that a large part of the allure is that fact that this is an almost entirely theoretical field.  The fossil record can provide a lot of clues, but you can’t directly observe dinosaurs.  (Or can you?  maybe a trip to Costa Rica would do the trick?)

4.  FBI Agent – At one point, I went as far as contacting them regarding a position in the computer crimes division.  By the time I heard back from them, life circumstances had changed and the window had pretty much closed.  Computer crimes would be an interesting gig, but so would forensic science.  Although I don’t watch the fictionalized shows like CSI, I’m a big fan of The Forensic Files.

5.  Lawyer – If you’ve been a long time reader, you’ve probably seen me swerve into legal topics from time to time.  I’ve always found the law interesting.  I’d be interested in a lot of different areas, but I think I’d end up as a defense lawyer (with only innocent people for clients, of course).

6.  Professional student – If money was no option, I’d pursue a few degrees (or maybe just attend a few hundred random classes).  I have a very broad set of interests, and could easily fill the rest of my life learning new things (and reading contemporary fiction in my down time).

Now it’s your turn.  If you could change jobs, what would you be?

[Editor’s note: It’s that time of the year again. The kids are back in school, summer’s enjoying one last hurrah until the autumn inevitably causes the leaves and temperatures to fall. In the coming weeks, one lonely hot dog will become the final wiener to die a martyr’s death – dropping between grill grates and into the fires below. The television lineup gets refreshed with new shows (Hope Solo on Dancing With the Stars – how can other shows possibly compete with such high drama?</sarcasm>). On the athletic fields, baseball has already separated the chaff from the wheat, with several teams on the cusp of having their playoff tickets punched.

But for our sports writer Johnny Goodman, this time of year means one thing – COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Without further ado, I turn it over to Johnny for his pigskin picks.]

The last several years we’ve been plastered with a push for everything green. We are asked to stop receiving bank statements and bills via paper in the name of going green. We have green micro size cars that plug in and will drive 75 miles on a single charge, SUV’s are bad in the name of green, we are losing normal incandescent light bulbs in the name of green and soon we will have to use CFL’s in the name of green.

Another enormous push the last couple of years (since the stimulus) has been the creation and promotion of green jobs. The stimulus funneled roughly $70 Billion to the energy economy most of which was to green energy.

Personally, I’m willing to make some green concessions, I recycle (most of the “stuff most of the time), I bought a kegerator so I’m not creating the can and bottle waste that all you other beer drinkers are leaving behind (truth be told that wasn’t my motivation). I even have a refillable water bottle and a small car (Volvo S60) that I use for commuting to/from work. For a conservative chap, I feel like that makes me pretty green. I don’t have solar added to our home; I don’t contribute to the electric company so they can buy more of those gigantic windmills to produce electricity. I certainly don’t wear green on my sleeves like many people do, but I try to do my part. (I know…how big of me).

I have to laugh at the ignorance of some people though. I have neighbors that refuse to run their A/C on 95 degree days in the name of reducing their carbon footprint. I know people that have invested in solar panels for their home even though they will never see the return on their investment. I know our federal government gave $20 Million dollars to the city of Seattle to create green jobs only to see a return of 14 jobs from that investment. That equates to a cost of $1,428,571.43 per job. Great job!

I have to lay something out here…I have no problem with making a shift and trying to be more green, but I believe in being responsible about it because I have not drank any of that Kool-Aid.

I understand why the government wants clean coal technology, I understand why they want to get away from crude oil, I understand why they want to find alternative fuel sources and encourage companies to be more innovative. I just don’t understand why anyone thinks we can run over all the energy companies forcing them in a short amount of time to change the way they do business without having something to take its place. I don’t understand how we can give $20 million to a city to produce green jobs and basically just abandon all sense of reason.

Why didn’t we invest some of this money in new refineries to help reduce the cost of gasoline (last refinery built in the US was 1993)? Why aren’t we drilling in the oil rich portions of the US instead of giving Venezuela $2 Billion for offshore drilling? Why didn’t we produce another nuclear facility to help cover the current need while still using some of the stimulus to research and learn more about how we could create green energy for a lower price? Why are we trying to cut off the use of fossil fuels even though we Gasoline powered engines are not disappearing overnight so let’s slow down and make this change responsibly. Green jobs aren’t going to be the only jobs overnight either so let’s stop penalizing the current energy companies because that will just equate to higher prices for us.

It’s time for people to pull their heads out of their asses. We are not Europe and most of us don’t want to be Europe. We need to start approaching future decisions with common sense and accountability. The days of blindly throwing money at problems has to change. We need to add accountability and find someone in Washington DC that has at least a shred of common sense to start monitoring this garbage. In the months leading up to the 2012 Presidential election, I bet we’ll hear a lot more of these examples. We passed this asinine stimulus and health care bills and we found out what was in it. It’s just too bad we trusted our representatives to actually represent us.

Anyone but Obama 2012

Squeaky…