Friday, July 24, 2009

Vick Becoming a Steeler? A Dog of an Idea.

Michael Vick (shown left, with his attorney) is asking for a chance. I don't know if this has involved getting on bended knee and groveling, but the former Atlanta Falcons star did meet Wednesday with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell concerning Vick's possible reinstatement.

We Americans tend to have a short memory when it comes to things like this, so let's recap what Vick did: using money he earned playing football, he funded a dogfighting ring: an activity that is not only illegal, but immoral and downright deplorable. This activity took place in a house that Vick owned, again paid for with revenue from football.

If you are not familiar with dogfighting, it is a brutal, horrible bloodbath of a "sport"--dogs are bred to be aggressive, to attack animals, and to fight to the death. People pay to see this, and apparently Vick was happy to bankroll this operation.

When these charges first surfaced in 2006, Vick denied any involvement. His denial continued for months, until his former associates presented evidence against him, and testified against him at the trial. Vick was subsequently found guilty of charges associated with operating a dogfighting ring, and was sentenced to 23 months in a federal prison. Personally, I think the punishment of 23 months did not fit the crime, but that discussion I will save for another post.

So now Vick wants to return to football. I have mixed feelings about this (again, for another post), but his reinstatement is up to Commissioner Goodell. Sources say reinstatement will likely happen, perhaps with a four-game suspension once Vick is signed with a team.

Of course, speculation is running rampant about who might sign Vick. Experts agree that once signed, keeping Vick out of the limelight would be advisable, so a starting quarterback position would be all but out of the question. With this (possible) scenario in mind, it's likely that the team most likely in a position to sign Vick would be an NFL teams who already have a solid starting quarterback already, but might need a relief, second-string player.

And who might those teams be? The New England Patriots and....the Steelers! An article published on Yahoo! reported that the Patriots and Steelers "both have fan bases that would be accepting of the team taking a chance on Vick."

What? What?!! Pittsburghers may have a mentality that said "give the kid a chance" when it came to electing Luke Ravenstahl, but there is no way on God's green earth that Steeler fans are going to come close to embracing this former operator of a dogfighting ring.

Not to mention the players themselves: many of the Steelers are dog owners and admitted animal lovers, including Deshea Townsend, Charlie Batch, Jerome Bettis, and Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers has lent support to area animal shelters: shelters that provide a safe haven to the kinds of dogs that fall victim to organized dogfights.

I can only hope that what the experts are speculating is just that: speculation. But let's nip this thing in the bud, and tell the Steelers organization that despite what the experts think, we don't want to see Vick on the bench, wearing a black and gold jersey. You can contact the Steelers organization and tell them exactly what you think about the idea of Vick becoming a Steeler. Here's their contact information:
Administrative offices:
Pittsburgh Steelers
3400 South Water Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-2349
Phone: (412) 432-7800
Fax: (412) 432-7878

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Not Too Late for the Fairytale Ending

Figure skating is a solitary sport. You train alone, with your coach. You get up every morning before the sun comes up, to spend hours in a cold rink. Jumping and falling, jumping and falling. The same series of movements, over and over, with toe pointed, head tilted, hand fluttering just so. Always with a smile on your face.

Every day of the year you train: ballet and dance lessons. Weight training. Running. Workouts in the gym. And twenty hours every week in the rink.

Yours is a sport that despite having a newer, more quantitative scoring system, you’re still judged on everything from the color of your panty hose to the number of sequins on your outfit. Your off-rink life is judged. Are you humble? Are you articulate and well spoken? Do you come from a respectable family? Do you deserve to win?

You don’t have a life outside of your sport. Every morsel of food, every swallow of liquid is parsed out and monitored. You give up friends, you give up school, you give up a social life, you give up a life with your family. You’re 15 years old and can’t remember a time when life wasn’t like this.

Your sport is a series of qualifying contests that leads up to one big contest. There’s no coverage of the qualifying contests, like all of the football games that lead to the super bowl. No one in TV Land cares who won the Midwest Sectionals or the New England Regionals. In your sport, the only thing people are interested in and tune into is the Big Event: The US Nationals.

With Nationals, it’s the equivalent of the last play of the Superbowl, fourth down, and you’re the quarterback trying to throw the winning pass. You have less than seven minutes to show the judges you are worthy. There are no mulligans, no do-overs. You have one chance: one slip of the blade, one fall spells failure.

You approach the ice and think about the thousands of hours of practice, the $100,000 or so each year you and your family spend to get you to this point. In this sport, everyone sacrifices.

The winner and runner-up receives parades, glory, and a chance to compete internationally. Anything less than third place is a disappointment and another year to train--and hope.

Given all of this, you have to wonder why anyone would want to become a competitive figure skater. Maybe it’s the feeling of propelling yourself and flying in the air. Maybe it’s the combination of artistry and athleticism.

In 1994, skater Nicole Bobek was asked why she skated and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, “Because I like it.”

Bobek had what coaches would call raw talent. She was an easy--albeit sometimes sloppy-- jumper, and yet being a bit rough around the edges, had a lightness and grace about her on the ice. Growing up never knowing her father, Bobek and her mother, a former skater from the Czech Republic, formed a close-knit bond.

Listen to skating commentators today, and septagenarian telecaster (and former Olympian) Dick Buttons will still wax poetic at the grace of Nicole Bobek. It's rumored that because Buttons went on and on about Bobek's signature spiral (in photo, right), that it served as a wake-up call for other skaters, including Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen, who ended up with signature spiral sequences of their own.

Bobek’s ascent into elite figure skating did not come easily. Her skating record could diplomatically best be described as irratic. One year she came in fourth, the next 16th. She earned a reputation as being rebellious and difficult: she smoked cigarettes and had a mouth like a sailor, which of course only endeared her to me.

She had ankle problems, and weight issues, and sometimes lacked a commitment in her training. In the course of her career, she hired and fired a dozen coaches in a sport where a coach is regarded much like a marriage partner: one you stick by through thick and thin.

However, in 1995, 16 year old Bobek, despite herself and against all odds, won the U.S. Senior Ladies Nationals. She later went on that year to place third in Worlds. You might not remember Bobek because, despite her gold at Nationals and a bronze at Worlds, subsequent performances were not as good: she placed third in 1997 and 1998, earning her a berth on the 1998 Olympic team, where nerves and injuries got the better of her, and placed a disappointing 17th place.

Sadly, Bobek did not get the storybook ending that she very likely wished for. A few days ago Bobek was arrested as part of a large drug ring that sold and distributed methamphetamine.

You can't help but wonder what happened to Bobek. If you look at her MySpace page, you see a girl whose hero is her mom, enjoys doing charity work, and who hopes to be a mother “someday”. Three years ago, she even made her acting debut acting alongside Oscar winner Sean Penn.

Bobek’s self-declared hero, her mother, is standing by her daughter’s side, posting the $100,000 bail and saying she will help her in whatever way she can. She still has faith in her daughter, saying that she is a good girl and got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Bobek is only 31, and it breaks my heart that someone so young with so much going for them becomes seduced by drugs. I hope that she doesn't see herself as a has-been, but a smart, funny, intelligent girl that made some bad choices. I hope that her mom continues to stand by her, to help her daughter make some better choices, so she can get clean, take accountability at the charges in front of her, so she can have another chance at the fairytale ending that she--and everyone else--deserves.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

150 Years

That was the sentence recently handed down to Bernard Madoff, proprietor of the now-infamous Ponzi scheme that bilked scores of people, trusts, and nonprofits out of their retirements, pensions, and endowments.

While Ira Sorkin, Madoff's attorney (shown with Madoff), asked for leniency and suggested a sentence of 12 years, Judge Chin (my new hero) disagreed and gave Madoff the maximum permitted by law.

"Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil," Chin said in his remarks, which brought with it applause and cheers from the gallery, many of whom were Madoff's victims. "I simply do not get the sense that Mr. Madoff has done all that he could or told all that he knows," Chin added, a sentiment shared with many, including this blogger.

Those in the courtroom reported that Madoff sat or stood impassively while victim after victim took the stand and told their stories of money and trust lost. When it came time for him to make a statement, Madoff said that he was sorry: ""I will live with this pain, with this torment, for the rest of my life. I live in a tormented state knowing the pain and suffering I have created," but his statements left most victims unmoved.

In the courtroom, Madoff literally and figuratively stood alone, with the absence of any family members in the gallery. Moreover, Judge Chin stated that the court received not even a single letter of support, testifying to any good deeds or charitable works. "The absence of such support is telling," Chin said. I'll say. Even serial killers can count on their mothers or someone to provide a statement, or ask for leniency, but Madoff only had his hired hand, attorney Sorkin, at his side.

Madoff's wife finally broke her silence in a statement on the day of sentencing claiming that she had no knowledge of the true nature of Madoff's business. "From the moment I learned from my husband that he had committed an enormous fraud, I have had two thoughts--first, that so many people who trusted him would be ruined financially and emotionally, and, second, that my life with the man I have known for over 50 years was over." Anyone else find her ignorance hard to believe?

While Madoff and his wife have agreed to sell their assets (including a Manhattan penthouse, Long Island estate, villa in France, Palm Beach mansion, and other valuables), Mrs. Madoff will still be left with $2.5 million. I can't strongly enough express how wrong I think that is. She should be left with nothing, just like all of the people who invested and are now left penniless.
It has also been reported that Madoff's two sons, Andrew and Mark, borrowed a combined $31.5 million from their father. I think these loans should be paid in full, with the proceeds paid as restitution to swindled investors.
And in fact, while I'm thinking about it, I think that any money, any pathetic earnings that Madoff makes while working in prison should be garnished and distributed to his victims. It might just mean a few cents every year for each victim, but the satisfaction in receiving this sort of compensation might just be priceless.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

When No News Isn't Necessarily Good News

This story broke a little over a week ago, but it's an important one that I wanted to share. The Archives of Internal Medicine (a JAMA--Journal of the American Medical Association--publication) reported on a study completed at Weill Cornell (New York) Medical College regarding notifying patients of test results.

The news, in short, is not good: the study showed that an average of 7% of the time, patients whose test results were abnormal were not notified by their doctor, with some failure rates as high as 26%. Practices whose record keeping was part paper, part electronic fared the worst over those practices that were completely paper or completely electronic.

The study also surveyed doctors about in-house procedures for notifying patients of their medical test results. The findings of this survey were equally alarming: the average process score was 3.8 out of 6, with most medical practices not using all five of the basic processes suggested in literature. Further, most practices did not even have in place explicit guidelines for notifying patients of results.

Doctors say that the volume of patients and lack of time make it difficult to contact patients. But if practices don't even have a protocol in place about patients' medical tests results, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone in the practice to notify patients, let alone the doctor.

Doctors are busy, there's no doubt about it. And given the decreasing amounts of money medical practices receive through health insurance reimbursement, doctors are only going to get busier and this situation is likely to get proportionately worse.

You'd think that doctors would be more mindful of this negligence, given that we live in such a litigious culture. Failing to provide a patient abnormal test results could certainly have disastrous results. But apparently this is happening, sometimes as many as one in four times.

This is clearly an example where you need to be the advocate for yourself, and badger the doctor's office for the results. Because just because you don't get the "all clear" from the doctor doesn't necessary mean everything is okay.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Hello and...Buh-Bye


In what has to be the longest contested race ever, the Minnesota State Supreme Court unanimously ruled what many of us have known for a long time: that Al Franken is indeed U.S. Senator. With this senatorial race now finally concluded, the number of Democrats in the Senate now total 60, giving them a majority and making them filibuster-proof. In theory, anyway.

Franken gave a very nice victory speech in which he praised Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has, in many respects been doing the work of two senators in the wake of not declaring the Franken/Coleman race. "But she’s only one Senator," Franken said. "And it’s time that Minnesota, like every other state, had two."

Many pundits wonder if Franken, an outspoken author and critic of everything from Rush Limbaugh to Beltway Bandits, can play nice with others now that he himself will be one of those inside the beltway guys. Franken is nothing if not stupid and I believe he will approach the job with humility and an eagerness to learn. Franken will be serving on the judicial committee, and might I suggest he use his time in committee meetings learning at the knee of Pennsylvania's senior Senator, the newly-Democratic Arlen Spector.

The usual blustery Norm Coleman, the now former Senator from Minnesota was unusually nonblustery in his concession speech, which is just about the nicest thing I can say about the man. Now that the race has been decided, all kinds of rumors are buzzing about as to what his future holds. Might I suggest running for Governor...of Alaska!

It seems a vacancy has recently become available, as Sarah Palin abruptly announced in today's press conference (reported in an excellent article by the Associated Press) that she is stepping down as the 49th state's governor. Nut Bar and I caught an excerpt of her speech, and we both turned to each other and went, "Huh?". She rambled about the "millions of dollars down the drain" but never said what millions of dollars she meant. She has mastered the ability of speaking a great deal, but saying absolutely nothing.

In her speech, Palin made no statement about her future, short or long-term, but is apparently not ruling out a (God help us) presidential bid for 2012. 2012 is a long ways away, but I think, I hope, in this case, Americans will have a long memory when it comes to Sarah Palin. By the end of the race, she managed to alienate most people (Democrats and Republicans alike), and her post-campaign PR has maintained a steady downward path. Between the continued sniping between her camp, the Republican National Committee and the McCain camp, to the arrest of Bristol Palin's almost mother-in-law on a multitude of drug charges, to the swirl of talk of ethics violations, she was, in many ways, painted into the proverbial corner with no way out. Or quitting to take a rest while she plans her 2012 comeback, if one believes the Palin-philes.

However, not surprisingly, Palin has plans for writing her memoirs, and has inked a deal with HarperCollins that most guess is in the mid-six figures. So perhaps this will shed some light regarding her sudden resignation. Or maybe it will be 400 pages of dribble drabble. I'm voting for the latter...