The other day I was in my local supermarket and overheard two women discussing public policy while weighing the options in the produce section. Based on the section of the conversation I heard, there was unanimity amongst them that the federal budget was much too large and the government was, to use their words, "too deep in our pockets." While there was no actual declaration of what specific budget items the two ladies wanted to see removed from the federal spending plan, it was pretty clear that they felt as though their taxes were much too high and that, in their eyes, the benefits they received from that government spending weren't a good value to them.
This scenario led me to question how would these women, or anyone who routinely complains about the size and influence of government would feel if the scope of that government were somehow reduced down to the barest essentials. Furthermore, do we as a society really examine what it is that we rely on from our public policies and what life would be like without them?
These two mavens of small government stood poised over the lemons and limes irritated at the influence of government in their lives. Did they ever stop to think about who or what might be keeping an eye on that citrus to ensure its safety? The USDA is commissioned with keeping our foodstuffs safe and it's an easy thing to forget. What would our option be if there were not a public organization looking out for the safety of our food and drink? There might be a private organization on which one could rely for making certain your chicken is safe and spinach isn't tainted. But, how could you know whether or not their work was reliable and what would the costs be? What would happen to people unable to afford a private service such as this. As a society should we simply allow those who can't afford food safety experts to slop up our rotten and rancid bits and take their chances? An industry of these private services would likely be more difficult to maintain with any degree of consistency and would then cause a greater fracture in the ways we purchase our groceries. It is completely impractical and ridiculous to attempt to privatize this sort of thing and the USDA is just one such example.
How did our Glenn Beck disciples make their way to the store on that Sunday morning? It's a safe bet that they drove there. In fact, chances are quite good that the Toyota Minivan with the "Don't Tread On Me" sticker belonged to one of them. Whether or not it was a van belonging to our government waste fighting duo, it was a van that arrived on public roads. Public roads upon which they tread every time they leave their driveway. The food they were buying arrived the same way and so did everyone who worked at the market that day. Perhaps the mantra "Don't Tread On Me" ought to be reserved for the public road who does its duty while people that drive across it daily whilst complaining about public projects.
Chances are better than 4 to 1 that these two test subjects and their spouses and/or children and other family members obtained the cognitive faculties to have opinions on these subjects through the means of a public education system. It's also very possible that one or both of these ladies was one of the 800 million people to fly through an American airport in the last year. Of course they would have to go through a security screening subsidized primarily by public funding. Maybe on their summer vacation, these gal pals were one of the 285 million visitors to our incredible system of national parks. This does sound like a lot wasteful spending on unnecessary stuff doesn't it?
It would certainly be ironic if these ladies were to listen to the radio or watch TV to entertain themselves or to learn facts to reinforce any of these beliefs. After all, this is media regulated by the federal government. And in case you forgot, regulation is bad.
If there were a break-in or a fire at their homes or businesses, I really hope they don't try to call their local fire or police department. They have made it clear they want no government interference in their lives, and what's more invasive than a visit to your home. Best find a private fire and security service to take care of those needs.
Of course, we haven't discussed their sense of safety from a well-funded and well-armed military. That will obviously have to be abandoned right away. Their bank deposits won't be insured anymore. Any mergers that would normally be a violation of anti-trust agreements will be free to go through, even if it results in less choice, poor service and higher rates for a given service or product. Don't fret, the market will work it all out - and I am sure they'll have your best interest in mind. Because you can't trust the government, but private business is infallible, right?
Wow, I feel a whole lot better now. My taxes will drop to ZERO and I can start spending the vast majority of my free time figuring out which of these myriad private services will have my back the best. It's like getting to shop for a whole new individual infrastructure. I would have sent a letter about this to tell you, but since the government isn't trustworthy, I can't use the post office and its socialist 44 cent stamp. UPS is going to care of it for me though and it's only going to cost me $22.07.
Slice Of Five is a series of (what will be) ongoing essays that chronicle five chronologically consecutive creative endeavors from one particular artist, and the lasting cultural importance of that quintet. This the inaugural edition of the series.
Slice Of Five: R.E.M.
1983 - 1987
It's uber-glamorous to speak in the past tense of a band that shuttled itself across the American countryside to spread the word of their terrific songs and musicianship. Every college town in America has a guy sidled up to a bar somewhere who was a 20 year old philosophy major when he saw R.E.M. at a now closed dive bar, in said college town, that could hold 95 souls on a good night and break the fire code while doing it. For one more beer he'll tell you all about how it was a weeknight and almost no one was there, but he knew better than the rest of the world. He still thinks he does, though he's probably wrong.
John Q. Storyteller can still vividly remember a humble rendition of Radio Free Europe and the sweet jangle of Peter Buck's guitar cranking out a lovely, if slightly drunken version of Talk About The Passion. There was muted applause and the band stayed for a couple of beers after their set and seemed like pretty nice guys. The personal angle of the story is most likely a lie and the details have been embellished or perhaps even fabricated. Yet, you don't care as you listen intently and spring for one more Rolling Rock in exchange for the tale. The story may be made up, but it still seems truer than the truth. This is how R.E.M. forged its legacy - one bar room at a time. And having one of the most distinctive sounds and some of the best songs in the history of American rock music didn't hurt either.
During the years 1983 to 1987, this seemingly humble quartet churned out five of the most terrific records around. That's one great record a year. Most bands would kill to make one record as good as say Fables Of The Reconstruction or Life's Rich Pageant. This band cranked records like this out every year for five years running. Amazingly, none of these two records seems cut from the same cloth. Each record is a step in a new direction and remains at the same time a record that is an aural declaration of the R.E.M. sound.
By combining the overlooked brilliance of The Byrds and collecting parts of their Southern surroundings and the urgency of the punk records upon which they were weened, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry carved out a new sound for the very American decade that was the 1980s. Shaking off the circus-top ethos of stadium-glam-rock-cum-soft-metal that was so popular at the time, they crafted a simpler, more compact sound that was both sharp and still seemingly relaxed. Stipe's muffled words lent a cloud of mystery to the underlying stories the songs were about and constructed an intensely personal experience for the listener. Tossing in some elements from power-pop heroes like Pylon or Big Star, R.E.M. assembled an almost perfect American art-form; a sort of mystic folk-laden southern white jazz for the jaded American Lit major.
Below is an album by album rundown of one of the most prolific and profound five year outputs in the history of one American musical group.
MURMUR (1983)
There is a murky quality to the first full-length R.E.M. record that never gets in the way of the band's energy. Between Stipe's mumbled lead vocals and the shaggily muffled quality of the recordings, the vaguely swampy fidelity of the record becomes a large part of its charm. At times, in an almost utter contrast to the record's overall aesthetic, Peter Buck's guitar sounds almost crystalline in the nebulous of the rest of the band; a hammering jangle that carries every song to greater heights. Rhythm section Mike Mills and Bill Berry had already developed an intimate musical connection with each by the time recording for Murmur began. Not only is Mills locked in rhythmically with Berry's drum parts, but is also sonically supporting everything coming from Buck's side of the stage. Radio Free Europe was the closest thing to a hit on the record, but other great songs like Talk About The Passion and Sitting Still carry an urgency that belong in Radio Free Europe's thumpy/poppy class. Other, more reflective numbers like Moral Kiosk and Perfect Circle give Murmur a surprisingly level of depth for a debut record. To any one listening for the first time in 1983, it should have been obvious that there were big things to come from this Athens, GA quartet. Perhaps even more remarkable is that nearly 30 years later, Murmur has the same effect today.
RECKONING (1984)
The first noise you hear once your drop the needle on Reckoning is a Bill Berry drum fill into a chugging and chiming pop song called Harborcoat. Within seconds, it's evident that the next chapter in the R.E.M. discography is a much surer and confident brew. What follows is 38 compact minutes of straight up pop magic. Balancing the delicate refinery of So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) with the playfulness of 7 Chinese Brothers and the bombastic ruralism of (Don't Go) Back To Rockville, the production team of Mitch Easter and Don Dixon were able to perfectly capture the enthusiasm and energy of a live R.E.M. performance without sacrificing fidelity. Not only are the songs and musicianship on Reckoning quantitatively tighter than Murmur, the record just flat out sounds better. With their first two proper LPs, R.E.M. had garnered loads of critical praise and begun to develop a sizable following amongst American college campuses and an increasingly larger number of music fans across the pond. In less than two full years, the band had made two seminal records and gotten the music industry's attention. In many respects, they were just getting warmed up.
FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION (1985)
For their follow-up to Reckoning, the band decided to seek a different locale for recording and finally decided to record an entire album's worth of material at Livingston Studios in London, England. In addition to a change of scenery, R.E.M. also chose to work with a new producer. Joe Boyd was an American ex-pat who had built a reputation in the late 60's and early 70's by recording terrific folk albums by acts like Nick Drake and Fairport Convention. The soon to be recorded material also comprised the band's first full fledged attempt at a record with a coherent and consistent theme by exploring the mythology of the American south. In retrospect, Boyd seems a very odd choice and London an equally odd location. The resulting sessions were legendary for their awkwardness. Recording during the particularly rainy months of February and March in Britain under the production of a man with a penchant for making notoriously British sounding records made for a fairly dismal time. There are apocryphal tales of the band nearly giving up and packing it in altogether. And, at least once, Mike Mills admitted he considered quitting the band during the sessions. Somehow, Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe managed to turn a rough situation into great art. Much of the reason that the difficult working conditions translate so well to the finished product is the depth and darkness of the material itself. Song like Life And How To Live It and album opener Feeling Gravity's Pull especially seem to benefit from the dire surroundings. The atmospheric sense of melancholy reinforces the fragile nature of many of Fables' songs. Perhaps even more amazing is the way the band manages to nail the songs that most reinforce the southern themes of the album; singles Driver 8 and Can't Get There From Here feel positively peppy and alive up against other more tempered material. It's a balancing act of push vs. pull that keeps the listener engaged and guessing with every spin. At an hour that nearly spelled their end as a band, R.E.M. stepped up and made a quintessentially American record, outside of America's shores, and a great one at that.
LIFE'S RICH PAGEANT (1986)
The release of Life's Rich Pageant in 1986 marked a real watershed moment for the boys in R.E.M. and for the burgeoning alternative movement in American music. With the LP's first single, Fall On Me, two major milestones would be complete: The band would score their first top ten single on the Billboard chart and would do so with an overtly political song. This would mark the rise of a new level of marketability for the quartet, but also be a harbinger of a theme of politics in their songs from this point forward. Hindsight being 20/20, it's possible and maybe even easy to look back and see a history of political messages in their earlier canon, but Fall On Me, a song about ecological irresponsibilities run amok would be the first time that Stipe would wear these beliefs on his lyrical sleeve. It's possible to make the case that this helped the song's popularity, but it's far more likely that the cause of the single's success was due to it's beautiful vocal line and the band's quickly rising star. Similar themes occur on another standout track on the album in Cuyahoga, a song recounting the travesty of an environmetal disaster in the famed Ohio river. While charging new political territory, R.E.M. also clung to its southern roots with barnburner I Believe and Swan Swan H a forlorn ballad borne of the remnants of the American Civil War. The songcraft is overwhelmingly good and Don Gehman's production here is razor sharp. At times, one could say that R.E.M. actually hits an apex. Because of all of these factors and the record's catchiness and instant accessibility, this is probably the record where one should begin to explore R.E.M. for the very first time.
DOCUMENT (1987)
By the time R.E.M. released the Document LP in 1987 they were the unquestioned kings of college rock. In fact, they weren't just the kings of college rock, they hauled its water almost exclusively, at least in a large scale way and were the ones who had almost single-handedly started the wave to begin with. They did for American independent rock in the late 20th century at least as much as The Beatles did for the British Invasion of the mid-1960's. Document featured big singles like The One I Love and It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) and MTV obliged the coronation ceremony with serious airplay, taking time out from its regular run of epic Aerosmith vids and Billy Idol remakes of Lolita. This was before The Pixies and Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam came along to make college rock a cottage industry. Without this seemingly humble band from Athens, GA those bands, and dozens like them would have likely floundered in the obscurity of the left of the dial radio stations and the tape deck of twenty-something tastemakers and fanzine writers. While this is probably the least cohesive records of the five chronicled here, it is undeniably a great work and a further continuation of the R.E.M. narrative arc. Exhuming McCarthy uses historical context as a way to shatter the myth of Reagan-ear prosperity and imagined freedoms and to that point is certainly the band's most directly political song, upping the ante even from stances made on Life's Rich Pageant. Document is also the first time that R.E.M. made an appearance the Billboard's Top Ten Albums chart. A staggering accomplishment for a band from a very small label that had begun just five years earlier.
After this string of remarkable LPs, R.E.M. would continue on to make more terrific records; most notably Green, Automatic For The People and Adventures in Hi-Fi, but the work would gradually become less consistent and less frequent. While no one could expect the band to maintain its dizzying pace of churning our records annually, the spaces between the release dates of the albums after Document and the lack of consistent greatness of them, makes those accomplishments of those first five records all the more amazing. The R.E.M. of 1983 to 1987 was a sight to behold and a sound to hold tightly to. That is what is perhaps most amazing about this run. Sure, the band made five of the best records of any American band in pop history successively over a five year period; but most recordings from the 80's now sound thin and synthetic. These records maintain a clarity and freshness that is palpable well in to the 21st century. Their urgency, clarity and compact qualities take the songs to higher places and resonate today louder than ever.
America today is a terribly fractured society. Right now as you read this Americans are watching FOX News and MSNBC under the impression they're getting caught up on the news. Readers are combing through the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post skimming articles and gleaning facts about the state of the world today. Sure, all of these outlets provide information and much of that information is factual and corroborated by multiple sources, but isn't necessarily news. It's opinion or ethos or ideology packaged as journalism. These media companies are nothing more than a thinly veiled version of your local paper's Op-Ed page supported by a selected set of facts. You're getting the story, sure - but it's a version of the truth told more with a message of what should be important to support your world view as opposed to what it is that is actually happening and why that something is important. It is for these reasons and so many more that it would be a travesty to discontinue funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System may very well be the last bastion of accurate and impartial information in the radio and television news landscape. The major networks do not have the time or sufficient resources to create well-rounded and in-depth news coverage in their daily programing schedule and the work suffers because of it. Because the work suffers, the level of information and analysis the average viewer gets from it is lacking. Because of the advent of the internet, viewership of the nightly news on the major networks is much lower than it was during the years prior to the ubiquity of the internet and smartphones. People get their news in seconds now, not in minutes or hours even - let alone at 6:30 pm while they eat their dinner and listen to their friends Brian Williams and Katie Couric. As such, news divisions at CBS, NBC and ABC are forced to tailor their news in such a way as to drive viewership. While it's not a nightly news program, NBC's Today Show is a classic example of this dilemma.
The Today Show as it ran from the 1950's until well into the 21st century was a two hour news program airing from 7:00 am to 9:00 am. The show featured in-depth interviews, regular news and weather updates and focused hot button issues of the day. It also featured some fluff like Willard Scott celebrating Myrtle's 106th birthday and celebrity reports, but mostly the show was about news issues. Within the last few years, Today has extended its program length to four hours each day and with the exception of its first 20 minutes of actual news coverage, the remaining 200 plus minutes are filled with sensationalized celebrity reports, scintillating stories of murder and intrigue that seem to rotate unendingly on a carnival loop and of course lately are overwhelmed with extended daily coverage of the impending royal wedding. NBC and its news bureau are not covering these things because it is what's important to know. Today sets its programming up this way because it helps to maintain a constant viewer base and that leads to better ratings and higher ad revenues.
This is a simple marketplace equation for the folks at NBC. They will cover what makes money and what drives viewers. So, it begs the question of what will happen to our news when it all becomes privatized. The sum of our journalistic integrity will be driven by what the masses desire, not what is accurate or noteworthy or culturally relevant. It will simply be a money grab for readers, listeners and viewers. The reduction of funding for NPR and PBS will also mean that they will no longer have the inherent contract with America they are currently engaged in. As they hold a hand out to listeners and viewers for donations they'll become more beholden to their listener base. Therefore, if their viewer/listener base, as has been suggested, is leaning to the left, then won't this promote an environment to continue to push their programing in that direction so as to not bite the hand that feeds them?
Don't fool yourself into believing that this issue is strictly about the money for those who would like to see federal spending stopped for public broadcasting. This is about making a political statement with federal funding. The $2 million that NPR receives in federal funding wouldn't pay for a single hour of operations in Afghanistan. If the endgame was to remove wasteful spending from the budget it could be located in a matter of seconds and the list of things less useful than NPR would be mighty long indeed. To wit, if congress wants to look at ridiculous spending, they should focus on their own bloated pension plans - but that is a topic for a separate blog post.
Taken at face value this is nothing more than a political hack job and a move that further encourages private industry to hold sway over what information you have access to. The newspaper industry is in a horrendous state of flux and much of it may not survive. As the number of media outlets is reduced and information online grows more and more dubious by the day, it seems the real waste of money here would be to ruin a public connection to a vitally important and fair news outlet that belongs in part to the people. Maybe if we support public media and pay attention to it we'll remember what fair and balanced really looks like.
It's the pitching stupid! Chase Utley is hurt again. I know. Jimmy Rollins looks hobbled in Spring Training. I know. Jayson Werth left and went to the Nationals. I know. The Phils had a helluva time scoring runs last year and it cost them a pennant. I know! Add to all of that a slightly shaky back-end to their bullpen with Brad Lidge and Ryan Madsen and there is still enough starting pitching on the Phillies to win this division. It would be very chic to pick the Braves or the Marlins to win the NL East, but it isn't going to go down that way. Joe Blanton, the Phillies #5 starter in the rotation is good enough to be a #3 on a lot of big league teams. Ryan Howard will still smack 35 HRs and Manager Charlie Manuel has enough other talent and baseball acumen to produce the requisite runs to get loads of wins for his ridiculously good starting staff of Roy Halladay (the best starter in baseball), Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt (yeah, he's their #4 guy) and the aforementioned Blanton. This is like the starting pitching equivalent of killing a fly with a hammer. Trust me and stop trying to talk yourself out of picking the Phillies. This will be more than enough to get the job done.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES
The Braves have lots of talent. Lots of it is young talent. Jason Heyward had a great rookie campaign and Atlanta hopes for big things from Freddi Freeman, its new young stud at first base. Atlanta also snagged 2B Dan Uggla for a song in a trade with the Marlins and added some real meat to the middle of their order. The pitching staff is pretty locked in and firm with the likes of Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens and Derek Lowe. Craig Kimbrel figures to be a rock solid replacement for the retired Billy Wagner at the back of the bullpen. That said, there is nothing here that should really give the Phillies trouble for slate of 162 games. The Braves offense is good, but not head and shoulders better than the Phils and while the Braves bullpen might be better, it won't even come close to bringing its rotation in to the same stratosphere with the Phillies'. All is not lost though, since Atlanta has plenty of talent to make a real run at a second straight Wild Card appearance.
3. FLORIDA MARLINS
The young rotation of the Marlins can easily remind one of their AL counterparts, the Oakland A's. Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco all had moments of greatness last year and conventional wisdom would have us thinking they're ready to take another step forward. And, in reality they may very well be. You can expect the Marlins to improve upon their 80-82 season from a year ago. John Buck is a nice addition behind the plate and Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton look ready to take over everyday duties in the OF. But, the bullpen has some question marks and it will be a while before the Marlins can recover from letting go of power-hitting Dan Uggla to their intra-division rival Atlanta. They'll miss his power, if not his strikeouts. Omar Infante, who the Marlins got back in that deal, is a very nice player and will probably hit right around .300, but there aren't enough runs to go around here to take the next leap forward. Look for some incremental improvement, but this team probably tops out around 85 wins or so.
4. NEW YORK METS
Just change your team name to the New York Mess already. The Mets have so many overpaid players it's impossible to list them all here, but right now it has completely removed them from being a viable contender in any sense of the word. David Wright is still a really nice player and Jason Bay could have a bit of a bounce back year if health allows. Yet, none of that matters as the Mets will languish under the weight of years of bad decisions. Expect SS Jose Reyes to wear a different uniform before the trade deadline comes and goes and keep an eye on whether Carlos Beltran can stay healthy long enough for the Mets to trade him off to a contender who needs veteran OF or DH. Sadly, 2011 will be much more interesting for the Mets as far as off-field moves go than it will between the lines.
5. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Almost everyone around baseball wants the Nationals to be better. Washington, DC is a town that would love to have a meaningful baseball team and some great pieces are already there. Ryan Zimmerman is one of the game's premier third basemen and the signing of outfielder Jayson Werth this winter in the free agent market was something of a coup. Unfortunately, the pieces are not all in place yet. Pitching phenom Stephen Starsburg will miss the whole season after surgery. Josh Willingham was traded away after the Werth signing and uber-prospect Bryce Harper likely won't be ready for full-time in the bigs until next year. Like their area compatriots, the Orioles, the Nats are moving in the right direction and their day is coming soon. It's just that it won't come anytime in 2011.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
1. CINCINNATI REDS While the Reds came out of nowhere to win the NLGreinke's season in Milwaukee, the Reds should have the offense and starting stuff to get it done. Joey Votto is likely to take a step back from his 2010 MVP campaign, but Jay Bruce seems ready to take the next step forward and should offer Votto some protection in the lineup. The Red's bullpen could be the only potential Achilles heel to a repeat as division winners. Francisco Cordero is always a roller coaster in the closer's spot and while youngsters like Mike Leake and Aroldis Chapman may get time in the bullpen as they await a rotation spot, their youth and inexperience could be a downfall. But my guess is that the Reds can overcome their handful of flaws to repeat as champs in 2011.
2. Milwaukee Brewers The Brewers may have taken a bigger step forward in the winter of 2011 than any club in major league baseball by making big-time trades for starting pitchers Zack Greinke and Shawn Marcum. Over the last couple of seasons the Brew Crew have been something of a disappointment as their pitching hasn't been quite good enough to keep up with their above average offense. This year, look for Greinke and Marcum to join forces with Milwaukee ace Yovani Gallardo and create a forceful top of the rotation in Miller Park. The 4 and 5 spots may be sketchy, but a great top three can go a long way towards success. Prince Fielder, Caey McGehee, Corey Hart and Ryan Braun comprise the middle of a potentially powerful lineup. The possibility is certainly there for the Brewers to catch the Reds in the Central, but most likely they'll need some improvement in the bullpen and another year or two to gel enough to make the promised land.
3. CHICAGO CUBS The loveable losers from the Northside could put together a great top three in their rotation much like the Brewers. Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza are terrific starters and if the Cubs can get the same Carlos Zambrano they got after he returned from anger management treatment later in the season, things could certainly look bright at Wrigley Field. However, the Cubs are likely to struggle mightily to score runs. 3B Aramis Ramirez hopes to have a healthy year and make it a return to form in a contract walk year. Even if that hope becomes reality, an aging Alfonso Soriano and perennial disappointment Kosuke Fukudome are likely not enough run production to hang all year with the Brewers and Reds. The addition of 1B Carlos Pena, will add some HR to the mix, but it will also add lots of strikeouts and inning ending double plays. It's a decent addition to the roster, but the net gain isn't going to make a significant enough difference in runs scored to get the Cubs to the playoffs. Chicago figures to keep it interesting into late summer, but without another stick or two, the Cubs come up short.
4. St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinal's ace Adam Wainwright has had season ending surgery and super-duper-star 1B Albert Pujols is in the final year of his contract and in free agency he is almost certainly destined to become the highest paid player in the history of baseball. Add to that a shaky bullpen, the uncertain health status of starter #2 Chris Carpenter and the addition of at least one rookie arm at the back of the rotation and it makes things look pretty unsettling in St. Louis. Pujols will probably shake off the contract talks enough to still be the game's most productive hitter and Matt Holliday will hit right next to him in the lineup and be just fine - and very productive. Other than that though, too much of the Cardinal's team is an unknown quantity. With the top three teams in the NL Central all within striking distance of one another, and possessing superior overall talent, it's very tough to imagine the Card's cracking the top half of the division this time around.
5. HOUSTON ASTROS The Astros pitching staff is serviceable with the like of Wandy Rodriguez and J.A. Happ. There are some gritty position players like Michael Bourne and Hunter Pence. Houston figures to run a lot and could get some middle of the lineup pop at time with Pence and Carlos Lee. That's where the optimism ends. Scoring runs will be a problem and the bullpen looks questionable on a good day. Because they'll have to manufacture runs, purists and National League afficiandos will likely get a kick watching the Astros play small ball in their quirky park, but it won't lead to much more than 75 wins.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES What is there to say about the Pirates that doesn't sound like a broken record? They haven't had a winning season since the mid 90's. It's almost a certainty that they'll finish at the bottom of the NL Centra - again. It's the longest rebuilding project in seemingly forever. There isn't much to be hopeful about. James McDonald is a very young starter with lots of potential and Andrew McCutcheon is a dazzingly fun player to watch. Oh, the park is beautifully set in downtown Pittsburgh and I know from experience that sausages there are excellent and the city itself is a surprisingly fun place to spend time. Other than that, it's not very pretty. Expect a 90 loss season and wait for Ben Roethlissberger to get in legal trouble again.
NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
1. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS The Giants situation is a lot like the Phillies in that they have stellar starting pitching. And, while their offense has many more question marks and it's unlikely they'll win another World Series, their bullpen is top notch and they should have enough to hold off some very good, but potentially flawed teams in their own division. Pablo Sandoval should have a bounce back season at third base, and while Buster Posey, Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff aren't sexy hitters, they'll score enough runs to keep the G-Men in games. Starters Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are amongst the league's very best pitchers and Madison Baumgartner and Jonathan Sanchez help round out 80% of an impressive staff. While the Rockies and Dodgers hope to make it interesting, I'd bet on San Francisco claiming kings of the division for at least one more year.
2. COLORADO ROCKIES The Rockies were 52-29 last year at home and if they had been able to maintain even a mildly respectable road record, they cold have won the NL West instead of ending up 3rd. The primary reason for their road record was an utter absence of run production away from Coors Field. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and young phenom outfielder Carlos Gonzalez were amazing in Denver, but nothing too special on the road. Ubaldo Jimenez was a lights out starter in the first half last year and tailed off severely after the All-Star break. It's these sort of inconsistencies that will ultimately keep the Rockies out of the playoffs again this year. The talent is certainly there to win the division and a close race until mid-September is likely, but too often mediocrity on offense and shaky pitching on road trips will be the killer.
3. LOS ANGELES DODGERS Don Mattingly is in his first year as manager of the LA Dodgers and he seems like a good fit for the long haul but there is lots of work in front of him. Outfielder Matt Kemp ought to be a dominant five tool player who can make his offense exponentially better all by himself, but in 2010 he was a major disappointment. Terrific young pitchers like Jonathon Broxton, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley have oodles of potential, but were plagued by immaturity last year. Expect somewhat of a step forward and a big progression in the quality of the Dodger bullpen. Unfortunately for LA fans, like so many NL teams, in the end it will be a lack of run production and consistency that will be bite the Dodgers and keep them from a playoff run.
4. SAN DIEGO PADRES When the Padres traded away Adrian Gonzalez they mortgaged any chance at a competitive 2011. Having already overachieved with one power hitter in Gonzalez and a make-shift lineup in 2010, it's impossible to imagine they an score enough runs to make any sort of run at a .500 year. There are some nice things going on in the pitching department in San Diego, especially in the form of Mat Latos, but there is almost zero to get pumped about in the batter's box. A major concern for the future of this club is that they got far too little in prospects back for Gonzalez in the trade with the Red Sox. To be honest even a fourth place in this division right now seems a little optimistic.
5. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Kirk Gibson does seem like a perfect manager. He was a gutty player who got his jersey dirty in every game before batting practice was even done. Sadly, grit and guts won't get you the players you need to win. Starter Daniel Hudson seems like a very nice young arm and he could be a good piece to build a staff around for the future. Even though he is only in his mid-twenties, it seems like we've been waiting forever for outfielder Justin Upton to finally turn into the all-around offensive stud he was promised to be so many years ago. The D-Backs traded away Mark Reynolds to the Orioles and with it went the only other real source of power they had at the plate. It's reasonable to believe that Gibson can help bring the club back to competitive play, but it certainly isn't going to happen any time in the near future.
This is an annual exercise for me and it almost always ends poorly. The baseball season is a long mutha at six full months and in that time a lot can happen: Injuries, trades, and Zack Greinke playing unsupervised basketball. Certainly, none of us can predict those things. So, with that in mind, here are my best guesses as to where the AL teams will stack up come autumn.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
1. BOSTON RED SOX This team is more loaded than the Yankees offensively speaking and their dynamic one-two punch of John Lester and Clay Bucholz in the starting rotation are enough to hold up the aging Josh Beckett and the inconsistent and thus far disappointing Daisuke Matsuzaka. They will score runs almost at will and with the addition of Carl Crawford and the hopes of a healthy Jacoby Ellsbury will run a lot more than your Grandfather's BoSawx ever did. If everyone stays healthy, they should run away and hide in this diivsion.
2. NEW YORK YANKEES The lineup will thunder and Mariano Rivera will again defy his age and be the most dominating closer in the game. But, the rotation is a huge question mark once you get past C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes. Even if the Yankees get good innings from over the hill veterans like Bartolo Colon or Freddie Garcia they still fall far short of the Red Sox in both talent and depth. There's probably enough run production here to win the American League Wild Card, but it will take something close to a miracle to claim a division title away from their Beantown rivals.
3. TAMPA BAY RAYS Too many pieces are missing in too tough of a division to make it back to the playoffs this year for the Rays. The rotation is still young and strong and that alone will win them some games. But they've lost Crawford, Garza, Pena, Balfour, Benoit, and Soriano all in one off-season. Even if young phenom Desmond Jennings can play 140 games and make an immediate impact it just won't be enough to compensate for that outgoing flood of players.
4. BALTIMORE ORIOLES There is a lot to like about the future of the Baltimore Orioles and they'll be better in 2011 than they were in 2010 or 2009 or . . . well you get the picture. However, the starting pitching is still a year or two away from enough consistency to place in the top half of the AL East and while they added some pop with free agent signings Vlad Guerrero and Derek Lee and made a shrewd trade for Mark Reynolds, they will very likely strike out way too much to provide enough regular run production. The bullpen is also likely to give away too many games too often to keep the O's from making a real run at a winning season.
5. TORONTO BLUE JAYS It's going to be a long year in Toronto. The Jays have traded away Shawn Marcum and Vernon Wells and are firmly entrenched in a rebuilding project. There might be some nice bright spots to the year like watching Travis Snider become a big-time ballplayer, but don't expect more than 75 wins in 2011.
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
1. CHICAGO WHITE SOX The 2011 edition of the ChiSox are a classic example of "if" in baseball. "If" Jake Peavey stays healthy and "if" power hitting OF Adam Dunn transitions to the AL, the White Sox are the front-runner in the Central. Conventional wisdom says that this is a safe enough bet to make them the favorite here. The rotation is solid, if not fantastic and they'll score loads of runs in their small park with Dunn, Konerko and Quentin in the middle of the lineup. The Sox have a serviceable, if not terribly sexy, bullpen that more often than not should lock down games late. This could be a banner year for the Southsiders.
2. DETROIT TIGERS The Tigers had a busy winter, snagging Victor Martinez to protect Miguel Cabrera in the lineup and grabbing Joaquin Benoit as a set-up man to closer Jose Valverde. In short, they got better and after a 2010 season filled with injuries and inconsistency, the new look Tigers could put some real pressure on the White Sox for the division title. This was, after all, a team that in 2010 with erratic from it's 3-4-5 slots in the starting rotation and had so many injuries offensively the lineup on a given night could be the Toledo Mud Hens plus Miguel Cabrera. Even with those setbacks the Tigers managed an 81-81 campaign. So, with some good fortune in the health department and the addition of V-Mart there could be a run at a division title in the mix for this year's Detroiters. In the end though, the Tigers rotation still has enough question marks (How productive and healthy can Brad Penny be? Will Phil Coke make a successful transition to starter?) that it will keep the Tigers from being atop the division come year's end.
3. MINNESOTA TWINS Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball and it's probably a mistake to pick the Twins third here considering how Gardy has done so much with so little for the least several years. However, the White Sox and Tigers got better this past winter and the Twins lost some very key pieces to their bullpen. Sure, Mauer and Morneau are a great threat in the middle of that lineup, but they've both struggled with health and the rest of the lineup is nothing more than average. The rotation is solid, but not spectacular and there is lots of talk the Twins are looking to move their ace Fransisco Liriano before the trade deadline. The top three teams in the AL Central might be the best race for a division in baseball this year and they'll all be within a scant few games of each other, but the Twins are likely to come up just a little short.
4. CLEVELAND INDIANS The Indians know they can't compete this year and in some respects that's best for the franchise. It will give manager Manny Acta a chance to really work with up and coming youngsters like catcher Carlos Santana, and starters Carlos Carrasco and Justin Masterson to give them lots of big league experience and chart what the Indians hope will be their rapid growth. The lack of a competitive chance will also afford Grady Sizemore an opportunity to get healthy on a reasonable time table and hope he can come back to be something like the player he was a few years ago. Rumors abound that Fausto Carmona will be on the block by mid-year and this might allow the Tribe to further stock the cupboards for the future. Look for individual improvement from the rising stars and enjoy the hot dogs at Progressive Field this year because it's going to be a very long summer in Cleveland.
5. KANSAS CITY ROYALS The Royals feel almost like permanent cellar dwellers in the AL Central and this year promises to be no different. While the Royals may have more talent in their farm system than any other club in MLB, they won't put much of a product on the field this year. Rookies like SS Alicedes Escobar and 3B Mike Moustakas figure to get some time and could be fun to watch, but it can't make up for a nothing lineup around Billy Butler and a pitching staff that just traded away the only thing it hid going in Zack Greinke. Pundits claim big things for the Royals in years to come, but it ain't coming anytime soon.
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
1. OAKLAND A's In 2010, the A's allowed fewer runs than any team in in the Major Leagues. Their core of young starters is all back, and with another year's experience under their belts. While Oakland didn't go out and make sexy winter-time pickups, they did trade for Josh Willingham and sign a free agent deal for Hideki Matsui to help bolster a very anemic offense. By adding Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, GM Billy Bean shrewdly upgraded the effectiveness of his bullpen. Sure, this week's injury to closer Andrew Bailey is a blow, but even if the news is bad and Bailey misses most or all of the year, the Oakland bullpen will still be better in 2011 than it was in 2010. The Giants proved again last year that pitching and defense win championships and in the AL West where the gap last year between Texas and Oakland was just 9 games, Oakland has the pitching depth and enough offense to get over the hump this year.
2. TEXAS RANGERS In a few short years (or even months) the Rangers will be happy they didn't end up signing Cliff Lee. An expensive offer of a six year deal to a pitcher in his early 30's with a history of back trouble is almost certain to blow up in the face of the GM who pulls it off and the Rangers may have more room in the coming years to make smart baseball moves. In 2011 though, the Rangers will miss Lee a great deal. Even though he only won 13 regular season games last year he helped to take a great deal of pressure off the rest of the starting staff. Much of that staff flew in under the radar and went quietly abut its business for the bulk of the year unnoticed. Now, the Rangers will have to contend with being favorites to win their own division and the spectre of defending a pennant. There is talk of moving closer and Rookie Of The Year winner, Neftali Feliz to the starting rotation. Not only does this leave a huge hole in the back end of their bullpen, but it creates a real problem if Feliz is unsuccessful at making the transition. It's a huge gamble. The Rangers offense is good, but their pitching got a whole lot worse and not even the addition of slugging 3B Adrian Beltre can help the Rangers overcome what are sure to be some pitching inconsistencies. It'll be a close race much of the year, but the task will be too great for the Rangers in the end.
3. LA ANGELS The Angels had a rough Hot Stove session in the winter of 2010-2011. They were rumored for almost every big name free agent this side of Cliff Lee. Thought to be players for Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano and Adrian Beltre, the Angels shocked the talking heads by signing exactly none of those players. After a third place finish in 2010 they stood pat during the free agent boom times. They made a nice solid trade for Vernon Wells and he's sure to help them and will be a nice compliment to their lineup. The bullpen however, is another story altogether. Soriano is the guy who could have really turned it around quick in Anaheim. Most analysts predict that Fernando Rodney has lost the confidence of the Angels management team and will be out on his ear by July. The rest of the pen isn't that great, either. The team may score some runs and even get some solid starting pitching from its front-liners Jered Weaver and Dan Haren. While the rest of the rotation is fairly decent it can't overcome an aging lineup with stalwarts Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu one year older and a half step slower and an extremely shaky bullpen. The AL West may produce the champion with the lowest total of any division in MLB, but that champ won't likely be the Angels.
4. SEATTLE MARINERS The Mariners are going to be bad again in 2011. Last year, lots of fans and writers drank the Kool-Aid and sat eagerly awaiting the M's to take home the AL West crown last year. It never happened. This year will be no different. Sure, they have Felix Hernandez and the inimitable Ichiro, but the rest of their squad is just a mess. Chone Figgins showed his age last year and there is no power threat at all in this lineup. Other than King Felix, the rotation is a hodge-podge of prospect potential and journeyman underachievers. Young talent like Dustin Ackley will surface, maybe even before September call-ups but this team can really only get you to the ballpark to watch its two superstars. Other than that, it's a lot like watching the Kansas City Royals in a nicer park.
Monday morning on his radio show, Glenn Beck pontificated that perhaps the massive earthquake, subsequent aftershocks and tsunami in Japan over the past several days were perhaps a message from God. Beck said about the earthquake that "there's a message being sent. And that is, 'Hey, you know that stuff we're doing? Not really working out real well. Maybe we should stop doing some of it.' I'm just saying."
This sort of thing is not new. Nearly every natural disaster finds someone trying to find a way to put a spin on what God's message could be with a given particular tragedy. There is after all, a lot of wrong in the world and many people who are fervent in their belief of a supreme being, look to figure out why the people involved in the tragedy are being punished. For so many people who believe so heartily in a divine being, they look for logical answers where none seem to exist. They assume that some modern day tale of Sodom and Gomorrah is being lived out while they watch Fox News.
I cannot help but think that this sort of doomsday approach is not only unfortunate, but also counter-productive in the least. One of the primary tenets of nearly every organized religion on earth is to allow people comfort and understanding in times when life is overwhelming. While I myself am not religious, I can completely understand how the current situation in Japan could put one in a position to need something very large on which to lean. A power greater than one's self at a time like this could surely be comforting. But the suffering are looking for relief, not a condemnation. To turn around and use religion as a device to blame people during their suffering is shameful. Beck has debased not only the horrible loss and pain of an entire nation as it deals with this catastrophe, but has also embarrassed and defiled the precepts of Christianity for his own notoriety and personal gain. Beck is not searching for lessons within the rubble, but the opportunity for more book readers and radio listeners.
I try to imagine Glenn Beck dealing with the loss of his family in the midst of a disaster. How would he feel if Rachel Maddow used a bully pulpit to theorize that the horrible pain he was suffering was a message from God for his intolerance of homosexuals and minorities? Even in the outlandishly improbability that the statement was even remotely true, it would be insensitive and unnecessary. His pain would be greater than before, not lessened. So, in a way, it would be just salt in the wound. Maddow would only be making the statement for personal gain and/or to put Beck through the ringer. Not to illuminate a misstep he had made along the way. As much as I'd like to see Mr. Beck squirm, taking advantage of a personal tragedy would be nothing short of unconscionable.
That is exactly what Beck is doing here - pouring salt into the wound of Japan's national nightmare. No being, divine or real is to be blamed for what Japan is going through. It's a natural disaster with a scientific explanation and grim consequences. Furthermore, if you believe in a God who do would this sort of thing to innocent people to manifest an object lesson you'd better check your conscience and good sense the next time you step into church because you're playing for the wrong team. Belief in a God who would do something like this borders on the insane. Blind allegiance to a talking head who would spout such horrifying nonsense belongs in precisely the same category.
When I was a kid, autmunal Sundays almost always consisted of three things: Detroit Lions football, a slow cooked Sunday meal and my mother doing schoolwork. Often these three endeavors co-mingled. The game would go on in the background while my Dad and I prepped a soup or a stew and my Mom sat on the couch lesson planning for the week, reading essays and correcting papers. Most Sundays it took all afternoon and there was usually some Saturday time already sprinkled in to the weekend plans. In short, Deborah Carlson did homework every night and every weekend until she retired in her late fifties.
I learned at an early age that this is what teachers do. They do their homework. They plan lessons. For every piece of work they assign, they get the pleasure of getting that work back to correct and critique. This is not heroic. This is not particularly special or out of the ordinary. Right now, while you read this, teachers in your community are doing this very thing. This is what teachers do.
For my mother and scores of teachers just like her, there were curriculum council meetings, parent teacher conferences, board meetings, tutoring sessions and kids she brought home to have dinner with us and maybe even stay the night if they had no place else to go. This is what teachers do.
We would go on family outings to the movies or the grocery store and sometimes we'd run into my mother's students. They would hug her and call her Senora - a dead giveaway for one of her myriad Spanish students - she would smile and ask about their lives, especially when they were former students she hadn't seen for years. The student would invariably turn my way and tell me how great my Mom was and that she was their favorite teacher and how much she helped to make school important or great or easier for them. I would feel proud of her just because she seemed to care so genuinely about so many people she would only know for a short time. This is what teachers do.
After more than twenty years of teaching, my mother went back to school and finished a Master's degree that she paid for with her own money. Governmental requirements mandated that she finish an accelerated degree and she did so even though it had almost no bearing on her abilities as a teacher. While she did receive a raise, it was a paltry sum when viewed in relation to the money, time and energy spent to obtain it. She did this after more than four years of under-grad work and working for nine months for which she paid tuition to work a full time job under trial by fire. The State of Michigan requires this from all of its public school teachers in order to be certified. This is what teachers do.
The average UPS driver makes $58,707 per year. Most of these positions require no more education than a high school diploma, nor do they require any unpaid apprenticeship or a pay for play entry program. The benefits package for a typical driver is comparable to that of most State of Michigan teaching positions (Michigan offers some of the best in the country) and you can be eligible to up to as many as 7 weeks of vacation time per year. Contrast that with the average salary of tenured teacher in the State of Michigan which is $54.739. This is not an indictment of the value of a UPS driver or the level of their work ethic. However, at the end of a driver's shift once all the packages have been delivered, they can leave work and not have to take it home with them. Most nights, teachers will spend time grading, correcting, tutoring, planning and consulting after the work day has ended. This is what teachers do.
Perhaps the most commonly overlooked aspect of the teacher compensation argument is the actual value of what they really do. It's often said that being a parent is the world's most difficult profession. If there is even a shred of truth to this maxim, then every teacher is tackling the toughest job around on a daily basis. Playing educator, role model, ethics instructor, counselor, confidant, psychologist and dozens of other roles while many of their student's parents remain almost completely uninvolved. These kids count on their teachers and whether or not you realize it, so do you. Right now, they're teaching life lessons and basic skills to the next generation of doctors, lawyers, senators and mechanics. They're molding lives and shaping the future. This is what teachers do.
