Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Bathroom Remodel - almost done!
So after MONTHS of work (well maybe "month" of work and a break that started back at Easter and finally ended Labor Day Weekend) my bathroom is close enough to finished to make me happy. Just needs a little paint on the window frames and some kind of curtains and we are DONE!
Before: stark white bathroom with peach counter tops. Yeah, I said peach. Sigh. It's a really great master bathroom with double sink, whirlpool tub, separate room with commode and shower, and a walk-in closet. Needed updating plus the shower just had a rod/curtain which is a pain to keep clean.
Here are some pics of the process. This is Joe putting tile on the wall above the shower, and the new shower door. No more mildewy curtains! Yeah! Oh, and there's a toilet now where that roll of paper towels is on the floor. LOL
Bathtub: Kept the tub, put new tile around walls and tub, created new front panel to hide motor for jets, added heater so the water stays at 104 degrees. Because having a 65 gallon tub and a 40 gallon hot water tank just wasn't working for me!
And here is my beautiful double sink. I truly believe that the "Double Sink" was invented by a married guy who got tired of moving all of his wife's crap out of his way so he could brush his teeth and shave! And the counter tile comes in sheets of 16x16 glass tiles. I did not make Joe lay out hundreds of little one inch tiles.
Before: stark white bathroom with peach counter tops. Yeah, I said peach. Sigh. It's a really great master bathroom with double sink, whirlpool tub, separate room with commode and shower, and a walk-in closet. Needed updating plus the shower just had a rod/curtain which is a pain to keep clean.
Here are some pics of the process. This is Joe putting tile on the wall above the shower, and the new shower door. No more mildewy curtains! Yeah! Oh, and there's a toilet now where that roll of paper towels is on the floor. LOL
Bathtub: Kept the tub, put new tile around walls and tub, created new front panel to hide motor for jets, added heater so the water stays at 104 degrees. Because having a 65 gallon tub and a 40 gallon hot water tank just wasn't working for me!
And here is my beautiful double sink. I truly believe that the "Double Sink" was invented by a married guy who got tired of moving all of his wife's crap out of his way so he could brush his teeth and shave! And the counter tile comes in sheets of 16x16 glass tiles. I did not make Joe lay out hundreds of little one inch tiles.
Hockey? Yeah, I love it...
The Olympic Games use to be a very big deal in this country, especially the Winter Olympics. Growing up in Ohio where there is a lot of snow from November until March, we were always looking for excuses to stay in the house. Mom was a firm believer in fresh air - and I suspect getting us out of the house on snow days - so we were bundled up and sent out whenever possible. Except during the Winter Olympics. Mom would make hot chocolate and my brother, sister, and I would sit with her during the day and watch whatever events were on TV.We loved Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. I wanted to be Dorothy Hamil. The skiing was amazing and the jumps - Whoa! They still take my breath away. We laughed about forming our own family curling team, and I even took curling as a phys ed elective in college. And we watched hockey.
Like many people, I first fell in love with hockey in 1980 during the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, NY. Growing up during the "Cold War" is hard to explain to kids now. We had nuclear bomb drills at school where we were told that we would be safe under our desks. We watched movies like "War Games" and "Red Dawn" and even "Rocky IV" where we were told over and over about the evil Soviet Union. And we were afraid. But when the US Men's hockey team defeated the team from the USSR we shed some of that fear. We revelled in our victory as a nation. And hockey fans all over the USA were born.
When it came time for me to pick a college in 1984, I chose Bowling Green State University. Not because they had a great academic program for my chosen major or because they were close to home. I chose them simply because the BGSU Falcons won the NCAA Hockey Championship that year. Cleveland did not have a hockey team between 1978 and 1992 and I wanted to see hockey. I also wanted to see a winning program. Plus, their colors were brown and orange just like my Cleveland Browns.One of the girls that lived across the hall from me in my freshman dorm was from Buffalo, NY, and was a Sabres fan. So, I became a Sabres fan. My favorite player was their goalie, Tom Barrasso. Coincidentally, when I got married in 1987, my husband was going to grad school at SUNY Buffalo so we lived in Cheektowaga, NY, for 3 years. I got to see actual Sabre games, and also Buffalo Bill football games in Orchard Park. I was still a Cleveland Browns fan, but during those years, I could root for the "home" team and enjoy Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith.
After moving back to Ohio, we started having kids so it was much harder to keep up with hockey news, especially because we didn't have any hockey teams in NE Ohio. I'm not sure why Cleveland has never been a big hockey town. It seems like the perfect place to me, but then again, being a Browns fan takes a lot of strength and heart and hope so maybe there's just not much left for anything else.
So all of this leads me to the fact that we do have hockey in Cleveland: The Lake Erie Monsters. They are the AHL affiliate of the NHL Colorado
Avalanche. The AHL is the primary developmental league for the NHL. It has four divisions and we are in the North, along with Grand Rapids Griffins, Hamilton Bulldogs, Rochester Americans, and Toronto Marlies. The Monsters finished 2nd in the division last year with a record of 44-28 and went to the playoffs. They lost a tough seven game series to Manitoba 3-4 but at least they made the playoffs! I think this years team has a shot at winning the North and I'm hopeful for a great hockey season this year. Opening game is October 7th at Quicken Loans Arena. I'll be writing more about them as the season gets underway so I hope you are ready for hockey news. I know we are a town full of football fans, but seriously, hockey is awesome plus they play on all different days of the week and I know that waiting on next Sunday to get here when it's only Tuesday can be pretty boring. Hockey can help spice things up a bit! Trust me.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Lingerie Football League. Really?
I had the pleasure of going to the Cleveland Indians game on Friday night for the "Jim Thome-coming" celebration with my husband and some friends. I had a great time at the game, ate TOO many hot dogs (7.5 to be exact) and watched a 16 year-old girl enjoy her first ever major sporting event. Overall it was a wonderful evening that will give me more Indians Memories to add to my list. And then I started looking at Twitter and seeing tweets about the Cleveland Crush.
I'm quite addicted to Twitter. I love to send out random tweets during the day when I should be hard at work. I love tweeting during sporting events and chatting with other fans - whether we agree or not - about the Indians and Browns. I'm looking forward to hockey season this year because I've found some tweeps who like hockey as much as I do. Should be a fun season. But at the Indians game Friday, amongst all of the tweets about the Tribe game, I started seeing tweets about the Lingerie Football League and their game that night at the Q. Oy.
The Cleveland Crush is the Lingerie Football League team in Cleveland. Yes, you read that right. Ladies that play full contact football wearing uniform-like bras and panties. And that is my problem. There were tweets all night from the guys that were going to the game talking about how hot the girls were. I saw a few actually related to how they were playing but even after searching high and low through my time line the next morning, I never did see a final score or if the Crush won or lost. That tells me the people tweeting weren't there for a sporting event. They were there to check out the girls.
I'm all in favor of equal opportunities for women. I'm a big fan of Title 9 and making sure girls have access to sports and scholarships in high school and college. But when you take a sport and turn it into a spectator event, you cheapen the sport and the people playing. I've seen some stories on the ladies playing for the Crush and they are very talented. They work hard and are very good at the game of football. I could never take a hit like they do or catch a pass thrown hard right at me. But I wouldn't even try if I was required to do it in my underwear.
Women's rights have taken quite a few steps back in recent years. As a woman, I still think that a gentleman should open the door for me. That is just polite. That has nothing to do with equal rights. And I think that there is definitely a place for a woman's professional football league. I just truly believe that making the women wear skimpy outfits demeans all women and makes it harder for men to take us seriously in other areas beyond the arena.
Don't try to tell me that I'm overreacting. I asked six different women that I am friends with and that are big sports fans if they knew the name of the Cleveland Lingerie Football League Team and they didn't even know what I was talking about. I asked six men and they all knew, smiled and said they couldn't wait to watch it on TV. To call this a sport, when it is only marketed to horny guys and is shown on MTV2 is a joke, and it saddens me that any women at all were willing to participate.
Now, you can call me jealous or say that if I was a "hot young thing" I'd have a different opinion, but I will tell you that you are very, very wrong. I am a fan of both women AND the game of football. To cheapen either with this kind of "entertainment" is wrong. And sad - very, very sad. No, there aren't any pictures in this blog. If you want to see pictures of the ladies playing in their "uniforms" then you are exactly the audience the league is looking for and you should just go spend your time and money at Christie's or the Diamond Men's Club. At least those kinds of places are honest about what they are doing and don't try to pass themselves off as anything else.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
I'm quite addicted to Twitter. I love to send out random tweets during the day when I should be hard at work. I love tweeting during sporting events and chatting with other fans - whether we agree or not - about the Indians and Browns. I'm looking forward to hockey season this year because I've found some tweeps who like hockey as much as I do. Should be a fun season. But at the Indians game Friday, amongst all of the tweets about the Tribe game, I started seeing tweets about the Lingerie Football League and their game that night at the Q. Oy.
The Cleveland Crush is the Lingerie Football League team in Cleveland. Yes, you read that right. Ladies that play full contact football wearing uniform-like bras and panties. And that is my problem. There were tweets all night from the guys that were going to the game talking about how hot the girls were. I saw a few actually related to how they were playing but even after searching high and low through my time line the next morning, I never did see a final score or if the Crush won or lost. That tells me the people tweeting weren't there for a sporting event. They were there to check out the girls.
I'm all in favor of equal opportunities for women. I'm a big fan of Title 9 and making sure girls have access to sports and scholarships in high school and college. But when you take a sport and turn it into a spectator event, you cheapen the sport and the people playing. I've seen some stories on the ladies playing for the Crush and they are very talented. They work hard and are very good at the game of football. I could never take a hit like they do or catch a pass thrown hard right at me. But I wouldn't even try if I was required to do it in my underwear.
Women's rights have taken quite a few steps back in recent years. As a woman, I still think that a gentleman should open the door for me. That is just polite. That has nothing to do with equal rights. And I think that there is definitely a place for a woman's professional football league. I just truly believe that making the women wear skimpy outfits demeans all women and makes it harder for men to take us seriously in other areas beyond the arena.
Don't try to tell me that I'm overreacting. I asked six different women that I am friends with and that are big sports fans if they knew the name of the Cleveland Lingerie Football League Team and they didn't even know what I was talking about. I asked six men and they all knew, smiled and said they couldn't wait to watch it on TV. To call this a sport, when it is only marketed to horny guys and is shown on MTV2 is a joke, and it saddens me that any women at all were willing to participate.
Now, you can call me jealous or say that if I was a "hot young thing" I'd have a different opinion, but I will tell you that you are very, very wrong. I am a fan of both women AND the game of football. To cheapen either with this kind of "entertainment" is wrong. And sad - very, very sad. No, there aren't any pictures in this blog. If you want to see pictures of the ladies playing in their "uniforms" then you are exactly the audience the league is looking for and you should just go spend your time and money at Christie's or the Diamond Men's Club. At least those kinds of places are honest about what they are doing and don't try to pass themselves off as anything else.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
Saturday, September 17, 2011
CFB Picks - By Mascot - Week 3
EDITOR'S NOTE: Final record 3-3. I guess the Mascot Theory doesn't work. Perhaps next week I'll do it by uniform color..... :)
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As we get close to kick off for the Week 3 NCAA College Football games, I was scanning my twitter timeline and saw a tweet that actually made me spit coffee on my screen...
@VinnieP52
Don't know anything about Michigan St.
@Jobu_Lives
their mascot wears a skirt
Yep, "Sparty" wears a skirt. Does that fact alone doom Michigan State to lose to Notre Dame? The ND mascot, after all, is a drunken leprechaun.... Which gave me the idea to pick six games this week based solely on mascot. I'm just trying to have a bit of fun so just sit back, enjoy, and don't get offended.
1. Michigan State (15) vs Notre Dame: Guy in a skirt vs leprechaun. I think Mich loses their first game of the year today so yeah, I'm taking ND.
2. West Virginia (18) vs Maryland: Mountaineers literally eat turtles for lunch. Turtle soup. I've had some, it ain't bad. Gotta take WV on this one.
3. Eastern Michigan vs Michigan: Eagles and Wolverines. Aside from being my favorite X-men character, Wolverines are nasty little buggers. Gotta take UM. Sigh.
4. Pittsburgh vs Iowa: Panthers and Hawkeyes, hmmmm.... If it was the whole hawk I'd be like sure they'll win, but just the eyes? Ew. Or is it like "Hawkeye" Pierce from M*A*S*H? Great doc but had a bit of a drinking problem. Either way does not bode well for Iowa. Taking Pittsburgh on this one.
5. Oklahoma (1) vs Florida State (5): Sooners taking on Seminoles. Wow - this is straight out of American History Books. Rugged old west families trying to make a new life by crushing the spirit of a proud Native American race? I think it's payback time for the tribe. I'm taking the Seminoles.
6. OSU Buckeyes (17)
vs University of Miami Hurricanes: Yes, hurricanes are mighty meteorological events, but Buckeye trees thrive because they bend and don't break. Taking the Buckeyes in this one. (Big shocker, I know)
And that's it for me. Good Luck Notre Dame, Florida State, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Michigan and THE Ohio State University. If you lose today, at least you can console yourselves with the fact that your mascots are bad-ass. HA.
Hope you enjoy the games, regardless of who wins!
Respectfully Submitted,
K8
***********************************************
As we get close to kick off for the Week 3 NCAA College Football games, I was scanning my twitter timeline and saw a tweet that actually made me spit coffee on my screen... @VinnieP52
Don't know anything about Michigan St.
@Jobu_Lives
their mascot wears a skirt
Yep, "Sparty" wears a skirt. Does that fact alone doom Michigan State to lose to Notre Dame? The ND mascot, after all, is a drunken leprechaun.... Which gave me the idea to pick six games this week based solely on mascot. I'm just trying to have a bit of fun so just sit back, enjoy, and don't get offended.
1. Michigan State (15) vs Notre Dame: Guy in a skirt vs leprechaun. I think Mich loses their first game of the year today so yeah, I'm taking ND.
2. West Virginia (18) vs Maryland: Mountaineers literally eat turtles for lunch. Turtle soup. I've had some, it ain't bad. Gotta take WV on this one.3. Eastern Michigan vs Michigan: Eagles and Wolverines. Aside from being my favorite X-men character, Wolverines are nasty little buggers. Gotta take UM. Sigh.
4. Pittsburgh vs Iowa: Panthers and Hawkeyes, hmmmm.... If it was the whole hawk I'd be like sure they'll win, but just the eyes? Ew. Or is it like "Hawkeye" Pierce from M*A*S*H? Great doc but had a bit of a drinking problem. Either way does not bode well for Iowa. Taking Pittsburgh on this one.
5. Oklahoma (1) vs Florida State (5): Sooners taking on Seminoles. Wow - this is straight out of American History Books. Rugged old west families trying to make a new life by crushing the spirit of a proud Native American race? I think it's payback time for the tribe. I'm taking the Seminoles.
6. OSU Buckeyes (17)
vs University of Miami Hurricanes: Yes, hurricanes are mighty meteorological events, but Buckeye trees thrive because they bend and don't break. Taking the Buckeyes in this one. (Big shocker, I know)And that's it for me. Good Luck Notre Dame, Florida State, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Michigan and THE Ohio State University. If you lose today, at least you can console yourselves with the fact that your mascots are bad-ass. HA.
Hope you enjoy the games, regardless of who wins!
Respectfully Submitted,
K8
Friday, September 16, 2011
OY! OchoCinco!
We are all familiar with social media like Twitter. One of the things that I like about it is the interaction with professional athletes. For example, I follow Chris Perez and Scott Fujita. There are a ton of players on twitter but these are just two guys that are active – they tweet every day, they answer fans tweets, they bring us – the fan – into their world a little bit. They also open themselves up to criticism. Fans that are angry about a certain play or game feel like they can criticize the players on twitter – like it’s ok to say mean and nasty things to someone who missed a tackle or blew a save. Well;, I say its not ok. As fans, we have to remember that athletes are people as well as pros’ and we need to behave a little better.
But the athletes are finding a new down side to twitter coming from their peers – everything they say is getting reviewed by other athletes, commentators, sports professionals. An example of this happened to OchoCinco. Now, we all know that Ocho is quite a character. Along with being one of the best WR of the past few years, and perhaps the best to ever wear a Bengals uniform, he is also an outspoken personality who uses the media to enhance his public persona. Well, you gotta take the good with the bad when you do that.
Ocho tweeted last week about how amazed he was to watch Tom Brady in action as he threw for over 500 yards against the Miami Dolphins. And Teddy Bruschi came down hard on him – just ripping him all over ESPN for “sitting back and watching instead of being part of the team.”
I don’t understand where Bruschi was coming from. It entirely possible there are other issues at play here and not just that tweet. Kind of like when I yell at my husband about dirty socks on the floor when I’m really mad that he forgot our anniversary. If Bruschi is upset about some other issue with Ocho or the Patriots, that's fine. But he needs to own up to them and tell us what is really bothering him. Hiding behind a tweet is ridiculous, especially when so many other things that Ocho has said and done over the years were far more worthy of his disdain.
But as a Browns fan and someone who’s watched a lot of AFC North football, I can see how watching Brady was very different for Ochocinco than watching Carson Palmer. Don’t get me wrong, Palmer is a very good quarterback, but he’s no Tom Brady. While Ocho and Tom may have had their differences when they were on opposite sides of the field, I'm fairly certain they will find a way to "click" now that they are on the same team.Lighten up on the Ocho a bit, Bruschi. I think it's was great that an NFL player can still enjoy the beauty of football and be amazed at what someone like Tom Brady could do. I know it amazes me every Sunday.
Respectfully Submitted,
K8
Monday, September 12, 2011
This week is why I need Fantasy Football
Week 1 of the NFL is almost in the books. Just two games left and then it's on to start planning your party and tailgating activities for Week 2. Unless you are a fan of teams like the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, or Kansas City Chiefs. YOU are left today with a bad taste in your mouth, a sense of foreboding that a really bad season looms ahead of you. 
A depression from a poorly played game that will linger all week. Unless you play fantasy football.
One thing I like about baseball is there are games nearly every day of the week. Days off are rare, so when you suffer a humiliating - or just ugly - loss, you don't have time to dwell on it. There's another game tomorrow. But the NFL is a different animal. There are only 16 games and they are (usually) a week apart. That is seven days for you to over analyze and agonize over each and every mistake your team made. Seven days for you to swear you knew they couldn't win and brag about how you tweeted that they were going to lose. And then Saturday arrives and you start talking smack again with this week's opponent. You wash your game-day jersey and pack the cooler to head down to the stadium on Sunday. And it starts all over again.
I use to spend Sunday night and all day Monday in a "Football Hangover." I'd get so frustrated during games that my family makes me watch them in a separate room. I scream and yell at the TV, I pace, I throw things, I have a referee voodoo doll that I rip to pieces. And when they win I celebrate in the front yard doing my happy dance wrapped in my Brownie the Elf flag. But if they lose, my family is ordering pizza for dinner, tip-toeing around the house, and avoiding me until Tuesday.
This year, Opening Day was especially difficult. I am a world renowned "Kool-aid" drinker. I bought into everything. I tried to keep some objectivity and realize that there would be problems, but oh lord, not like that. To make matters worse, we lost power just as the 3rd quarter of the Browns - Bengals game was starting so I didn't even get to SEE anything for the rest of the game. Listening on the radio isn't helpful to me. I actually like to watch the linemen, the secondary, check out how the routes are being run, etc. I try to see the good things so that if the game ends badly I have some positives to build off of for next week. Not so much today.
But wait. What is that? What is calling my name out of the depths of my depression and telling me that I have to go on, I have to live, I have a purpose? Fantasy Football! I am in six leagues this year. This is the most I have tried to do in my seven years of playing Fantasy Football. Perhaps it was a psychic voice in the back of my head warning me that I would need the distraction during (yet another) rebuilding year. I don't know.
What I do know is that instead of scarring my grandson for life by having him witness me having a complete conniption fit followed by a nervous breakdown yesterday, I was able to look forward to the Cowboys - Jets game. I was able to celebrate each yard gained by Dez Bryant as it took two (yes, TWO) of my FFL teams closer to victory. I was able to live again. I was able to find joy in football games that did not include the Browns.
So, when you are gathered around the water cooler today talking smack and boasting about the great moves you made in benching Jermichael Finley and starting Ben Watson (yeah, that's me), and someone walks by and says "I just don't understand your fixation with Fantasy Football" never fear.
I understand. When you love a professional team that always seems to find ways to let you down, it's the Fantasy world you can turn to for happiness.
However, if your Fantasy Football team sucks just as bad as the pro team you love, remember one thing: Dr Kate is in the house and is here to help you. Just tweet me @ClvlndK8 anytime and I will help you work through your depression as well as the tough lineup decisions. We are in this together!
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
A depression from a poorly played game that will linger all week. Unless you play fantasy football.One thing I like about baseball is there are games nearly every day of the week. Days off are rare, so when you suffer a humiliating - or just ugly - loss, you don't have time to dwell on it. There's another game tomorrow. But the NFL is a different animal. There are only 16 games and they are (usually) a week apart. That is seven days for you to over analyze and agonize over each and every mistake your team made. Seven days for you to swear you knew they couldn't win and brag about how you tweeted that they were going to lose. And then Saturday arrives and you start talking smack again with this week's opponent. You wash your game-day jersey and pack the cooler to head down to the stadium on Sunday. And it starts all over again.
I use to spend Sunday night and all day Monday in a "Football Hangover." I'd get so frustrated during games that my family makes me watch them in a separate room. I scream and yell at the TV, I pace, I throw things, I have a referee voodoo doll that I rip to pieces. And when they win I celebrate in the front yard doing my happy dance wrapped in my Brownie the Elf flag. But if they lose, my family is ordering pizza for dinner, tip-toeing around the house, and avoiding me until Tuesday.
This year, Opening Day was especially difficult. I am a world renowned "Kool-aid" drinker. I bought into everything. I tried to keep some objectivity and realize that there would be problems, but oh lord, not like that. To make matters worse, we lost power just as the 3rd quarter of the Browns - Bengals game was starting so I didn't even get to SEE anything for the rest of the game. Listening on the radio isn't helpful to me. I actually like to watch the linemen, the secondary, check out how the routes are being run, etc. I try to see the good things so that if the game ends badly I have some positives to build off of for next week. Not so much today.
But wait. What is that? What is calling my name out of the depths of my depression and telling me that I have to go on, I have to live, I have a purpose? Fantasy Football! I am in six leagues this year. This is the most I have tried to do in my seven years of playing Fantasy Football. Perhaps it was a psychic voice in the back of my head warning me that I would need the distraction during (yet another) rebuilding year. I don't know.
What I do know is that instead of scarring my grandson for life by having him witness me having a complete conniption fit followed by a nervous breakdown yesterday, I was able to look forward to the Cowboys - Jets game. I was able to celebrate each yard gained by Dez Bryant as it took two (yes, TWO) of my FFL teams closer to victory. I was able to live again. I was able to find joy in football games that did not include the Browns.
So, when you are gathered around the water cooler today talking smack and boasting about the great moves you made in benching Jermichael Finley and starting Ben Watson (yeah, that's me), and someone walks by and says "I just don't understand your fixation with Fantasy Football" never fear.
I understand. When you love a professional team that always seems to find ways to let you down, it's the Fantasy world you can turn to for happiness. However, if your Fantasy Football team sucks just as bad as the pro team you love, remember one thing: Dr Kate is in the house and is here to help you. Just tweet me @ClvlndK8 anytime and I will help you work through your depression as well as the tough lineup decisions. We are in this together!
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
Monday, September 5, 2011
Why can't Cleveland get behind the Tribe?
With the most important series of the season starting today at home against the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Indians face an off-the-field dilemma: where are out fans? Why isn't Progressive Field sold out? Why is this pennant race being ignored by so many people? Why can't Cleveland get behind the Tribe? To answer this, I have to go back a bit in time. And share a bit of my personal history with you so you understand where my opinion comes from.As a woman who likes sports, nothing makes me madder than when my opinion is discounted because of my gender. I know more about sports than most of the guys I come into contact with on a daily basis, and I have no problem sharing my thoughts and opinions with them. I laugh when the "new guy" at work looks at me strangely when I say something about sports and the other guys are all like "dude, she knows what she's saying. Don't roll your eyes." Which is why I am deeply ashamed of the way I treated my mother.
We moved from California to Ohio right before my 9th birthday in 1975. My parents are both from Pittsburgh, so it made sense that dad would be a Steelers fan. Mom liked them too, but she also like the Miami Dolphins since her cousin Doug Crusan played for them at the time. I, naturally, loved the Browns. Sure, part of it was rebellion against dad, but the other part was that Browns information was the vast majority of what I could find. This was the 1970's people. If you wanted sports information, you got about 8 minutes on the evening news or else you had to read a newspaper. And almost all of the information was about local teams.
I would read the paper on Monday to see how the Browns had done then dad and I would talk about it, argue about it, share it, while mom looked on. We never included her in those conversations. Dad wasn't much into any other sports so it was all about football. As I grew older, I learned baseball and basketball, but I did that on my own. After my mom died of cancer in 2007, I was helping dad go through some boxes in the basement and I came across a box full of baseball memorabilia. Apparently, mom loved baseball. Who knew? When I asked dad about this he said "oh, yeah, she and her sister use to go to games in Pittsburgh all the time back in the 40's and 50's." She had old baseball cards and newspaper clippings with box scores circled or simply cut out and clipped together highlighting her favorite players.
So now I am ashamed and saddened that I never talked with mom about sports. I can't be sure about why she never brought up the subject with me, but as a mom of four daughters I can guess the reason. When my girls find something to talk about with their dad, to connect with him, I try to stay out of it and let them have their time together. Maybe mom figured that sports was something for me and dad to connect with but I really wish she had told me about baseball. I'm sure she had some great stories and I missed out on that.
Which brings us back to today and the Cleveland Indians. As I said, dad wasn't into baseball so we didn't go to games. But I remember my friends going to games, taking their gloves in case of a foul ball no matter where there seats were, buying pennants to hang up in their rooms. There were baseball fields (sandlots) all over and kids would gather after school or on Saturday's and play. Most of us who are 40 or over share these memories. But that has changed for the next generation.
My kids were not raised on baseball because we were a "Football Family." They didn't play with friends in the neighborhood or go to Jacob's field to watch the Tribe. I was a stay-home mom but most other kids were at a babysitters or in day care. There were no other kids in the neighborhood anymore. On Saturday, the baseball fields were being used by organized leagues so if you weren't "organized" you couldn't play. And Jacob's Field never felt to me like a classic baseball field.
From 1995-1999 we had no football so I gave baseball a chance. I went to quite a few games at Jacob's Field and took my daughters. Frankly, it didn't feel the way I thought baseball would feel. It wasn't like the movies. It was corporate guys in pink polo shirts eating sushi and talking on their cell phones. It wasn't dads & kids with gloves and beers watching the action on the field. It just felt wrong. So I watch at home or listen to the radio. And I guess my "lack of attendance" is being interpreted as "not being behind the Tribe."
I think that plays into what the Cleveland Indians are seeing now. A generation of people who were raised on a different kind of baseball and who are not comfortable at Jacob's Field/Progressive Field. Football came back, the Indians record got worse, and people stopped going to the games. It's easy to say this is just a football town, or that after everything that Cleveland sports fans have been through we are afraid to "Hope" again.
But I think it goes back to the atmosphere at the ballpark and how our kids were raised. Baseball is a "slow" game. It isn't action packed like football or basketball. It isn't like a video game where you have something to watch every second. It's poetic and paced and relaxing. Kids today can't handle that. They can't appreciate the beauty of the game. They weren't raised on it like our parents were. So they don't want to go to the ballpark. They think watching baseball is boring.
I don't know how other ballparks are doing with regards to attendance. I don't know if this is a national issue or a Cleveland one. But I don't think it's fair to say we are not "behind the Tribe" because we are not going to games. There have to be other ways to measure fan appreciation for a team and the Indians need to find those ways. I may not be going to games, but I am watching. I am looking for score updates on the other teams in our division. I am blogging and tweeting about the Tribe. Many of us are. And Tribe Fans find it insulting when our dedication is questioned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Buckeye Nation: My "State of the OSU" Address
College Football Fans:
ATTENTION College Football Fans: Whether you are part of THE Ohio State University family or not, the things that have happened to the Buckeyes in the past year are a concern to you. At least they should. Even if you are a Michigan fan, while you are celebrating the downfall of Coach Tressell, you should also be concerned for the state of College Football and what these "happenings" may mean to your program. You should be concerned about what the NCAA might do next.
I know that I am.
I should start by saying that I am a Buckeye's fan. My family are Buckeye fans. The picture you see here is of my husband and I and
two of our daughters forming O-H-I-O on the Great Wall of China in 2009. I love this picture. Not just because it is of my family, all decked out in scarlet and grey, doing something together, but also because of the memory of all the people BEHIND the person taking our picture. They were also taking our picture. As the only non-asian people on the wall that day, we drew quite a few stares. I'm not quite sure what they thought we were doing, but one thing I am sure of: we were the topic of conversation at many Chinese dinner tables that night!
With that being said, I think I can still objectively look at the current situation of the football program at OSU. The announcement of three suspensions this week for the University of Akron (Fear the ROO) game blindsided many of us. It stems from three players that attended a charity event in which all attendees were given gift bags. The exact worth of the bag is not known, but only reported to be "under $300." This is because the NCAA classifies improper benefits in categories based on dollar value in order to assign penalties. It doesn't mean the bag was worth $299.99. The timing of the announcement seems suspicious to many but I'm guessing it was decided a while ago and only announced this week as part of the line-up listing for the game.
I've said publicly that my biggest concern with these new suspensions is that the school, via Gordon Gee & Gene Smith, STILL doesn't know how to share information with the public in a way that gives them the complete story and cuts back on the speculation and innuendo that can do more damage to a program than the truth. Perhaps they need to hire a "Spin Doctor" to teach them how to do a proper press release. The one that OSU sent out was one that just begged more questions, and those questions have been all over the radio, internet, and social media like Twitter. People are slamming these three young men for not knowing better, for not caring about the school, for being stupid. My biggest question about everything remains unanswered: When was the charity event?
If the event was in July, I'd like to take these three players and the compliance officers at OSU out to my back yard and tell them to select a switch, as my dad used to do with us as kids. It is unacceptable to think that with everything else that has gone on in the past year, the sensitivity meter isn't cranked up to FULL. These guys shouldn't even be buying a box of cereal at the grocery store on the off change that the secret toy surprise could be considered improper.
If the event was back in late spring, April or May is the latest rumor, then I'm much more inclined to be lenient. It was a gift bag that all attendees got so I could see how the players might think it was ok.
The other thing I am hearing is that part of the problem is that they players did not clear their appearance at this charity with the school. Again, the lack of information from OSU is just fueling this fire. Were they just attending in support of a charity? Were they advertised as special guest to sell tickets to the event? Did they sit at a table together in the back or were they set up in the front signing autographs? All of these question matter and the fact that we have to ask them, and will get no answers, makes the school look bad and does it a disservice.
The University is failing these young men in leaving them out there for people to criticize. It should come as NO surprise to anyone that in this day and age of social media the players are being painted as villains, being called out by anyone with a Twitter account, being asked to turn in their uniforms. I, for one, will not be that harsh against these young men until more facts are on the table. Unfortunately, OSU has a habit of keeping their cards close to the vest (no pun intended) and will most likely never tell us the whole story.
Today the Buckeyes took on the Akron Zips. Two of my daughters, and most of my money, go to Akron. Fear the ROO! I support Akron sports and go to as many games as I can. My niece is a senior on their Lady Zip Volleyball team. We go to those matches. It is a good school with a great group of kids involved in these sports and I feel that being OSU's first game after everything that has gone on is so unfair to them. They were put under a microscope that they never asked to be under and from what I am hearing, the staff and players have all handled themselves very well. Kudos to a great program. I truly wish them luck, but with all that said, my personal loyalty starts with Ohio State so I'm happy we won.
Once today is over, some of the attention that OSU has been getting will go away. Some outlets will move on to other stories. And some will just sit back and wait for another opportunity to scream from the rooftops that OSU has done something wrong and that more sanctions are on the way. I understand all of that - any person, team, business, etc. that has success paints a target on it's own back for these kinds of things. That's just the way it is.
From a coaching perspective, talk has been going on all summer (and I heard some again today) about who the the Head Coach should be. Um, hello? Luke
Fickell? Remember him? Can we please let him coach ONE GAME before we decide he's not "the guy?" I absolutely understand that coaching a program like the OSU Buckeyes is not just about wins and losses. It's also about public image. It's about representing one of the most respected programs in the country. It's about living a high profile life and handling it with class. And it's about credibility. All of these things play into the recruiting aspect of college football.
The two big jobs for a CFB Head Coach are 1) winning football games and 2) recruiting for the future. In the NFL, players are chosen by the front office so the coach just has to deal with what he gets. In CFB the head coach is the key. He visits players, he talks to families, he builds his team himself. Yeah he has a staff of guys to help, but you know what I'm saying. High School players don't just choose a university based on the school itself. They also choose based on the head coach.
It is far too soon to be talking about how Ohio State needs Urban Meyer or Jon Grudin. Yes, they are quality coaches that any program would love to have. I would die if either of them walked into my living room and asked if my grandson would please come and play football for them. (I have four daughters so it's up to my grandson to give me a football player in the family)
Who were they when they first started? Someone gave them their first job. Someone let them walk into a living room so they could sign their very first recruit. Why are we so quick to assume that Luke can't be "that guy?" I am willing to give him some time this year and see how the team looks on the field. I truly believe that the OSU name is enough to get Luke into some living rooms and proving he knows how to win will be the ink in the pen for recruits to sign with him.
Where does this all leave us, the college football fan? Well, that's up to the NCAA. Which school is next to be on their radar? When will the NCAA move on to the "U" of Miami situation? When will those facts all be dealt with, meetings held, sanctions offered? How about the Oregon Ducks? There are cancelled checks for gosh sakes to a guy in Texas that claimed to be a scout but was actually steering kids to the Oregon program? The Ducks are one of the teams I root for - when they are not playing the Buckeyes - and yet I want them to be dealt with for their problems. It's only fair.
At some point the NCAA will have to move on from OSU and tackle these other issues. At some point the NCAA will have to take a good long look at itself and fix the problems. I am NOT in favor of paying players. I don't want to change the rules. I read an article in Sports Illustrated back on August 18 that was simple and brilliant in offering a solution to this mess. Josh Luchs suggested that the school compliance people NOT be employees of the school, but be employed by the NCAA itself. Brilliant. Read the article yourself and you'll see why I love it. No further comment needed by me since he puts it out there so well.
College Football is back today and I can't wait for the kickoff. Whatever happens in the coming weeks/months will have to wait until after the end of the 4th quarter. THE Ohio State University will rebound from this and be better than ever. The Buckeye Family will have it no other way. That's how things are in a family - no matter how badly they screw up, we love them anyway and we are going to be there for them. We are going to support them while they fix the issues. Because we know they will fix them, we know they are better than this.
O - H ....
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
ATTENTION College Football Fans: Whether you are part of THE Ohio State University family or not, the things that have happened to the Buckeyes in the past year are a concern to you. At least they should. Even if you are a Michigan fan, while you are celebrating the downfall of Coach Tressell, you should also be concerned for the state of College Football and what these "happenings" may mean to your program. You should be concerned about what the NCAA might do next.
I know that I am.
I should start by saying that I am a Buckeye's fan. My family are Buckeye fans. The picture you see here is of my husband and I and
two of our daughters forming O-H-I-O on the Great Wall of China in 2009. I love this picture. Not just because it is of my family, all decked out in scarlet and grey, doing something together, but also because of the memory of all the people BEHIND the person taking our picture. They were also taking our picture. As the only non-asian people on the wall that day, we drew quite a few stares. I'm not quite sure what they thought we were doing, but one thing I am sure of: we were the topic of conversation at many Chinese dinner tables that night!
With that being said, I think I can still objectively look at the current situation of the football program at OSU. The announcement of three suspensions this week for the University of Akron (Fear the ROO) game blindsided many of us. It stems from three players that attended a charity event in which all attendees were given gift bags. The exact worth of the bag is not known, but only reported to be "under $300." This is because the NCAA classifies improper benefits in categories based on dollar value in order to assign penalties. It doesn't mean the bag was worth $299.99. The timing of the announcement seems suspicious to many but I'm guessing it was decided a while ago and only announced this week as part of the line-up listing for the game.
I've said publicly that my biggest concern with these new suspensions is that the school, via Gordon Gee & Gene Smith, STILL doesn't know how to share information with the public in a way that gives them the complete story and cuts back on the speculation and innuendo that can do more damage to a program than the truth. Perhaps they need to hire a "Spin Doctor" to teach them how to do a proper press release. The one that OSU sent out was one that just begged more questions, and those questions have been all over the radio, internet, and social media like Twitter. People are slamming these three young men for not knowing better, for not caring about the school, for being stupid. My biggest question about everything remains unanswered: When was the charity event?
If the event was in July, I'd like to take these three players and the compliance officers at OSU out to my back yard and tell them to select a switch, as my dad used to do with us as kids. It is unacceptable to think that with everything else that has gone on in the past year, the sensitivity meter isn't cranked up to FULL. These guys shouldn't even be buying a box of cereal at the grocery store on the off change that the secret toy surprise could be considered improper.
If the event was back in late spring, April or May is the latest rumor, then I'm much more inclined to be lenient. It was a gift bag that all attendees got so I could see how the players might think it was ok.
The other thing I am hearing is that part of the problem is that they players did not clear their appearance at this charity with the school. Again, the lack of information from OSU is just fueling this fire. Were they just attending in support of a charity? Were they advertised as special guest to sell tickets to the event? Did they sit at a table together in the back or were they set up in the front signing autographs? All of these question matter and the fact that we have to ask them, and will get no answers, makes the school look bad and does it a disservice.
The University is failing these young men in leaving them out there for people to criticize. It should come as NO surprise to anyone that in this day and age of social media the players are being painted as villains, being called out by anyone with a Twitter account, being asked to turn in their uniforms. I, for one, will not be that harsh against these young men until more facts are on the table. Unfortunately, OSU has a habit of keeping their cards close to the vest (no pun intended) and will most likely never tell us the whole story.
Today the Buckeyes took on the Akron Zips. Two of my daughters, and most of my money, go to Akron. Fear the ROO! I support Akron sports and go to as many games as I can. My niece is a senior on their Lady Zip Volleyball team. We go to those matches. It is a good school with a great group of kids involved in these sports and I feel that being OSU's first game after everything that has gone on is so unfair to them. They were put under a microscope that they never asked to be under and from what I am hearing, the staff and players have all handled themselves very well. Kudos to a great program. I truly wish them luck, but with all that said, my personal loyalty starts with Ohio State so I'm happy we won.
Once today is over, some of the attention that OSU has been getting will go away. Some outlets will move on to other stories. And some will just sit back and wait for another opportunity to scream from the rooftops that OSU has done something wrong and that more sanctions are on the way. I understand all of that - any person, team, business, etc. that has success paints a target on it's own back for these kinds of things. That's just the way it is.
From a coaching perspective, talk has been going on all summer (and I heard some again today) about who the the Head Coach should be. Um, hello? Luke
Fickell? Remember him? Can we please let him coach ONE GAME before we decide he's not "the guy?" I absolutely understand that coaching a program like the OSU Buckeyes is not just about wins and losses. It's also about public image. It's about representing one of the most respected programs in the country. It's about living a high profile life and handling it with class. And it's about credibility. All of these things play into the recruiting aspect of college football.
The two big jobs for a CFB Head Coach are 1) winning football games and 2) recruiting for the future. In the NFL, players are chosen by the front office so the coach just has to deal with what he gets. In CFB the head coach is the key. He visits players, he talks to families, he builds his team himself. Yeah he has a staff of guys to help, but you know what I'm saying. High School players don't just choose a university based on the school itself. They also choose based on the head coach.
It is far too soon to be talking about how Ohio State needs Urban Meyer or Jon Grudin. Yes, they are quality coaches that any program would love to have. I would die if either of them walked into my living room and asked if my grandson would please come and play football for them. (I have four daughters so it's up to my grandson to give me a football player in the family)
Who were they when they first started? Someone gave them their first job. Someone let them walk into a living room so they could sign their very first recruit. Why are we so quick to assume that Luke can't be "that guy?" I am willing to give him some time this year and see how the team looks on the field. I truly believe that the OSU name is enough to get Luke into some living rooms and proving he knows how to win will be the ink in the pen for recruits to sign with him.
Where does this all leave us, the college football fan? Well, that's up to the NCAA. Which school is next to be on their radar? When will the NCAA move on to the "U" of Miami situation? When will those facts all be dealt with, meetings held, sanctions offered? How about the Oregon Ducks? There are cancelled checks for gosh sakes to a guy in Texas that claimed to be a scout but was actually steering kids to the Oregon program? The Ducks are one of the teams I root for - when they are not playing the Buckeyes - and yet I want them to be dealt with for their problems. It's only fair.
At some point the NCAA will have to move on from OSU and tackle these other issues. At some point the NCAA will have to take a good long look at itself and fix the problems. I am NOT in favor of paying players. I don't want to change the rules. I read an article in Sports Illustrated back on August 18 that was simple and brilliant in offering a solution to this mess. Josh Luchs suggested that the school compliance people NOT be employees of the school, but be employed by the NCAA itself. Brilliant. Read the article yourself and you'll see why I love it. No further comment needed by me since he puts it out there so well.
College Football is back today and I can't wait for the kickoff. Whatever happens in the coming weeks/months will have to wait until after the end of the 4th quarter. THE Ohio State University will rebound from this and be better than ever. The Buckeye Family will have it no other way. That's how things are in a family - no matter how badly they screw up, we love them anyway and we are going to be there for them. We are going to support them while they fix the issues. Because we know they will fix them, we know they are better than this.
O - H ....
Respectfully Submitted,
Kate
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