First Baseball Broadcast of 2025

Yes, it's a distraction I look forward to every year...SF Giants on KNBR. They've been a .500 club these last couple of years including only a handful of outstanding performances while being bullied by the Dodgers and Padres in their league. There's always the underlying hope that they'll break-out with a secret weapon that will launch them back into the playoffs and World Series. We know how well the SF Giants can excell in the World Series..2010, 2012 and 2014 and not that far out of our rear view mirror. What's ten years? Actually, the entire roster has changed, with the exception of Buster Posey...President of Baseball Operations. Buster knows!

So Much For New Years' Resolutions

I tried to put politics on the back burner, I really did but....This dude is 'out there', so far beyond right field...all the way over the Lefty O'Doul Bridge. Brings back the old Barry McGuire song, 'Eve Of Destruction'. Extreme-ism is seldom rewarded in America and I do not believe this attempt to destroy the humanitarian vein that we have nurtured and exercised in our fair country these last sixty years is going to be wiped away easily. We have learned to care about all of our friends and neighbors, no matter their handicap, no matter their color, no matter their country of origin. We all want the same perks of life in America. White Supremeism bares it's ugly head every few decades and then scurries under the sink and floorboards like a wave of cockroaches. What will it take to change America's negative spiral into the mindless depths of ninety years ago. The parallels are so obvious. Wake-up America, Wake-up Germany...we are better than that. Do it for the children.

Offroad Explorer... On My Bicycle

It was 1973, I stepped into a bicycle shop in southern Michigan and bought a Motobecane Grand Jubilee. Battle Creek Bicycles was partially owned by my best friend from grade school who'd just returned from Vietnam and wanted to marry my sister. Yes, he gave me a special price because it was my twenty-third birthday and I had just graduated from Cal State Fresno and, he wanted to marry my sister. I took that bike and a duffle and hitched back to California. I set up camp at the south end of The Sierra Nevada, found a small cabin that I traded for ranch hand labor on Erskine Creek. Winter was not very serious that year at 2,000ft. I put a rack and a sleeping bag on the back of that French steed and explored the dirt roads within a twenty-five mile radius of Bodfish, Kern County California. Kelso Valley, Saddle Springs, Sherman Pass, Breckenridge Lookout. I was curious, healthy and enjoying self-propelled adventuring. My tires were narrow and the roads were rough but dumb-luck was with me, I had a pump and a patchkit, never once did I flat. That Winter, I met a girl, Franny...said she was curious about pedaling up the California coast. After a few rides with her I said, Let's do it. She said a friend would take us to San Luis Obispo in his truck and we could start from there. I said, This highway is all downhill to Bakersfield, Let's just ride to San Luis Obispo.

New Leaf...New Atitude

I'm not sure why I have been so worried about politics in America these last ten years. I am not an influencer. I'm not even an activist. I am just an opinionated onlooker. I think most government programs are wonderful. Starting with paved streets and operable sewer systems. I appreciate law enforcement, fire fighters and mental health counselors. My Social Security check is a huge help because I like to spend money on healthy food and petrol. Sure I have my preferences when it comes to politicians...I prefer that they are honest and set excellent examples of behavoir that our children can emulate as they become upstanding and powerful adults. Well, there you go...this is one big reason to be concerned with politics...example setting! Still, I love that there is a Medicare program and educational opportunities for all Americans. I believe in honor and honesty and kind of expect that in those who seek power over the rest of us. So, there's only so much I can control here...I'll just keep setting my own good example and continue treating the people around me like they are family...living by 'The Golden Rule'.

Trumpery...Look It Up

Apparently this is what we deserve... America and the World. And where it will stop, nobody knows. Hitler made the same kind of comeback in the 1930's...even after being jailed by his countrymen in the twenties. White Nationalism was the order of the day. The "impure bloods" were deported, incarcerated and disposed of. So ninety years later, here we go. We americans are better educated than any society had ever imagined. It didn't matter, we are sliding down the same dirty laundry chute that we were sufficiently warned about over and over again. So, do we hunker-down and say that "we told you so" following every bonehead proclamation and legislation that clobbers our liberal democratic system of government or, do we resist and insist on our humanitarian values and sympathetic responses to the less fortunate among us? As I have said for eight years or longer...Trumpery...Look it up.

It Doesn't Take Much For Me To Have A Successful Day

It starts with getting out of bed and going vertical. I make my way down the stairs avoiding piles of folded laundry. I feel with my toes for dog toys and balls, to the first light switch and furnace thermostat. I find a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms and move over to the coffee pot. So far, a successful morning. After grinding and brewing some dark roast, I choose a cup for the day...after coffee I'll use the same cup for a mouth cleansing serving of chai tea. The dog needs to be let out and I need to ingest six tablespoons of yogurt, for microbiome gut health. I'm on my way to a very successful day. The dog and I embark on a walk outback, which can be anywhere from one half mile to three miles depending on conditions and time available. Dog poops twice and pees at least three times, I pee once or twice depending on my morning coffee consumption...usually two cups. Lisa makes the hike with us at least one day a week but she'd usually rather stay warm at home and practice her Yoga followed by vacuuming, or vice versa. This is our typical successful morning.