Ted Kennedy

I made the mistake of listening to a few minutes of talk radio Wednesday, the day after the death of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. It never ceases to amaze me how people are so willing to speak out on topics they know nothing about. Ted Kennedy was one of the most effective United States Senators in our history. Was he the best ever? Probably not, but he was one of the best at crossing the ever widening isle between liberal and conservative. Kennedy never wavered on his mission or his beliefs. He was not afraid to call himself "liberal." He worked for the rights of women, seniors, immigrants, the poor and the un insured. In 1969 a horrible error in judgement caused the death of a young campaign volunteer. Kennedy made serious errors in judgement 40 years ago on the island of Chappaquidick. He and his female companion were coming from a re union of Robert Kennedy staffers, both were drinking and Kennedy was driving. There were rumors that they were having an affair or at least a one night stand. While I will not attempt to justify either of those possibilities I will say this. Both Kennedy and his companion were distraught over the death of RFK. It is quite likely and not that unusual that in the heat of that emotional turmoil excessive drinking and a "one night stand" may have occured. Why is this such a shock to people? It happens and it probably happened that night, but to continue to condemn a person for stupid actions 40 years ago seems crazy to me. Especially when that person tried and succeeded in turning his life around and focusing on inproving the lives of un told millions of others in his career. Ted Kennedy was born wealthy, he could have spent his money and life on trivial things as many rich people do. Instead he chose to use public service to help others. He was simply a man with some flaws and some natural gifts. He managed his flws and used his gifts to help others for 47 of his 77 years. Not a bad legacy.

Recipe for Disaster

In early 2000 the dot com bust was big news followed last year by the real estate bust and the bank bust. Let's face it busts are busting out all over.

It doesn't take a business expert to figure out why the busts happened. Values were inflated, people got greedy and everyone paid the price.

Recently most of the players picked in April's NFL draft signed their contracts. They all got huge signing bonues and "life time" pay packages. A few days ago baseball had it's draft. Same result. The top pick pitcher Stephan Strassburg signed with the Washington Nationals for 15.67 million dollars over four years including a 7.5 million dollar signing bonus. The second pick, pitcher Dustin Askley signed with the Seattle Mariners for 7.5 million and the third pick signed with San Diego for 6.25 million.

These are all fine college pitchers but do they really deserve this kind of money before throwing one pitch in a professional baseball game?

The idea of paying young people to play a sport is not new in America but it has gotten completely out of hand and I honestly don't know how much longer it can last at this level.

How much longer can television contracts and ticket sales sustain this kind of pressure? Is the bust just around the corner and if it is why don't the owners see it?

Recently at the University of Washington a beloved athletic department staff member was handed his walking papers as a "budget cut" just months after the new football coaching staff was handed a bag of money to rescue the dismal football program.

Am I the only one who sees a problem with this pattern? Maybe I am. I guess as long as people show up to the ticket window, purchase the game jerseys and the products they see on television game broadcasts everything will be fine. On the other hand if there's ever a dramatic slow down in the revenue flow professional sports franchises could be in for a rude awakening.

I just finished reading a baseball book called, "I would have played for nothing." In the case of some of the players in the book they practically did play for nothing. On top of that many of them served in the military at the height of their careers. Stars like Ted Williams, Joe Dimaggio and Joe Louis spent time in the service during WWII and the Korean War. They worked in the off season to make ends meet and ordinary people could easily identify with them.

I loved the games back then and I love them now I'm just worried that all this money up front for un proven players is a recipe for financial disaster.

Organized Murder

Harry Patch died last week. So who is Harry Patch? He was one of the last surviving British soldiers to have fought in World War I. Patch was 111 years old. Born in 1898 he was drafted into the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwell's light infantry. He spent four months in Flanders in France but never killed a German. He shot at their legs to wound them. He spent weeks in mud filled trenches going without a bath and wearing the same clothes. He endured lice and rats as big as cats.

He was once quoted as saying, "war is nothing more than organized murder.

Patches death leaves Claude Choules as Great Britain's last World War I veteran. Choules is 108. There are still two other WWI vets alive, one in Canada and one in the United States.

Seahawks Camp Opens

The short vacation is over, the Seahawks are back to work at VMAC in Renton preparing for the 2009 season. The first part of the first day is usually spent searching for numbers to see who's here and who isn't. There's not much mystery anymore since the public relations staff and head coach listed the missing players at at the first session. Marcus Trufant is on the PUP list with a sore back. PUP may be a cute dog to us but in ther NFL it means "physically unable to perform." It allows a team to replace that player on the roster temorarily. Baraka Atkins was excused to attend the funeral of a friend in Florida and top draft pick Aaron Curry isn't here and won't be until he signs his contract.

On the first day veteran offensive lineman Mike Wahl failed his physical exam and decided to retire. He had worked hard all during the off season but didn't quite get back to normal.

Everyone else who missed part of last season due to injury is back this year including 12 year veteran tackle Walter Jones, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and receiver Nate Burleson.

Training camp continues through August 21.