NCAA RANT!!

NCAA, is supposedly a non-profit organization that is responsible for the interpretation and enforcement of the policies and rules which govern NCAA athletics. I have a problem with NCAA but not so much that I want them to go away. Right or wrong I have an opinion and thanks to my blog I get to vent about it!

First off, I have a problem that the rules that they interpret seem to have double standards. A school of little notoriety seem to get the full force of the NCAA when it comes violation of the rules, while a more notable school seems to get a hand slap for the same violation. If Razorback players would have been caught selling their autographs or jerseys they would have been suspended and not allowed to play immediately. 5 Ohio State players get busted and their discipline is to miss the first 5 games of next season. The majority of those players if any, will ever don a college uniform again after the Sugar Bowl is played. So where is the punishment? I know there are stories as to how the players didn't know they were breaking any rules or how a player was trying to gather money for his sick mother, really? Those college athletes are told from day one what they can and can't do and what to do if they do stumble. I just don't buy the "they didn't know" bull. Another example of favoritism is the USC and Reggie Bush debacle. The NCAA knew two years before Mr. Bush left USC for the pros that there were serious violations, but they chose to ignore it until he was long gone from the favored institution.

Next, I feel the NCAA and colleges get rich off the backs of these young men and women and there is no compensation to the athlete for what they bring to the university. I believe there should be a set amount that these athletes can accept over a four year period in the way of compensation. The schools in the Sugar Bowl receive 17 million a piece for their participation and those athletes don't get a dime, legally. You might say that the athletes get scholarships, but that is a drop in the bucket compared to what the schools receive off of these athletes. Finally, I believe schools should be rewarded for the graduation rates of their athletes, either monetarily or in scholarship limits. Football players have to stay 3 years before they can jump into the pros, baseball players can play one and leave. Many baseball players have already been drafted by the pros but choose to go to college for one year before they make the move. Here's a novel idea, lets make colleges about getting an education!

Anyway, with all of this being said, I am glad the 5 Ohio State players are getting to play in the Sugar Bowl, because I don't want there to be any excuses for them when the Razorbacks become the next SEC team to hand them a lose in a BCS Bowl game!! Go HOGS!!!

A Christmas to Remember

Well, I survive another Christmas and I will have to say, with the exception of Billy and Ashlee not being able to come home, this was years celebration was one of the better ones! We had tons of food, family and fun! My daughter-in-law Lindsey, at my request, made me a key lime pie. We had a tasty ham and a turkey breast off the rotisserie! Mimi made some of her world famous dressing, a chocolate pecan and coconut cream pies. Since the grand-babies had their Christmas at home first it was later in the day before they made it over the river and through the woods to Mimi's house. Well, once they got there the fun began.

The oldest Princess Skylar was the first to arrive and she was ready to open presents right away and we had to keep telling her that we had to wait on her cousins to arrive and that once they arrived we were going to eat first before we opened the gifts. She was not happy about that and kept saying, "I'm not hungry!" Well, once the Jason and his family arrived we all sat down and had our Christmas lunch. Princess Skylar and I finished our lunch and were relaxing and waiting for everyone else to finish, it was then that I realized just how badly I was wrapped around my grand-daughters finger. Skylar came up to me to whisper something in my ear. She asked if I would pass the first gift out to her, and then she said, "PaPaw remember, I'm your Princess". I told her that I remembered and that I would see what I could do. Then as everybody had finished their meals and right before I was to began to pass out the gifts, Skylar came back over to me and she said "here PaPaw", as she kissed me, "maybe this will help you remember". Now I ask you how was I to say no to that? Of course she got the first gift and I immediately passed out gifts to the other Princesses and Partners! I love, love , love my grandchildren and I could have gone the whole day without receiving a single gift, because I already had the greatest gift a man could ever want and that is the love of his family in return! Wow, what a Christmas to remember!

Christmas Gifts and Wishes

I am not a shopper period, and it doesn't have anything to do with the season or time of the year. I just hate to shop! If I have to go I want to know what I'm going for and the approximate location it can be found in the store before I even leave the house. I like to go in, find what I'm looking for and get the heck out. If it were not for my very understanding wife I would not have a stitch of clothes to wear that was fit for public viewing. The only thing she makes me go and try on before buying are my shoes, and believe you me I have tried to get her to buy them for me as well. Well as you can imagine, this should make for a difficult time when it comes to picking out Christmas, Anniversary, and Birthday gifts for my bride, not at all! For about the first 5 or 10 years of our marriage I would try to think of something that Shelley might want her gifts and for the first 5 to 10 years of marriage I failed miserably. It was a normal annual occurrence for me to go buy something and her to take it back and exchange it for something she really wanted. Finally, I wised-up! After the last go around with her gift and she told me that she was going to take it back I made the suggestion that from now on, you go, pick out what you want, buy it, wrap it and put it under the tree. It worked for her and now for almost 25 years it has worked for me! Now, before any of you start hating on me think about our arrangement, think about this; I will never over spend because she is the family bookkeeper and knows what we can and can't afford to spend. I will never pick the wrong color, size or style because she always gets what is appealing to her. It's a win-win situation I don't have to shop and she always gets something she wanted! Now with that being said, if she ever said Dale I'm not going to buy my gifts anymore then I would pick-up where she left off and probably pick-up where I left off 25 years ago. Oh BTW this year I got her a beautiful set of diamond earrings, not bad for a non-shopper!

For my politically correct readers my friend Buck posted this on his blogspot today and it really hit the nail on the head! http://exileinportales.blogspot.com/2010/12/worth-passing-on.html

Have a Very Merry Christmas y'all!!

Christmas Thoughts

With Christmas day quickly approaching I can feel myself going down and I don't know why. Christmas time for me has not been my favorite time of year. Oh I do love seeing my children and especially my grandchildren open their packages on Christmas day. I love seeing how excited the children get as the time for Santa's arrival draws near. I love seeing my how excited my wife gets shopping and trying to make everyone's Christmas wishes come true. But what I enjoy the most is having family around and seeing the joy on everybody's faces as the time has finally arrived, Santa has come and gone and left goodies for the good boys and girls. I will also say that one of my favorite Christmas memories was when Chuck (oldest brother) came home and surprised us.


You might read this and say, "well where's the problem?" Well, like I said, I really can't put my finger on it. It could be that for me as a child, Christmas wasn't all that fun. I think partly because I can't recall a single Christmas with my father. Oh he would send gifts and would try to send everything I asked for but it wasn't a family Christmas. There was always something missing at Christmas. I think as I got older I realized how hard my mother had to work to provide for me and little did she receive in return, so there was guilt I associated with Christmas.

Today, well it's the commercialism of Christmas, the "Political Correctness" of Christmas. It gets my goat when I see commercials that say have a Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. I'm not to big on people substituting the Christ in Christmas with and X either. Though we are a nation of various cultures with various religious beliefs, Christmas is a Christian Celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Because someone else doesn't believe the way I do is fine but don't try to change my beliefs because they don't agree with yours and don't be offended that I choose to celebrate His birth.

I started out with a proclamation and ended in a rant, sorry about that! I really don't hate Christmas, what I just want is "Peace on Earth" and "Good Will Towards All Men" Merry Christmas my dear readers Merry Christmas indeed!

For the Love of the Money?

One of my favorite (not too recent) movies is "For the Love of the Game" starring Kevin Costner. It wasn't necessarily because of the acting but more because of the message of the movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, Kevin Costner plays a major league baseball pitcher who in his younger days, unbeatable. The movie shows the struggles of this pitcher as he battles back from injury and a body that is breaking down on him to the climax of a no-hitter going into the last inning. Anyway, Costner sacrifices what could possibly be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the good of the team and he takes himself out of the game in order that the team may have a better chance to win. Then he makes the decision to walk away from the game, which was a decision he made "for the love of the game".

You might wonder why in the middle of football and the start of basketball season is Dale talking about this movie. Well, here's my rant! Tonight there will be a much talked about return of Labron James to Cleveland and the fans in Cleveland are ready to give him an ear full and I say why not! Labron left Cleveland for the "Love of the Money" instead for the love of the game! More and more and in every sport athletes don't seem to care about game and being the best at it all they care about is how much more am I going to get paid in Miami then I was in Cleveland, or how much more can the New York Yankees pay me than the Texas Rangers! It's no longer about where can I go to make a team better and it's no longer about loving the fans, team and city and no amount of money can take me away from that. And it's not just professional sports anymore, it's about the college athlete that goes to the highest bidder. "If you want my son to come to your school you'll have to pay him more then the other school is willing to pay". I hate what greed has done to sports in general. Professional athletes are paid millions of dollars each year to play a game and they can't seem to get by on multi-million dollar contracts, they want more. I say let's drop the salaries to a reasonable amount and just see who's there for the love of the game!!