Batter up? But this is football season

Are you ready for some … baseball?

Yeah, I said it. Baseball. Sure we’re deep in the heart of football season. Football is my favorite sport. By the time you read this, the Houston Astros will have had their last out for the season and the Sugar Land Skeeters will still be months away from their inaugural season.
Last weekend, however, I got to experience the Big Leagues like never before. Being a native Coloradan, it was hard to resist when the Rockies came to town. My two favorite teams went head-to-head in a meaningless series of games that only served to drive each of them lower in the rankings (they split the four-game series). Sad as that may be, it didn’t really matter to me.
With special thanks to HCN photographers Patric Schneider and Juan DeLeon, I was able to photograph the games on Thursday and Saturday evenings. It’s one thing to watch the game from the stands. It’s quite another to experience it next to the dugouts. With tickets that I can usually afford for ballgames, I’m close enough to the action that you can read the numbers on the jerseys and sometimes even see the ball.
From the photography pits, not only can you see the numbers, but you can see the stitching on them. You’re close enough to see the stains and patches on the uniforms, smell the Icy-Hot, hear the clicks when the players pop their gum and see the sweat on their faces. I got to listen in on a few conversations and even had to duck a couple foul balls. That’s not something the average person gets to experience from the stands.
It was very interesting to see the difference in attitudes of the various players. Even though both teams had significantly bigger numbers in the “L” column than the “W” column, the players still competed with the intensity of a contender. The minor league call-ups were clearly enjoying their moment in the sun … er, under the lights with the roof closed, at Minute Maid Park. The games seemed to matter to some of the veterans. That competitive drive never seems to rest in a professional athlete. It was the players who are sitting the bubble for a return to the roster next year that had a laser-sharp intensity.
One of the players I really enjoyed watching was Juan Altuve. The second baseman is the only player on the Astros roster shorter than me. He is also about the same age as my oldest child. I felt my age when I realized I am old enough to be the father of a Major League player. Altuve was always smiling and very friendly and cordial. I think this kid is going places.
In the games I photographed, I saw some of the best and a lot of the worst professional baseball I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched a lot of baseball, mostly at Coors Field in Denver. (I once worked very briefly as a ticket taker for the Rockies and even then never had the kind of access to the game that I had in Houston.)
It is very disappointing to see the Astros finish as the worst team in the Majors with triple-digit losses. On the upside, there are many advantages to a lousy season. For one, the Astros were practically giving away tickets just to get butts in seats. Merchandise was slashed in price. Another advantage is player access. Without huge demand, it’s easy to get close and get autographs from many of the players. And when the time comes and the Astros are a contender again, you can honestly say you were with them through even the worst of times. For me personally, if the Astros were gearing up to play in October, there is no way I would have scored press credentials.
An unexpected bonus came Saturday evening when it was verified for the record books that the game was the 200,000th regular season game in MLB history.
Still, any fan worth his salt would give all that up all those bonuses to root for a winner. Perhaps now that baseball is over we can fully turn our attention to football and for the first time root for a winner with the Houston Texans. I’d love nothing more than to see my Denver Broncos go all the way, but this season looks more like they’ll be jockeying for a good draft pick.
The Texans might actually give fans a reason to stand up and cheer this year. That would certainly be a grand slam for longsuffering Houston sports fans.


 

Do you want to lose weight and get out of debt?

Why do we have to make the simplest things so complicated? Take for example the obesity epidemic. By definition, I am morbidly obese. I am working to change that. The most effective way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more.
That’s it. No fad diets. No magic pills. No surgery. Just plain, old fashioned self-control. Apparently to most of us, it’s no fun to lose weight naturally. We want the quick fix. We want to be thin and we want it now. We want it bad enough to spend billions each year on weight loss products and services, but we don’t want it bad enough to do it ourselves. We don’t want it bad enough to do the hard work of resisting temptation at the table and TV throughout the evening to get ourselves in the condition we desire.
As motivational speaker Zig Ziglar puts it, he used to be overweight on purpose. “I never did put anything into my mouth by accident.” He also discovered that his body retains ice cream. He decided to eat less and start jogging each day with a goal to lose 1.9 ounces a day. Wouldn’t you know it; the weight came off and stayed off. Not only that, but he felt better and was more energized than ever.
Another simple truth is that if you want out of the pit of debt, stop digging. No one has ever spent their way to prosperity. Unfortunately, that lesson is lost on President Obama. He subscribes to the Robin Hood theory of soaking the rich to give to the poor. He proposes raising taxes on the rich while at the same time giving away billions of dollars in the name of job creation.
Here’s a thought – instead of punishing financial success to reward complacency and failure, why don’t we leave job creation to the wealthy and help the poor to help themselves become wealthy? You know, a hand up instead of a hand-out.
Under Obama – who gave us bailouts, stimulus funds, Obamacare and now a jobs bill – our nation has plunged trillions into debt. Most of that debt is owned by China – Communist China. We have a massive trade imbalance with China. They buy our debt, we buy their goods and all of our money goes overseas. For a communist country, China is teaching us a lesson in capitalism.
Here is a novel idea – let’s try spending less than we take in. Let’s start paying off our debts. Let’s get back to manufacturing goods and selling them to China. That would be turning the tables on them. It’s the American way, or at least it used to be.
We need to wean ourselves off of government-funded social and welfare programs and push people to live responsibly and to care for themselves, their families and their neighbors. It’s not the role of government to do that. Obama, however, doesn’t see it that way. He thinks government should take care of everything. He’s the typical tax-and-spend liberal who gets elected into office by promising a chicken in every pot and a flu shot in every arm, all paid for by the people who have the gall to make money and get ahead in life.
Do you suppose if we got away from our computers, television sets and video games and actually set out to physically work harder to produce more and better products that we might actually see the obesity epidemic melt away and financial prosperity return? Could it really be that simple? What if we put a huge effort into green living? What if we created modes of transportation that didn’t depend on fossil fuels or pollute the environment? What if we built and powered our homes with renewable resources? Gosh, that might mean putting people to work and helping save the planet at the same time!
I guess I should stop here. These ideas are just too radical for the typical American and American politician to comprehend. Maybe I should just grab my laptop, drive a few blocks to the nearest coffeehouse and browse the Internet while sipping a $5 cup of frothy, sweet coffee and thinking of more radical ways of making life better for all of us.
That, after all, has become the American way.

Just say no to alcohol at movie theaters

As an adult I have tried to live my life honestly and without regrets.
As a teenager, I lived my life without regrets – or at least regrets that didn’t surface until I was old enough to regret them. One of those regrets was the weekend routine my buddies and I had of going to see the double feature at the drive-in theater (anyone remember those?). That in itself wasn’t regretful. Nourishing ourselves on beer and nacho cheese Doritos is where the regret comes in.
My friend was always the driver, so I kept convincing myself that I wasn’t technically drinking and driving. But I sure was an accomplice to it, not to mention an underage drinker. That was a very stupid time in my life and I am not proud of it. We could have very easily killed someone, including each of us. I wish I could make that chapter of my life go away, but it is what it is. I learned my lesson and will never do that again.
I bring this up because of a very disturbing request by a local movie theater to serve alcoholic beverages. This is a really bad idea. It’s worse than mowing the lawn barefoot with a hangover. The theater in question is the AMC First Colony 24. It has applied to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a permit to serve beer, wine and cocktails. I intend to contact the TABC with a copy of this column to let them know I oppose it for many reasons.
First of all, the theater is a very popular place for families, teens and young couples. No matter how hard AMC tries to keep booze out of the hands of minor, it will happen. I know, I just admitted it above. It’s real easy to slip drinks down a darkened aisle or spike a Coke. We do not need to be putting children in places where they are in contact with alcohol and people who are drinking it.
We must also consider what kind of message this sends to children. All through school they are taught that it’s bad to drink, smoke and do drugs. If this is approved, they will go to what is arguably the most popular hangout in town for youngsters and be exposed to the very thing we don’t want them getting mixed up with. They will relate fun and good times with movies and booze.
At the beginning of each movie, the theater runs an announcement to quiet all cell phones and to be quite and respectful of the other guests. It’s a proven fact that alcohol releases one’s inhibitions, often leading to loud and rude behavior. When you combine that with the strong emotions stirred by movies, you have the potential for any number of problems. If that’s what I have to look forward to, I will go elsewhere for my entertainment.
Safety is another big concern. Theater parking lots are full of young, inexperienced drivers. Do we really need to add alcohol and drunk drivers to the mix? Please, let’s not go there.
From a strictly moral perspective, one cannot deny that morality is evaporating in modern American society. Many of the movies offered in the theaters have strong sexual content to them. If you take hormonally-enraged youngsters, fill their minds with an overabundance of sex and their bodies with booze, you’ve got a combination for disaster. Look for date-rape and other sex crimes to increase.
If adults wish to enjoy their movie-going experience with the influence of alcohol, let them imbibe in establishments elsewhere out of sight and influence of the next generation. We simply do not need to feed corporate greed the mortal souls of our children, friends and neighbors. We do not need to push more people into the world of alcoholism.
I know I might sound like some puritanical prissy, but this is a real threat and needs to be nipped in the bud. We are in a real culture war. It’s a war we cannot win if we keep lowering our standards like this. I implore AMC to withdraw its request and ask the TABC to reject it.
Trust me, I know from experience that movies and booze do not and should not mix. Let’s not make this a mistake we end up regretting.

It's time to claim victory in the war on terror

The two things that make the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks different from the rest is that we have cut the head off the snake that caused them and we now have real progress on a memorial at the site of the former World Trade Center towers.
For the past nine years, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the attacks, remained a thorn in our collective side. Though he was rendered mostly harmless, his very existence was a painful annoyance to all of us. Now that he is dead, this year’s anniversary feels more like a victory party than a wake.It helps significantly that we are about to dedicate the new memorials at Ground Zero. Water structures have been built into the footprints of the former Twin Towers and for the first time in 10 years the site is pleasant to look at. Again, another cause for celebration.
Yes, it is a time to remember and reflect. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives that day. It changed our world forever. It is a sad occasion. Yet this time it just feels like a victory celebration. Ten years is a long time to get to this point. Now that we are here, we can really begin to mend the wounds inflicted on our psyche that horrible day.
While the enemy is not defeated, we can claim victory in this round of war. Shy of killing every terrorist combatant, we will always face a threat from al-Qaida and their ilk. Thanks to our military and our aggressive efforts at security, their threat is greatly diminished. If the worst thing we have to fear is body scanners at airports, I’d say the job was well done. The world today is a much safer place than it was 10 years ago. It’s not perfect, but nothing is.
Most adults and a few teens today can recall where they were and what they were doing when the planes crashed into the towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania field. I was just out of the shower, getting ready for a day at work, when I heard the news on the radio. I turned on the TV and watched until the second tower was hit. That’s when I knew there was serious trouble and we would all be very busy in the newsroom.
I was the first reporter in. Two editors and the features editor were next. The four of us were the major force behind the production of an “extra” edition that morning. It’s the only “extra” I’ve been involved with. We churned that puppy out and then set about the task of covering local events for the next day’s paper. I must have pulled about 16 hours that day but it felt more like three. Time flew as fast as it stood still.
What really stands out to me from that time is how we came together as a nation and how nobody complained about all the public prayers that went up. Since then we have become more polarized than ever. Religion, especially Christianity, is under constant attack. Culturally and socially, I don’t think our nation is better off now than we were 10 years ago. How much of that is because of Sept. 11, it’s hard to say.
As one who was born and raised in the Vietnam War era, I am pleased to see how well our military is treated and respected no matter how you feel about the wars they are fighting. I have a cousin who served several stints in Iraq and my brother-in-law is an Army chaplain who is currently stationed in Iraq. They can tell you how important the support from the home front is to them.
I guess what all this comes down to for me is that perhaps this anniversary on Sunday is an ideal time to declare victory and to move on as a nation from a position of fear and intimidation to one of pride and confidence. I’m not suggesting we let our guard down. That would be stupid. We know our enemy will try to strike again. I’m just saying that it’s time for an attitude adjustment and to move on.

Health Museum is strong with the Force of Star Wars

The Force is strong with this one. The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, also known as The Health Museum, has turned to the dark side, in a manner of speaking, luring thousands of Star wars fans with an exhibit of movie props, costumes and models and delivering an educational, scientific experience in the process.

What all that means is the museum has the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit and if you haven’t seen it yet, you only have until Sept. 18 to do so. It’s uber cool and enlightening to boot! You can see the Millennium Falcon, the original Darth Vader costume, Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder, the Wampa ice creature, R2-D2 and C-3PO along with dozens of other authentic relics from all six Star wars films.

While you’re busy ogling the displays, you can also visit stations to learn about the real science inspired by the movie magic. Build your own moisture farm, run a maglev vehicle along a track or view prosthetics and robotics used today that are not unlike those seen in the movies.

“It’s more than just the costumes and props; it encompasses technology used and inspired by the films,” said museum spokeswoman Stephanie Manning.

Manning said the exhibit was created by the Museum of Science in Boston and has been touring the country. She said it has helped boost attendance at The Health Museum this summer.

“It brings in some people who wouldn’t normally come in on their own,” she said.

That would include people like me. I’m a Star Wars junkie and I love history and museums, but a museum dedicated to health didn’t excite me; at least not until I was lured by the Force of Star Wars. I took some time to quickly tour some of the museum’s standing exhibits and was blown away. The aspects of science and biology are very intriguing and the interactive nature of the museum makes it very appropriate for the whole family.

But like I said, I was drawn in by the glamour of the Star Wars artifacts. Before you even walk into the gallery, there is a large X-Wing model on display in the hall. Right inside the door is a huge model of Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon. It only gets better from there. Inside are the actual costumes worn by the likes of Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), David Prowes (Darth Vader), Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and many more.

There are several models on display, mostly those used in the first three films. There are Imperial Walkers, a Star Destroyer, the Tantive IV (Rebel blockade runner), and a Y-Wing to list a few. An R2-D2 and one of the C-3PO costumes are displayed along with the “naked” C-3PO puppet. Speaking of puppets, the original Yoda is there.

Remember in “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith when the helmet was installed on Vader’s head? The pieces of that helmet are included in the exhibit. You could almost hear the hiss and the sound of that first breath while marveling at it.

Among the props are lightsabers, blasters, various droids and an assortment of gadgets that even casual fans would recognize. From the science perspective, the exhibit has modern-day robots, including a flying sphere used on the International Space Station. There is a model of what a matter/antimatter rocket would look like to ferry people to other stars. It’s almost as long as Texas is wide!

From an interactive standpoint, there is a station where you can manipulate levers to make robotic legs walk. At another you can see how robots “see” things. But the best interactive part of the show will cost you an extra $5. Be sure not to miss the Millennium Falcon Experience. Climb into a mock-up of the ship’s cockpit and let Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) take you on a dizzying journey from Earth to the outer edges of the known universe.

Oh, and while you’re at the Health Museum, be sure to go inside yourself and explore how the human body works. It’s absolutely fascinating! But act quickly; you only have until Sept. 18. It will cost $20 to get in and no, Republic Credits will not do.