Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Noynoy's Deal With The Devil










Noynoy's Deal With The Devil
Fan Fiction
by me.


It took me four days to write this scenario. Just remember humor at some point has to resemble reality to an extent or else the connection won't work. Thank you all for reading. This should be my last blog post for the year.

Ed







One morning early Sept 2009, Noynoy was convinced by relatives and other power mongers that he should run for President of the Philippines.



Noynoy later on that day paused Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and was suddenly confused. What would he say during the campaign? Don't these things have qualifications? Would he have to think and other burning questions.



Out of the blue came a puff of smoke and Beelzebub himself appears grinning from ear to ear. "You Noynoy Aquino , I can make you President of the Philippines!" . "Really??!!??" replied Noynoy. " I could not even win a class election in Ateneo and you expect me to win an election for a whole country?". " I can make it happen!" says the Devil.







Noynoy: " Physically, the only thing I have going for me is my height. But in a campaign poster , height does not play so well. And if it's true that my advisers want me to embrace yellow then I will look like Big Bird. Even Mr. Hooper won't vote for me. What do I do?"








Devil: " Easy, my son. In every campaign poster always have pictures of your mother over your shoulder or have your picture taken with your sister who is on 47 % of the billboards currently erect in this country. Your looks will not be an issue. So it's not about you anymore, it's about them. "




Noynoy : "I am assuming at some point I am going to have to talk. What do I say? I can't think of one thing I have done that would sound good to voters on why I should be president".





Devil: " I thought of that. Track record, shmack record. You don't need one! The country is currently mourning your mother, you just extend that mourning into the campaign and the election is no longer about you but your mother. No competency, experience, leadership or integrity required. Forget things like issues, just talk about your parents. Bring up some maternal advice your mom may have told you and use that in your answer. It's something I like to call the Scooter strategy. Ever watch the Muppet Show? Scooter always got his way because he would always work into the conversation that his uncle owns the theater that hosted the Muppets. If it worked for him it can work for you. Never let a question go answered without bringing up Noynoy and Cory. It won't be about you anymore, it will be about them. Stick to that and the average Filipino will save their thoughts on track record for the next Olympic year. Also if any of your opponents brings up track record, just bring up their position in the polls. I will make sure they will not have a leg to stand on. Your family friends own the poll companies and the media therefore I own the polling companies and the media companies. Have no fear. You will go unchallenged.




Noynoy: " Any other tips? "



Devil : " Well , always make an 'L' sign with your hand. I will hypnotize the voters so they don't associate the 'L' with 'loser'. Never mind that your dad was part of the 'Laban' and you are not. Nor did you ever fight for that cause. I will make everything all right. Besides, if you think about it, the 'L' sign acknowledges me. That will be proof of your devotion to me and that will be our little secret. "







Noynoy: "Ahhhh 'L' as in Lucifer , gets ko na. Let me get this straight sir. You claim that I can be the President of the Philippines, without talking about any significant deeds or any iota of leadership skills? All I have to do it include my dead parents in my campaign posters and quote them in answers? Then the presidency is mine?? I can give you my soul since I don't use it but there has to be more than that. You say I can be the president of a country of 80 million people. What else will you get from me?"





Devil: " Usually depending on the gravity of the task, besides one's soul I usually ask for varying combinations of "virility, hair, testosterone and brains" but I took all that from you a long time ago so I won't even bother with your soul. In fact you can even have this soul I claimed a while back from someone who wanted nigh unlimited exposure, attention and inappropriate men. It used to belong to your sister Kris. "





Thursday, December 15, 2011

Baduys Not Likely To Latch On To Tim Tebow





Today in Yahoo Sports they did a story about Tim Tebow being anonymous in Makati. I have lived here for the 14 years of my life last 12. Add to that my two years spent abroad on covert missions and I am almost thirty. If you believe that I got a MENSA membership I'd like to sell Noynoy.


For the record Tim Tebow has at least four people that converse about him on a regular basis here in Makati. There is @quitolopez life long Makati resident. There is my former comrade in the stock exchange Alan and my uncle Jeri who took me to my very first football game I saw in person. Ever since Tebow got the starting job in Denver , his name is the first thing out of Tito/ Uncle Jeri's lips when he sees me in our Makati office Monday morning. Over here the NFL Sunday afternoon games are just finishing when the work week starts at 8:30 Monday morning. Five people if you count my girlfriend @crissyname who does not live in Makati but visits me here. Tip for all you women out there who want to know your guys: follow who they follow on Twitter and you will always have something to talk about.

The Yahoo article talk about how there is no talk where Tebow was about born. Au contraire mon frere. I wrote this about him three years ago while living in Makati. I also wrote this about him almost being aborted in Makati Med. The Yahoo article talks about how he is unknown here. Of course. In case you are unaware of the Filipino culture I sum up what is known here in this article. They can not appreciate Tebow because they are too busy admiring phonies, blowhards and people who cater to ignorance instead of people trying to eradicate it.

First of all , you can not call this place a moral one despite laws that are only in place in paper. Like I said in a Tweet two weeks ago:


Herman Cain's candidacy is being hurt by all these women coming out. Don't you find it weird in the Philippines that the same thing just enhanced the popularity of Erap in 98 and 2010. What does it say about us?

Dec 1, '11 7:00 AM http://twitter.com/edrlopez

As an electorate that campaigners cater to and an audience that advertisers look for we reward the Kris Aquinos, Richard Gomezes, Erap Estradas etc. None who are role models. They flaunt their vanity and tackiness for all to see and we oblige by giving them an audience. Kris Aquino goes from married man to married man, picks up STDs along the way and still gets multiple billboards and even a magazine devoted to herself. Erap Estrada gets convicted by a court of law of a crime that is punishable by death and this country rewards him by almost electing him president again. This country loves Erap Estrada, you expect them to love Tim Tebow? Tebow despite going to school for for years in a college filled with gorgeous girls that would do anything for him is still a virgin. Joseph Estrada on the other hand has fathered enough kids to fill up the upper deck of Invesco Field. This country won't love Tim Tebow. Noynoy Aquino does nothing in life for fifty years and our country rewards him by making him president. You expect that audience to relate to Tim Tebow? Tim Tebow epitomizes hard work and proving yourself and shutting up the doubters. I doubt that audience enthralled by Noynoy can even spell Tim Tebow.

For Filipinos to latch on to Tim Tebow they have to somehow relate to what he does. Manny Pacquaio is relatable because even a two year old can comprehend a boxing glove colliding with a human head. Basketball connects so well to the Filipino because all ten men on the court can dribble, pass and shoot. I really doubt a culture that worships Richard Gomez will sit still long enough to comprehend how a quarterback picks up the blitz. I doubt a Filipino who only followed basketball all their life can appreciate an offensive lineman who is never given the ball but whose skills are still crucial to the team's goals.


"The Azkals are a national team. The Galaxy are just one team from a country where soccer is at best the 5th most important team sport. The Galaxy are also on vacation after winning their championship and they still housed the Azkals. Good thing they can be marketed as good looking because they sure are not great. "

Dec 4, '11 5:33 PM http://twitter.com/edrlopez


Please don't tell me pinoys love soccer because of the whole Azkals thing. Very few people in this country cared about the last World Cup. All these bandwagon fans honestly believe that the Azkals are Filipino and are good. Well they are neither.

There is one chink in my theory though. If I know anything about the culture is that they love attention. They live and die by Miss Universe results because for some reason they feel it is attached to their self worth. If the Yahoo Sports article is the first of many that bring attention to this place watch out. There will be Tebow experts everywhere. Jeepney Drivers like this one:





Will now have imitation Tebow Bronco jerseys not imitation Kobe Lakers jerseys . Nah, they will just say "FOOTBALL!!! BAKIT!!! HINDI NAMAN BILOG YUNG BOLA!". (Why is it football when it's not even round?)





Ed


References:

http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201112/tebow-was-here-superstar-unknown-city-his-birth


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/500/National_Champion_Tebow_Could_Have_Been_Aborted_in_Makati_



http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/822/The_Most_Famous_Circumciser_in_Our_Country



http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1263/ESPNs_Scott_Van_Pelt_Describes_Azkals_Bandwagon_Kind_Of

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1017/Hypocrisy_of_the_Recognition_and_Admiration_of_Efren_Penaflorida

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/399/Sometimes_You_Cant_Defend_The_Philippines



http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1142/Pinoys_Only_Dig_The_BBall_

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/294/Who_Thinks_Basketball_Rules_The_U.S.

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1143/They_Forgot_the_Philippines


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1246/MVP_NBA_No_Try_KSP_


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/943/What_part_of_beyond_reasonable_doubt_do_you_not_understand_Erap_related




Sunday, November 13, 2011

Why I Sadly Have Perspective On The Penn State Sexual Child Abuse Issue.






First of all if you don't understand the big fuss, just understand that Joe Paterno wields so much influence in that school and the town State College, Pennsylvania that is beyond most people's comprehension.



Any adult that lives out their sexual desire on any child is so wrong but you don't need me to tell you that. Many of you if not all of you are extremely disgusted at the thought of the perpetration of such an act. Well I am here to offer you perspective on something worse. That is the institutional consent for that disgusting episode to continue and spread. Perspective from my life experience.




I thank God that the only person to ever sexually abuse me is myself. But I know a little bit about institutional cover up of such horrific acts.





I won't bore you with facts you already know about this case but in case you don't have them just google "Penn State Sandusky" and all you need to know will be there. Nobody is accusing Joe Paterno of molesting a child. For now know that he has 17 grandchildren. He is a very beloved figure in his local community and up until recently an admired figure in the world of major college football. Grandpa Joe has the public reputation that is actually sadly rare in major college football. That he succeeds in football yet he puts football in perspective of the broader university mandate . Football is just a part of the university and it is not the university. Which makes the whole mess even sadder.



Paterno was king in Penn State. Sometimes silence speaks the loudest and his relative silence cost several young boys their childhood and their sanity.





If you heard a story of something happening in your domain involving a 58 year old man and a ten year old boy resembling the squeal like a pig scene from Deliverance I would hope you would do more than Paterno did. The facts show that Paterno informed his superiors and thus absolving himself from criminal liability as far as I have read. Morally though he failed the kids. Joe technically had superiors but make no mistake Paterno is king of his school and of that town. He failed those kids. What is worse is how can you look at the perpetrator of man to child rape on a regular basis? Why did you not at least quietly banish him from your Kingdom? The cliche is that bad men have their way when good men do nothing. Well in the simplest terms Sandusky was Sandusky (if the allegations are true) because King Paterno did nothing.




So far everything I told you , can be gathered reading a few editorials on this case. But the time has come to explain why I can give a personal spin on this. For me, this basic hurt compounded because of an institutional cover up. And I was privy to such a cover up being imposed to my personal situation.



Mount Cashel was an all boys orphanage run by the Christian Brothers. The orphanage was located in Newfoundland which is Canada's easternmost point. You may Google the background of their covert child sex abuse saga yourself but I have provided links. Just like Sandusky should have been disavowed by Penn State, the perpetrators of the child abuse ( both physical and sexual) should have been cut loose by the Christian Brothers. Instead they were sent to Canada's western most tip but not to an orphanage but to an elementary / high school for boys called Vancouver College. A school I attended from 1980 to 1985.



I enjoyed my five years there and I felt I learned a lot from being there. Like not to swallow the company line. The company line of Vancouver College and the Christian Brothers was "no comment". Even the author of the definitive book on this scandal said in an interview that the people involved were taking their cue from their lawyers and not from God.



I truly forgot what the first leak in the dam was in the mid 80s but it was a kick in the stomach. The same way some people are feeling about Penn State. My cry back then was these guys were supposed to be in jail instead they were teaching us. That is the crux of the Penn State issue is the cover up and the further spread of the Sandusky sickness. Sorry, but that is why Paterno has some responsibility. He is not as guilty as Sundusky of course but he is partly responsible for victims post 2002. Maybe I have a different perspective than most because of where I was but it makes me ache for everybody else who had to suffer in silence and in a somewhat detached way, I am a little closer to what they are feeling.



Ed



Attachments:



If PDFs not found go to


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1276/Why_I_Sadly_Have_Perspective_On_The_Penn_State_Sexual_Child_Abuse_Issue.


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal


1) PDF Grand Jury Sandusky


2) PDF Inquiry to the Mount Cashel Orphanage sexual abuse .


Links.



http://archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/clips/12676/


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1276/Why_I_Sadly_Have_Perspective_On_The_Penn_State_Sexual_Child_Abuse_Issue.



http://www.thetelegram.com/People/2009-07-18/article-1446583/Mount-Cashel-couldnt-keep-him-down/1


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060914/Jerry-Sandusky-Penn-State-sex-abuse-Why-did-Jerry-wife-abuse-victim-weeks-testimony.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7208581/rick-reilly-penn-state-scandal


http://nearemmaus.com/2011/11/10/jesus-joe-paterno-and-the-least-of-these/


http://www.amazon.ca/Unholy-Orders-Michael-Harris/dp/0670834815



Supplemental Video


Can be found here.


Sexual abuse of children is not a laughing matter. The fact that it is institutionally consented upon is worse. For those of you still not clear what Paterno and the Penn State executives should have done was look at the big picture how the whole organization could be affected. If they did that, this would have stopped eight years ago. Which brings to mind discussion you will see here. Substitute:


Hank- Jerry Sandusky


Larry Sanders - Joe Paterno


Artie- Tim Curley (Penn State Athletic Director)


and you might be able to visualize how this should have gone down.



Play This Interview For Anyone Getting Hurt By Addiction




You made it this far?? Good. I really don't have much to say on this topic except that in the life time of this blog that if this only helps one person I will be very very glad. Chris Herron had everything. God given talent to make it to the NBA but then the demon took over totally. You get to read his words below and hear him talk about it in a 7 1/2 minute clip I provided. There is a longer interview with Bill Simmons that I will eventually listen to (November 2 2011 ESPN The B.S. Report) but this here should be enough for now. The very inspirational Jim Rohn always said that failures should give seminars. Chris Herron is a failure and a success. Give yourself a chance to be moved by his story ( in his own voice) of experiencing the lowest lows and torturing his family to his daily struggle with sobriety.


 


Ed




http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2011/11/02/chris-herren-on-dc-the-unguarded-interview/



In case you missed ESPN’s "Unguarded" documentary on Durfee High (Fall River, Mass.) legend and former Celtics guard Chris Herren on Tuesday night, it will air again on ESPN2 Saturday morning at 7 a.m. Set your DVR. Meanwhile, Herren joined The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show on WEEI Wednesday morning. The following is a transcript of their conversation (click here to listen):


Dennis & Callahan: For the man who was in the center of the storm, what did it seem like to you to watch that?


Chris Herren: It’s extremely difficult. It never gets easy. The Boston premiere was definitely the hardest for me, because I had to sit in the audience and watch it. It’s different when you watch it by yourself or your behind closed doors with your family, where you can kind of get up, walk around and come back to it. To me, it’s important. As I’ve said the last couple days, the easy road for me would be to run my basketball company, do public speaking, work for the substance abuse center that I work for and never look back, but I think that would be a disservice to the people who are still back.


D&C: Bill Simmons put out the call to his followers to send you a message after last night’s show. Give me an estimate: How many messages did you get on Twitter?


CH: My phone shut down. I couldn’t take on any more. Prior to this, I wasn’t a big Twitter guy. I didn’t really understand the whole Twitter and tweeting thing, but I started trending, so I started getting messages. I think I picked up around 9,000 followers in a three-hour period.


D&C: Did you think "Unguarded" was well done and accurately done and a fair portrayal?


CH: I do. I do. The greatest gift of "Unguarded" for me is that I can sit down with my 12-year-old and watch it. If "Unguarded" got pulled off the air of ESPN prior to last night, I got everything I needed it from it, because little Chris and I sat downstairs on our couch together and laughed, cried and healed. I thought it was very well done. I thought it was respectful to younger kids, where middle school kids and high school kids could watch it. And I think that’s important.


Chris Herren played 25 games for the Celtics during the 2000-01 season.


D&C: You got almost 9,000 people, including Dwyane Wade, sending you a message. Did you get a few of those?


CH: I did. Dwyane Wade sent me a great message. Stuart Scott. But I also got some messages saying, "I’m going into treatment tomorrow morning, and I admitted to my parents last night that I have a serious problem." We had a screening in Newport, and after that screening a young high school kid walked up to me and said, "I just told my parents I’m not doing well, and they’re dropping me off at a treatment center, so thank you." That’s priceless.


D&C: Your message was just as riveting to high school kids as it was to the prisoners. It translates. What kind of reaction do you get?


CH: It’s the same story though. That pain — the heartache you put on your kids, the shame and the guilt you have because of the levels of despair you brought your family — I don’t care how tough you are, what kind of gun you have, how many people you fight or how many years you do in prison, that type of pain is much, much harder. That emotional pain. When I open that door, at that facility with those prisoners, here I am in this powder blue Polo shirt, and I look at guys with tattoos of horns on their forehead, and I’m like, "Oh sh@t. How am I going to get across to these guys. These guys are going to be like, ‘Get this kid out of here.’"


D&C: I was wondering if they were going to laugh at your jokes and everything, but you had them absolutely captivated.


CH: It was special. Those guys sent me a poster that I have in my basement, all short notes of how they felt when I was there. And it’s amazing. It truly was.


D&C: You said toward the end of the program, "I’m a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a father, I’m a son — and a junkie." That statement makes me ask this question: Is it still a day-to-day struggle for you? Do you know that you’ll be sober today, but not sure about tomorrow?


CH: Absolutely. If I do what I’m supposed to do today, I have a better chance at staying sober tomorrow. There’s no doubt about that. Some people look at me with a sad look on their face and say, "I’m so sorry. It must be really, really tough." And I look at them and say, "You should have seen me four years ago. Then it was really, really tough." Don’t feel bad for me now. I’m blessed. I’ve been given a gift that some people don’t get. Although I will live with this forever, I’m doing my best to maintain it and live that life.


D&C: There was one poignant moment where you said, "I was out the entire night before the game with two girls, cocaine, the last thing I had before I took the court was a Budweiser," and yet you played your ass off and you played well. Did you spend or do you spend much time wondering how good you might have been without the drugs and alcohol?


CH: I really don’t. I don’t look back and say, "If I did this, it would be different," because I’m Ok today. Sometimes, you look at it and say, "Oh, man, here he goes. That sounds corny." But that’s the reality. I spoke to 2,800 Durfee students the other day, and I said, "What’s the perfect ending to my story? Coming in 10-11 years retired from the Boston Celtics, long career in the NBA, telling you about how it was playing with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and winning a championship? Or is it coming back a recovering drug addict and telling you my story to try to get out in front of you?" Most of those kids in those bleachers have a much, much, much better chance of becoming an alcoholic or a drug addict than an NBA basketball player.


D&C: How different would life be for you if you weren’t a great athlete, if you were just another junkie from Fall River? Would you be better off or worse off?


CH: I don’t know. That’s a very tough question. I have a lot of support because of my experiences in basketball. That’s the blessing that I have from basketball today — that there are a lot of people who have given me opportunities and helped me out because of the game. So, I believe I’m better off.


After leaving BC, Chris Herren played three seasons under Jerry Tarkanian at Fresno St.


D&C: But there are a lot of people who would love to share their cocaine with you or give you a ride or give you some booze or give you some booze that enabled you along the way, right?


CH: Yeah, of course. That’s part of it as well, but there also has to be a level of accountability. People would always say to me, "Get out of Fall River, man. You’ve gotta get away from Fall River." Fall River takes a hit, but you know something? When I woke up in Tehran, Iran, all by myself, I knew it wasn’t Fall River’s problem anymore. When I woke up in Istanbul, Fall River was far away. At the end of the day, it was me, and if I didn’t fix me then I wasn’t going to be good anywhere.


D&C: You talked about the fact that you drank alcohol and smoked marijuana in ninth grade, y0u talked about the cocaine with the two girls in college at 18 years of age. You said, "That opened doors for me I couldn’t close for 15 years." Was there one moment you said, "That’s the moment that pushed me off the edge"?


CH: Once I started taking Oxycontin. That’s when all bets were off. Cocaine is a different drug. When I was in college, I would do it on a really long weekend for three days, but I put it down for a month and a half or two months. But once I jumped into opiates, and it became a daily drug for me, that’s when there was no turning back.


D&C: You told your Oxy dealer, "You have to get here to the Garden tonight, because I’m supposed to play, and if you don’t get here, I’m not playing." Is that because you couldn’t play or wouldn’t play?


CH: There was just no chance of me playing. Physically, I couldn’t play. There were many nights like that, where I just physically couldn’t handle it. I walked away from a $50,000 contract in Bologna, Italy, because he called training camps in the mountains. I’m with my wife and my son, and the coach said we’re going four hours up into the mountains, and guess what? I’m not going, because my drug dealer isn’t there.


D&C: Did the Celtics know all about your issues? They do their research. Did they know they’re bringing you back here, and that was potentially big trouble for you and them?


CH: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m sure they were well aware of my issues leading up to it — with the cocaine stuff — but as far as the Oxycontin, I’d say no. In Denver, I had a pretty healthy year there, so there were no signs that should have stay away from him because of the year before. That being said, once I got to the Celtics, in fairness to them, I got hurt. Once I got hurt, I was gone. I kind of disappeared.


D&C: Do you want them to make a movie? We talked about this before. Hey, it’s a better story than "Moneyball," and that’s a hit. This could be a hit. Would that be a good thing for you?


CH: I don’t know. It’s difficult to gauge that. I’m definitely a fan of this. I’m a fan of this because of the power it has. Dress it up and put a wig on it, like for Hollwood, and I don’t know if it has the same effect. To me, it doesn’t matter. If it were to happen, I know that I would lose a lot of control of the story.


D&C: They’d have to put wings and a halo on your wife. She comes across, as we all suspected, as an angel and a saint. Has she had enough? Is she enjoying this?


CH: She struggles with it, just like I do. Someone said to me at the New York screening, "You have to sit in here and watch it with us." I said, "Watch yourself with a 12×12 head, running your mouth when you’re 22 years old, thinking that you’ve got it all figured out. It’s not easy." She has a tough time with it, but I think we know all too well what it’s like living in that dark, seedy, secret life of shame and guilt by ourselves.


D&C: I don’t know, that alley in Modesto looked really comfortable.


CH: That’s a tough spot for me. That was probably the toughest thing for me to do, because I hit my bottom fast in that place.


D&C: Talking about [your wife] Heather, a great line she had in the piece was, "We had a lot of new beginnings." Did you almost lose her at one point?


CH: Yeah, many times.


D&C: Why did she keep taking you back?


CH: Like Heather said, we met each other in the sixth grade, and we went through a lot together from the age of 12 to 18, when I left for college. I think that she would tell you that she knew who I was before basketball took effect in a lot of ways, and thought that she could find that person and get that person back. I think there was always hope, and I thank God for her level of compassion and her sticking to her vows, because that’s truly a woman who stuck to her vows.


D&C: A couple quick technical questions before we go: How do you say heroin in Italian?


CH: I’d point to my arm.


D&C: There are a lot of low points, and you get asked that all the time and we’ve asked you that before — the Dunkin’ Donuts crash — but driving from bus stations in Bologna, Italy, while your wife and kid are sleeping and trying to buy heroin from people who don’t even speak your language, that seems like a pretty low point.


CH: They’re all low. Any day you wake up, grab a hypodermic needle and you have to put it in your arm by 7 a.m. in order to function is a bottom. Bologna was a bottom. There’s no doubt about it. But that level of desperation, trust me: I tell kids all the time, "My vision of a heroin addict was this guy with no teeth, sleeping in his drool. I had no idea he was a professional athlete. I had no idea that that guy with no teeth and drooling on the sidewalk — that’s his last day. That guy started somewhere, just like I did."


D&C: Do you still crave drugs and alcohol?


CH: Rarely. The thought enters my mind once in a great while a lot less than it did two years ago, let’s say. But once in a great while the thought of it would enter my mind, and I’m just blessed that I’ve stayed away.


D&C: Do you ever think about bleaching your hair again?


CH: Oh, Jesus Christ, absolutely not.


D&C: What’s under your Band-Aid on your arm?


CH: I don’t know. I think I just got a physical with Pitino.


D&C: Will you go on the road? I don’t know how many of those 9,000 messages are asking you to come speak to a group, but will you do that? To me, the most impressive was your speech to these various groups and just how compelling it was to them.


CH: Sure. I’m very fortunate. The American Program Bureau in Boston, who represents me, has sent me request already this morning to go to different places. I’m scheduled to speak at Stonybrook in New York on Nov. 6. That is something that I’m passionate about. I believe in it, because I know the response I get when I’m done. That’s something that’s near and dear to me.



http://www.mediafire.com/?fkbt1syv5ciofuc


(audio clip)


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1191/If_Its_Easy_To_Do_Its_Easy_Not_To_Do_


Saturday, October 29, 2011

Love, Baseball, Heartbreak, Suicide, Music, 1986




Love, Baseball, Heartbreak, Suicide, Music, 1986


"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come." Terrence Mann ( Field of Dreams)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SB16il97yw&feature=fvwrel
 



Warning. This post is all about baseball memories, music memories and life memories. And proof you can't Google and/ Youtube everything.


Even though I am a huge Alan Parsons Project fan I have seldom blogged about their music. I am sitting on my bed watching Game 7 of this year's World Series and my thoughts returned to a Game 7, twenty five years ago and also to a record I bought that year. 


The 1986 Baseball season was memorable. Back then you only made the post season if you won your division and there were only two divisions per league. The four division races if I recall correctly were cakewalks. No drama at all. Should I stumble at all with my 25 year old memories I apologize in advance. This is a memory piece and not a factual one. I just have to be a in a zone to write this.
Once the National and American League Championship series started the baseball gods reciprocated for that lack of drama in the regular season. The Boston Red Sox were down to their last strike to the then California Angels and came back to win the series. Some notes about that Angels team. It had Reggie Jackson, who most will remember as a Yankee and an A. It was managed by Gene Mauch who was also the skipper of one of the legendary regular season collapses in baseball history. 1964, even I was not alive my dad was and was going to school in Philadelphia during the time of that choke. Donnie Moore was the closer for the Angels.


Donnie Moore was to the 86 Angels what Mitch Wild Thing Williams was to the 1993 Phillies. Donnie Moore though committed suicide. That's why every time I hear Mitch talk to Dan Patrick on the radio I am so glad he moved on with his life and entertains and informs us baseball fans still. He put his World Series moment into perspective saying that's baseball and it is. Pitched balls do get hit sometimes. Although Mitch's life took a different path than Donnie, the forever classy Philadelphia fans hoped it took that same path issuing numerous death threats.

My dad told me that Gene Mauch story three decades ago. Sports used to be our bonding. Even before we moved moved to North America he had a subscription to Sports Illustrated in the 70s. Which got me curious about football and baseball. There was a stretch before we would always watch the Orange Bowl New Years night. Now he only watches basketball. NBA and Ateneo. Other than that he has a Huang track mind. Cue the song.
Earlier that year I bought the Alan Parsons Project record Stereotomy. At the time I had all the records they put out and that was the ninth. It had all the usual ear candy and excellent melodies I have come to expect from the Alan Parson Project. I remember holding in my arms a ten month old Joseph who was crying then he shut up when he heard the sound effects of a car starting up and driving away. Babies can be so hilarious.
I don't really like looking for dirt but I make exception for two topics. William Shatner and the 1986 New York Mets. A book that was good for that was authored by George Takei. As for the Mets The Bad Guys Won by gives you all the dirt you would want and then some. It's behind the scenes look at a wildly successful season. Yes the Mets won but they were never close again. the 1986 Mets remind me of Led Zeppelin  at their peak. They both reached the highest high but then look at what happened to the individuals since: Dykstra, Strawberry ,Carter, Backman, Gooden, Ojeda. All of them struck by extreme tragedy self inflicted or otherwise.
 


A lot of people love the rankings thing. But it's all subjective and since it is, it should be about memories and not competition. It should be about love and not about comparing. The 1986 World Series definitely had memories: The Skydiver, The Curse, Bill Buckner, DARYLLLLL from the Fenway Faithful, the inept Sox Bullpen. It was personally memorable for me because I had my wisdom teeth taken out at that time and was tortured watching baseball because of one thing. Wendy's released a new sandwich called the Big Classic and decided to let Canada know about it every single commercial break during the World Series. My diet consisted of mashed potatoes, pudding and chicken soup at the time.



When I began this entry it was still about the 4th inning or so of Game 7 but I was already getting deja vu of 1986 and the Mets /Red Sox. I was for the Rangers but congrats to the better 2011 story which was the Cards. Written off in mid September but they battled back.


I am sure when every sports season ends, there is a montage wrap up song of how the respective final went. Some of them more memorable than others. When the 1986 World Series ended NBC chose a song off of Stereotomy. Alan Parson Project is the official artist name but those of us Projectiles ( my own invented nickname for Alan Parsons Project nuts) know the beauty of an Alan Parsons Project album is that anybody can be singing or playing in it as long as it is appropriate. Singers on APP albums that you will recognize are Christopher Cross, Alan Clarke (Hollies) , Arthur Brown (Crazy World of Arthur Brown), David Pack (Ambrosia) and Colin Blunstone (The Zombies).
Limelight was the song NBC chose from Stereotomy with Gary Brooker (Procul Harum famous for Conquistador) on vocals. Hard to believe that in 1986 I was barely 3 years into hard core Alan Parsons mania. I was already familiar with the song. I had no idea how iconic the World Series I just saw was going to be. No idea. But I got even a better appreciation for Limelight because those images of the 86 Series still played in my head with the song. I only saw the video once. Never video taped it with our Betamax. It is not available on Youtube and others only mention it on Google. This is my plea for anyone who happens to have it (1986 World Series montage of Limelight) to upload it somewhere or send it to me. 

Key lyrics of the video (with significance in parenthesis) include:

  • "Maybe this day could be the one "( The Red Sox at that point had not won the Series since 1919 and would not win it till 2004)
  • "Calling my name Shouting out loud" ( Daryll Strawberry being pestered by the Fenway fans)
  • "Limelight don't let it slip right through your fingers There's a long way to fall" (Google Bill Buckner 1986 World Series read about the toll on his personal life)
  • "I can hear the beat of a different drum" (There was only one 1986 Mets. Read the Bad Guys Won  and you will think twice, thrice about worshipping any athlete)


It started this morning watching baseball. A baseball game played October 29, 2011 (in my time zone) brought out 25 year old memories in me. And as Terrence Mann has said so eloquently it has marked the time. It just so happens I was in a text conversation this morning with a good friend of mine. She was talking about the idea of blogging for money. Instinctively I responded that I blogged for love. What I mean by that is that my blog is the way it is because I truly believe the one thing I can be better than anybody else is me. Like I said in the title page of my home page  I truly get what John Labatt once said "An honest brew makes it's own friends". Don't be contrived and be yourself. If that means most don't understand you don't let that get in the way of what you believe and what you feel and what you want to say. You stick to the constants of your life as Terrence Mann says, you write what you feel and in some cases you are writing with tears in your eyes, people will come. Once in a while you will get a private message telling you that they themselves felt what you felt and did not know anyone else felt that way. 


I have been saying in my Twitter ever since the baseball postseason started that myopic people who only care about a bouncing orange ball sport missed out on classic baseball drama. And they deserve to. Their ignorance is their own prison cell. Arrogant attitude maybe. But damn I love baseball. Ken Burns did not do an 11 part documentary on basketball. He did it on baseball. A. Bartlett Giamatti was not the commissioner of basketball, he was the commissioner of baseball. Chick Hern is a legend but Vin Scully is a unique legend.


Part of the Terrence speech was about recapturing memories and baseball just happened to be the medium. Watching the World Series today I was recapturing a time in my life. Things I felt. Many that were not in Google or Youtube. But they existed just the same. Once in a while, remind yourself of that.


Ed










Sunday, October 23, 2011

Noynoy Insults Your Stupidity Again

Noynoy Insults Your Stupidity Again.


Maybe you best read the article below first before reading my take on it. I have said many  times before Noynoy Aquino is a naive and sheltered individual who has not accomplished  anything in his life. Considering my many takes on Filipino culture, it is poetic justice he  holds the highest elected office in the land.


After reading his speech Noynoy feels companies in Asia are spared the Occupy movement  because they possess a certain halo that their western counterparts do not. I find it really  hard to believe that our nation has world class corrupt politicians but saints in the private  sector. It's a gigantic leap of faith to make but then again so was 2010 Presidential Election.

He really makes it sound like Asian companies have a leg up on the rest of the world. He  talks about accountability. Yet his paradigm does not account for western companies that  operate in Asia and Asian companies that operate in the west.

Corporate Social Responsibility is not an Asian exclusive. It's a catch phrase maybe but I  would like to see what organization is handing out these CSR awards to Asian companies  and ignoring the rest as Noynoy is implying.

I find it interesting in the article where Noynoy is of the belief he can "motivate local  companies to excel". Nowhere in his resume does he have a track record of either  motivating or excelling... in anything. Yet he believes he can direct entire companies that  way. Yeah right.

Not so fast sir. They should not canonize the entire Philippines just yet. First of all the Occupy movement seems very contrived and very choreographed. Just because the machinery so far has mobilized North America and Europe does not mean Asia is any different. Noynoy as usual taking credit for something that has nothing to do with him.




Like the picture I got from Anthony Robbins says, the Wall Street Occupiers are not exactly donning burlap sacks. They may be protesting one thing but doing another. I have a very simple look at all these protests. No community will ever benefit if their private sector goes in the toilet. None. Do individual companies abuse and break rules? Yes but so do individuals in any society. Discourage and punish the violators but the private sector as a whole must do well in their respective communities or else those communities will rely on handouts. All of you anti business and pro government types: where does government revenue come from? Allow me to quote a true Maverick. Mark Cuban said the most patriotic thing you can do is get extremely wealthy then pay lots of taxes. I rest my case. Now someone tell the Occupy movement. 


In a country where journalists and priests  get squashed like bugs and rebels ambush soldiers and towns Noynoy should not be declaring any kind of moral superiority. Nobody has yet to answer this question but here goes. Noynoy has been a public servant for about two decades. Yet his mantra is kung walang corrupt walang mahirap. What did he do about corruption before he was voted in as President? Fight corruption? Add to the corruption? Too detached to see the corruption? Or did the corruption just not exist? There really is little room for another answer.






Believe me if he fought corruption you would have heard it about non stop during the campaign. The guy is a lazy , incompetent, self entitled   moron living off  his family name. Which really does not make him unusual among people with "old" money. That's what you voted in Philippines. People died for your democracy and you choose to elect him and Erap and FPJ. To paraphrase Bill Parcells you are what your elected officials are. And Noynoy thinks we are superior to first world countries? If you buy his Holier Than Thou spiel, God help you.

The more I analyze Noynoy, the one place that needs occupying is his brain.

Ed



Links to opinions on Occupy Movement (audio)





http://business.inquirer.net/26075/aquino-most-philippine-asian-firms-not-the-%e2%80%98 bad-guys%e2%80%99

By: Christine O. Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:01 am | Friday, October 21st, 2011  1share47 46President Benigno Aquino III said  Wednesday night the country and its Asian neighbors had been spared from the global  turmoil sparked by the Wall Street protest assailing corporate greed and corruption  because firms in this part of the world had been actively helping improve the lives of people.
Speaking at the 10th Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility held at the Edsa  Shangri-La hotel in Mandaluyong City, President Aquino said the  “Occupy Wall Street”  movement which had initially expanded in the United States and now had struck European  countries had seen people “protesting against companies that engage in what they deem to  be the usurpation of regulation and, in some cases, democracy itself.”
Difficult times
The President added, “We see that these groups of people from different nations all share  the same rallying cry: there must be accountability; there must be inclusive growth.”
The Chief Executive said it was difficult at this time “to be the head of a corporation, given  that corporations seem to be portrayed as the bad guys in this latest global economic and  social crisis.”
But he said it was not so in the country and among its Asian neighbors.
“When one looks at our part of the world, however, this is not the case. While of course there  will always be exceptions, here in our region, corporations—especially the ones more active  in their humanitarian endeavors—are generally seen in a positive light.
“The people recognize the value that business can bring to a nation; they see the  opportunities and the possibilities, and realize that corporations and individuals can  empower each other and partner toward the achievement of a just society,” President  Aquino said.
CSR activities
The President said he believed that the good regard for companies in the Asian region was  “partly because many Philippine and Asian corporations have been actively engaged in  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.”
“Many, if not all of you present here today have made the conscious decision to play a  greater role in the communities in which you do business. Realizing that you do not live and  work in a vacuum, you have done your best to help ensure that the people living in the  societies in which you operate are given the chance to live a more dignified life,” he said.
President Aquino urged business leaders to “exert even greater efforts to show the true face  of Corporate Social Responsibility” by acting promptly on the concerns of the people.
Giving back
“We must foster the attitude of giving back, and of always remembering that the growth of  companies—that the growth of economies—rely, in essence, on the empowerment of the  people. No one must be left behind,” he said.
President Aquino assured the business leaders that they could rely on his administration as  a partner in their effort, reminding them that they were working with “a government that is  concerned, foremost, with the people,” and one that was spending a third of its national  budget on social services.
The President noted that a lot of Philippine companies  were recognized for their efforts in  corporate social responsibility activities.
“In the first time that I had an occasion to talk before you, not a single Filipino company  managed to be awarded,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
He said he would “try to motivate” more local companies “to excel” so they could be  recognized for their efforts.