Since my birthday was last week, and we spent a lot of the weekend in Chicago, I didn’t have time to fully research a column for this week. Yes I actually do research. But I do have a few thoughts on some current events that I’d like to share.
On Politics
Last Thursday the headline in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blared: “Democrats begin lining up to take on Walker in recall election”. Oh joy. This means that a) the recall election is virtually certain and b) there will undoubtedly be a primary election to determine the Democratic challenger. Which means that we’ll have three statewide elections in Wisconsin in 2012, the Democratic gubernatorial primary, the recall election and the Presidential election. Not counting local elections. Yeesh.
Then today we learned that Governor Scott Walker’s recall defense war chest is reaching record proportions. And he certainly has the right to defend himself against the Democratic onslaught. In fact campaign laws allow him to raise as much money as he can at this juncture. Which means that we’ll see advertising of record proportions throughout 2012.
Thank heavens Barrett (if he doesn’t run for Governor) and Abele are running unopposed. This all means we’ll be in political mode for nearly 11 months. So get those DVR’s ready!
On Books
I just finished a phenomenal book called The Art of Fielding, by Racine native Chad Harbaugh. This is a Cinderella story if I’ve ever seen one, and not just the book. It’s Chad’s first novel, it took him 10 years to write; the first publishers he contacted weren’t interested. Then boom, the floodgates opened and there was a bidding war for the rights to publish it, it was that good, which made Chad a fairly rich man.
The book itself is ostensibly about college baseball, but it is so much more. The characters literally jump off the page, and you become drawn in to a captivating story that will keep you engrossed to the very end.
Milwaukee Magazine’s Managing Editor Cristina Daglas wrote a wonderfully introspective article about Chad. You should get the book and read the article. Both are terrific.
On Sports
There was a glimmer of good news on the Ryan Braun front yesterday. Dan Patrick, renowned sports analyst, reported yesterday that Braun “could be found not guilty”. I’ve believed that all along, frankly, and now its up to Major League Baseball, that of the narrow-minded and unforgiving attitude towards any PED, to render a fair decision. We could actually have a decision this week. And if he is exonerated, I sincerely hope that someone levies a monster fine against ESPN, who broke the story with dubious and incomplete facts at their disposal.
I’m also excited about the upcoming baseball season. The Brewers made significant strides to shore up the left side of their infield, trading the popular (and terrific guy) yet underperforming Casey McGehee, and not re-signing Yuni Bettancourt, replacing them with All-Star third baseman Aramis Ramirez (from the Cubs, how delicious is that?) and superior shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Should be a good year if the Braun issue has a positive result. May be good even if it doesn’t.
On a less than satisfying note, the NBA decided to resume playing, after a 2-month labor standoff. This means the Bucks are playing (or holding paint-drying contests, not sure which) at the Bradley Center before ever decreasing crowds (as reported in the Journal Sentinel on January 18) to the point where they’ll probably close the upper deck during games. Most of you know that I can’t stand the lazy, egocentric NBA. A blogger on JSOnline last week aptly put it: “College players play with pride and energy, something that NBA players are usually without.”
On Reading
Our Internet was down at work today, for quite a while. It’s amazing how conditioned one gets to reading email, tweeting, facebooking, surfing and the like. After sitting for a few minutes doodling in my daytimer, I realized I had an opportunity to do some reading. And it was great. Highly recommend that you take a few minutes a day to read something. It will clear your mind!
Have a great week, and follow me on Twitter if you’re a tweeter: @jpalmer7890.
