Tribute to Vin Scully – Part V

Tags

1946 World Series, 1950 World Series, All Star Game, anecdotes, barnstorming, baseball, Baseball Ambassador for Inclusion, Baseball Hall of Fame, baseball writer, Bear Mountain, bigotry, Bill Veeck, Billy Bean, black players, Bob Feller, Boston, Boston Red Sox, Branch Rickey, broadcaster, Bronx, Charlie Culberson, cleanup hitter, clutch hitter, color line, Commissioner of Baseball, Dixie Walker, Dodger Stadium, Dodgers, Don Newcombe, Enos Slaughter, exhibition games, fans, Fordham University, Gay, Happy Chandler, Harry Walker, honors, ice skating, integration, International League, Jackie Robinson, Jaime Jarrin, Joe Williams, John Wright, Latin America, Leo Durocher, Leon Culberson, Los Angeles Dodgers, major leagues, minor leagues, Montreal Royals, Nashua NH, Negro Leagues, New England League, New York Giants, NL MVP, NL Playoff, NL Rookie of the Year, NL West pennant, oral history, Orient, pennant clincher, petition, Philadelphia Phillies, race, Rachel Robinson, racism, Roy Campanella, Roy Partlow, Sandi Scully, segragation, St. Louis Cardinals, Stan Musial, stolen bases, storyteller, strike, Tom Yawkey, Vin Scully, walk-off home run, winter ball, World Champions, World War II

Tying it all together

Leon’s son Charles was the first of two Culbersons drafted by the Giants.  An outfielder, he played in the minor leagues for five years, three in the Giants organization and two in Royals organization.  But he didn’t make it past Class AA and his last season was in 1988.  Two important things happened in the Culberson family in 1989.  Charles’ son, Charlie, was born on April 10.  Leon only had a short time to enjoy his grandson.  He died on September 17 at age 71.

Some might have found this to be an interesting story: the grandson of a major league player associated with a Series losing moment, getting some family redemption by hitting a pennant-clinching walk-off home run.  But what does this have to do with Vin Scully other than its connection with Vin’s last game broadcast at Dodger Stadium?

Vin Scully delivers the 2000 Fordham University commencement address

From a personal perspective, it might be said that Leon’s career ended in the Bronx about a year before Vin’s academic career ended in the same borough.  By the following year, Vin’s professional sports broadcasting career would start in the city and stadium where Leon spent most of his major league career patrolling the outfield.  And less than two years after Leon’s last major league game, while he was still playing in the minor leagues, Vin began his 67 year career as broadcaster for the Dodgers.

But from a historical perspective, there is so much more.  Simply from a baseball point of view, 1946 represented a changing of the guard in baseball.  It was the year that many players came back from World War II.  Some were able to pick up where they left off.  Some were better players than when they left.  But some found that in the years they were away, even if they were playing baseball frequently while in the military (and most were), their skills eroded during that time.  And of course there were a few who didn’t come back at all or who came back too severely injured to play the game again.

Meanwhile, there were young players waiting in the wings who had gotten an early taste of the major leagues, even as diluted as they had become during the war.  So there was a sifting process.  Some made it even with the stiffer competition and others did not.  And there were also players coming back from the war who had either not yet made the majors or barely had a taste of it before they were drafted or they enlisted.  Many of them played against established major league players and acquitted themselves well.  They were looking for their big chance.  So there was a sifting process.  There were still only 16 teams and only about 400 spots on the roster (plus a few extra on the injured list).  Some would make it and many would soon be disappointed.

Branch Rickey

And to add to the apparent oversupply, Branch Rickey and then Bill Veeck were bringing in even more players from a previously untapped source: the Negro Leagues.  Over the next 10-15 years, that would change the face of baseball and the face of America.

While the major leagues were not integrated in 1946, a few of the minor leagues had become integrated.  All the black players were on Dodger farm teams. There are few people who don’t know that Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Dodgers late in 1945 and starred for the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers AAA team in the International League, in 1946. What is less known is that Rickey signed pitcher Roy Partlow to come along side Jackie. When Partlow didn’t pitch well, he signed pitcher John Wright.  While both were experienced Negro League pitchers, neither of them could handle the pressure and didn’t last the season. At the end of the year, Robinson was the only black player on the Montreal roster.

Rickey had also signed Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe to play in the Dodger organization.  Campy was ready for the majors and certainly would have starred with Montreal.  Newk was still rough around the edges and needed a little more time to develop.  Rickey wanted to integrate the Brooklyn Dodgers gradually, but he didn’t intend to start these two future stars at such a low level.  However, the highest level team in the Dodger organization that would take them was the brand-new Nashua team in the Class B New England League.  Ironically, blacks would play home games in 1946 for a team about 50 miles away from Boston, the home of the foot-dragging Red Sox owned by Tom Yawkey.

In addition, consider the fact that in 1946, the Cardinals had won their fourth pennant and third World Championship since Pearl Harbor was attacked.  They had to survive a best-of-three playoff with the Dodgers to win the NL pennant and the World Series.  For the first time in the modern era, two teams were tied at the end of the regular season.  They were two teams whose rosters in part were the result of Branch Rickey’s leadership.  And before the war started, they looked like they were on the verge of a lasting rivalry.  In 1941, the Dodgers were in first and the Cardinals second.  In 1942 when only a few players had gone into the military, the order reversed with both teams winning over 100 games.  Now it looked like the rivalry was resuming.  Instead, 1946 signaled the beginning of a change in the balance of power in the National League.  And it signaled the beginning of the end of a regrettable practice in major league baseball.

Through 1949, the Cardinals were contenders.  But other than Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, their team had gotten old.  And they were not yet signing black players like the Dodgers were (and getting a head start over the rest of baseball in doing so).  From 1947 to 1963, the Dodgers finished first eight times and won three World Championships; they also finished tied for first twice and lost playoffs; they finished second three other times, one of which they were not eliminated until the final day of the season; they only had a losing record twice.  The Cardinals came up empty for that entire 17 year stretch.  Then for the next five years until divisional play started, the Cardinals won three pennants and two World Series, and the Dodgers won two pennants and one World Series.  By then we had already reached the expansion era and the free agent draft era.

Black players were also bringing a more aggressive game with them with more emphasis on speed.  Since the National League overall integrated faster, their game became more associated with stolen bases, taking the extra base and breaking up double plays.  And starting in 1950 and lasting for decades, the National League replaced the American League as the dominant team in the All-Star Game.

Roy Campanella

While Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and a couple more black players were on Dodger farm clubs in 1946, there was no iron-clad guarantee that they would make the major league roster in 1947 or any other year.  So many things could still go wrong, from poor performance to a violent outburst.

But as it turned out, the seventh game of the 1946 World Series was the last game played in segregated major leagues.  And only one more World Series (1950) was played without at least one black player included.  By the end of the 1950’s, every team was integrated, although a few like the Yankees, Phillies, Tigers and Red Sox dragged their feet getting there.  That’s the same Red Sox who were the Cardinals opponents in the 1946 Series.  They would be the last team to integrate their major league roster.

It is a matter of debate regarding how far some of the Cardinals (and a few players on other teams) were willing to go to strike in protest of Jackie Robinson being brought to the major by the Dodgers.  We do know that there were players on the Cardinals talking about it seriously.  After all, even a group of Dodgers were circulating a petition to keep Robinson off the team until Leo Durocher put an end to it.  We know that Slaughter, the person who scored the winning run of the 1946 World Series, was one of the ringleaders of the strike talk that came to light when the Cardinals arrived in Brooklyn for a three game series on May 6. And we know that at some point during the season, Slaughter spiked Robinson on the thigh when he hit a ground ball and was thrown out by a good margin.  We also know that Harry Walker who had the Series winning hit that drove in Slaughter, as well as his brother “Dixie” on the Dodgers were among the most vocal objectors to blacks in the major leagues.

White players had opportunities to play against black players from time to time in exhibition games, during barnstorming tours and in winter ball in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico.  In a few cases, they competed against each other on military teams.  So they knew how good the best black players were.  And yet many of them, such as Bob Feller, fed comments to the press that it was lack of ability that kept blacks out of the major league, not prejudice.  Feller also said that Robinson would not hit well in the majors and that he would have no problem getting out Jackie.  Bigoted baseball writers like Joe Williams seized upon these comments to decry blacks’ entry into the majors.

Jackie Robinson and Bob Feller being feted after the end of their playing days.

In delicious irony, Feller and Robinson would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame together.  Jackie would be the National League Rookie of the Year in 1947 with a .297 batting average.  In 1949, he was the National League Most Valuable Player and batting champion while finishing second in runs batted in.  He also led the league in stolen bases those two seasons.  1949 was the first of six straight seasons of hitting over .300 and he hit .311 for his career.  Although he never hit more than 19 home runs in a season, he was such a great clutch hitter that in his prime, he was usually the Dodgers cleanup hitter.

Although Jackie Robinson died at the relatively young age of 53 in 1972, his wife, Rachel, has been one of the heritage faces of the Dodgers organization ever since then, along with Vin Scully.  The close relationship between Scully and the Robinsons goes back to Scully’s earliest days with the Dodgers, including the challenge Jackie posed to Vin to race on ice skates when the three of them were sent to Bear Mountain to do a promotion on behalf of the Dodgers. Jackie had never skated before, and the race never happened, but Jackie was serious.

Rachel Robinson

Rachel, a strong positive partner for Jackie throughout his career, going back to his season in Montreal, eventually became one of the best ambassadors of baseball as well as a respected part of the conscience for the game.  Their daughter and granddaughter are picking up the mantle.  They have been and continue to be reminders of a grievous part of the history of baseball and the United States in general, the sacrifice it took for a handful of courageous people to begin to overcome bigoted attitudes, the heritage of those playing now who would have been barred at one time, and the progress (and in some cases the lack thereof) that has been made since then.

For his part, Scully’s storytelling, including stories about Jackie Robinson, has made a major contribution to the oral history of baseball.  In addition, his skill in describing the action to the fans and newly initiated, his ability to convey the mood of the game with vocal inflection and keep things interesting without rooting or losing control of his emotions, maintaining his objectivity without attacking any of the participants involved: all these things have helped develop multiple generations of baseball fans in North America and beyond.  And he has been a positive influence and role model for many other broadcasters during his career, including his Spanish-speaking counterpart on the Dodger broadcasts, Jaime Jarrin.  With his voice preserved in countless ways on the Internet, I hope he will be an inspiration to many future broadcasters as well.

Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler

The baseball world of Leon Culberson and the seventh game of the 1946 World Series was, with a few minor league exceptions, a white-only world.  When the baseball owners voted after the end of that season, they voted 15-1 against Jackie Robinson being allowed to play in the major leagues.  It took the moral persistence of Branch Rickey (the only yes vote), the ability of Jackie Robinson to play at a superior level with grace under pressure, and the courage of Major League Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler to defy that vote and integrate the major leagues for the first time since the 1880’s.

The baseball world of Charlie Culberson and Vin Scully in the final year of his career has made tremendous strides of inclusiveness based on talent.  Major league baseball has fielded players from every inhabited continent, including many star players from Latin America and the Orient.  There are currently 63 black players and managers in the Baseball Hall of Fame, 30 of whom had careers primarily in the former Negro Leagues.  There are currently 12 Latin American players in the Hall of Fame, many of them black (and therefore on more than one list).

Billy Bean

Although no major league player has come out as gay to the public during his career, two have come out after their careers.  Billy Bean was one of them.  Since 2014, he has served as MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion.

The racism of Enos Slaughter of the Cardinals and the Red Sox organization (and many others) eventually lost.  The walk off home run by Leon Culberson’s grandson Charlie that clinched the Dodgers 2016 pennant in the last home game announced by Scully connected the two ends of Vin’s career.  Hopefully it presages an even better future where people of every color, every nationality, every religion, every gender and every walk of life can feel welcome to participate in the glorious game of baseball without harassment, whether as player, administrator, owner, reporter or fan.

It seems to me that Vin, who developed a rooting interest in baseball for the underdog, is pleased to have seen and broadcast the growth in diversity in baseball over the past 67 years.  And if the most popular personality in Los Angeles Dodgers history is someone whose first rooting interest was the New York Giants (and still admits a soft spot in his heart for the Giants) can anyone doubt that miracles still happen?

The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their 2017 NLCS victory. Shortstop Charlie Culberson (#37), who went 3 for 5 in the game and batted .455 in the series in place of injured Corey Seager, joins the celebration on the left.

At a time when the reputation of so many celebrities, especially male celebrities, is crumbling before our very eyes, I still feel comfortable honoring Vin Scully.  I would love to meet Vin and Sandi Scully.  My mind floods with questions I could ask them, especially Vin.

Vin was correct that baseball continued without him for the most part in 2017, although there were still a few honors to send in his direction.  But he is wrong that he will soon be an afterthought in the minds of baseball fans, not only in Los Angeles but wherever talent and class are appreciated.

Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary. – Acts 28:10

God bless,

Lois

Tribute to Vin Scully – Part III

Tags

accolades, balk rule, Baseball Hall of Fame, Bill Buckner, Dodger fans, Dodger Stadium, Dodgers, DX'ing, family, Ford Frick Award, Gilmore Field, God, Hank Aaron, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Kirk Gibson, Library of Congress, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Coliseum, no-hitter, one second stop, Pacific Coast League, perfect game, popularity, Rams, Red Barber, Sandi Scully, Sandy Koufax, sportscaster, storyteller, tragedy, transistor radio, umpires, Vin Scully, Wife, World Series, Wrigley Field in LA

Vin Scully’s Incomparable Legacy

Vin Scully’s popularity in Los Angeles soon reached heights rarely achieved by anyone, let alone a sportscaster. While he protests that he is relatively unimportant and that the players are who matters, Dodger fans disagree.  By 1976, Dodger fans selected him as the most memorable personality in the history of the franchise, choosing him over star players like Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills.  And he still had another 40 years ahead of him to grow his legendary status.

Kirk Gibson celebrates his 1988 World Series Game 1 limp off home run

I remember watching games when I was three and four years old, but I only have the faintest memory of Vin Scully at that time, even though he was already the Brooklyn Dodgers number one announcer at the tender age of 28.  Then the Dodgers departed for the West Coast and I had to be content to hear him when the Dodgers were in the World Series in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1974.  Then, when the World Series used network announcers rather than home team announcers from 1977 to 1989 and alternated between NBC and ABC, I got to hear him in the even number years 1984, 1986 and 1988 when Vin was also NBC’s primary announcer for their Saturday Game of the Week.  As luck would have it, the Dodgers returned to the World Series in 1988 and Scully was at the mic when Kirk Gibson gimped into the batter’s box and hit the game-winning home run off of the A’s Dennis Eckersley to spark the Dodgers to a World Series victory in 5 games.

I also would have listened to Vin many times on a Saturday afternoon NBC Game of the Week from 1983 to 1989.  And I would have heard him announce the NL Championship Series in the odd numbered years during that time, as well as the All-Star Game in those same seasons.  But it was fitting that his final World Series broadcast on national television was a Dodger World Championship.   And I’m sure I put on the radio some of the time for the World Series from 1990-1997 (except for 1994 when the baseball strike cancelled the Series) when Vin moved over to CBS radio to call the games.

In recent years, I had one more series of opportunities to listen to Vin on the Internet.  I discovered that MLB.com broadcast highlights of the games, taking the feed from the local broadcasts unless the game was on national television.  As Vin’s retirement drew near, I listened more and more to get every last bit of him I could.  I’d also watch the interviews, the pre-game visits by representatives of opposing teams making their last visit to Los Angeles while he was still the Dodgers broadcaster and even the plethora of tapes of Vin from prior years, whether it was an historic call or just one of his best stories.

Over the years, Vin became known as a first rate story teller as well as the ability to coin a phrase or make an historic moment even more memorable.  Los Angeles fans learned this early on.  East coast fans, particularly those in New York, mocked L.A. fans lack of baseball knowledge when they started bringing transistor radios to Dodger games to listen to Vin describe the action on the field.  Nothing could be further from the truth as far as the fans baseball knowledge was concerned.  They had two franchises in the Pacific Coast League, a AAA level league that was given an “Open” classification from 1952-57, meaning that they were considered somewhere between AAA and the major leagues.  At one time, especially before airplane travel made teams on the west coast realistic, there was talk of making the entire PCL a third major league.  In fact, the league voted to become that in 1945, but met resistance from the two established major leagues.

In addition, due to the more moderate weather on the Pacific Coast, the PCL routinely had seasons of 170 to 200 games until the late 1950’s when the Dodgers and Giants arrived on the West Coast.  In 1905, the San Francisco Seals set a record of 230 games played.  Usually the season began in late February and ended as late as the beginning of December.  And some of the greatest players in baseball history were stars in the PCL.  Future members of the Hall of Fame who starred in the PCL include Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, Paul Waner, Bobby Doerr, Earl Averill, Joe Gordon and Ernie Lombardi.  So L.A. fans were quite familiar with the ins and outs of baseball.

Los Angeles Dodgers first home game, April 18, 1958 at the cavernous Coliseum

The reason for the radios was the temporary home of the Dodgers from 1958-61, the Los Angeles Coliseum.  A huge stadium built for the 1932 Summer Olympics and suited for football and track and field, most of the seats were far from the action, nothing like the cozy setting of Gilmore Field (home of the Hollywood Stars from 1939-57 with seats 24 feet from first and third base and 34 feet from home plate), and L.A.’s Wrigley Field (home of the minor league Los Angeles Angels from 1925-57 and the major league Angels in their inaugural 1961 season and as cozy as its namesake in Chicago).

Dodger fans became so used to Scully’s voice while they watched home games, they continued the practice long after their team moved to spacious Dodger Stadium in 1962.  Soon after, I got my first transistor radio.  Many nights I would have that radio under my pillow, listening to Dodger games (preferably with an ear plug before it invariably broke).  Unfortunately, this meant listening to the announcers of the Dodger’s opponents as AM radio signals do not carry from Los Angeles to New York.  Of course, I easily picked up the games when the Mets played the Dodgers, but I also listened to the Pirates on KDKA, the Reds on WLW, the Cubs on WGN, the Cardinals on KMOX, the Braves (after they moved to Atlanta) on WSB and the Astros on WWL (their broadcast network station in New Orleans, the furthest I was able to DX a radio station).  At some point when the Phillies switched radio stations to one that wasn’t blocked by bleed from a NYC AM station, I listened to those games as well.  But occasionally, when the home announcer paused in his commentary, I could hear Vin’s voice from all the radios in the stands.  It created quite a challenge for the broadcast engineers to pick up the crowd noise without getting play by play to compete with the description of their own broadcast team.

Scully dared not milk his connection to the fans in the ballpark too often.  In fact the first time he tried it, he was scared to death that it would flop and leave egg on his face.  In 1963, an edict came down to strictly enforce the one second stop a pitcher was required to make in the set position with a runner on base.  Less than one second, a balk was to be called.  Not surprisingly, the early part of the 1963 season saw a sharp rise in the number of balks.  Scully, whose instincts for these things was unerring, procured a stopwatch and while another rhubarb was occurring on the field over a balk call, he instructed the crowd that when he said “one”, they were to wait exactly one second and say “two”.  The umpires and players on the field arguing were stunned when suddenly a typical Dodger Stadium crowd shouted out.  (They averaged over 31,000 per home game that season, a World Championship season for them.)  Another time, Scully delightfully surprised one of the umpires when he had the fans serenade him with “Happy Birthday” on his special day.

Sandy Koufax

Early in his career once he was the Dodgers number one announcer, Scully adopted the practice of instructing his engineer to record the ninth inning of a potential no-hitter so the pitcher, if successful, would have a memento of the event to enjoy for years to come.  He would always mention the date of the game.  With Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965, he added one more element, punctuating his play by play with the time of day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINiz0Bfb-0

Other classic calls by Scully include Gibson’s game winning home run in game one of the 1988 World Series, Hank Aaron’s home run that broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record and Bill Buckner’s error in game six of the 1986 World Series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4nwMDZYXTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqYThEVoSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ujwjqIldwU

In addition to accolades from the fans and winning the Ford Frick Award which gives him a plaque in Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Vin has been honored with a lifetime Emmy award for sports broadcasting and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.  He was named National Sportscaster of the Year three times and California Sportscaster of the Year 32 times, being inducted into the latter’s Hall of Fame.  He was also inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame and named by them as Sportscaster of the Century in 2000 and top sportscaster of all time in 2009.  He has also been inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame and NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame.  The MLB Network named him the number one baseball broadcaster of all time.

Vin also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the press box at Dodger Stadium has been named for him, and streets in front of Dodger Stadium (including the official address of the stadium) and at their former Spring Training complex in Vero Beach have been named for him.  He was Grand Marshal for the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade, was the 14^th recipient (only the second non-player after Rachel Robinson) of the baseball Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award and was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom last November, the highest civilian award bestowed by the President of the United States.

Recently, Scully’s commentary for the last Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants game has been selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.  The first major league baseball game that I ever saw was the game the day before.  I saw the last game between the two teams in New York that the Dodgers won.  The Giants won the final game between the two teams in New York in September 1957.

Barber visits Scully in the broadcast booth before a World Series game at Dodger Stadium

As good as Red Barber was, it is reasonable to say that the protégé far surpassed his teacher, both in longevity and in tributes from peers and fans.  Indeed Barber seemed to get somewhat bitter toward the game in the later years, and also tended to disparage most broadcasters who stepped from the baseball diamond into the broadcast booth.  Vin was admired throughout baseball, and his farewell year was a series of tributes from players, managers and broadcasters from the Dodgers’ opponents when they made their last trip to Dodger Stadium or from the Giants when Vin did his last broadcast in San Francisco.  And Vin was highly appreciated by the umpires.  At some point, they began to salute Vin before the start of games that he worked.  Vin never second-guessed the umpires on a call, although he would accurately report when someone on the field took exception to what one of the men in blue ruled.  Vin took the position that the umpires wanted to get every call right and did their best to do so.

Vin was the first to acknowledge that fortune smiled on him throughout his career and that only God could have made it possible to do what he loved for 67 years.  This is not to say that Vin hasn’t experienced tragedy in his life.  Vin married in 1958, a very pretty young woman named Joan.  Their first child, Michael, was born a few years later, and two more children followed.  Joan died in January 1972 at age 35 of an accidental overdose of medicine that she was taking to get relief from bronchitis and a severe cold.  And Michael died in a helicopter crash at age 33 while inspecting oil pipelines for leaks immediately following the Northridge earthquake of January 1994.

No one can replace the people we’ve lost.  But Vin would find love again, a mother for his children, plus two stepchildren and one more child with his second wife.  And there was a bit of irony to it.  The Fordham Rams alumnus was visiting the offices of the Los Angeles Rams one day.  While there, he met the executive assistant to Rams owner, Carroll Rosenbloom.  She thought it was a chance meeting, that he was there for another purpose.  In fact, he was tipped off to her presence in the Rams front office and went specifically to meet her.

(Vin Scully’s Hall of Fame induction speech upon winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 1982: many times the video features a younger Sandi Scully.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vvbUYj0Zs )

Transplanted to L.A. from North Carolina, Sandra Jean Schaefer (nee Hunt) and Vin started to date following that setup and were married in 1973.  A big baseball fan, she is also athletic and they share a love of golf and swimming.

Vin and his beautiful bride, Sandi

No longer would Koufax or Amoros be the most memorable Sandy in Vin’s life (even if she spells it with an “i”).  Sandi Scully has been by his side ever since, including many times while he was working a game and especially on the most memorable days at the end of his career, his final games as a broadcaster and the times he has been feted on and off the field.  44 years later, Sandi Scully is still a stunningly beautiful woman and her love for her husband (and his for her) shone through every moment.  Their blended family now boasts six children, sixteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. – Proverbs 18:22

God bless,

Lois

Tribute to Vin Scully – Part I

Tags

24 second clock, Alaska, Baseball Hall of Fame, Boston Braves, Communist Party, credit card, Dodgers, fast food, goalie mask, Harry Truman, Hawaii, interstate banks, Ivy League, Jacques Plante, Joseph Stalin, Loving v Virginia, Major League Baseball, Montgomery bus boycott, NBA, NFL, NHL, NL Playoffs, NL West pennant, outer space, Pete Gogolak, Philadelphia Phillies, Plessy v Ferguson, Queen Elizabeth II, racial segregation, relief pitcher, Rickey Henderson, Sam Jethroe, St. Louis, stolen bases, United Nations, USSR, Vern Bickford, Vin Scully, women's rights, World Series

The changes in the U.S. and the World during his baseball announcing career

Vin Scully – Brooklyn Dodgers announcer

There is a lot going on in my life right now, as well as in the life of people I care about.  It has made it more difficult for me to contribute to my blog.  I am working on a post more relevant to the main theme of my blog, but it is a difficult one and it is still in progress.  I also plan to post on some recent experiences of mine, interleaved with this series on Vin Scully.

I also haven’t written as much lately about my passion, the Dodgers.  Quite frankly I was not optimistic last year about their chances compared to the previous years when they won the NL West title.  And I was very surprised when they overcame many question marks and injuries to key players and made it to the NL Championship Series.  This year, I have been much more optimistic about the Dodgers’ chances and that assessment was borne out.  A recent horrific slump has nullified what was a near record-setting pace, although they bounced back to have the best regular season record and made it to the World Series for the first time since 1988.

But more important to me was my desire to salute one of the few remaining famous people in the world that I can admire totally without reservation.  I have never met him, though I’d like to.  So my assessment of him is based on all the accounts I have read or heard: that he is a talented, kind, generous and humble man.  One post will not do him justice.  This will by necessity be a multi-part series.  And I didn’t want to post it until all the pieces were in place.

Queen Elizabeth II early in her reign

Last year at this time, there were two famous people in the world essentially doing the same thing they were doing when I was born.  Now only one is left: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and Head of the British Commonwealth.  Hall of Fame baseball announcer Vin Scully retired last fall after announcing Dodger baseball games since April 1950.

To give you an idea of how much has changed in baseball, sports and the world in general since April 1950, here are a few facts:

• The number of major league baseball teams increased from 16 to 30 during this time.
• There were no major league teams west of St. Louis in 1950.
• Teams still routinely traveled by trains and jet airline passenger service didn’t begin to become commonplace until the end of the 1950’s (after some disasters with British jet passenger aircraft a few years earlier).
• The Dodgers opponent for Scully’s first regular season broadcast (one inning of a game in Philadelphia on 4/18/50), the Phillies, were still segregated in 1950. They wouldn’t have a black player until 7 years later.  On the same day as Scully’s first broadcast, Sam “The Jet” Jethroe made his debut with the Boston Braves, making them the sixth major league team to have a black player on the field in a regular season game since the end of the 19^th century. 
  

  Sam Jethroe – Boston Braves

• Jethroe led the major leagues in stolen bases that year with 35. In 2016, the major league stolen base leader had 62 steals (Jonathan Villar of the Brewers).  Under the modern definition of stolen base, a player has stolen more than 100 bases in a season 8 times with a record 130 by Rickey Henderson.  All of those seasons occurred after 1961.
• 1950 World Series (Yankees versus Phillies) was the last World Series where neither team had a black player.
• Vern Bickford of the Braves led the major leagues in innings pitched (312 and complete games (27). In 2016, David Price led in innings pitched (230) and Chris Sale led in complete games (6).  Relief pitchers were not referred to as closers in 1950 and with rare exceptions were the pitchers not considered good enough to be starters; the save was not yet an official category.  Today, late inning relief work is a specialty (especially to close out a win) and some of the most talented pitchers are in that role.
• In 1950 the average time it took to play a 9-inning game was two hours and eighteen minutes. In 2016, it was three hours and two minutes, the first time the three hour mark was eclipsed.
• Minor Leagues were divided into classes AAA, AA, A, B, C and D. Now the divisions are AAA, AA, A, Rookie.
• In 1950, there were 58 different leagues in those classifications plus the independent Mexican League (now part of Organized Baseball’s structure) for a total of 454 teams. This year, there are 176 teams in 15 leagues.
• There was no designated hitter or free agency in baseball. Nor was there any interleague play during the regular season.  There were no video replays of umpires’ decisions.  And baseball bats at all levels of play were made of wood.
• Major league players left their gloves on the field at the end of an inning when they came in to hit. That practice was outlawed in 1954.
• In 1950, the average payroll for an entire team was $432,568 ($4,425,244 in buying power today, about the same as the average salary for one major league player now). The current minimum major league salary for one player is $535,000.
• Baseball schedules featured such items as single admission doubleheaders and Ladies Day games in which a woman accompanied by a man was admitted to the game at no charge.
  

  Pete Gogolak (Cornell ’64), first successful soccer style placekicker in American football

• Football kickers approached place kicks straight on rather than soccer style.
• College football was considerably more popular than professional football.
• The NFL admitted three teams from the All-America Football Conference before the start of the 1950 season for a total of 13 teams (compared to 32 now).
• The 1949-50 season was the first year of the NBA, a merger between the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League. They had a total of 17 teams divided into three divisions.  By the start of that 1954-55 season, the league was reduced to eight teams in two divisions. It would not expand again until the 1961-62 season.  In the season just concluded, there were 30 teams divided into two conferences of three divisions each.
• The 24 second shot clock in the NBA was five seasons away.
• NBA teams would play games at neutral courts until the practice was generally abandoned after the 1973-74 season.
• The NHL had been reduced to six teams by the 1942-43 season due to the economic effects of the Great Depression and loss of players during WWII. It would not expand until the 1967-68 season when it doubled in size.  There are currently 30 teams.
  

  Jacques Plante dons the mask for the first time in a regular season NHL game.

• No NHL goalies wore face masks. The first to do so for the remainder of his career was Jacques Plante in 1959.  With the retirement of Andy Brown after the 1976-77 season, all hockey goalies at the major league level wear masks.  It is now a requirement in the NHL for goalies to wear masks, and the rest of the players to wear helmets.
• Ivy League: While the term was used as early as the mid-1930’s and championships in some sports were held prior to 1950 (for example the Heptagonal Games: originally all the Ivies except Brown), the league didn’t become official until 1954.
• The President of the United States was Harry S. Truman.
• Alaska and Hawaii were still territories of the United States.
• The doctrine of “separate but equal” from the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v Ferguson was still the law of the land. The Supreme Court had not yet overturned laws prohibiting interracial marriage in some states.  That didn’t occur until Loving v Virginia in 1967.  The Montgomery bus boycott would not occur until December 1955.
• Women’s rights: In 1950, women could be fired for getting pregnant; could be rejected for employment simply on the basis of gender; could be discriminated against in the classroom. Women could not report sexual harassment in the workplace as a form of discrimination; could not apply for credit on her own (especially married women); could not open a bank account without the permission of her husband or near male relative; could not refuse to have sex with her husband; could not use domestic violence as grounds for divorce in some states; could not practice law or sit on a jury in some states.
• There were 60 members of the United Nations in 1950 with the addition of Indonesia. There are currently 193 members.
• Joseph Stalin was the head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by virtue of being General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. There is no more Soviet Union.  As to the Communist Party, opinions vary.
• There were four independent nations on the continent of Africa in 1950: Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia and South Africa. Today there are fifty-four.
• Common everyday items of today that either did not exist or were rare in 1950: home computers, laser printers, color printers, 3-D printers, caller ID, cell phones, the Internet with hand-held devices to access it, e-mail, blogs and vlogs, hand-held video cameras affordable for the average citizen, digital photography, CD’s and DVD’s, ATM’s, practical light-emitting diodes (LED’s) used in a wide variety of devices, color TV, flat-screen TV’s many times the size of the early TV tubes in 1950, remote control, instant replay, TV dinners, transistor radios (making it much easier for LA Dodger fans to listen to Scully while at the game), passenger jets, IRA and other qualified retirement accounts (like 401K’s), microwave ovens, automatic doors, diet soda, pop-top cans, Velcro, bubble wrap, roll on deodorant, oral contraceptives, ultrasound, and child safety car seats.
  

  What insomniacs looked at after the last late movie until programming resumed in the morning.

• Things which have pretty much disappeared since 1950: vinyl records (although they are making a comeback with some aficionados), record stores, telegrams and related services (like Candygrams – how would the Saturday Night Live shark get people to open the door now?), TV antennas, TV test patterns, the teaching of penmanship, two point seat belts (either the lap belt or sash belt, but not both), drive-in theaters, maps given away at gas stations, milk and other dairy product deliveries, Polaroids and other instant cameras, home movies on 8mm film, rotary phones, typewriters, carbon paper, slide rules, filmstrips, vacuum tubes (and tube testers).
  

  when floppy disks became rigid

• Things which have come and gone since 1950: 8-track and cassette tapes, video tapes (especially Betamax) and video rental stores (like Blockbuster), gigantic boomboxes, analog television, splash tones during cable TV programs, dial-up Internet and external modems, floppy disks, slide projectors, mimeographs and spirit duplicators aka ditto machines (and sniffing the paper), pull tabs on cans.
• AT&T and its subsidiaries had a monopoly on providing phone service and equipment to the general public, while the U.S. post office had no significant competition in the delivery of first class mail. Air Mail was a separate category; like the long distance phone call, it could become very expensive.
• Banks were not permitted to cross state lines (i.e. have branches in more than one state).
• While fast food restaurants date back to 1919 (A&W), the term fast food was not added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary until 1951. While McDonald’s existed since 1940 (as a BBQ restaurant until 1948), it didn’t have its first franchise with the golden arches until 1953.
• Major companies which did not exist in 1950 include Walmart (1962), Microsoft (1975), Apple (1976) and Starbucks (1971).
• Mankind had not yet come close to reaching outer space. The first artificial satellite into earth orbit would not be launched until 1957, the first person reaching outer space in 1961 and the moon in 1969.
• $1 in 1950 had the purchasing power of about $10.15 when Scully retired. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at a little over 200 at the beginning of 1950. It was over 18,000 when Scully retired.
• Diner’s Club introduced the first credit card in 1950.

So that gives you an idea of some of the changes in baseball and sports in general, as well as geopolitical and socio-economic changes since 1950.

Vin Scully has been behind the microphone of the Dodgers the entire time.  He was a fine announcer when doing football play by play or describing a golf match.  But it was his career announcing baseball that sets him apart from the rest of the broadcasting profession.  No one has done it longer or better.  And he did it for only one team.  It happens to be the team I have always rooted for since my earliest memories of baseball at age three when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn.

I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. – Ecclesiastes 3:14

God bless,

Lois

A Dream Deferred … or Worse

Tags

1965, Bethlehem, birth of Jesus, Blacks, Canada, Charlie Brown, Christ, Christians, Christmas, city of David, deferred, denied, discrimination, Dodger Stadium, Dodgers, dreams, Duke Snider, Frontline, Gender Dysphoria, ghetto, God, Growing Up Trans, hatred, Holy Spirit, hope, hopelessness, Isaiah 9, Jackie Robinson, Jews, John Roseboro, Langston Hughes, Light in darkness, Linus, Los Angeles, Luke 2:8-14, Maury Wills, Messianic prophesy, Ontario, parents, Paul McHugh, PBS, Proverbs 13:12, research, social science, study, suicide, supportive, TDOR, throne of David, trans masculine, Transgender, Transition, violence, Watts riots, Willie Crawford, World Championship, youth

This is my 100^th post.  Thank you for your encouragement.

This is a story that begins about fifty years ago, jumps to the present and finishes with events many centuries ago.

When I was in college, majoring in government, it was a few years after the Watts riots.  As a 12 year old in 1965, all I knew about the riots was that black people had begun to react to the discrimination they experienced with violence: looting and burning commercial buildings, shooting at firemen trying to put out the flames.  And I knew that there were times when the smoke was visible about 8 miles due north at Dodger Stadium.  At times, the smoke moved over the stadium and the smell hung over the ballpark.  When the games were played during the riots, attendance suffered in the midst of a tight pennant race.  Fans were offered rain checks in case they were too afraid to attend the home games that week.

It was an event that took away some of the luster of the Dodgers World Championship season, although when you are 12, you try to focus on the game and team you love.  These players were my heroes.  It didn’t matter what color they were.  After Duke Snider was sold to the Mets and then retired, my favorite player was Maury Wills.  I was prejudiced … in favor of the “little” players.  (Wills is black.)

It affected the team directly as well.  Willie Crawford, still a teenager, was a young black player from the curfew area who had signed for a $100,000 bonus the previous year when he graduated from high school.  He was mistakenly arrested, one of the 4000 people arrested during the week-long rioting.  Catcher John Roseboro spent a night sitting on the front stoop of his house with a gun, when protestors marched past his house.  Although very few residences were targeted, it was a tense and volatile time and no one could be sure what would happen.

Some black players drove to and from the park in their uniforms, hoping it would spare them problems from rioters and police.  Some had routes to the park that took them through the affected area.  Some white team members watched National Guardsmen patrolling in their neighborhood.

Former Dodger Jackie Robinson offered this assessment of the cause of the riots:

“Riots do not happen because … a crowd seeks to restrain an officer from making an arrest.  Riots begin with the hopelessness which lives in the hearts of a people who, from childhood, expect to live in rundown houses, to be raised by one parent, to be denied proper recreation, to attend an inferior school, to experience police brutality, to be turned down when seeking a decent job.”

By the time Robinson passed away in October 1972, social scientists had refined their understanding of the riots.  While the riots started in Watts and its name was attached to them, they spread beyond the 4 square miles of Watts into other black impoverished neighborhoods, about 50 square miles in all.  Researchers expected that the instigation of the riots came from the very worst areas.  They were wrong. The primary fomenters of the riots came from the edge of the black ghetto.  The explanation offered was that those in the very worst areas were so affected with hopelessness, there was no incentive to initiate action.  (This does not mean that they didn’t participate once the riots started.)

The neighborhoods along the edge were somewhat better.  But they were still inside and that last leap out of the ghetto to the more affluent white neighborhoods a short distance away seemed to be always just out of reach.  Looking back at riots two months later, the Los Angeles Times interviewed a 46-year-old black father of six, and quoted him saying, “If I ever made enough money, I would move out of Watts like all the other big shots. So I’m here, so what the hell. Los Angeles isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Wherever you go, you’re black – that’s all there is to it.”

Over forty years since college, I still remember that lesson learned about riots being fueled by a combination of hopelessness and the prize always just out of reach.  It was a lesson that came back to me when I heard the 300 names read at TDOR last month.  Something different caught my eye.  Acknowledging that it is too soon to show a trend, I still searched for an explanation.  It was the lesson of Watts that came back to me.

At the TDOR where I spoke in November, the program committee has adopted a broad definition as to which transgender people and allies to honor and remember as “victims of hate, intolerance, ignorance and prejudice during the past year.”  Therefore, we have been including the names of those who were bullied and harassed into committing suicide.  This year, the number of suicides, the majority of which occurred in the United States, seemed higher this year.  Especially notable was the number of trans masculine teens who committed suicide.  What had previous appeared to be nonexistent was now significant.  I was at once intrigued, saddened and puzzled by this development at a time we appear to be making solid progress in helping trans youth.

The next day at another TDOR event, I watched the video “Growing Up Trans” (originally aired 6 months ago on PBS’s Frontline).  While the vast majority of the parents were supportive (albeit with reasonable questions and concerns about the appropriate way to be supportive of their child), one father was resistant to helping his child transition out of sincere concern for his child’s future welfare.  This trans masculine teen was already punching holes in walls at times out of frustration.  It appeared that the documentary would end with the impasse unresolved.

But then, an unfilmed postscript was added.  A voiceover noted that this teen had been suspended from school for starting a fight.  The student he attacked had just begun taking prescription testosterone.  It was at that point that the father agreed to the let his child begin to take cross-gender hormones.

It’s not my purpose to address whether or not the father did the right thing.  I am shining a light on a level of frustration so great that it would cause an attack on one of the very people this teen should have related to the most.

This 85 minute film is still available online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/growing-up-trans/

The pieces were coming together.  One more bit of evidence that came my way soon afterwards would make things crystal clear.  There was a study done in 2012 of 433 trans youth 16-24 years old who live in Ontario, Canada.  The parents of these trans youth were categorized as either very supportive (34%), somewhat supportive (25%), or either not very or not at all supportive (42%).  By many measures of mental health and life conditions, those trans youth who saw their parents as very supportive were statistically significantly better off than those trans youth whose parents were only somewhat supportive, not very supportive or not at all supportive.

For those who prefer text to charts, the well supported trans youth were more than twice as likely to be satisfied with life (72% to 33%), approaching five times more likely to have very good or excellent mental health (70% to 15%), more than twice as likely to have very good or excellent physical health (66% to 31%), about five times as likely to have high self-esteem (64% to 13%), more than three times less likely to have symptoms of depression (23% vs 75%), about half as likely to have considered suicide in the past year (34% vs 70%) and over 14 times less likely to have attempted suicide in the past year (4% vs 57%).

Perhaps the saddest statistic of all for those whose parents offer lukewarm to no support is the finding that well supported trans youth were more than twice as likely to be living in adequate housing (100% vs 45%).  There may be no clearer statistic to show that while a young person’s view of parental support may appear subjective, adequate housing is a very objective measure of how parental support is demonstrated.  Truly supportive parents either allow their trans children to remain at home or they provide continued support for their trans children to make it through the educational system until they can begin their career and find adequate housing of their own.   Parents who provide either lukewarm or no support at all appear to be either kicking their children out of the house or driving them out with abuse (including verbal), bullying and harassment.

For those who prefer charts, I have provided them here.  (There is also some additional information in them.  It appears that those who considered suicide in the past year should also be listed as having a statistically significant difference.)

For those who want to see the full report, here is the link:

http://transpulseproject.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Impacts-of-Strong-Parental-Support-for-Trans-Youth-vFINAL.pdf

The survey results are part of the light that exposes the lies of Dr. Paul McHugh and others who claim that transition is ineffective in dealing with gender dysphoria and transgenderism in general.  It is diametrically opposed to their claims that the lives of those who transition are not improved by doing so.  This shows that the level of support for the transition is as significant as transition itself.

But what about the 2/3 whose parents are not strong in their support?  How do they react when they see transgender peers progressing towards life in their target gender, but their progress appears to be denied?

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. – Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred is not hope denied, but when a person reaches the point where it appears that one’s desires will never come, heart sickness can and has become fatal.  Impatience is typical of most youth, and it magnifies hopelessness.

Many trans youth will draw hope from the success of their peers that someday it will be their turn.  Any meaningful progress will stir the fires of the optimism of youth.  But when progress is not only stalled but crushed, it is more than a dream deferred.  It becomes a dream denied.  Many years ago, mindful of his first-hand experience in a different marginalized group, Langston Hughes wrote the poem that inspired the title of this blog post, and was in turn inspired in part by Proverbs 13:12.

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

To avoid these results, especially dreams exploding inward, we need to find a way to reach those trans youth whose parents are found wanting in support.  We need to keep their hopes and dreams alive, not crushed or dried up by hate and ignorance, not rotten and diseased by those who would prey on them and steal their dream, not covered over by vacant smiles hiding a time bomb.  If necessary, each one reach one.

We leapt from fifty years ago to today.  While keeping our finger in today, we leap back in time many centuries to the prophet Isaiah.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. – Isaiah 9:2,7-8

There is a group of people who have persevered for over 2700 years to keep that hope alive through many trials, tribulations, hardships, heartaches and tears.  I am one of the members of a different group: a group whose people have hope because we believe that this prophesy was fulfilled two thousand years ago by the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  My relationship with God, the love of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit was the number one reason for the success of my transition, especially during those times when I was pretty much going it alone as far as people from my former life being supportive.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. – Luke 2:8-14

And that’s why people find hope in Christmas, Charlie Brown!

God bless,

Lois

World Cup Wrap Up

Tags

All Star Game, André Schürrle, Argentina, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Benedikt Howedes, Brazil, Christoph Kramer, Derek Jeter, Dodgers, Ezequiel Lavezzi, finals, Germany, Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi, Louis van Gaal, Manuel Neuer, Mario Götze, Miroslav Klose, NL West, Sergio Romero, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, World Cup

A historic World Cup final saw Germany become the first European team to capture the coveted championship when it was contested in the Western Hemisphere.  After shocking the world with a demolishing win over host Brazil, 7-1, they emerged victorious, 1-0 over Argentina with a picture-perfect goal by substitute Mario Goetze midway through the second fifteen minute period of extra time.

Except for the fact that both teams struggled to finish off their scoring chances, the final in Rio de Janeiro was an excellently played match, worthy of the world stage it commanded.  It was a lively match with both teams willing to make offensive forays.  While Germany had better control of the tempo of the game, the Argentine defense appeared impenetrable and their offense able to occasionally counter with the more dangerous chances.

Both teams were without one key player for the match.  A thigh injury kept one of Argentina’s key offensive players, midfielder Angel di Maria, out of the lineup.  It is no coincidence that Argentina won and scored in their first five matches with di Maria in the lineup, then failed to score in their last two matches.

On the German side, one of their starting midfielders, Sami Khedira, had injured himself during pre-game warm ups and would not be fit for the game.  Problems were compounded when Khedira’s replacement, Christoph Kramer, took a blow to the head.  He tried to continue but eventually had to come out.  The next day, Kramer reported that he remembers little of what happened during the game.

Fortunately for Germany, their tremendous depth meant they could pluck another talented player off the bench and put him into the match.  That player was Andre Schuerrle, who had already scored three goals in the Cup finals.  And it was Schuerrle’s excellent cross from deep on the left side that Goetze was able to control with his chest onto his left foot and one time a volley to the far side past Argentine keeper, Sergio Romero.  Romero was not even the starter for his Monaco club team. But he became a key reason why Argentina, expected to be powerful on offense but suspect defensively, recorded shutouts in four of its six games before the final, winning by only one goal in each of the first five.  In fact, until Goetze scored with just under 8 minutes remaining in extra time, Argentina had never trailed in a match.

After 105 minutes of relentless play, it appeared the game was slowing down with neither side taking as many offensive risks and were willing to settle for the match and the World Cup be decided by penalty kicks.  In fact, Germany was marking time for a while as they were effectively playing a man short. Bastian Schweinsteiger was on the sidelines hoping the flow of blood under his eye from a collision could be stanched to avoid forcing Germany to use its final substitution. But out of that lull, Germany, attacking with three men while there were seven blue-shirted Argentine players back on defense, made magic with a perfect cross and a perfect execution in handling the pass and finding the net.  Somehow despite so many players back on defense, it was the one time they gave a German attacker too much space.

Lionel Messi of Argentina was the player who was expected to make offensive magic in the championship match.  But he was effectively contained most of the day.  When he did have his chances late in the contest, his header in front of the German net sailed very high, and his free kick from a few yard outside the box in the last injury time had the same result.

Even so, Argentina has to look back at what might have been if they had taken advantage of some unexpected early lapses in the German defense.  A rare German defensive mistake by Toni Kroos who thought he had room to head it back to his goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, gave it right to Argentina’s striker, Gonzalo Higuain, with no defenders between him and the goalie.  But Higuain, who scored the only goal against Belgium in their quarterfinal match, flubbed the shot, dribbling it weakly past the left post so that Neuer was not even required to make a save.

Then, in a short span from the 30^th to 36^th minute, Germany’s flow was disrupted with the substitution required for Kramer, plus Schweinsteiger and Benedikt Howedes receiving yellow cards.  Right after the first yellow card, it appeared that a cross from Ezequiel Lavezzi on the right had led to an Argentine goal.  This time Higuain found the net, but he was also clearly offside on a play when he had plenty of space and no need to run that deep for the cross.  So Higuain wasted two huge opportunities in the first half to be the hero.

Howedes had a golden chance in the final seconds of the first half as he got free for a point blank header off a corner kick from Kroos.  But it squarely hit the right post and bounced harmlessly off Thomas Mueller into the hands of Romero.  One goal in the final game would have given Mueller the Golden Boot as the top goal scorer of the World Cup finals, but it was not to be.

There was plenty of action in the second half as well, but perhaps the most important moment came in the 88^th minute when German striker, Miroslav Klose came out of the game.  It was the fourth World Cup for Klose and he set many World Cup records from those appearances.  At the top of the list of his achievements: only player to play in four World Cup semi-finals, and with his goal against Brazil, passing retired Brazilian great Ronaldo with a record setting 16 World Cup goals.

One final note about Klose: the player who replaced him in the final was Mario Goetze.  It’s almost as if he passed along the mantle and goal-scoring touch as they crossed paths on the field at Estadio Maracana.

A few days earlier, we had two very dissimilar semi-final matches.  In Argentina versus Netherlands, the teams battled to a scoreless tie over 120 minutes before Argentina advanced to the final on penalty kicks.  There are two interesting side notes on that game.  First is that it was the second straight game for the Dutch that was decided on penalty kicks.  In their quarterfinal match against Costa Rica, Coach Louis van Gaal brought on a substitute goalie in the final minutes of regulation time because he was superior to the starting goalkeeper on penalty kicks.  But against Argentina, he couldn’t repeat that tactic because he used up all three of his quota of substitutes.  And in a bit of irony, Argentine keeper Romero credited one man for teaching him how to stop penalty kicks: Coach van Gaal!

While Brazil was overrated coming into the tournament and trading on their home field advantage, no one would have forecast the thrashing they received from Germany.  If the United States or some other squad of lesser reputation had suffered such a fate, experts would have nodded and intoned that it proved that these teams are still quite a way from reaching top level in the sport.

For Brazil, however, all the experts could do is shake their heads in wonder.  For many years, Brazil had so many players of exemplary individual talents who could strike at any time, and might even have been more dangerous in a wide open game that would result once they fell behind by a couple of goals.  This year, once Neymar was severely injured, they had no one in that skill category.

Looking back at my posts, I have to say that for a rank amateur observer, I did quite well in my forecasts back in December.  I forecast that Groups B, D & G would be groups of death, including my prediction that Spain or Netherlands, despite their appearance in the 2010 World Cup final, might fail to advance to the next round.  I missed on failing to give Costa Rica any chance to advance in Group D, but they won that group over Uruguay with Italy and England faltering.  And I erred in picking Russia to advance ahead of Algeria in Group H.  But now Russia will be able to focus for the next four years on the finals as they have an automatic entry as the host of the 2018 tournament.

I also correctly predicted that we would probably not see any upsets in the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals.  And I predicted the Semifinals and Finals correctly, even to the extent that two of the matches would be close but Brazil would have trouble with Germany.

One final look at the USA squad: they have a number of questions to answer before 2018. One not discussed by me previously is the fact that they were able to win their qualifying round to get into the finals, but teams that they beat out, Costa Rica and Mexico, outplayed them on the world stage.  They need to look at why those squads are able to do a better job rising to the occasion at this level of play.

Finally, two notes about baseball.  First coming into the All Star break, my Dodgers led the NL West by one game over the Giants in the NL West.  Sporadically I may do some updates on their progress, but not nearly as often as for the World Cup unless and until the Dodgers continue at this pace and make the playoffs.

And speaking of the All Star Game, it basically continues as a non-event after many years as one of the game’s premier attractions.  Except for it being Derek Jeter’s final All Star Game, this year was no exception.

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. – 2^nd Kings 2:9-14

God bless,

Lois

Related articles

• Goetze scores late to give Germany the World Cup

USA Eliminated From World Cup

Tags

Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Clint Dempsey, Colombia, DeAndre Yedlin, Demarcus Beasley, Dodgers, finals, Germany, Giants, Jermaine Jones, John Brooks, Julian Green, Kyle Beckerman, Netherlands, saves record, semifinals, Tim Howard, United States, USA, World Cup

After losing my Internet for a couple of days because of lightning and then celebrating the 4^th of July weekend, I’m back with another update on the World Cup.

Despite a record setting number of saves by Team USA goalkeeper Tim Howard, USA lost to Belgium, 2-1.  The score was 0-0 at the end of regulation time, but while USA had some near misses, the Belgian squad clearly had the better of the play throughout the game.  It was a combination of Howard making some great saves and Belgian failing to do anything with their numerous corner kick opportunities that kept USA hopes alive until overtime.

Of their four games, this was Team USA’s worst performance overall.  Between Howard and their defenders, the team displayed some staunch defense.  And when they were able to mount an attack, they showed some good skills.  But their midfield play was horrendous.  Too often their passes were sloppy, either off target completely or enough to slow down the attack.  As a result, Belgium was able to make some dangerous counters and eventually wear down the USA defenders.  To make it worse, Team USA had difficulty getting back possession in midfield.

The performance and athleticism of two young players during the tournament, DeAndre Yedlin (age 21) and Julian Green (age 19) give the growing legion of USA soccer fans hope for a better showing in 2018 for the next World Cup.  Yedlin has tremendous speed that makes him an offensive threat and enables him to outrun occasional mistakes, had very good ball sense when inside the 18 yard line on offense, and generally showed tremendous poise and confidence for someone so young, even when he played an relatively unfamiliar midfield position against Belgium.  While Green only saw a few minutes of action at the end of the Belgium match, he scored the first time he touched the ball and also showed tremendous poise and good skill in a pressure situation.  His goal gave Team USA one last glimmer of hope that they could forge a tie and force the game into a penalty kick shootout.  A more favorable bounce here or there and the American squad might have stolen one.

Another 21 year old, John Brooks, also showed considerable poise with his clutch goal late in the match that was the winner against Ghana.  At this time, however, he is not as highly regarded as Yedlin and Green.

Of course while the young players gain valuable experience, the veterans will age.  Tim Howard is already the oldest regular on the US squad at 35, and while there have been top international goalkeepers around age 40, it is rare.  Can Howard maintain the athleticism that puts him among the top keepers in the world?  Team USA does have a talented number two in Brad Guzan who will still be in his prime in 2018, but very few people can compare to Howard, and if the Americans do not shore up their squad elsewhere, they will need the very best in the nets to compete.

Others who saw action in this World Cup and will be 35 or older in four years: starters Clint Dempsey, Demarcus Beasley, Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman; key substitutes Chris Wondolowski and Brad Davis.  Perhaps some of them will still be able to play a key role in Russia in 2018.  But the United States will need to continue to develop more international quality players to reach the next level on the world stage, the level where they are a contender to win it all.

Although we saw a number of upsets in Group play, the cream has been rising to the top.  We saw no upsets in the Round of 16 where all the Group winners advanced.  And the favorites have all advanced from the Quarterfinals to the Semifinals, with familiar soccer powers facing off against each other: Brazil versus Germany and Argentina versus Netherlands.

The best chance for an upset was probably for Colombia over a Brazil squad that might have been eliminated by now if not for the advantage of playing on home soil.  They managed to come out on top in a very chippy, foul filled game.  But they will be without two key players against Germany.  Their offensive star, Neymar, suffered a broken vertebra from a knee to his back in the last few minutes of the game, with subsequent controversy as to whether or not the Colombian player deliberately injured him.  (FIFA has decided that no disciplinary action should be taken against the Colombian player, Juan Zuniga.)  Neymar will be out of the remainder of the tournament.  He had notched four goals and one assist, accounting for half of Brazil’s goals in the finals.  And Brazil will also lose their captain, Thiago Silva, because he received his second yellow card of the tournament late in the Colombia match.  Silva got his side off to a fast start with an early goal against Colombia.

So it could be an uphill battle for Brazil against Germany, even with the home crowd supporting them.  That match is being played tomorrow (Tuesday, July 8).

Wednesday’s semifinal match will feature two of the stingiest teams in the World Cup: Netherlands and Argentina.  Netherlands has allowed only four goals in five games while Argentina has allowed three in the same span.  Neither team has lost or tied so far, although Netherlands had to resort to winning a shootout over upstart Costa Rica in the Quarterfinals.  The Dutch squad has not been able to duplicate their dominance seen in their opening match against defending champion, Spain.  And there is some evidence that they are wilting in the heat of the venues where they have played.  Their semifinal will take place in the cooler clime of Sao Paolo, but I still give the edge to Argentina.

So, I will go out a bit on a limb and predict a Germany-Argentina final.  It is pretty much a toss-up, but I will give the edge to Germany.  However, when you have as talented player like Lionel Messi, his individual efforts can make the difference.  So I am predicting but not betting (even if I did gamble, which I do not).

Switching over to baseball, the Dodgers have managed to make up a tremendous amount of ground in a short time and are now holding a slim lead in the NL West over the Giants.  It was a combination of the Dodgers starting to play better fundamental baseball plus excellent starting pitching, while the Giants went into a terrible slump.  Decades ago, the Giants were known as a team that started well and then had a June swoon.  They returned to that pattern this year.

When the Dodgers had a similar turnaround in the standings last year, they did it with the help of long winning streaks and a record tying 42-8 stretch.  This year, the Dodgers have yet to win more than three in a row.  But during their recent rise to the top, it has also been rare for them to lose back to back games.

There is nearly half the baseball regular season remaining and contending teams are beginning to upgrade their rosters with players acquired from teams that see little chance of winning this year.  So it is way too soon to know who will make the playoffs.  I have seen and read enough about baseball to know that it is way too soon to claim that the Dodgers will win their division, let alone anything beyond that.

In my next post, which should be in the next day or two, I will discuss someone who has come to my attention in the past week.  Interesting claims are being made about this person.  Please check back soon!

… we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. – Romans 5:3-5

God bless,

Lois

Favorite Moments in Sports (plus USA advances in World Cup)

Tags

1980 Winter Olympics, 1988 World Series, baseball, Big Red, Cornell, Dodgers, football, Germany, Ghana, group of death, Hockey, Kirk Gibson, knockout stage, Manaus, Miracle on Ice, Portugal, Rockland Country Day School, Round of 16, Team USA, USA, World Cup

No list of my favorite moments that I witnessed would be complete without including sports.  I have attended some major league baseball games in person in four different cities including a playoff game, many NHL hockey games, one pro football and one pro basketball game.  Then there are many other games I have watched at the high school and college level (including Ed Marinaro breaking the NCAA rushing record).  And then there are countless games that I have watched on television in these sports, plus contests in person or on television in other sports like soccer, lacrosse (my alma mater, Cornell, was NCAA champs two of the four years I attended there) and track and field (including an international meet at the Iffley Road Track at Oxford, the same track on which Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four minute mile).

Kirk Gibson’s hobbling to smack a clutch pinch-hit home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team’s miracle victory over the Soviets in 1980 are two memorable moments in sports that I saw on television.  But some of my most memorable moments are from games in college and high school that were played in front of relatively few people and have never made it into the annals of sports history.  They happened long before You Tube, Facebook and Twitter.  But all of them were feats I never saw any other time.

Schoellkopf Field at Cornell University. Source : wikipedia.en  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have seen many dominant performances by quarterbacks, running backs and pass receivers in football.  But a kick blocker?  I saw Cornell beat Rutgers because of one man on special teams.  John McKeown was an NCAA championship caliber long sprinter.  He was also a speedy pass receiver but initially he played on the 150 pound (now sprint) football team at Cornell.  (A handful of colleges have football teams reserved for smaller talented athletes.)  Eventually the Cornell varsity added him to their roster.  Normally, his heroics were on the receiving end of a long Mark Allen pass, scoring three touchdowns on twelve catches.  But this day was different.

On October 7, 1972, Cornell beat Rutgers 36-22.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Big Red would have ended up on the losing end without Johnny Mack’s efforts.  Early in the game, he lined up on one side of the line and blocked a punt deep in Rutgers territory.  Later in the first half, he did it again.  On their next punt attempt, the Scarlet Knights adjusted and blocked McKeown from getting to the punter.  Soon, Rutgers punted again and this time he got through to the kick from the other side of the line.  Finally, with the Rutgers punting team completely befuddled, Johnny hid behind a defensive lineman in the center of the line.  He timed the snap perfectly, sprinted through the line, past the blocking back and sacked the punter!  My recollection is that all of these plays gave Cornell great field position and led to scores.

That collegiate game was witnessed by a few thousand fans and was broadcast on radio, perhaps on local cable TV also (at least highlights).  But feats at two high school games with teams I was a member of were witnessed by no more than a couple of dozen people, plus team members, coaches and officials.  Still, I know they happened because I was there.

On the day we (Rockland Country Day School) beat the Halsted School in 1970, the opposing hitters could barely touch our pitcher, Ian Kanner.  In a seven inning game, he pitched us to victory by mowing down all 21 outs with strikeouts.  I did help him a bit, however.  Not as alert as I should have been, I let a grounder go through my legs that I should have handled with ease.  Undaunted, he finished out the inning and the rest of the game sending hitter after hitter back to the bench, bat in hand.

A year earlier, I had an excellent seat on the bench as the second string goalie for our hockey game against Bergen Catholic.  We somehow found ourselves killing off two penalties at the same time, leaving us at a two man disadvantage.  Tom McAllister was only a sophomore and far from the biggest player on either team.  But he was already an excellent puck handler and good skater.  Tom was sent out as our only forward to kill off the penalties.   Soon after the faceoff following the second penalty, Tom intercepted the puck, went down on a breakaway and scored.  Following another faceoff, he stole the puck again and put the puck past the goalie once more.  My recollection is that they were the deciding goals in the game.  Only one NHL player has ever scored two short-handed goals in the same game while two men down, but they were on different penalty kills and one of them was when the opposing team pulled their goalie late in the game because they were losing.  No one in the NHL has ever scored two goals on the same two man disadvantage.

World Cup Update – end of Group play

Despite a 1-0 loss to Germany in the final game of group play, USA advances to the Round of 16 by a tiebreaker.  With Portugal’s defeat of Ghana, USA and Portugal tied in points (4), but USA’s goal differential was three better than Portugal, due to a sorry performance by the latter in their opening game against Germany.

It is difficult to assess Team USA’s performance over the first three games because it was inconsistent and because their path was much more difficult than for most teams.  They came in after six months while aware that they were in a “group of death”, and that the supposedly weakest team in Group G, Ghana, had been their nemesis in the previous two World Cups.  They also faced more travel than any other squad (in part based on their decision to have their practice location in the south, in Sao Paolo, with all their games ending up in the north).

Furthermore, they had to play one of their games at Manaus in the middle of the Amazon jungle.  The fact that it is technically winter in that part of Brazil means little as it is very close to the Equator.  The combination of heat and humidity during their match there against Portugal led the referee to call for a break in the middle of the first half so the players on the field could be hydrated.

Four games were played in Manaus.  Regarding the first three, only Portugal was able to win its next game, but that was against a Ghana team that was somewhat in rebellion over not having received their promised payout: two of their best players were dropped from the team before the Portugal match as a result.  England, Italy, Cameroon, Croatia and USA all went down to defeat the next game.

The fourth game in Manaus was a final group stage game, so we don’t know what will happen next for one of the teams, Switzerland.  The other, Honduras, was eliminated, still seeking their first World Cup win.  Switzerland will be facing Argentina in the first game of the knockout stage, and they might have too much to overcome, even without having to recover from the toll of Manaus.

If USA faced dehydration in game two, their third game featured the opposite.  Heavy rains in Recife since the middle of the night had led to localized flooding and a soggy, though playable field.  Rain, alternating between light and heavy, fell throughout the match and affected both teams passing and ball control ability at times, although the German squad still had the superiority in those parts of the game.  Fortunately, there was no standing water anywhere on the field.

How would Team USA performed against Germany if they hadn’t played in Manaus in the previous match or had 27 hours less rest?  There is no way to find out.  Having survived the gauntlet thrown at them, have they grown as a team, ready to take on the world’s best as worthy opponents?  Or do they still have a few too many weak spots to be among the elite?  Yes, if they fall to Belgium in the next match, their advancement might be considered a moral victory.  Team USA will only arrive as a soccer power when it is no longer satisfied or even concerned with moral victories.

Belgium is the better team on paper, but not nearly as superior as Germany or Portugal were, and they lack the impact players on the roster of those two teams that Team USA already faced and held their own against. Belgium came through Group H undefeated and allowed only one goal. But they managed to win by only one goal in each of their matches, facing Algeria, Russia and South Korea, all teams lower ranked than Team USA.  Both Belgium and USA are seen as improving squads.  The result of the match may come down to which team as improved more and/or which team has come through group play in the best physical shape.  If Jozy Altidore is able to return from his hamstring injury, it will give the Americans fresh legs and someone who could make the difference against a stingy defense.

There were three expected “groups of death” coming into the tournament.  Outside of those three groups (B, D & G), there were no major surprises and the top seed in each group advanced, with Switzerland the only one to advance in second place as a highly-rated French team came up on top.

Group B saw defending champion Spain sent home.  It wasn’t a good tournament for the Iberian peninsula, as both Spain and Portugal drew groups of death and both were unable to overcome defeats by a margin of four goals in their first matches, albeit to excellent teams from The Netherlands and Germany.

Group D provided the biggest upset of all, with little regarded Costa Rica finishing ahead of the teams expected to slug it out to advance: Uruguay, Italy and England.  And we have already dissected Group G’s results.

Trying to guard against favoritism for my home country, on paper it would seem that USA has the best chance of advancing from a second place group finish.  The warranted suspension of Uruguay’s star, Luis Suarez, for biting an opponent, should greatly diminish their chance of besting Colombia as four of the five advancing South American teams face off in matches today.  Overall, it will be interesting to see if the teams that played their games in the cooler southern part of Brazil will have an advantage in this round.  (By the way, Belgium played their games in three southern venues.)

Surprising Costa Rica’s fortunes continue to look good, at least for one more round, as they drew the weakest team to advance, Greece.  With only Honduras departing after group play, it is the strongest showing ever by CONCACAF (North America, Central America and Caribbean football association), qualifying the maximum number of slots allotted to them (4) and a record three teams advancing to the knockout stage.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.  Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. – 1^st Corinthians 9:24-25

God bless,

Lois

Updates on the World Cup and Lois, plus TG travel tips

Tags

airport screening, baseball, Brazil, Burlington County College, Clayton Kershaw, Cristiano Ronaldo, Department of Homeland Security, Dodgers, Germany, Ghana, Group G, group stage, Josh Beckett, Juergen Klinsman, Lionel Messi, major leagues, no-hitter, Portugal, soccer, Transportation Security Administration, travel, TSA, USA, World Cup

Two of the three games of the group stage have now been played for all groups. By this point, some teams are in to reach the next round, some have been eliminated, and along the way we have seen some upsets and surprises.

Group A – Cameroon has already been eliminated.  They should provide little trouble for Brazil, allowing the host nation to advance as expected.  Croatia needs a win to advance while Mexico can move on with a draw in their match.

Group B – This was supposed to be one of the groups of death, with defending champion Spain, the 2010 runner-up Netherlands and Chile all worthy of advancing to the Round of 16.  Instead, the crash and burn of Spain (ranked #1 coming into the World Cup) has made their final game with Australia meaningless.  Netherlands and Chile will square off having both clinched a place in the next round.  All that will be decided is their seeding.  Chile needs a win to advance as the number one seed from the Group.

Group C – Colombia has advanced with two victories.  All of the remaining teams are still alive.  Ivory Coast, the top-ranked African nation in the tournament, is in the driver’s seat to advance.  A win over defense-minded Greece will clinch a spot in the round of 16 for them.  But they could be eliminated even with a draw.  However, that possibility would require an upset by Japan over Colombia, and also a high score or two goal margin.  Japan lacks the fire power to make that likely.

Group D – Costa Rica was supposed to be the first team eliminated in this group of death.  But they complicated matters with upset wins over Italy and Uruguay.  Already guaranteed to advance, they face surprisingly winless England, who has been eliminated.  Uruguay needs to beat Italy to advance, whereas Italy can advance with a draw.  Based on the pre-tournament seeding, the game is a toss-up.

Group E – Honduras has been eliminated, but could play a spoiler role.  If they upset Switzerland (a big if, as Honduras as yet to win a game in their three World Cup appearances) and Ecuador beats France, there would be a three-way tie at the top of the standings with 2-1 records.  France currently has a plus six in goal differential that should prove to be insurmountable.

Group F – As expected, Argentina will advance, but mustering only three goals is surprising, especially with one of the projected offensive stars of the tournament in Lionel Messi on their side.  They were fortunate to pull out a 1-0 victory over lowly Iran when Messi scored in extra time of the second half.  Bosnia was the second highest ranked team in this group, but they are winless so far in their first trip to the World Cup and will be going home after their final match.  If Iran beats Bosnia in that match, Iran might be able to sneak past Nigeria if the young African team falls to Argentina.  But even then, it would take a tie-breaker to do so as the deck is stacked against the Iranian squad at this point.

Group G – Another group of death with two of the top five teams in the world (Germany and Portugal) in the group.  It was an uphill climb for the USA squad to face those two teams plus Ghana, who has been the spoiler against the Americans in the previous two World Cups.  But Portugal was beset by injuries, including knee problems for this year’s number one player, Cristiano Ronaldo.  Germany was able to make easy work of them in their opening match, 4-0, while the USA team managed to halt the jinx of Ghana despite being outplayed by a young, speedy team for much of the match. Game two in this group saw two exciting, seesaw battles that ended up in 2-2 draws.

The US effort against Portugal was quite the opposite of the game against Ghana, with the American squad carrying most of the play, but the clever individual skills of the Portuguese caused more dangerous opportunities for them than Ghana had.  And yet, it was more that the USA defense let down on the two goals, than Portugal earning them.  A badly struck clearing attempt led to an early goal that forced USA to play catch up for most of the match. Then, after a great comeback put them in the lead, they surrender the tying goal in the last few seconds of extra time.  While a beautiful cross by Ronaldo (one of only a few plays in the game where he played up to his usual ability) set up the tally, at that point in the game, the defense should never have let the scorer get behind them.  Had the Americans held on, they would have clinched a spot in the round of 16, while Portugal would have had an unexpected early elimination.  Now, the group is still up for grabs.

In the final games of the group, Germany faces off with USA both with four points, while Ghana faces Portugal, each with a point.  If Ghana and Portugal battle to a draw, they are both eliminated.  Even if USA loses to Germany, they can advance if Portugal wins a close match over Ghana and if Germany’s margin of victory is narrow.  Currently, USA has a five goal advantage in goal differential, so that allows some margin of error.  It is much slimmer if Ghana beats Portugal (only 2), so once again Ghana could prove to be the undoing for USA in the World Cup.

If Germany and the USA draw, they will automatically advance.  USA coach, Juergen Klinsman, disavows that a private deal will be struck to bring about that result.  Of course, what else would he say?  This doesn’t mean it will happen.  All it means is that a denial means nothing.  This is nothing new in soccer.  West Germany and Austria were involved in a similar situation in the 1982 World Cup when it was known that a German victory by one or two goals would allow both to advance.  Germany scored early and the rest of the match saw little effort to score by any of the players.

This year, Klinsman is coaching against his native country and the team that he coached in the 2006 World Cup.  The current coach of Germany, Joachim Löw, was Klinsman’s assistant in 2006.  Knowing that a draw guarantees advancement, it is smart soccer to take few chances, especially for Germany who will advance as #1 in the group and play a weaker Group H team in the Round of 16 if a draw occurs.  It is also smart soccer for USA, as Germany is a more skilled squad than they are.  Ultimately, a draw will not be proof of collusion.  It will be the level of exertion by each team in causing that result that will arouse suspicions.

Group H – Belgium has already advanced to the next round.  Algeria is currently in second place, but if Russia beats them in the final game, Algeria is out.  South Korea is barely clinging to life.  It would take extraordinary circumstances for them to advance.  Yet, whether it is the heat and humidity of some of the venues, or whether parity is becoming more and more the norm in international soccer, extraordinary things have already been happening.  So far, the consensus is that most of the matches have been exciting; a far cry from some year’s opening rounds.

Moving ahead to my life, I had a great time at my college reunion and speaking to a college class.  My reunion deserves a full post at a later date.  I am still processing what happened at reunion.  As far as my speaking assignment, it was a great experience and I was blessed by the response of the students.  They showed a lot of interest, asked insightful questions, and above all, were respectful.  Their professor, Syreeta Washington of Burlington County College, does an exemplary job in the classroom from what I saw.  And another member of one of my support groups also did a great job of sharing her story.

In addition to the World Cup, I am also enjoying the major league baseball season so far.  While my Dodgers started slow again this year, they managed to keep a winning record throughout the season so far, compared with last year’s poor start that was overcome by a record-tying 42-8 winning streak in mid-summer to leave the rest of their division rivals in the dust.  Of late, they are playing better baseball, reducing mental and physical errors, although their hitting has still been a bit of a disappointment.  Most importantly over the last two weeks, they reduced the 9½ game lead that their traditional arch-rivals, the Giants, had built up.  They are now only four games behind.

As far as individual achievements by the Dodgers, no-hitters tossed by Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw have to top the list.  Kershaw, having won two Cy Young awards in recent years, is no surprise.  In his prime at age 26, he is ranked among the best pitchers in baseball.

At one time, Josh Beckett could have claimed that ranking.  But Beckett is now 34 years old and is coming off a forgettable season, most of which was wiped out by a variety of physical ailments.  The worst one, tingling and numbness in his pitching hand, threatened to end his career.  The cause was diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome.  There was no guarantee that the surgical answer, removal of a rib, would be successful.  But so far, he has been pitching fine baseball in most of his games, not just for the no-hitter.

No matter what chromosomes or hormones you might find, if you look closely, you will see that I bleed Dodger Blue!

Finally, this is my first post in what is officially summer in the Northern Hemisphere (it is winter time for all the World Cup venues in Brazil).  With warm weather and school vacations, this is a time that many travel.  The TG community is no exception to that.  Increasingly, despite the heightened security that has been in place at airports since 9/11, members of our community are interested in traveling by plane.

As the climate towards the TG community continues to improve, we are seeing more consideration of our needs at many levels of government.  One of the agencies in this category is the Transportation Security Administration, part of the Federal Department of Homeland Security.  On their website, they have provided tips to the transgender traveler to help them deal with security requirements and concerns we may have about screening procedures.

Thank you to the member of my Pathways support group who shared this link with our group a few months ago.

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/transgender-travelers

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. – Joshua 1:9

God bless,

Lois

Related articles

• Team USA draws Portugal, delays advance to knockout stages