Category Archives: Sports

What I Didn't Know

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I didn’t know about the politics.  I just know I got to play competitive basketball.  And track.  And softball.  I didn’t know about the politics.  I just know when I asked to take shop in 9th grade, the school board let me.  I know I didn’t know, and I don’t think my parents knew the school board HAD to let me.  Why?  Because of 37 words in a piece of educational legislation in 1972.

It’s come to be known as Title IX. It didn’t take 2000 pages of legislative gobbledygook.  It took 37 words.  And it changed everything. I had no idea what the words were or what it said until a couple of days ago when I was wandering around ESPN looking for the Women’s Final Four bracket.  They have a page devoted to Title IX and this post (also linked above).  But you don’t have to go too far for the words that changed women’s lives in so many ways.  They are short enough to quote here:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Part of Education Amendments, President Richard Nixon signed them into law on June 23, 1972.  I was getting ready to enter 7th grade that fall.  By the time I was in 8th grade, I played on my junior high’s inaugural girl’s basketball team.  At the end of my 8th grade year, I asked my school principal if I could take boy’s shop in 9th grade.  He told me to ask in the fall before school started.  I returned in the fall and asked.  He said I would be allowed to take the class on a trial basis. After I  earned an “A” for the first grading period, nothing more was said.  That year, they did a two week swap sending the boys to home ec and the girls to shop, exposing everyone to something a little bit different.

The most interesting thing about Title IX?  It says nothing about athletics or sports.  It applies to ANY educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.  And I certainly didn’t expect to learn it via ESPN.  That’s okay, though.

 

DeJuan Blair, 37th Pick, SA Spurs

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I never heard of this guy before the NBA Draft last June, but from everything I’ve read about this young man, I think the Spurs done good.  Look at this face.

It’s kind of fun to see young men as they begin their NBA careers.  Not the ones who believe they’re entitled to it, but the ones who realize it’s not a given.  That’s it’s something they earn, and that there’s a responsibility that goes with the job.

Yes, you play basketball for a living, but the business side of the game is such that the large salary is paid because the team believes the player can make them that money and more.  Part of that money the team makes from the ability of the player involves the player conducting himself in a manner that does not cause the team more problems than the player is worth.  Young players who understand this, in my opinion, should be rewarded, and those that do not, should not be rewarded.

There’s a young man who was drafted very highly in last year’s draft who doesn’t seem to be “getting” that.  He doesn’t play for the Spurs.  When I read about this young man, he appears to have a lot of maturity and professionalism issues.  There’s another young man in this year’s draft who played overseas instead of doing the “one and done” thing at college.  I’ll be interested to see how he does — did the working for a living vice being an adored college hoops star help him on his road to maturity?

In some ways, it’s asking a lot of a young man in his late teens or early twenties to conduct himself in a mature, professional way.  On the other hand, if that young man want’s to command a six-figure  or a multi-million dollar salary, he needs to be mentally ready to conduct himself maturely and professionally.  If he can’t, he doesn’t deserve the salary.

I’ve observed Mr. Blair through summer league, the pre-season, and in last night’s NBA regular season debut.  I’ve followed him on Twitter and Facebook.  He projects that he knows when to conduct himself as a professional and when he can be a guy with friends to hang out with.

There have been whisperings that he could be a Rookie of the Year candidate.  Time will tell on that, but at first blush, I’d have to agree.  One speculation is that Coach Pop wouldn’t give him the minutes to be able to qualify, but if what I saw last night continues, he’ll get his minutes.  He got a double-double in his first game out and didn’t have too many negatives.  Sure, he has things to learn, but he knows that and is receptive to coaching and applying what they are trying to teach him.

Just one of many fine off-season moves the San Antonio Spurs organization made this summer to ensure they are competitive for a Championship run at the end of the season.

NaNo Preparation

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National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is just around the corner.  Are you ready?  Have you remembered to renew your information from  last year?  What are you working on?

This year, thanks to Valerie, I’m doing a category romance.  I haven’t done as much preparation as I’d hoped, but I have done more than I usually do for NaNo.

I’ve added an additional twist this year.  I’m also teaching a Back to School for Busy Writers class at Forward Motion on Ethics.  I think it will work out ok.

Still, I’d like to frontload the writing as much as possible.  Hubby’s in San Antonio until at least Tuesday, so I’d like to get a lot of words knocked out between Sunday and Tuesday.  It would be really cool (and highly unlikely) to have 30k knocked out by then.

I’ll be using a combination of Scrivener and other venues — the Mac Mini isn’t portable, and I suspect I’ll be spending some time on the laptop this month, so that will be an interesting back and forth effort.

I got the lawn mowed today and did a little work at the new building (no vine pulling, although I checked, and it looks like I hit a grand slam for poison ivy, oak, AND sumac.  Joy.  Laundry is caught up, and I have a few groceries — probably should stock up on a few staple items.  I’m behind on meal planning.

@InuittheBear and I watched the Spurs home opener tonight.  She got her own Twitter feed a few weeks ago, so if you’re interested, feel free to follow.  She isn’t tweeting much so far, but you just never know when she’s going to have something to say.  We were both pleased with the depth of the new Spurs and how balanced they were.  Of course, they have a lot to work on yet — too many turnovers, and the game was much closer statistically than the score indicated.  But when the bench can outscore the starters or at least stay even with them, it’s like having two starting line-ups, and you can’t go wrong with that as long as you have chemistry, and these guys seem to have good chemistry.  That bodes well for not having to play any one person too much, thus keeping them fresh for the long haul.

I think it’s time to hit the sack.  Good night, all.

Sloth

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My husband has long been jealous of my relationship with the computer.  Lately, I think he’s justified.  I’d love to say I was using the computer to write riveting lines of fiction.  Or even revising klutzy lines of prose into interesting fiction.  Alas.  If only.

I have been playing Mafia Wars.  An My Zoo.  And someone roped me into Vampire Wars — I don’t quite get that one.  Then I added Farmville thinking it was FarmTown.  Then, once I learned the difference, I added FarmTown, too.

So, I’ve been rotating through those games, checking Twitter, and, frankly, just mindlessly checking a few different sites.  Naturally, I’ve been following the progress of the Spurs summer movements.  I still can’t figure out what the Spurs organization sees in Ian Mahinmi.  Since they seem determined to keep him on the payroll, I hope they’re seeing something I’m missing.

Of course, none of those things are particularly important to me or my hubby, so, naturally, he’s a little grumpy about all my time glued to the pixels.  Even I have reached the point where I can’t really disagree with him.  It becomes mesmerizing after a time.

I did drag myself away long enough to complete some household errands this week, but I have many more to do.  I can only tell myself I’m waiting for my hip to heal so many times.  I know that’s not really it.  Because, frankly, the hip will do better with a variety of gentle movements instead of either sitting in a chair or lying in bed.  And those would best be obtained by working around the house at various tasks.

I head back to Central Texas tomorrow for the week.  I have a medical appointment on Tuesday.  Since I have to be up there anyway, I may as well spend time up there working on various things around the house.

I’ll be preparing for a yard sale, sorting more stuff, and, hopefully, working on revisions that I alluded to at the start of this missive.  I’ll also try to get a little water into the yard to keep the grass from dying completely.

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

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Home at last. Eeek!  There’s SOOOOOOO much to do.  Thank goodness hubby got up here last week to make two passes on the lawn with the lawnmower.  Otherwise, I’d REALLY be freaked out. Where to start?  Naturally, I turned on the Mac Mini and got all the updates, downloaded email, … Continue reading →

Shotgun Post

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I should make multiple posts, I suppose, but I’m taking the shotgun approach and putting the current ideas all in one. First, the upbeat part, Darlene Ryan‘s Five Minutes More is an excellent read.  Darlene writes YA novels, but I enjoy them anyway.  Five Minutes More‘s main character is a … Continue reading →

Farewell, 2008

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This has been a roller coaster year.  On the up-side, I’m thrilled to have been able to retire this year after 28 years on active duty.  I never would have imagined I would be able to do so back in April 1980 when I signed my enlistment contract with the … Continue reading →

Working Title

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I’ve decided Twilight will be only the working title for the book.  My final submission title will probably be one of the two Tech suggested several months ago.  Twilight is an easy one word title, but several other books have been published with that title, so I’m going to wind … Continue reading →

Sunday Musings

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In no particular order, here are some of the things I’m thinking about today. I’m wondering why I can’t find today’s front page San Antonio Express-News story about Henry Cisneros and his role in the current housing crisis on the website…. Maybe it won’t get posted until later — wait, … Continue reading →