Remembering 2 Years Later

343. Three hundred and forty three FDNY firefighters gave up their lives in the World Trade Center attacks 2 years ago. I do not intend to talk about any political issues or try to analyze any part of our reaction to the attacks. I am simply writing this post to remember the scores of firefighters, police officers, and military personnel who answer the call and have or are willing to give their lives to protect us.

It takes a special person to pin that badge on their chest. Firefighters and police officers run in when everyone is running out. They deal with situations that other people don't want to even think about. These will be the first people you call when you need help and they will respond.

To all public safety and military personnel, my hat's off to you. Thank you for a job well done!

Clarett Suspended

It's official, the NCAA has suspended Ohio State running back, Maurice Clarett for the entire 2003 season. According to the ESPN.com article, "Clarett was punished because the school determined he accepted thousands of dollars in improper benefits and then lied to NCAA and school investigators." While the university has not taken away Clarett's scholarship, rumors are flying that he will either transfer, leave to play for the Canadian Football League, or challenge the NFL Early Entry rule. While I am a big fan of college football, my interest in this issue is over inner city students using athletics as a way out.

Clarett is a Heisman Trophy caliber player. There is no doubt about that. But there is more to his situation than his playing on the football field. According to ESPN's Outside the Lines show on 9/9/03, Clarett went from a life in an inner city area where he knew of violence and drugs, to the huge campus of Ohio State University in Columbus. This is one big change, and one he may have had trouble coping with.

What was problematic is the fact that he did not have a support network. He was brought there to play football. Coach Jim Trassel was not as readily available as Clarett's high school coach, and that is understandable. But how does a freshman star running back cope with the attention that success on the field bring, when he is this far removed from his comfort zone? It is difficult enough for a regular student to try to find their niche. Can you imagine how it must be for an athlete like Clarett, who's performance on every gameday makes the highlights on ESPN?

Second, as a teenager from an inner city neighborhood, turn away gifts and benefits (even though this issue remains fuzzy)? Clarett is not from a wealthy family, although one of his best friends from high school is LeBron James. James made the jump directly from high school to the NBA and was highly sought after by sponsors.

Am I trying to say that Clarett was right in breaking the rules? No. The NCAA rules were set up to deal with corruption within their schools and to keep it an amateur sport. Yet, at the same time, these rules are having unintended consequences. They are driving kids to go pro earlier (as many student athletes are not interested in school to begin with) and tarnishing the reputations of athletes who are lured by agents and boosters.

Yet, it is the student athlete that ultimately pays the price. The student athlete is the one who loses their chance, loses their scholarship, and make headline news. What ever happens to the person who gives the gifts? Do they get punished or sanctioned? Should we increase the punishment on the giver?

College sports is an interesting beast. Coaches are under constant pressure to be competitive for national championships year in and year out. To do this, they will practically sell the world to potential recruits that they want to come to play at their school. Once they are there, they have to make sure that their players remain eligible with the NCAA and academically with the university. They are under pressure to teach these students to become responsible adults. Coaches become the authority figures that many of today's student athletes lack.

The 12 Year Old Example

In the recording industries fight against file swapping, they used a 12 year old little girl as an example. Briana LaHara gained notoriety as being the first person to settle with the RIAA. Briana, who had subscribed to Kazaa, had settled with the Association for $2,000.

LaHara was an alleged "major offender," or someone who offered over 1,000 songs to be shared over the Kazaa network. This is what made her a target of the Association. So is the RIAA heartless, or were they going for across the board enforcement of the copyright laws?

In my humble opinion, both. The music industry makes an outrageous amount of cash. Tell me, why does a CD cost $18 (after retailer adds on their take)? Is it really all that expensive to make and produce? It must not. Universal Music proved this when they decided to cut the price of the cost of their CD's. Instead of $18, Universal CD's will now cost about $12.98.

But at the same time, I do understand the artist's rights to make money for their work and talent. They do deserve to make a living like the normal person. But at the same time, filesharing is a way for some groups to gain a following as the costs of purchasing CD's has just gotten out of hand.

The part that remains blurry to me is if you are paying for Kazaa, yet fileswapping is illegal, what exactly are you paying for?

The Growth of Loan Sharks in Japan

This L.A. Times article covers a growing problem in Japan, loan sharks. In order to maintain their lifestyle in bad economic times, many Japanese have resorted to pulling out short term loans to help cover costs. The loans are made with interest rates as high as 29.2%, the legal maximum limit. This number is down from the 40% maximum in previous years.

Because of the high cost of the loans, debtors are having difficulties paying them back. They are forced to sometimes pull out a second loan (with a yet higher interest rate) to help cover the costs of the initial loan. If they are then unable to repay this loan, the cycle can continue, or they can face the consequences of humiliation, threats, and sometimes violence. Many of the "finance companies" have or claim to have connections to the Japanese mafia, or yakuza

While this is an illegal practice in Japan, the police have done little. There are a few reasons, varying from people not reporting crimes that have occured as a result to the police turning the deaf ear as this is a civil matter. The individuals involved are too humiliated to go to their family for assistance, as this is disgraceful. Instead, they would rather meet the consequences.

I don't know if this is a problem that could necessarily be fixed easily. The problem is that the crime occurs in an area where cultural values takes greater importance. The criminal element has simply taken advantage of the values of the culture to the point where individuals are backed into a corner. This is an interesting dilemma, as policy has proven to be ineffective in trying to ward off the criminal activity.

The Impact of College Sports on an Inner City Kid

The suspension of Ohio State University Running Back Maurice Clarett has drawn my attention over the past few weeks. For those who may not be aware, Clarett has been suspended by Ohio State's Athletic Department for allegedly accepting improper benefits and misleading investigators. The question on my mind is this: is a college athletic scholarship necessarily the best way for a student to get ahead?

Clarett, who was key to Ohio State's National Championship, was recruited by the school for his athletic ability. No doubt about it. However, when he enters OSU, he must agree to certain rules that the NCAA has set to prevent corruption within it's member organizations. Athletes are not allowed to accept any improper benefits that could be considered as compensation for their services. Now whether or not the student athlete is truly living in impoverished conditions because of the NCAA is one issue that I will not address.

One thing is certain, universities make tons of money based on the accomplishments of their star student athletes, yet the students are not allowed to receive any additional compensation, besides their scholarship (if they are a scholarship player). Instead, they are placed on a platform for everyone to see, as tomorrow's professional players in the NBA and NFL. This places the student athlete in a bind as they are supposed to accept this notoriety without it effecting them.

Place yourself in the shoes of a 19 year old kid and played for a national championship team. The celebrity status that it brings will bring attention and people seeking to "help you out." This would effect any kid, but if you are someone who is not used to "assistance," this will effect you on a greater level.

Let's use the simple means of transportation as an example. (In this I will use a great amount of generalization, so bear with me.) If someone were to offer a student athlete a car, it would impact different students differently depending on their economic status. A student from a middle to upper class family will more than likely have a car, so this offer is not as significant. A student from the inner city on the other hand, will view this differently. More than likely, they will not have a car. This would place the inner city student athlete in a tempting position of taking an "improper benefit." If this "gift" is reported to the NCAA and is investigated, the student will more than likely lose the car, the scholarship, and their chance to get ahead with the college degree.

Suspension does one of two things. If the student athlete is a marquee player for a marquee sport, they MAY have a chance to break into the pros. They will have to bank their entire future on one where their athletic ability is their only asset to make a living off of. It is a huge gamble as the number of spots in porfessional sports is extremely limited.

The other alternative that could happen is that they will lose their scholarship and have to go back home to the life they were trying to leave. They will have lost their chance to get a college degree that would have at least provided something for them to fall back on. This happens more often than not. Has their college experience helped them to advance?

Movie Success...

Can someone please help explain this to me? The weekend box office report declared David Spade's movie, "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" the leader at the theatres. It was estimated that it made $7 million, on a significantly slow movie going weekend. My question is: how can any accurately measure how much money a movie has made based on ticket sales when it is based on a monetary value? This issue becomes even more complex when you are thinking about how successful movies are when you compare them with the older classics.

While the answer to this is somewhat relative, when considering the growing economy and rising cost of living. How can someone measure a movie's success when movie production, presentation, and marketing costs are all on a constant and steady increase? How can you accurately measure the success of Casablanca against the success of Jurassic Park? The cost of making Jurassic Park was phenomenal, considering the number of special effects that had to be generated.

The most important part is the rising cost of watching a movie. I can recall when I began my working career in 1994. The cost of watching a movie then was in the range of $5.75/adult. Now, the costs average from $7 - $12/adult, depending on where you are watching it. It is worth noting that the ticket price is NOT the money generator for the theatre company. Theatre companies live and die at the concession stand. The theatres only keep a certain amount of each ticket sold (something like 50%) or so.

With that in mind, how can you compare the revenues of Casablanca and Jurassic Park when in fact the playing field is not necessarily level? This only gets more complicated when you have to take into account the number of children, seniors, students, and other discount tickets that are sold for each movie.

There has to be a much more accurate way of figuring out how successful a movie is.

Home Schooling...the Wave of the Future???

CNN.com has reported that 1 to 2 million of American children are being home schooled. This is number, the article reported, will only go higher. I have a few concerns.

First, there is no set governmental guideline to ensure the quality of teaching for home schooling. Sure, 75% of colleges and universities have adopted home schooling guidelines, but what about the last 25% and the number of students who don't go on to college? There are no federal rules that apply to home schoolers. I understand the contention that the public school system has problems. But is pulling a student out of the system a solution to the problem?

Second, there is more to an education than the academics. This is a point of argument that many of the home schooling critics have brought up. By pulling a student out of the system and isolating their education at home, how can one expect a student to develop and mature.

The article started with a perfect example of this. Scott Butler is a home schooled student who struggled going to class in a traditional high school. "It was hard to pay attention," he said. "I really wasn't learning anything -- a lot of distractions." He also goes on to say that he can pace himself much better and can learn about subjects that interest him.

Now, while I can understand why Scott's parents would be disturbed, but hey, that's life. In a few years, he will become a college student, better yet, a student at one of the largest universities in the country, UCLA. What is he going to do when he has to take his GE's? He will be taking classes he may not be interested in and he WILL be in a class with 300 students. How is Scott going to cope with the number of distractions then?

PAC 10 Dominance Goes South

Well, after years of Washington and Oregon schools domination, the power swing comes down south to Southern California. As much as it humbles me to say, it is true, USC is the PAC 10 powerhouse for at least the next 3 years. The Trojans winover Auburn was a dominant performance where it goes to show, defense wins games.

For some really odd reason, this victory comes as a shock to the sporting world. I honestly, do not see why. Last season, according to the CBS SEC biased announcers, SC led the PAC 10 in rushing defense (allowing only 83 yards/game). The running game is the strength of the Auburn game. That is no secret by any means. Cadillac Williams was the star who was going to carry them to victory on Saturday, as their passing game is decent.

SC was able stuff the run early forcing the Tigers into a balanced attack. That didn't work because their team is not balanced. The Trojans forced the Tigers into a situation where they were forced to throw because they were coming from behind on the score board.

The Trojans offense gave the Tigers defense a challenge, but because the defense was on the field for such a long time, they wore down. The defense kept the Tigers in the game, but the rushing game put the defense on the ropes. Hershel Dennis and Reggie Bush proved why they were highly touted recruits.

In the end, the defense won the game for the Trojans. While they are somewhat undersized (in regards to their linemen and linebackers), they are extremely fast and in some instances over pursued the ball carrier into the backfield but was able to recover and make the tackle. Goes to show, speed kills.

Bullseye for the Buck Eyes

Ohio State beat the Washington Huskies 28-17. Many will question the offseason problems and subsequent firing of coach Rick Neuheisel as the cause to such a poor outing. The game was pretty bad. But in the end, the Huskies showed that they were no competition to last year's National Champs. The Buck Eye defense shut down the Washington running game and held them to a game total of 7 yards rushing.

The Risk of Being Ordinary in the 77th

It is no secret that being a police officer, in general, is dangerous. Many will contend that being a police officer in the City of Los Angeles is even more dangerous. But what could possibly be even more dangerous than wearing the badge in South Los Angeles? How about being an ordinary resident in the 77th Street Division of the LAPD?

In an article in the LA Times, a group of undercover LAPD officers have found that in some cases, it is much more dangerous for them to do their jobs out of uniform. Many of the officers have been approached and shot at simply because they are riding around in one of the roughest parts of town. Officers have had to flee from gun shots from gang members thinking that the officers are rival gang members. They are experiencing the life that residents of South Los Angeles face day in and day out.

The issue that comes to mind is this: is the LAPD so detached from the community that undercover officers are not aware of what goes on in the every day life of the people in their Division? I am by no means taking a shot at the officers that risk their lives doing a thankless job. But if I am a member of the management of the LAPD, this article should raise a few eyebrows.

In order for an officer to best police the community, they need information from the community. The community has a responsibility to help the police in every way that they can. But if the police and community cannot communicate, a serious safety issue can rise for the department employees, who are already a target simply by pinning the badge on their uniform.

I would also be worried about the future ramifications of the situation on the youth growing up in the area. If an undercover police officer is an open target to get shot at and assaulted, teenagers are even bigger targets. In order to seek some type of protection, many of these teens may seek gang membership. Once this occurs, the violence cycle can only proliferate.

998 and counting...

Despite the fact that my blogging has been extremely limited, I somehow managed to get 998 visitors. I owe a great deal of this success to the loyal reader(s) of the Back Page, not to mention Blair Hornstein.

Thank you for your continued patronage.

Gray has a Wild Side Afterall...

I really debated whether or not I should post this headline on the Back Page. Well, apparently Gray Davis is a womanizer as well. This incident apparently happened 36 years ago...yes 36 years ago in Hawaii while Davis was working for a travel agency.

I don't know about you, but I am having a hard time picturing the current Governor of California being a lady's man whatsoever. But hey, I also thought that the Lakers were going to win last year's NBA Championship.

Strip Mall Restaurants

Well, it seems as if strip mall restaurants are the "in" places to eat in, at least according to the NY Times. What's even funnier is that I have gone to half of the restaurants listed in the article on more than one occasion. So I must be trendy afterall...or rather let my stomach govern where I end up driving to.

It should be noted for out of towners...not all restaurants in strip malls would receive an A++ in my book. Only a handful would get this rating.

Back to School in the Big Easy

School is back in session in New Orleans, LA. Apparently, the big question on the minds of parents in the City (actually, Parish) is not "Who is going to be my child's teacher for the next year?" Instead, parents are asking themselves, "Should I take my child to school now, or after Labor Day?"

The New Orleans School District is in really bad shape. The District suffers from poor acheivement scores, an estimated $30 million budget deficit, poor accounting practices, and an absenteeism problem. Until this year, students did not usually show up for their first day of class. This was something that new Superintendent Anthony Amato has set out to change.

Amato used billboards and incentives to get his message out. His goal was to lower the 30 percent absenteeism on the first days of class. What amazes me, however, is that there was a need to have an organized push to get parents to bring their children back to school.

Why should the district have to use a tickets to an NFL Preseason game as an incentive to bring children to school? How is a parent going to teach their kid to be responsible, if they themselves do not shoulder partial responsibility for their education? It's not as if the start of the school year is something that is unexpected. It happens every year around the same time (give or take a few days). What's so hard about planning a family vacation around a school schedule? There is no excuse for this tradition.

When 1,028 Equals a Majority of America

An AP article cited a poll where it found that a majority of Americans favor a law banning same sex marriage. It also stated that a presidential candidate could face a backlash if they had decided to support same sex marriages. In this post, I do not intend to take a stance on this particular issue. My issue is with the article/poll itself.

The title of the article is Majority Favors Law Against Gay Marriage . However, when you reach the bottom of the article, you will find that only 1,028 adults from every state but Alaska and Hawaii participated in the poll. It is unclear as to who was polled, what questions were asked, and why Hawaii and Alaska were excluded. The last time that I checked, both Alaska and Hawaii were considered states within the United States.

While, without reading the formal poll results, it is unfair for me to discount the findings, it is also dangerous to draw a conclusion on what seems to be a limited poll. I understand that, while it is ideal, an all encompassing poll is extremely difficult to practically develop.

But to use the title Majority Favors Law Against Gay Marriage is extremely misleading.

A Man Who Needs No Introduction

Sunday evening, I spent my evening sitting in the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium. Was I there to watched my beloved Blue Crew? Nope, the team was halfway across the country.

The dugouts were filled to capacity...with soda refrigerators, instead of players. The bullpens were busy...with vendors trying to sell food. The sellout crowd showed up and was cheering for a man who got no introduction, yet didn't need one. This man who took center stage goes by one nickname...the Boss.

Let me just say this, you have to be one hell of an act to not only pull off a concert without an opening act and without an introduction. Bruce Springsteen has redefined my definition of what a concert should be. Dodger Stadium was his house for three hours last night.

A good concert, according to me, is one where the music takes center stage. Not the artist, the music. There are very little to no pyrotechnics or distractions. An excellent concert is one where you can sit in the audience and close your eyes without missing a beat. With this being said, Bruce's The Rising concert is the best concert I have ever been to, knocking Sting's Desert Rose Tour to a very close second.

My Dodger Stadium day began when I pulled up to the gates and realized that parking had been raised over 100% - from $8 to $20. (Maybe if the Dodgers have Bruce back a few more times, they will have earned enough cash to pay off Darren Dreifort's medical bills). After parking the car at the edge of the lot, and after I recovered from parking price shock, we went to the Stadium and went to our seats.

Our seats were in the second to last row of the top deck. In essence, we were basically as far away from the stage as you can possibly imagine. The only people further away from the action were the smokers who had to leave their seats to smoke on the balcony. We were sitting in our seats watching the crew set up the stage, and then we heard someone count off over the mic.

Then bam...the Boss was on stage. I don't think I have ever been to a concert where the full act took the stage for a sound check. He sang one song (the Rising, if I recall correctly), and then left for the next few hours. From that point on, I knew one thing for sure...we were in for one hell of a show.

The actual concert started at about 8:15 pm. His entrance was something. First, the Beach Boys' California Girls song started to play. Then the video screens showed him walking through the center field entrance and then to the stage. He and the E Street Band took to the stage with an unmatched amount of energy and confidence (despite the fact that he looked like smaller than a crouched down Paul LoDuca in deeeeeeeep center field from our seats).

Bruce and the Band played for 3 straight hours. I now know why they have been around for 30 years in the business. Max Weinberg is a bad ass drummer. I remember when he left the Conan O'Brien Show to start touring. Didn't think much of it then, but now...WOW.

My hat is off to saxophonist Clarence Clemons. He can tear up that stage. Because of him, I will never make fun of anybody who plays a tamborine...(smile). He is a BIG man with huge arms.

Overall, I was really impressed by the concert. Wait, impressed was the wrong word...overwhelmed is a much better fit. I could not have expected anything like what we were a part of Sunday.

There was one thing that I would have liked to see. Even though he does not perform this song anymore, I would have loved to see him play Glory Days. That to me, would have been such a fitting song in a Stadium that has been such a big part of baseball lore.

The Back Page moving to the Front?

Do you possibly think that this ESPN Gamer article was inspired by this post of mine from July?

Becoming the cover player of a video game is a big gamble. First off, you have the raised professional expecations. Now that you have the fame....can you walk the walk.

But lastly and most importantly, what if the game sucks????