Inauguration - OUR celebration

Recently, our country witnessed the 57th Inauguration of the President of the United States. The important word in that sentence is, "our."  WE did this - our country, the people of the United States witnessed it. The crowd at the recent inauguration was estimated to be between 800,000 to a million people! No, they weren't all Democrats, but they are Americans.

For that one day, we should celebrate the day as OUR day, the day we demonstrate our unity to the rest of the world. This time, we didn't have a transition of power from one person to another. But even if we had, it wouldn't have been any different. We don't have fights - we have balls and parties, lots of them! It was a huge social night for the area, for people in all parties.

In some countries, change of power is only as a result of anarchy or other stressful moments. In other countries, it is the result of the death of the leader with his or her heir taking the throne. Yet, here, we can actually have elections, and more or less smoothly, elect someone to be the president. No one has to be killed or thrown out of office. While Americans take it for granted, there are people in other parts of the world that envy this.

But the sad thing is, too many people saw it as a "they" moment, not a "we" moment.  Despite winning the election by getting not only most popular votes, but also the most electoral college votes, there are bitter people that won't let it go. They refuse to respect President Obama. It is sad to have such sour grapes, but it doesn't surprise me. This past election was marred by some very outlandish claims spread around social media by anti-Obama people. Seriously crazy "facts" that were easily proven false were spread around by otherwise  intelligent people. A friend of mine told me that she was previously undecided, but seeing the wild stories that were passed around, persuaded her that they were just being ridiculous and she voted for Obama. Sadly, some people actually believed these stories and STILL pass them around!

In elections, there will be winners and losers, usually more losers than winners. I've been on both sides - in the past 4 presidential elections, the person I voted for only won once. The ability to disagree on issues and discuss them calmly is one of the good things about being a citizen here. Simply disagreeing with someone has NEVER caused me to dislike them.  (I can't say the same thing for people that spread malicious lies though - I grew to dislike a few people that weren't close friends in the first place, over that.) The ability to openly disagree with government is one of our cherished freedoms and I hope it never changes.  But having a right to disagree is not the same as being rude, disrespectful, or spreading lies.

We should all respect the person that is OUR president, if we like him or not - respect the office he holds, at least!  Doing less reflects as poorly on the people as it does him.  Sadly, a day that should have been a celebration of the American way of government was a day of division.and complaining. Rather than talking about how well the National Anthem sounded, they complained that she lip-sang her own singing! Complaining about silly things like dresses worn, and worst, political posturing was quite evident. It was a day to celebrate, so it is sad that people couldn't put aside their differences for only 24 hours.

The "Battle for the Bluegrass" is JUST a game, right?

Yesterday was the "Battle of the Bluegrass," one of the biggest rivalries in basketball in the country.  It's the basketball version of the Hatfields and the McCoys, with some fan lineages going back generations. UK and UL are both fine teams - you may recall that they were BOTH in the Final Four in the last NCAA Tournament. Both have a long history of tournament wins.

It was a close game - a basketball game fan's dream game for sure, with plenty of lead changes. It ended up being a 3 point win for Louisville. Yet, almost immediately, there were disgruntled fans talking about the way the game was "stolen" from them, accusing the refs of being one-sided against UK. (This would seem hard to prove considering UL ended the game with 3 or 4 of the top players with 4 fouls each, while UK's top players only had 3 fouls.)  I think if you review the game, you'll see that BOTH teams were fouling without being called, and it wasn't one sided at all. For instance, one of the turning points of the game (or could have been) is when Russ Smith was charged with a foul on a UK player shooting a 3, got a free throw, resulting in 4 points for UK. Review of the video shows the UL player never touched him. UL fans accused the UK team and coach of underhanded actions as well by switching a player to shoot a free throw, not that it really helped. The sub missed one of the shots..

You could go through the game and see any number of ways UK hurt themselves (again, both teams) For one, think about every missed shot, every missed free throw, every time they fouled the other team and gave them 2 free points. THAT is what won/lost the game. As close as the final score was, just making HALF of the missed shots would've changed the winner of the game and made it a 20 point game. UK only shot 47% at the free throw line, missing more than went in. The importance of basics such as this is important to all teams, in all games, not just yesterday's.  

 There can only be one winner in a game - only poor sports would whine when they lose and blame others. While it's possible for an error in a last minute call to decide the game, it's rare, despite fan protests, that  games are ever "stolen" and intentionally slanted for one side, despite often very slanted play-by-play reports. Whenever there's a game deciding last second play, the losing team should immediately think of the shots they missed or the turnovers they made that could've prevented things from being so close in the first place. I always feel sorry for someone that misses a shot that causes his team to lose - in reality, if they hadn't been behind due to other missed shots, his shot wouldn't have mattered as much.

Before you show your poor sportsmanship and blame others, first do two things. Begin by evaluating your own team - did they hit every shot? did they avoid giving the other team free throws as much as possible? Did you keep possession of the ball without making any turnovers? Seriously, any team that could go the entire game hitting every shot, and every free throw, all without giving the other team a free throw, would probably have a winning record. Just imagine if you could do this and also eliminate turnovers? What a joy that would be to coach! The second thing to consider before you gripe, is your own personal involvement.  As you sat on your comfy couch eating nachos, how many shots did YOU make? How many times did YOU run up and down the court? Don't blame the players, your own team or the other team, if they played a good game, doing their best.

In short, it's "just a game," in the sense that it's not life or death, won't end hunger or cause world peace, no matter what the outcome.  However, whenever a state has two great basketball teams located so close to each other, there's a natural rivalry.  It's fun when fans of each team can support their own team and tease friends that support the other side. Obviously, I support my team and hope they win. But honestly, it's not just because I want them to do well! One of the biggest reasons I hope our team wins each year is because I detest the way some of the fans from the other side act if they win.  It's a rare (somewhat bitter) person that can support their own team to the point that they refuse to wish the other team well when playing someone else, or worse, hope they lose. At the same time, any fan that boasts unmercifully all the time, putting down the others has lost sight of the fact that these are JUST two colleges with a basketball team. It shouldn't lead to personal attacks - it's all for fun.

So, this year's game is over... but there's always next year. And if the two teams live up to the expectations, it wouldn't be impossible to see them face off a second time this season, in the NCAA Tournament.

Getting Started

In the course of human events...well, perhaps this isn't that significant. Let me try again. This is what I think, so therefore, it is reality.. Obviously, that's not helpful... nor necessarily, true.
We all react to various events, news stories, and life, even if we keep these reactions to ourselves. From time to time, my opinions well up inside of me and this provides an outlet for sharing them. More importantly, it's also a venue which encourages your thoughts and opinions as well. Feel free to comment - I welcome your thoughts. Feel free to share the blog with others. As I post the link on my facebook wall, you're encouraged to jump into the conversation. The sharing of ideas is one of the most important roles humans have, and something that separates us from other beings.  Let's see where this leads... together.