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The Nation's Pulse
Men and Women of a Certain Age
What a way to end the winter-ball season.
In the pre-Passover spirit I found myself asking last night: “Why is the State of Florida different than all other states?”
Just as the rest of the country kicks into baseball season, the Little League season here in the Sunshine State is coming to an end. Our kids have been playing from winter into spring, while much of the rest of the country was scraping snow off its collective windshield. Here we can see clearly all year round, which is why you should never miss this column.
Last night was the last game of the regular season and I was there as always, yelling myself hoarse in support of my youngest son, Abraham, who will turn nine in July. His team had produced three walkoff victories while going 6-5. This time our beloved Reds were going up against the tough black-shirted Blue Jays, who had beaten us black-and-blue in our first meeting. Playing in this eight-to-ten age category, they seemed unbeatable with their poised squad of superannuated ten-year-olds making our preponderance of eight-year-olds seem frail in comparison.
My strapping lad of twenty was home from college for spring break and he strapped on some gear to warm the kids up. He had been a star in this league and the coaching staff was happy to welcome him into the dugout. The boys looked pretty good in practice but then reality set in, our prospects turning immediately bleak. Strike out, pop out, line out, and we were done in the first before the head was off the non-alcoholic beer. The Jays got up and — look out! — balls were flying in all directions. Thank the Lord for the five-run per inning max; they scored their five while making just one out.
So there we were, down 5-0 after one, overmatched, underage, outgunned; get me outta here! Nothing left for us stricken parents to do but socialize.
We may look like a bunch of namby-pamby urbanites to your salt-of-the-earth son-of-toil jock dads, but we refuse to apologize for being a group of D-list celebrities who enjoy each other’s company. We count among us a broadcaster on the local network TV affiliate, one of the top defense lawyers in town, captains of industry, a woman doctor, an array of actresses and beauty queens, even a columnist for some right-wing rag I wouldn’t use to line my birdcage.
The natural rapport between this crew of highly accomplished people has complemented our parental roles nicely. We encourage each other’s children and celebrate the hero du jour regardless of the lucky gene donors. The kids have cooperated by spreading the stellar performances around pretty evenly. But this time, unable to get to first base hitting, unable to get outs pitching, surmounting that deficit looked like climbing Mount Everest with a one-legged sherpa.
Abraham led off the second inning with a walk, went to second base on a wild pitch; those two seconds proved pivotal. We scored twice in the inning to move to within 5-2. Then the manager gave my little guy the ball. The league limits the pitches an eight-year-old can throw, so they can generally only do one-inning stints. The first hitter grounded back to the mound; Abe fields cleanly, tosses to first, one down. He strikes out the second and third hitters: inning over! Suddenly those big kids in the black uniforms are shrinking in the wash.
In the third inning, little Abraham gets an infield single and scores again. We get one more on a single by Alex Sacks (Jewish too; his polyglot Mom speaks French, Spanish, Italian and German as second, third, fourth and fifth languages), but leave the bases loaded, down 5-4. We send little Moises Lencovsky to the mound, another Jewish kid originally from South America. The other guys hit the ball pretty sharply but our kids do some snappy fielding, and first baseman Luke Rier (son and grandson of Jewish defense lawyers) picks up a grounder in the hole and darts back to step on the bag unassisted for the third out, leaving two runners in scoring position.
We go to the fourth down just one run and Carlos Cotto leads off with a triple down the right-field line. Hey, they can’t all be Jewish. Moises drives him in with a ground ball out and the game is tied. A walk, a hit, then Abraham walks again, and the bases are loaded. Who gets up? Jonas Senker (yes, Jewish, but who’s counting?), who gave up the five runs in his ill-fated outing on the mound earlier. Is redemption in the offing?
Swing and a drive deep to left… a three-run triple to crown Jonas as today’s king! The kids win 8 to 5, but what’s it to us oldies? Fuhgeddaboudit: we have shed our decrepitude. The year’s at the spring, and day’s at the morn, the lark’s on the wing, God is in His Heaven — All’s right with the world!
About the Author
Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he speaks at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Miami on June 8, 2012.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (53) | Leave a comment
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All American American| 4.13.11 @ 7:29AM
When I started reading I was actually pleasantly surprised your child's league kept records and scores. Alas, my joy was short-lived as you mentioned the 5-run limit on runs per inning. I think that's kinda g-y.
I also don't get the need to mention all the Jewish kids?
Anyway congrats to your son and his mostly Jewish team for their welfare-aided, league-subsidised victory.
Gerald Y.| 4.13.11 @ 8:48AM
"The natural rapport between this crew of highly accomplished people has complemented our parental roles nicely."
Highly accomplished? Pass the barf bag, please.
And as for All American American's remark--"I think that's kinda g-y"-- yeah, like your son. And furthermore, I think you're kinda shitty.
Man, was this piece a waste of my time. Started my morning off on the wrong note.
AmSpec gets sillier and more superficial with each passing day.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 9:22AM
Why do I care how many Jewish kids are on your sons team?? Get a grip on yourself. I currently manage a team of 8 year olds & I could not tell you what nationality any of them are. They are all American kids. You are a complete as***le.
bob alou| 4.13.11 @ 2:12PM
In this particular case, I agree.
MoeBlotz| 4.13.11 @ 9:37AM
Master Senker should be moved to a different field position,anyone who follows baseball knows pitchers can not hit. Five runs in the first inning tells me the lad is no pitcher.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 9:49AM
Well, I for one understand Mr. Homnick's column completely having lived the first half my life either in North Miami Beach, FL (nowhere near the beach but just by Mr. Homick's neighborhood) and south Broward. When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s Jay we, meaning all us native children of transplant parents in the fresh new suburbs, played only two sports- baseball and football, mostly baseball. We played them all year 'round without regard for seasons for as you know, we have but two most folks notice: warm 'n sunny with very little rain and blistering hot 'n sunny with daily showers and the occasional hurricane. The transitions from one to another are so fine and subtle one must be a native or have lived here enough decades to obtain Honorary Native status, one test of which is to know the leaves fall in the spring (only after it's gotten cold enough during winter) and that autumn literally "falls" on a particular day like a curtain upon a stage. It always happens in the last two weeks of Oct and the shift is palpable but easy to miss absent the larger symptons the garden variety transplant was accustomed to back home. One day it's hot and humid with a southerly wind, the next it's just a tad cooler but drier, the sky a bit clearer and bluer and the wind comes from a more northerly quandrant.
We never played basketball or volleyball, those being northern indoor winter's sports, nor soccer which was still an exotic import found only in the southern reaches of Dade county. For most of my youth I didn't even know anyone who played them. We played in organized leagues and on uneven diamonds and gridirons spraypainted on our suburban streets. When not playing sports we rode our bicycles all over creation, explored the undeveloped eastern fringes of the 'glades or otherwise cavorted like kids have forever. We generally went shirtless and shoeless all year long except during those frigid coldsnaps of winter when the temps would plumment into the low '60s or upper '50s. Like Tom Sawyers, we'd run into our house after school long enough to kick off our shoes and strip down to our shorts to go for a swim or get up a game. For youngsters born before ubiquitous air-conditioning, computers, x-boxes and gameboys, South Florida was an outdoorsy, rough and tumble paradise and during summer vacations most of us lived like young bronzed savages in little more than loin cloths.
So your winter league is just following in the proud S. Florida tradition and is nothing to get in a twist over, Jay. In fact, given the status of your neighborhood, I'd say it may be a concious effort not to interfere with summer vacations and play while all the kids are home and in school given that weather isn't an issue. Indeed, S. Florida winter is perfect baseball weather and certainly preferable to modern kids than mid-summer, no? But as for the black jerseys on the Blue Jays, well, don't know what to tell you about that. We've always been a little different down here but not that counterintuitive. I mean, our blue jays are blue, too.
And to the libs and other bigots here, the kids are mostly Jewish because his neighborhood, Aventura I believe, is. It's a fairly recent carve out of formerly unincorporated northeast Dade county (Miami area) that abuts North Miami Beach- a once proud, clean and safe little neighborhood where many of the areas Jews were to be found. If they congregated together it was because they had to- a story throughout the world as old as the Jews themselves. S. Florida at one time had deed restrictions and the other noxious constraints of predjudice. That neighborhood was actually on the fringes of civilization at one time on the western shores of inland waters and thought a less than desirable location. It was one of the longest lived and decent neighborhoods in S. Florida and way back was known as Fulford By The Sea. Don't know where your folks hail from but I'm sure had you written such a piece we'd hear all about D'Amatos, Rodriguez, Smiths, Andersons, Wolkowskis, O'Briens or Robinsons. In that, Homnick and his neighbors are the real All Americans.
BTW, Forgive the plug by a longtime poster here and I know it's cheesy, but check my new blog: www.rightwingmuse.com.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 9:57AM
Mark, this may come as a shock to your senses but you & your pal Jay are the racists. You, both of you, are the ones making it an issue. I could not tell you the last name of any of the 10 kids on my team so your premise is idiotic.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 11:26AM
Congratulations, you are indeed a true humanitarian. And in that vein you find it necessary to question why he mentions the Jewishness of the kids? As opposed to, say, just assuming that like any proud parent within an idiosyncratic neighborhood he points it out? You know, like most folks of good humor and intentions do when somebody is a little proud, in an inoffensive way, of their heritage? I'd bet you wouldn't think twice if it was one of my Brooklyn-Italian friends boasting about their neighbordhood stickball team. Why is it always the Jews guys like you take umbrage with?
Or that maybe, just maybe, he's tipping his hat to the bigoted notions of bigots like you that Jewish kids are somehow a little less capable in the physical department? Especially since we all know that Jews are bookish, over-intellectual and tend towards the soft pursuits like shifty accountants and shyster lawyers? Or perhaps it was really nothing more than as Ken says and all just a joke and allusion to a movie. Ken, was that before or after the stewardess recruited the old nun to translate the "jive" of two black and hip passengers? I tend to think it was probably a combination of mine and Ken's views since most Jews I've ever known here tend to the self-deprecating. I wouldn't know for sure, not to pidgeon hole 'em, though being only an Honorary member (speaking of statuses) of one of the tribes and not full-blooded.
Whatever. You can take it up with him if you please but I do know this: You're really the only one making a very public noise about Jewishness. But I take you at your word that you're a universal scold and look forward to your hawk-eyed policing of any other self descriptions or depictions of ethnicity, heritage or whatever. As for Jay? Well, I think most people of good will know he was just telling a story of which the Jewishness was but an element, just a little flavor for the story. But you? You're all about Jewishness. So what's your excuse?
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 11:37AM
My point is I do not remotely care about the Jewish element of the story. I do not see the point in bringing up the race makeup of a team of 8-10 year old kids. The kids themselves do not care. They do not see life in those terms unless they have parents like yourself & Jay, who somehow see fit not to simply recognize & appreciate a heritage, but to separate it from the fabric of America. To distinguish it by entertaining idiotic preconceptions of lacking physical abilities, mental prowess or other meaningless, bigoted & ignorant stereotypes. YOU are the one mentioning these shallow, insulting & racist notions. YOU are the one bringing it to the table.
My point is I do not care if the 8 year old 2nd baseman on my son's team is Jewish & gets a double any more that the Italian kid getting a double. I do not see life in those terms, but YOU do. YOU have a problem.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 11:56AM
Wow, you're really in a temper aren't you? Why is that? I know that you SAY you don't care about the kid's Jewishness, how you're blind to all that, don't care about any of it, blah, blah, blah. Right, you're the Most High Tolerant One and here to correct other's thinking. So tolerant that even a little self-deprecating humor shall not be tolerated. We get it Steven. Trouble for you is it's all so old hat, especially to any who grew up in S. Florida.
We get your message. You're just sooooo much more high and open minded, yes? Perhaps so open minded you risk having your brains fall out. What was it you said again? Oh yes, that you don't even know the last names of your team members? Are we supposed to believe that? If so, that doesn't give this parent of six any confidence. Do you really mean to say that if some emergency arose with a kid whose parents were not present that you couldn't even properly identify the child? Or would you rely on the other kids to do the job you so proudly disdain? If not, well then your assertion is probably just the typical lib bs and self-aggrandizing posturing.
And you've understandably missed my points, being a lib and all, but I think most people will recognize the sarcasm in my posts. That's another oft-putting clue about libs- no humor, over-earnestness, no sense of irony save that which denigrates their own countrymen and their mores and no sense of proportion. In the end it all adds up to- BORING.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 12:48PM
Yes you are, boring. Not close to funny either. Let me clarify to help. I am assistant manager (2nd coach) so I am not the guy to deal directly with the parents, like yourself (wisdom here). So I can tell you we have Brett, Sam, CJ, Nick, 2 Ryans, Cameron, Jack, Travis & Jake. Last names, no. Ethnic background, no. Don't care, really. I know you find that amazing given how you see the world.
Oh, also. Just to make it worse. I am about as far a stretch from a liberal as you could get. Extreme right wing conspiracy guy.
Oh, also. I could still care less how many Jewish kids are on a team in South Fla or anywhere else.
Oh also, I, to the best of my knowledge, am not the one on this thread broadcasting my talent as a coach, my ethnic makeup, or any other self promotion. I will leave that to the superior intellect of yourself, Ken & Jay who posess such a superior & nuanced humor, sarcasm & irony as to be above my pay grade to detect. Thankfully.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 1:29PM
So, errrr, since you're so qualified to judge the moral worth of other's posts you are not compelled to read but feel compelled to deplore...when you gonna graduate to head coach? Of 10 year olds? Since I played organized baseball for seven years I do appreciate you clearing up your overall irrelevance to even the subject directly at hand, yet alone to the larger question of Jay's, and my, motives. Your honest self-appraisal is admirable.
Ha! Just teasing you, dude! :) We always gave the assistants a hard time. Wasn't quite as dangerous as defying the coach and if the assistant complains to the head guy, he just looks like a p***y. :) Seriously though, as a parent, I appreciate and thank you for your efforts and commitment. It's trying enough shepherding one's own kids, yet alone others.
But Steve, YOU and the much more malign AAA, brought on this tit-for-tat with your holier-than-thou condemnation of Homnick's piece based on his innocuous mentions of his heritage. Again, I submit if it was any other fellow boasting about his neighborhood team we wouldn't have heard a peep about it. It's only when Jews seem a little too assertive all the Most Tolerant types come outta the woodwork in protest these days. Why is that Steve? I'm still wondering why is it when Homnick denegrates no one but merely points in pride to his tribe you feel driven to make an issue of it? Just curious, you know? Is it really such a sin or do you get some sort of self-affirmation out of it? I mean, so ok, we get that ethnicity means nothing to you but exactly what in Homnick's tale indicates it REALLY does to him either? Nothing that I can see but for some folks nowadays a zero tolerance of any ethnic notice at all is proof to themselves of their own superiority. Are you one of them, then?
I've seen your posts here before. Don't seem to recall such indignation in the past. And if I miss the mark in calling you a lib it is only because of what you've chosen to get indignant about. Your "I'm more tolerant than you" variety is the tiresome sort they revel in and stand ready to jump on as "racist" if there is any notice of race or ethnicity no matter how benign. It's the stuff of college dorm-room bull sessions and not the mark of real tolerance. Real tolerance isn't so much what one thinks upon meeting someone different but what one does about it.
And, as I mentioned, that sort of racial gotcha-ism was fresh about...30 years ago...but is really, REALLY old news in 2011 America ESPECIALLY in S. Florida. I have lived, worked and socialized with just about every sort of human on the planet because we have a community of just about all 'em here. About the only truly self-segregating neighborhoods around these parts nowadays are filled with smug, white northern transplant libs behind gates and fractious HOAs. That's fine with me. Let 'em have their little cage matches and go at each other's throats.
Anyway, glad to know we're basically on the same team, as it were. Perhaps we'll find ourselves pulling together next time. :)
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 1:43PM
Mark, I appreciate all of what you said above & now have a much better grasp of where you are coming from. My frustration stems from sitting out here watching our magnificent country get shredded along racial, gender, sexual orientation & income lines. I took Jay's piece (perhaps in error) as a continuance of the constant drum beat of those, like the current Oval Office occupier, to divide us up so we can be more readily consumed.
I think it is fine that Jay is proud of his heritage. I have no problem with this. It just came across real sour to me. Perhaps I am just fed up with the continual race discussion. Tired of it.
I do not really consider myself morally superior to anyone, honestly. I am not trying to convey that. I am pointing out that if you categorize yourself as part of a distinct, separate group along ethnic lines, then complain when you are treated & viewed differently, then what in the hell did you expect?? I want this to end, is all. I know it never will, but rational thinkers can overcome the efforts & motives of those who would do our country collective harm by continuing to pit us against weach other.
PS: 6 years pro ball, 2 at AAA. I "feel your pain."
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 2:15PM
Hey Steve,
Yeah, I hear 'ya brother. I'm sick of the whole race conversation myself. I'm with Rush in that I think the way back to a healthier and more unified polity on the subject is for every one to grow a little thicker skin. It's the putting of so much out of bounds that actually leads to resentment and festering grudges. Not to mention inflated senses of oppression and defensiveness.
I actually live the old cliche of "some of my best friends are...". My oldest living pal is Jewish who I've known since 1964 when we were three. In the '90s we used to converse almost every evening. He was still a standard liberalish American Jew though he had been to Israel and met his wife at the northermost Kibbutz which regularly took Katushas from Lebanon. He is also a public school teacher so he used to bang on about race, class, gender...gag...gag. I tried to raise him up from all that. Anyway, one night as he was waxing on ethnicity I finally said in exasperation, "You know Jeff, this might come as a surprise but I don't wake up every day and see myself as a 'white' guy and belonging to some self-interested group and how that fits me into the world every day. Nor do I think most do. In fact, I really don't think about it at all except when you bring it up. But you know what? If the professional grievance mongers and racialists keep it up, they just might succeed in getting us to and with over 200 million 'white' people in the US you might want to think what that could mean." He got real quiet and admitted that never occurred to him.
So, I got you. But I think the way back is not just to grow a thicker skin but to become truly tolerant. If a guy wants to blow his own horn, what do I care? If he wants to slam Americans of German descent, what do I care? What has that got to do with me? Just because my granddaddy was? I'm an American, period, and what my granddaddy was or where he came from is as divorced from me and my thinking as what your's is to me. It's only if or when someone proposes that it DOES matter in more concrete terms do I care.
Cheers! :)
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 2:41PM
Mark, YES! You get it, totally. My apologies on the tone. This one just set me off for whatever reason. Same to Ken. Take care. Steve
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 2:25PM
This is to Mark the victim-Jew: Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! How did I get roped into this? I simply said I don't understand why the need to mention all the Jewish kids. Holy crap defensive much?
Good Lord it'll be a nice day when we can simply write a story about a kids team winning--or anything for that matter--without building in ethnic, racial, religious, or age excuses/barriers as to either WHY they COULDN'T accomplish something or why their accomplishment is much more important than it appears on the surface.
Do we know the racial/ethnic composition of the team they beat? Maybe THEY were ALL wimpy little nerdy Jewish kids??? Who knows? My point is: I DON'T CARE IF THEY WERE ALL SPACE ALIENS, and a true "conservative" shouldn't either.
We should care about the sissy league-imposed 5-runs per inning limit. That's what I said was kinda g-y.
Anyway that's my $.02 and it should carry a ton of weight cuz I've written 76 number 1 best sellers and I was drafted in the first round by the Phillies in baseball and the Rams in football in the same year. I woulda played both but my mom contracted a deadly case of ingrown toenails and I had to go back to the farm and work it or else it woulda been foreclosed upon--the farm, not her toenails. In my spare time when I'm not writing #1 best sellers or planting corn, I make "how-to" DVDs for just about anything: coaching baseball, playing baseball, planting corn, harvesting corn, writing #1 best sellers, etc. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check for $19.95 per title to my agent and I'll get them right out to you.
Here's a review of my latest DVD, "How to make money making how-to DVDs." This review was by some fancy-pants doctor too!
"That DVD was the best ever!!!!! 10 Stars A+++++"
See? So buy it!
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 2:33PM
I forgot to mention, please don't consider or ask me why I didn't just sign my contracts and play the sports and use all the money to buy my mom's farm from the bank and pay for her deadly ingrown toenail operation. Real men just do what they gotta do.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 2:57PM
AAA, The only time you have probably been drafted was when you forgot to close the door to the trailer you live in in your moms backyaard.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 2:59PM
AAA, Just bustin on you man. No biggie. Peace, Steve
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 6:50PM
Ahhh Steve A, write something completely insulting and then make it all go away by saying "Just kidding!" I think I cured my 15 y/o of that when he was oh, about 7.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 2:36PM
Errr, you can write a lot of words, but can you read? I'm not a Jew nor a victim. You're the whining because some guy you never met and couldn't care less about is blowing his ethnic horn. If you don't care about it why read and bleat? Just move on.
Aside from that, your random potshots speak for themselves.
BTW, I agree the real money is making "how to make money" stuff. :)
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 2:51PM
Actually I just skimmed your garbage but when I saw you take a gratuitous shot at me I felt the need to respond. At least I didn't hide my shot at you in a thread with another person.
What's wrong Mark, don't you "get the humor" of my post like in ol' Jay's article? And you know you're losing the argument when you have to resort to telling me I'm "whining" about the author's remarks. I simply said (and the beauty of the intraweb is you can go see for yourself) this:
"I also don't get the need to mention all the Jewish kids?"
Pretty innoucuous, but if that's "whining" to you, you definitely need to grow a set.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 3:06PM
Funny how a guy who makes bigoted remarks runs down others anonymously complains he wasn't confronted directly.
As for stones, already got a set there sailor. Thanks for your concern.
I just noticed you got the whole undeserving Jew thing going under the guise of concern for Homnick's mentioning. I agree with your admiration of the internet. Here are the three main points you make:
1. Their format is "gay"
2. Why all the mention of those "jews"
3. Congrats to those welfare aided, league subsidized jews.
Have I missed something?
Lots of Jew-talk going on in your post there AAA for a guy who supposedly eschews jew-talk.
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 6:45PM
Ahh, the reply works now.
Yes Mark you missed A LOT!
The league format is gay. Regardless of if a Jewish team, Black team, Christian team, Hispanic team, Asian team, etc is playing. Capping runs per inning in little league is gay.
Yes, why did he see fit to mention all the Jewish kids? In and of itself that comment is not anti-Semetic. That you see anti-Semetism in it says more about you than it does me.
And "congrats" to every team who "wins" because the league runs per inning is capped at 5. If a "home" team is down by more than 5 going into the bottom of the last inning, do they even play it out???
So yeah, in your rush to find an anti-Semite behind every comment, you certainly have missed a lot. Like someone wrote on this thread though,
"And the format lends itself to misstating and misinterpretation. It requires the delicacy of writing under the time demands of immediate response. A sure recipe for misunderstanding."
Who was that again Mark?
I eschew ALL talk of hyphenated Americans or seperating oneself from the threads of the fabric of America by race, culture, language, religion, etc. I guess if that makes me a "racist" or "anti-Semite" then so be it. If I'd have watched that game I would have come away thinking "Hmmm, one team of American kids beat another team of American kids at a wholly American game."
Yeah, pretty racist of me.
(Actually, if what Jay writes is true, the fact that his team of 8 y/os beat a team of 10 y/os is more impressive--sorta, run cap notwithstanding--than the ethnic, religious, or racial makeup of the kids involved)
Excuse me now as I need to get my gear ready. You see, tomorrow after I drop my 10 y/o, with 50% Jewish blood flowing through her veins, off at school, I'm taking my little one, with 50% Jewish blood flowing through HER veins, fishing. Have a nice night.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 7:16PM
Glad to hear it All American American. Jay mentioned it to mention it. What of it? You took issue with it. And you really ought read more carefully. The only two people in this entire thread that have used the epithet "anti-semite" is Claudia and...well...you. Not I. All I did was point out your comments and question their meaning. If you didn't mean them as they most certainly read at a glance, well, my apologies. Perhaps next time you might elaborate as you've seen fit to now. But AAA, two things I still got you beat in:
1. Posting anonymously while lecturing others on courage is a little...what's that word again...gay.
2. I have six 50/50 young Jews at home.
I guess that makes us both Honorary Members of a tribe. Mazel tov! :)
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 8:38PM
Actually no you don't Mark. I've posted my name on this site plenty of times. You can look it up. Good luck.
And you fail to see the reason I needed to "elaborate" is because you saw some form of nefariousness in my original post, and addressed it not to me but in your p-match with Steve A. I thought I was posting on a "conservative" site where we all viewed folks based on the content of their character, not their religion or color or race or ethnicity. I guess I was wrong.
I see Americans. You see Jewish Americans and African Americans and Mexican Americans and etc etc. Therein lies the difference.
Mark Shepler| 4.14.11 @ 1:36AM
No, no that's not it at all. You are as incorrect about me as Steve and I were about each other. Funny part is Steve and I got into the p-match precisely because I thought he was pulling a "I'm more tolerant than you" trump card and invoking the liberal standard that the merest mention of race, even in the case of Homnick's benign boasting and self-deprecation, constitutes bigotry. I thought he was putting on liberal airs in other words. For a third party to get indignant because Homnick yaks up his ethnic ball team is as odious to me, well maybe not so bad, as if he ran down another on the same terms. It's still prioritizing racial consciousness to lord over the other guy's racial consciousness. But with a difference. The first guy, Homnick, means no harm and is joking about his life, real life and its foibles. The second guy, typically a lib, claims a higher standing and uses the first guys innoncuous observations for a club to beat him with and gain a moral supremacy. I hate it. THAT's what I thought Steve was up to. So I thought we were being mau-maued by a lib shedding crocodile tears and he thought I was calling him racist for criticizing Homnick's ethnic pride when I was really trying to get at what I thought was liberal phony-baloney. Neither of us had the other right and my initial gripe with him was purely political. Then we just kinda launched into a fur ball of snarlin' and snappin'.
Nah, you got me as wrong as you think I've got you. For a guy who takes umbrage at what he thinks others think of him you're pretty certain about others yourself, no? I couldn't care less what somebody "is" or where they're from. After all, I'm a S. Floridian and American. And you're right, your post did impress me as nefarious given it's place just over Steve's and its tone. My fault in that but I do not believe I'm alone in my first impression of it, for what it's worth. And though you may post under your name elsewhere it's still kinda funny to lecture about manners and ediquette and complain I didn't address you properly and all while hiding, don't you think? I've been on forums for 20 years and began discounting self-flattering and self-aggrandizing handles a long time ago. No matter, this whole subject is fraught with the peril of judging the judging the judging the judging...of others...ad infinitum. But for my part and as I said earlier, if I was the one who swung that club, and it appears I did, beg pardon. :)
Locheim!
All American American| 4.14.11 @ 7:40AM
First off Mark 90% or more of the posters on this site post under handles other than their names. If I were somehow unique in that I didn't post my actual name you may have an argument.
Secondly if I DID post a "name," how would you know it was me? How do I know you're "Mark Shepler?" Are we gonna post addresses and phone numbers too? After all, THAT would be really, really unanonymous, right? You're simply deflecting.
Third, my original post was in NO WAY related to ANYTHING Steve A posted. In fact, it was the first post of the day on this article. That you 1) saw an anti-Semite behind it and 2) tied it into what Steve A posted says more about you than it does about me.
Fourth, I didn't get indignant with Jay--you interpreted it as that precisely because you thought my comments were anti-Semetic. In fact I used the SAME humor he used in my comment about "congrats to your mostly Jewish team..." However instead of addressing me, whether I used my "name" or not, YOU saw fit to bring me into your pi$$ing match with Steve A. Did the fact that I post under "All American American" prevent you from asking me for clarification Mark? I didn't think so. Instead you assumed and like I said, saw fit to rope me into your p-match with Steve A. That's wrong regardless of whether I use my name or not. You can try to change it and make it about me posting under a handle, but wrong is wrong.
Fifth, you may or may not have been alone is assuming a lot of stuff about my post, but you were the ONLY one to actually name me while arguing with someone else. That tells me that either all these other folks DIDN'T take my post the way you did or if they did, their belief wasn't strong enough to warrant asking me. Not that you did (ask me), you simply took a shot at me underhandedly.
Finally Mark, I don't "take umbrage with what others think of me," I take umbrage with what others ASSUME about me WITHOUT asking me first. I've explained this six ways to Sunday, but again, that you seemingly still don't get it says more about you than it does about me.
Mark Shepler| 4.14.11 @ 11:08AM
All too true AAA as I've readily admitted a couple of times now. I get it just fine. But here's a third time- Saw your post, it had an uncertain quality to me, it was just above Steve's and so I made an unfair assumption and violated your rules of etiquette by not addressing you directly, if you please. My apologies.
Those would be the same rules that permit you to take misc. potshots at others and ridicule their posts while simultaneously allowing you to hide behind a pseudonym AND then get pi**y that somebody didn't address you directly? And you talk about mis-direction! Pretty sweet deal there, AAA. Can you say self-serving?
But here's a question. If you're using a handle so nobody knows who you are what exactly are you ragging on about? On what possible, REAL basis are you offended? I mean, implicit in your indignation is that somehow you've been impugned but "you" haven't, have "you"? Your Superhero persona was. Does he wear tights and a cape? And you haven't been impugned because of your very deliberate strategy of concealment so as, presumably, to take those shots anonymously for example.
And I appreciate your keen sense of democratic protocol, too. A majority didn't see enough wrong with your opening witticisms to address it or you "directly" even though "you" are a mystery and addressing "you" is of no consequence to your true self. Only to those like me who take responsibility for their words. Any who would address you, as you demand of me, is really addressing a shape-shifting specter who admittedly changes identity at will when it suits him. But incognito "you" are not really accountable for his posts, are "you"? Yes, you whine, but a majority use handles, yea, even 90%. Garsh! Right AAA, but a majority don't lecture others on their supposed lack of courage, courtesy or whatever in addressing a fictitious somebody directly while he hides as one. You do. They seem to have a sense of humility about it. You say you can't be certain I'm really Mark Shepler but at least one can be sure there is one and he really does live in S. Florida and really does have six kids, etc. So yes, one can never be sure who is really who in these venues but reasonable onlookers can tell who at least appears to be making an honest effort and who is on thin ice on the matter. The first stands by his post and the second...well...we really don't know what his game is do we? Saying "everyone does it" in your defence isn't quite sufficient when calling out someone who is the exception on precisely such points of responsibility, accountability, attribution and honor. You know, that fair play you pledge such fealty to.
So, I got your point, no more elaboration necessary. Offered my apologies but you apparently want to be upset about it still. I understand, it's all you've got. You've planted your flag on a pointless point of courtesy you yourself refute in toto. I guess the difference here AAA is I've put myself out there. That's why I HAVE acknowledged my error, taken responsibility and apologized- twice, nay, three times now. It's the only reason at this point. YOU, on the other hand, blather and bleat about violations of exquistely self-serving protocols of fair play and attribution while hiding from them. Whether you realize it or don't you've based your self-righteousness on MY adherence to fair play not your own and call me out because I am callable and have answered that call. You? You cower still.
Hey, don't get me wrong. If you prefer to be one of the herd posting your stuff, shootin' and scootin' anonymously have at it. You're right, it puts you in with the 90% out there and gives you great latitude to hold OTHERS to higher standards. Congratulations.
Pity. You sound like an intelligent and probably amiable guy. But your continued hissy fit is pretty cheap. And low if you ask me. Do you get THAT?
Mark Shepler| 4.14.11 @ 12:00PM
Oh yeah AAA, to address your points #4 & #5 directly. You keep saying "you" did not address "me", did not ask "me", etc. I submit there is only one real person in this equation. And that would be yours truly. You are whoever you want to be as the moment of circumstances dictate and suite you and far from thinking it weakens your credibility are quite indignant you're not taken more seriously.
Here's an experiment for you AAA. Try posting under your real name from here on out. Every time, no matter the subject. Perhaps you'll understand then why my posts are long, too long, I suppose and your's misunderstood. And as a bonus you'll be on firmer ground when carping about attribution.
You see I'm not really obliged to take the objections of "All American American" regarding his reputation too seriously. He's an ethereal doppelganger you mean for others to contend with while you remain safe. I've done it only from sentimentalism for the site and desire for comity.
But if it was really "you"? And "you" were now accountable towards others and even little things like how your posts read? Well, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish isn't it?
All American American| 4.14.11 @ 1:43PM
Ahhh, "Mark Shepler" (if that is indeed you real name), still deflecting I see.
No you've taken my inital beef with you--targeting me in you pissy-match with Steve A--and turned it around on me because I post under a handle--as do 90% of everyone else on here?
Well "Mark Shepler," how do I know you're who you say you are? I see you "conveniently" didn't address my point--that is, BFD you post under a "name." Whop dee do! Give me an address, give me a phone number. Then I can look you up and really verify you. Until then, your "Mark Shepler" is every bit as dopppleganger as my "All American American."
And you've done a very good liberal job of deflecting I might add. Every time I keep you on point and roast you, you turn it aorund to my handle. Good on ya!
Upset? No, this is fun! I absolutely LOVE pointing out how "conservatives" turn every bit as Alinsky as the most rabid, left-wing kook when you call them on something. YOU, "Mark" have proven it once again. I think Rush calls it "highlighting absurdity by being absurd."
It absolutely delights me that you claim not to "take (my) objections too seriously" because I don't post under my name yet you replied to my last post not once, but TWICE! Seems kinda serious to you, "Mark." Who's upset, "Mark?" Haha not me!
The bottom line is "Mark" until AmSpec makes you register and sign in, hell for all I know you're "Mark Shepler" and "CLAUDIA MONTEVERDI" (all caps, nice!) and Lord knows who else on here. Then again, maybe I'm not even the same guy from yesterday, or even earlier this morning. Maybe you're not either. Who knows. The fact that you take some type of moral high ground because you use a "name" that you refuse to verify as yours is amusing to me. Hell I could write a post on here under "Mark Shepler" or anyone else. You could do one under "All American American." Its a chance you take until they make you register.
What are YOU scared of, "Mark," if indeed that is your real name? Give me an address or phone number or something? Email address? Until then its the pot calling the kettle black, "Mark."
You're a blowhard "Mark," and the more we do this the more blow-hardish you get. Wouldn't surprise me if there are THREE replies to this. I got mad because I wasn't "taken seriously?" Have you not been paying attention "Mark?" It was the fact that you took my original, benign, humorous post TOO seriously that led to this.
I was gonna end it with a "Mark"-tweak, kinda like Rush does media-tweaks, since the last one went so swimmingly well, but I don't even think I have to, honestly. I say the over under on replies is 2, and the total paragraphs (you do write them tooooooo loooong, btw, and should really break them up a bit) is 8. Well, 12 if you take my advice to break them up.
Mark Shepler| 4.14.11 @ 2:25PM
Don't need to big guy. Discover google. Give me a call. Tootles.
All American American| 4.14.11 @ 4:09PM
So then you're scared? That's pretty much what I thought. You're kinda like our pres, a do as I say not as I do kinda guy, huh? A true "conservative" you are, "Mark."
(Pssst, you just replied--and it took you less than an hour to, so ya know you were coming back looking for a post from me--to an "ethereal doppleganger" again! Blowhards can NEVER resist! Tool!)
CLAUDIA MONTEVERDI| 4.13.11 @ 2:50PM
Dear Mark,
Your remarks and perceptions are not only accurate, but fine. Thank you for your intelligence.
Claudia. As to this "Steve A" perso, what matter what a fool thinks or says?
Non e Vero?
Regards,
Claudia
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.13.11 @ 10:16AM
Jay,
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your column today.
Please ignore the fuss-budgets and jock-blockheads above
Unlike them, I caught the joke about the "Jewish kids" in your column...HilARIOUS!
Guys, Jay was making a literary allusion...sorta'
In the movie "Airplane", one of the passengers requested some "light reading" of the stewardess.
She immediately smiled and pulled a tiny piece of paper out of her magazine stack, handed it to the passenger and said: "of course, sir. Here are the compiled biographies of great Jewish baseball players."
(or words to that effect)
Jay,
I muuuuust tell you two things. I coached Little League for sixteen seasons...and never drafted a child. (Open draft each season in our league). I took the leftovers nobody wanted...
Second...I never ever got the same child twice. They were ALWAYS drafted after one season with me.
If you e-mail me at my publishing agent
( sales@texassaidno.com )
I will send you a baseball teaching guide for parents that has all the answers for your kids and coaches.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 10:34AM
Ken, If there was a joke in the above article, trust me, you are the only one who gets it.
Once you get tired of patting yourself on the back & promoting your masterpiece, perhaps you can recognize that the author of this garbage has the same self bloated opinion of himself as you do.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 10:42AM
Oh yeah, by the way. Sandy Koufax wasn't all that bad. I remember you droning on & on about how you were a crafty lefthander yourself. I suppose you would have surpassed his records were it not for some conspiracy or injury I would imagine.
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.13.11 @ 1:51PM
Steve,
You contibute a lot of great thought here. Thank you. If you ever put your head down for a year and write a #1 bestseller like I have...I will certainly buy it!
Not only that; I will appreciate your telling me about it here....often, so I won't miss it.
(Sandy was my hero...but he didn't have a knuckle-ball. I scraped by and got the finest college education possible at Baylor University...throwing the darned knuckle-ball...yeah...the "old man's pitch" heh. )
My first wife contracted a terminal illness our senior year at Baylor. I signed with the Cardinals six weeks after my college elgibility expired.
I never went to spring training. I had different priorities than being on the road for seven months a year while she was dying.
Best decision I ever made.
Have you explored the web-site on my book?
If you don't have ten dollars, write a request for a free review copy at sales@texassaidno.com
One interesting thing...the authors here at TAS and American Thinker, and NRO, etc etc etc. have received a review copy (well over two thousand of them), AND THEY ARE REFLECTING MY THOUGHT SINCE OCT. 1, 2010 IN THEIR COLUMNS HERE AND AS ABOVE.
One review of the work by a world famous medical doctor who bought the book:
Review:
America Alone Said No! has a glaring problem---it ends, you see, and it is not a particularly long book. Of course, Lincoln's Gettysburg address was 1/60th the length of the epic speech which preceded it, and people tend to hold that it got its job done. So does this novel, with an incredible economy of effort despite the rocketing plot.
The book hits its points, then hits them again. The action never lets up, and there never is a point where you feel comfortable putting the book down to sleep or take care of other bodily needs, because by page 3 it has you as strongly in its grip as Ludovico had Little Alex's character in A Clockwork Orange.
This is a hopeful, upbeat book, although realistic about the devastation America will suffer if current policies are not changed. The writer has a faith in the American people which is inspiring, and hopefully justified. (Particularly poignant is a subplot involving the coming apart of Joe Biden as President.)
In short, this is a book of the quality of the Rings of Allah series in its technical depiction of a future US, and much better written. The Rings of Allah writer is a nuclear weapons designer, whereas this author is a former oil company exec. But the technical mastery of the methods of attack are the same in both books, and I do expect America Alone Said No! to be up for awards in its category.
5 Stars.
CLAUDIA MONTEVERDI| 4.13.11 @ 2:55PM
Steve Steve Steve..not that anything you say might shock me, but, your tepeid assertion that "Sandy Koufax wasn't all that bad" leaves one speechless..
Sir, you need some professional help....ASAP
Claudia
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 3:04PM
Claudia, Come on, really? Koufax was amazing. Possibly the best ever for a short stretch. I was refuting Ken's assertion to the Airplane movie line about the lack of Jewish athletes. It's called sarcasm. Koufax was a stud.,
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 2:43PM
Ken, Yup, sure have linked to your site. In fact, I think I was there yesterday for a bit to read the reviews. Congrats. & best of luck. As I mentioned to Mark, this one sent me into orbit for whatever reason today. My apologies. Steve
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 2:50PM
No sweat on my end, the same back to you. I've been posting on political forums since around '91 when they were still BBS's in ANSI type and you logged into directly. I was an original member of NR's nascent Town Hall when it began that way in '92 or '93 I think before it ported to CompuServe if memory serves. And still, I get others intentions and meanings wrong. :(
I think it's because we launch ourselves on a course within our minds in response to something we read and are gonna follow that thread almost irrespective of what the other says. We're on a mission to make our points and the other is just foil to parley with. Oh well. Regards.
Steve A| 4.13.11 @ 3:05PM
Yes, plus it gets kinda boring if we all just agree all the time:)
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 3:10PM
And the format lends itself to misstating and misinterpretation. It requires the delicacy of writing under the time demands of immediate response. A sure recipe for misunderstanding.
CLAUDIA MONTEVERDI| 4.13.11 @ 3:18PM
Dear Jay,
superbly delicate inuendoish article..perfect but for one FATAL FLAW...(maybe that airline stewardess had a point?) ......."Just as the rest of the country kicks into baseball season".....My oh my, to my knowledge, one KICKS into the football season, possibly the rugby or soccer season, but my darling Jay, one PITCHES in to the baseball season!
Please ignore the ravings of the savages and anti-semites if you are able ..... we can't sway them, our only recourse is to battle and to defend and conquer..meanwhile, please DO consider lining your birdcage with Mr. Steve A's disgraceful scribbling.
with oceans of love,
Claudia
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 3:35PM
Ahh, come on, Claudia. Steve's ok. I've seen his posts here a long time. He just got up on the wrong side of the bed or something.
We were just shadow boxing.
Claudia Monteverdi| 4.14.11 @ 7:57AM
OK Mark..seeing as it is you, and reading the evident sincerity of Steve's words of explanation (apology? maybe!), I am at peace with him. Or rather shall I say in keeping with the evident theme of the day, "strike one"..
as to the studism of Sandy Koufax, who knows? As to his prowess, albeit "shortlived" as Steve proclaims; AWESOME!
LOVE TO THE WORLD,
Claudia
All American American| 4.13.11 @ 5:39PM
Looks like the reply feature is jacked again. anyway this is for victim Mark.
Yes Mark, I did say the format for that little league is g-y. NOT the Jewish kids were g-y. The format for little league that punishes success, as in no more than 5 runs per inning, is g-y.
Yes Mark, I said why the need to mention every Jewish kid? That's not anti-Jewish, but then again, I don't see victims behind every comment. I would have said something along the same lines if he wrote about how well all the "Black Tyrones" or "Black Taneeshas" did on the math test.
The final comment, where your liberal mind sees a slap at Jews, is again a slap at the league. How do you take solice in a "victory" when your opponents were stopped from scoring in one inning per league rules? If that isn't league-subsidised or basic welfare then I don't kow what is. It has nothing to do with how many Jews were on which team.
Again, you see racism in completely innoucuous comments. Normally folks who scream "racism" the loudest are in fact the racists themselves. I bet if I said "I am very niggardly with my money" you would call me a racist too.
Mark Shepler| 4.13.11 @ 7:17PM
Glad to hear it All American American. Jay mentioned it to mention it. What of it? You took issue with it. And you really ought read more carefully. The only two people in this entire thread that have used the epithet "anti-semite" is Claudia and...well...you. Not I. All I did was point out your comments and question their meaning. If you didn't mean them as they most certainly read at a glance, well, my apologies. Perhaps next time you might elaborate as you've seen fit to now. But AAA, two things I still got you beat in:
1. Posting anonymously while lecturing others on courage is a little...what's that word again...gay.
2. I have six 50/50 young Jews at home.
I guess that makes us both Honorary Members of a tribe. Mazel tov! :)
Claudia Monteverdi| 4.14.11 @ 8:02AM
Mark my adoreable superman..I plead guilty to calling a spade a spade..OMG, did I do it again?
Kindly forgive my awkwardness (and spelling if you are able) with the English language..had I the wit I would have found a more subtle and acceptible way of saying "ANTI SEMITE"
Love,
Claudia
Mark Shepler| 4.14.11 @ 11:11AM
Hello Claudia,
No apologies necessary. You're doing fine but that spade business is really doubling down in sensitivity crime! Regards.
All American American| 4.14.11 @ 1:49PM
Hey, uh, "Mark." What makes you think I'm simply an "honorary" member of a tribe? Hmmmm. There you are assuming again.
Kinda like you never said anti-Semite (just implied it, strongly, but I see we're in Literalville, so I'll play along) I NEVER said it was my wife who is Jewish. Why you wanna assume stuff about me there, "Mark?" Isn't that what got this started in the first place?
Creative Recreation | 8.10.11 @ 10:26PM
is good