Many Americans are out of work. Many are laid off. Many have seen their life savings and their retirement nest egg dissolve like a sand castle overrun by a foamy ocean wave.
The economy is in shambles. Businesses are failing. Banks are insolvent. Homes are in foreclosure. The deficit will take decades to pay down. And the experts speak like buffoons.
And what does the United States Senate Judiciary Committee decide to do in the midst of all this? Hold hearings to examine antitrust issues involving the Bowl Championship Series.
That’s right….with the economy muddled in an economic disaster unlike anything the world has seen since the Great Depression, the most pressing question on our senators collective minds is “Who is REALLY number one in college football?”
WHAT?
I mean, hey….I too think that Utah got an unfair shake this past bowl season. But Senator Hatch (Rep. from Utah who by the way is leading this shenanigan), what the heck are you thinking??? You’re going to use taxpayer time, effort and money to debate this issue in the hallowed halls of the Senate rather than using that same time, effort and money to get the country back on its feet again? What the…..
And just to make sure I use good journalistic integrity and cover all the political bases, these hearings have bi-partisan support from non-other than the President himself!
President Obama, Senator Hatch…we all want fairness of play. No one would like to see a solution to the National Championship dilemma in college football more than me and my Auburn Tiger friends (see History.2004.AuburnFootball.GotCheated.Com). But now is NOT the time to argue over whether the BCS is violating anti-trust laws regarding a college football national champion.
For Pete's sake, men!
Who really cares which team is lifting a Tiffany Crystal Football in the air, when at the same time people are forced out of work, out of their homes, and out on the streets.
What we really want to know is what are you doing about THAT??
As Charlie Brown would say…..”Good Grief!”
WJLaneSR
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Bernie Madoff
His penthouse apartment is only three blocks from my office. In fact, I can see the building when I look out my office window. Frankly, I never thought about it, cared about it, or even knew about it before January. But now, I can’t help but think about it every time I look out the window.
Not that he is there any longer. No, he traded his penthouse apartment for a 10 x 10 state owned and operated cross-bar motel room. Whether he has a cell-mate or not, I don’t know. His wife, on the other hand, is still living in the penthouse…..at least for the time being.
Of course, I am talking about Bernie Madoff.
I knew who Madoff was, in that I remembered him from the days when he was chairman of NASDAQ, but I never knew about his Investment Securities LLC. Not that I would have, because I didn’t have millions of dollars to invest….and in this case, thank God.
Others, primarily Jewish and rich, knew him quite well. Many Jewish charitable organizations such as the Jewish Cultural Institution Group and Yeshiva University invested their money in his fund. Little did they know, it was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. A scheme that he ran for almost 20 years. A scheme that cost investors, by some estimates, a total of over $60 Billion.
It has been interesting to be in New York, and see and hear the public reaction to Bernie Madoff’s guilty plea to running an investment scam that was essentially a Ponzie pyramid. Expressed feelings have run the gamet from outrage to bitter, especially among the Jewish community about the damage caused by his scandal to the image of the Jews. One writer in the New York Post called him “an ememy of the Jewish people.”
Being someone who has spent his life evaluating, coaching and trying to understand human personality….I AM primarily an H.R. professional, after all….I have spent some time thinking about this man Madoff. How did he gain so much trust? Why did people believe in him so much? Why did they entrust him with their entire, at least for some, retirement and wealth? Especially when he was such a cheat and crook?
It was hard to understand. Hard to explain. Where did he learn to cheat? To lie? To steal? And to do it in the face of regulators, lawmakers and the public in general. To believe that he was above the law, and could do whatever he pleased, and do it in whatever way he wanted. After all, HE….was Bernie Madoff.
And then I learned an important detail. Just after finishing high school, Mr. Madoff headed south to get his life education. In 1956 he was a freshman…..at the University of Alabama.
And that explains it all.
WJLaneSR
Not that he is there any longer. No, he traded his penthouse apartment for a 10 x 10 state owned and operated cross-bar motel room. Whether he has a cell-mate or not, I don’t know. His wife, on the other hand, is still living in the penthouse…..at least for the time being.
Of course, I am talking about Bernie Madoff.
I knew who Madoff was, in that I remembered him from the days when he was chairman of NASDAQ, but I never knew about his Investment Securities LLC. Not that I would have, because I didn’t have millions of dollars to invest….and in this case, thank God.
Others, primarily Jewish and rich, knew him quite well. Many Jewish charitable organizations such as the Jewish Cultural Institution Group and Yeshiva University invested their money in his fund. Little did they know, it was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. A scheme that he ran for almost 20 years. A scheme that cost investors, by some estimates, a total of over $60 Billion.
It has been interesting to be in New York, and see and hear the public reaction to Bernie Madoff’s guilty plea to running an investment scam that was essentially a Ponzie pyramid. Expressed feelings have run the gamet from outrage to bitter, especially among the Jewish community about the damage caused by his scandal to the image of the Jews. One writer in the New York Post called him “an ememy of the Jewish people.”
Being someone who has spent his life evaluating, coaching and trying to understand human personality….I AM primarily an H.R. professional, after all….I have spent some time thinking about this man Madoff. How did he gain so much trust? Why did people believe in him so much? Why did they entrust him with their entire, at least for some, retirement and wealth? Especially when he was such a cheat and crook?
It was hard to understand. Hard to explain. Where did he learn to cheat? To lie? To steal? And to do it in the face of regulators, lawmakers and the public in general. To believe that he was above the law, and could do whatever he pleased, and do it in whatever way he wanted. After all, HE….was Bernie Madoff.
And then I learned an important detail. Just after finishing high school, Mr. Madoff headed south to get his life education. In 1956 he was a freshman…..at the University of Alabama.
And that explains it all.
WJLaneSR
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Garden Party
It has many acronyms. “Not Invited Tournament.” “Not Important Tournament.” “Nobody’s Interested Tournament.” “National Insignificant Tournament.” “Not In Tournament.”
Some say it is nothing more than a tournament to see who the 66th best team in the country really is. So strong is the stigma of the NIT as a “consolation prize” for teams with tenuous hopes of getting into the NCAA tournament, and ultimately failing, that Irv Moss, a journalist with the Denver Post wrote, “that one little three letter word….NIT…is far more cutting than any four letter word could ever be.” In fact, David Thompson, the N.C. State All-American, called the NIT “a loser’s tournament.”
But is it true?
Fact is, 31 of the 65 teams earn automatic bids in the NCAA tournament, and in fact many of those teams are weaker…sometimes FAR weaker….than teams who are invited to the NIT.
To give the NIT credibility, a committee of former NCAA head coaches, chaired by C.M Newton (former head coach of Alabama, Vanderbilt, and former athletic director of Kentucky), selects and seeds teams using a similar format to the NCAA. Higher seeded teams always get to play at home, and the final four is played at Madison Square Garden in New York. By doing this, Newton is quoted as saying, “this is the ‘little dance’, not the ‘loser’s tournament.’ What we want to have is a true basketball tournament where there are no preconceived ideas of who gets to New York.”
Tonight, the Auburn Tiger men’s basketball team plays in round 1 of the 2009 National Invitational Tournament. They enter as a number one seed. And as for being “not important, insignificant, not interested,” for the Tigers, nothing could be further from the truth.
Korvotney Barber, Auburn’s senior forward from Manchester, Georgia, said,” we’re very excited about (playing in the NIT), because it is our first time being in postseason play since I have been here. I want to go to New York. I’ve never been to New York, much less Madison Square Garden.”
As a number 1 seed, Auburn has home-court advantage all the way to the final four in New York City.
Remembering the words of Rick Nelson, just win Auburn….and you’ll get to go to a Garden Party. And that’s a pretty nice dance.
War Eagle
WJLaneSR
Some say it is nothing more than a tournament to see who the 66th best team in the country really is. So strong is the stigma of the NIT as a “consolation prize” for teams with tenuous hopes of getting into the NCAA tournament, and ultimately failing, that Irv Moss, a journalist with the Denver Post wrote, “that one little three letter word….NIT…is far more cutting than any four letter word could ever be.” In fact, David Thompson, the N.C. State All-American, called the NIT “a loser’s tournament.”
But is it true?
Fact is, 31 of the 65 teams earn automatic bids in the NCAA tournament, and in fact many of those teams are weaker…sometimes FAR weaker….than teams who are invited to the NIT.
To give the NIT credibility, a committee of former NCAA head coaches, chaired by C.M Newton (former head coach of Alabama, Vanderbilt, and former athletic director of Kentucky), selects and seeds teams using a similar format to the NCAA. Higher seeded teams always get to play at home, and the final four is played at Madison Square Garden in New York. By doing this, Newton is quoted as saying, “this is the ‘little dance’, not the ‘loser’s tournament.’ What we want to have is a true basketball tournament where there are no preconceived ideas of who gets to New York.”
Tonight, the Auburn Tiger men’s basketball team plays in round 1 of the 2009 National Invitational Tournament. They enter as a number one seed. And as for being “not important, insignificant, not interested,” for the Tigers, nothing could be further from the truth.
Korvotney Barber, Auburn’s senior forward from Manchester, Georgia, said,” we’re very excited about (playing in the NIT), because it is our first time being in postseason play since I have been here. I want to go to New York. I’ve never been to New York, much less Madison Square Garden.”
As a number 1 seed, Auburn has home-court advantage all the way to the final four in New York City.
Remembering the words of Rick Nelson, just win Auburn….and you’ll get to go to a Garden Party. And that’s a pretty nice dance.
War Eagle
WJLaneSR
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Streak
“Here he comes…Boogity Boogity….there he goes….Boogity Boogity….and he ain’t wearin’ no clothes….”
And with those words, Ray Stevens capitalized on the 1974 popular craze of “streaking”. In fact, his satirical song about a man trying to protect “Ethel” from being “mooned”, streaked all the way to number 1 on the billboard top 100 that year.
The term “streaking” was actually coined by a Washington, D.C. reporter in late 1973 who was “covering” a mass nude run at the University of Maryland. At approximately 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday in October, over 500 students, both male and female, exited the Bel Aire dorm and raced across the campus, wearing nothing but ski masks and tennis shoes. The reporter, who was broadcasting live via pay phone proclaimed, “they are streaking past me right now! It’s an incredible sight…” The next day the Associate Press Wire proclaimed, “Maryland students streak naked across campus,” forever associating the word “streaking” with “running naked”.
I couldn’t help but think about this tidbit of Americana as I looked at the streak. In fact, it is an incredible sight. And if you missed them this past Saturday, then they streaked right past you.
That’s right, the Auburn University men’s basketball team.
No, they weren’t playing round-ball in their birthday suits, but they were streaking. In fact, they have the hottest streak going in the SEC. Don’t look Ethel…you might get a free shot!
The Auburn men have won 8 of their last 9 SEC contests, and they are currently on a 4 game win-streak. That is the longest win-streak of any…..that’s right….any team in the SEC. And who has the longest losing-streak? Basketball powerhouse Kentucky, with 4 straight losses.
Let’s look at the streaks, Ethel. You might just get an eyeful. These are the streaks heading into the SEC Tournament in Tampa.
Auburn W-4
Vandy W-3
Miss St W-2
S. Carolina W-1
Florida W-1
Bama W-1
Tenn L-1
Georgia L-1
Ole Miss L-1
Arkansas L-2
LSU L-2
Kentucky L-4
Keep on streaking Auburn…..Boogity, Boogity!
War Eagle!
WJLaneSR
And with those words, Ray Stevens capitalized on the 1974 popular craze of “streaking”. In fact, his satirical song about a man trying to protect “Ethel” from being “mooned”, streaked all the way to number 1 on the billboard top 100 that year.
The term “streaking” was actually coined by a Washington, D.C. reporter in late 1973 who was “covering” a mass nude run at the University of Maryland. At approximately 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday in October, over 500 students, both male and female, exited the Bel Aire dorm and raced across the campus, wearing nothing but ski masks and tennis shoes. The reporter, who was broadcasting live via pay phone proclaimed, “they are streaking past me right now! It’s an incredible sight…” The next day the Associate Press Wire proclaimed, “Maryland students streak naked across campus,” forever associating the word “streaking” with “running naked”.
I couldn’t help but think about this tidbit of Americana as I looked at the streak. In fact, it is an incredible sight. And if you missed them this past Saturday, then they streaked right past you.
That’s right, the Auburn University men’s basketball team.
No, they weren’t playing round-ball in their birthday suits, but they were streaking. In fact, they have the hottest streak going in the SEC. Don’t look Ethel…you might get a free shot!
The Auburn men have won 8 of their last 9 SEC contests, and they are currently on a 4 game win-streak. That is the longest win-streak of any…..that’s right….any team in the SEC. And who has the longest losing-streak? Basketball powerhouse Kentucky, with 4 straight losses.
Let’s look at the streaks, Ethel. You might just get an eyeful. These are the streaks heading into the SEC Tournament in Tampa.
Auburn W-4
Vandy W-3
Miss St W-2
S. Carolina W-1
Florida W-1
Bama W-1
Tenn L-1
Georgia L-1
Ole Miss L-1
Arkansas L-2
LSU L-2
Kentucky L-4
Keep on streaking Auburn…..Boogity, Boogity!
War Eagle!
WJLaneSR
Friday, March 6, 2009
February 20th
February 20 will be remembered for a long time, I think. Maybe you don’t remember what you were doing on that Friday, but I certainly do. I had meetings in the morning, rushed to JFK airport only to find my flight was delayed, and finally arrived back home in Spartanburg late that evening.
Also on that day the Auburn Men’s Swim Team was pulling away from the rest of the SEC during the Conference swimming championships.
But these are not the reasons I think February 20th will be remembered.
No, I think it will be because of a meeting that took place. A summons to appear.
If you know anything about jurisprudence, you know that if you are being accused of wrongdoing and/or sued, that your best venue is to have the case thrown out on summary judgement. If that doesn’t happen, then the next best thing is to have the case decided on summary judgement. What you DON’T want is for the case to be handed over for a trial before a jury of “peers”.
The same is true with the NCAA. When a prelimary letter of inquiry (PLOI) is received by member institution, with questions pertaining to potential allegations, the school in question wants a paper response, and a summary judgement….hoping it is all thrown out. What the institution does NOT want is to have to appear before the entire Infractions Committee of the NCAA to plead their case.
Which brings us…..once again…..to the University of Alabama. Already under shadow of a near-death penalty experience with the NCAA, they found themselves once again having to respond to rule-breaking allegations. They were summoned to appear before the Infractions Committee on February 20th.
This time it was over text books being bought on student-athletes’ scholarship accounts for other students not on scholarship. Alabama admits that this happened on numerous occasions, was pervasive in that it wasn’t limited to only one sport’s athletes, and that it was brought forward by a whistle blowing employee of the school bookstore.
Alabama self-imposed some “playing-time” penalties on a few football players. A couple of employees were put on wage freeze and reprimanded. All of this was good. But it was after the fact.
The NCAA would NOT give a summary judgement on the latest case of Tide Rule Breaking. Rather, as a committee they found the University of Alabama guilty of “Lack of Institutional Monitoring”.
Lack of Institutional Monitoring is only 1 level below Lack of Institutional Control. Lack of Institutional Control is what got SMU the death penalty in football, and has cost many other schools dearly with long probations, no TV, no post season bowls, etc.
February 20th, the NCAA told Alabama they were guilty of Lack of Institutional Monitoring. Kind of like manslaughter vs. murder. And now Alabama waits for it’s sentence.
Maybe I am wrong, but for a school that was told they were only inches away from receiving the harshest penalty the NCAA could give out….the death penalty….and being under the window of the “repeat offender” classification….I think the outcome is going to be serious. Very serious.
And February 20th will be remembered for a long time.
WJLaneSR
Also on that day the Auburn Men’s Swim Team was pulling away from the rest of the SEC during the Conference swimming championships.
But these are not the reasons I think February 20th will be remembered.
No, I think it will be because of a meeting that took place. A summons to appear.
If you know anything about jurisprudence, you know that if you are being accused of wrongdoing and/or sued, that your best venue is to have the case thrown out on summary judgement. If that doesn’t happen, then the next best thing is to have the case decided on summary judgement. What you DON’T want is for the case to be handed over for a trial before a jury of “peers”.
The same is true with the NCAA. When a prelimary letter of inquiry (PLOI) is received by member institution, with questions pertaining to potential allegations, the school in question wants a paper response, and a summary judgement….hoping it is all thrown out. What the institution does NOT want is to have to appear before the entire Infractions Committee of the NCAA to plead their case.
Which brings us…..once again…..to the University of Alabama. Already under shadow of a near-death penalty experience with the NCAA, they found themselves once again having to respond to rule-breaking allegations. They were summoned to appear before the Infractions Committee on February 20th.
This time it was over text books being bought on student-athletes’ scholarship accounts for other students not on scholarship. Alabama admits that this happened on numerous occasions, was pervasive in that it wasn’t limited to only one sport’s athletes, and that it was brought forward by a whistle blowing employee of the school bookstore.
Alabama self-imposed some “playing-time” penalties on a few football players. A couple of employees were put on wage freeze and reprimanded. All of this was good. But it was after the fact.
The NCAA would NOT give a summary judgement on the latest case of Tide Rule Breaking. Rather, as a committee they found the University of Alabama guilty of “Lack of Institutional Monitoring”.
Lack of Institutional Monitoring is only 1 level below Lack of Institutional Control. Lack of Institutional Control is what got SMU the death penalty in football, and has cost many other schools dearly with long probations, no TV, no post season bowls, etc.
February 20th, the NCAA told Alabama they were guilty of Lack of Institutional Monitoring. Kind of like manslaughter vs. murder. And now Alabama waits for it’s sentence.
Maybe I am wrong, but for a school that was told they were only inches away from receiving the harshest penalty the NCAA could give out….the death penalty….and being under the window of the “repeat offender” classification….I think the outcome is going to be serious. Very serious.
And February 20th will be remembered for a long time.
WJLaneSR
Thursday, March 5, 2009
From the Sickbed
Maybe it was dirty ashes.
At least, that's when it all started.
We went to the Ash Wednesday service at our church and my wife started coughing. That was 10 days ago, and she is still coughing. In between, she spent several days in the bed with the flu.
Then our youngest daughter got it. Then I got it. Then our son got it. It must have been dirty ashes.
Or maybe it was the snow. All the weather change that came with the winter wonderland we called our back yard for a couple of days now turning quickly to spring grass needing to be mowed.
During our bout with demonized bronchatic flumonia, the Auburn Tiger lady's basketball team won the southeastern coference regular season championship and the Auburn Tiger men's basketball team kept on winning...sweeping Alabama. I wish I could cheer without coughing.
And now, springtime is about to burst upon us. March madness. Grass needing to be mowed. Spring Break. Golf.
Did I mention golf?
Thanks to my good friend Mr. Patterson, I want to share some of his bits of wisdom regarding golf. It will help your score. It will make you a better golfer. It will make your 18 hole walk much nicer. So, here's Mr. Patterson's wisdom:
Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.
Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.
When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.
If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.
No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.
Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.
It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt . For a 10.
Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.
The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.
You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.
Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.
When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.
Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard.
There are two things you can learn by stopping your back-swing at the top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have, and which one is wearing the glove.
A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.
It's easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the lawn.
Golf balls are like eggs. They're white. They're sold by the dozen. And you need to buy fresh ones each week.
It's amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.
If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight.
Here's to springtime and golf!
WJLaneSR
At least, that's when it all started.
We went to the Ash Wednesday service at our church and my wife started coughing. That was 10 days ago, and she is still coughing. In between, she spent several days in the bed with the flu.
Then our youngest daughter got it. Then I got it. Then our son got it. It must have been dirty ashes.
Or maybe it was the snow. All the weather change that came with the winter wonderland we called our back yard for a couple of days now turning quickly to spring grass needing to be mowed.
During our bout with demonized bronchatic flumonia, the Auburn Tiger lady's basketball team won the southeastern coference regular season championship and the Auburn Tiger men's basketball team kept on winning...sweeping Alabama. I wish I could cheer without coughing.
And now, springtime is about to burst upon us. March madness. Grass needing to be mowed. Spring Break. Golf.
Did I mention golf?
Thanks to my good friend Mr. Patterson, I want to share some of his bits of wisdom regarding golf. It will help your score. It will make you a better golfer. It will make your 18 hole walk much nicer. So, here's Mr. Patterson's wisdom:
Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.
Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.
When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.
If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.
No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.
Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.
It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt . For a 10.
Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.
The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.
You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.
Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.
When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.
Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.
If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard.
There are two things you can learn by stopping your back-swing at the top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have, and which one is wearing the glove.
A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.
It's easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the lawn.
Golf balls are like eggs. They're white. They're sold by the dozen. And you need to buy fresh ones each week.
It's amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.
If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight.
Here's to springtime and golf!
WJLaneSR
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