Birthplace of our hometown team

Among other things - second largest French-speaking city on the planet, home of poutine - Montreal is the home of the Nationals, the city where our hometown team was born in 1969.

We visited the town where Jackie Robinson played his first season of professaional (white) baseball and Andre Dawson and Gary Carter became Hall of Famers last week, and surprisingly and happily found some lingering Expos love.  And some souvenirs.

One of the first places we visited was the Olympic Stadium, mainly to ride to the top of the tower that holds the roof of the stadium in place for the view. While in the observation deck at the top, Evan and I struck up a conversation with one of the guides there. He wistfully recalled many good times rooting for the Expos, and said Montreal remains a good baseball town with many fans still rooting for the Nats. He thought that most Montreal fans had switched their allegiance to the Blue Jays, but we did run into two local Montreal citizens/fans wearing Nats gear who yelled "Go Nats" when they saw Evan wearing a curly W.

Even though he worked at the Olympic Stadium even he called it a horrible venue for baseball (it hasn't aged well either; the concrete looks worn and crumbly and even the CFL's Alouettes play most of their games at McGill University). As you know, the stadium was built for the 1976 Olympic Games so most of the seats were pretty far from the field. He did say it was loud and had a great echo, so a small crowd could sound huge.

Finally, he knew a lot of the teams' history, both the Expos and the Nats.  He even apologized for the lack of talent that came from Montreal in 2005.  Evan and I defended that team, which after all went 81 and 81, and some of the players.

We expected a lot from our vacation to Montreal, but discussing the merits of Brad Wilkerson and Jose Vidro was not on that list.

Rue Saint Paul is the heart of old Montreal, and features lots of restaurants and tourist shops.  We found a decent amount of Expos gear for sale but all of it was old.  We saw a Gary Carter replica jersey at a few stores, but at each shop they only had 1 small size jersey left.  I was able to find a nameless Expos jersey in my size, a black Expos, and a fitted, authentic New Era hat for Evan. Both hats had been on the shelf so long that the New Era stickers on the bills were hard to remove. And the clerk told me that we bought probably the last, fitted Expos hat he would EVER sell.  He doubted he would ever order any more, or could even order more if he wanted to.  Once their stock is gone, memories of the Expos may disappear, too.

Evan and I wore our new Expos gear the next day, and got a few thumbs up and compliments from folks on the street. We probably had around a dozen Expos interactions with Montrealers if you include seeing 3 or 4 folks we saw on the street wearing their hats or shirts. It was enough to make me feel a little guilty for gaining from their loss

A Few Nats Notes

• The good news: the Nats have won 6 of 10. The bad news: we can't seem to beat the Braves!  What a frustrating series.
• The other good news: we take on the Cubs this week, so a 4-game winning streak may be on the horizon.
• Finally, I don't know what to make of Straburg on Saturday night. I hope he's not hurt, but the way be lost it in the second inning is a concern. He had pin-point control in the first, evidenced by the perfectly placed pitch that hit Justin Upton in the posterior. But in the second he practically beaned the mascot.
• Anyway, we're still 'only' 9 and a half back in the wild card. GO NATS!

162 games in one night

That sound you heard last night was an entire, 162-game season, passing by in one night.  The Nats' 2-3 loss to our new archrival Braves encompassed a season's worth of frustration and sadness - and frustration. Let us count the ways.  

• The game featured another wasted start by Stephen Strasburg. Stras struck out 9 in 7 innings as he had some nasty off speed stuff working.  The Braves tied the game at 1-1 on back to back to back bleeders, and probably had two good swings off of Strasburg all night.  Once again that effort was not good enough thanks to an anemic offense.
• No loss is complete without a wasted key at bat from Jayson Werth. Pinch hitting for Strasburg in the seventh with the go-ahead run on second Werth's strike out was practically pre-ordained. The only surprise is that he went down swinging. Despite being the July Player of the Month Werth and his $14 million-a-year salary is still unreliable in the clutch, and his dramatic game-winning homer in game 4 last year increasingly looks like a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn.
• Last year, Natitude translated into lots of good luck: walk-off wins due to wild pitches; game-winning pinch hits from Chad Tracy or Tyler Moore; Harper taking baseball by the throat, etc. etc. This year's declaration of 'World Series or Bust' broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you have to be humble - or else. Davey Johnson forgot that the greatest sin a human can commit (at least to the ancient Greeks, who have been validated by 3,000 years of history) is hubris. 
• Last year, Natitude also translated into hard hit balls finding gaps and driving in runs. This year, as it was last night, it seems like 90 percent of our line drives find gloves. Case in point is the seventh. Harper hits the ball on the screws right to Heyward. Of course, that line-drive out would have scored the go-ahead run IF Werth had moved the runner to third instead of striking out.  There were numerous line-drive outs last night: Rendon's sacrifice fly could have been a double to the gap; Uggla robs Desmond, etc.
• Last night's loss even featured a bull pen melt down even when Davey made the right move. Clippard has been lights out all season but even he faltered last night, giving up the game-winning homer.  #snakebit. 

I guess to be more precise, I should blog that last night's loss means the passing of the NL East. Catching the Braves, even if we someone sweep the remaining 8 matchups, is unlikely but the wild card is still an option. The Nats are 'only' 7 games back of the Reds and only have to pass one other team, the Diamondbacks, to get there. But as many have said, before the Nats can realistically make ANY run to the playoffs they have to start hitting.  

That brings me to our ray of hope: kudos to Bryce Harper for calling out the team, from the manager on down, last week. Last September he carried us down the stretch and he can do it again. Unless he does, it will be a long, long off season.

Go Nats!

You're Welcome (I think)

It took a few days, and some infuriating losses, but it looks like Natitude may be returning to southwest Washington.  A week after firing Rick Eckstein - 6 hours after I blogged about the need to do just that - the Nats' offense seems to have awaken.

Of course, we also thought that after the Nationals scored 13 runs in support of Stephen Strasburg to finish a four game sweep of the Padres.   So, in the words of the old Negro spiritual:* 'we will see.'

Last week's blog tried to end on an optimistic note, namely that things could change for this team if Bryce Harper got hot and rejuvenated our offense.  Thankfully, that seems to have started happening.  The Nats have won 4 of 5 to reinvograte the team's season, again, and Harper has gone 7 for 16 with two homers, one a walk off to win a must-win game versus the Pirates, and 6 RBIs.

In addition to revisiting last week's blog, I also want to expand on today's Washington Post story by Nats beat writer Adam Kiglore.  The author examines a handful of reasons why this season has been so frustrating and disappointing.

One was the underperformance of the Nationals' left-handed hitters, in particular Adam LaRoche - who to be fair has always been a slow starter and could very well carry the team again as he did in August last season - and Denard Span.  Injuries in general have hurt, in particular to Harper who is also left-handed.

Another reason was the addition of Span turned the team from a bashing, slugging one to a more balanced nine that could manufacture runs with speed and small ball.The common denominator to both diagnoses problems?   No more Michael "Beast Mode" Morse.

Even though he hits from the right side, we do seem to miss his pop, and in hindsight it would have been great to keep him along with Span and not resign an aging LaRoche.  Of course, one can argue that with Zimmerman at third we need a Gold Glove fielder such as LaRoche at first.  And again, LaRoche could get super hot again and save his and our season (though he's 35).

But as much as we may miss the presence of another home run hitter, or if he would be that much better than LaRoche or Span offensively, I think we may actually miss Morse more in the clubhouse.

One other reason Kilgore lays out for the disappointing season is the pressure that comes with being a  'World Series or Bust' favorite.  No one can argue that any of the Nats, with perhaps the exceptions of the stoic Zimmermann and now-stoic Strasburg, and the carefree Gio, have handled that pressure well.   Tight play has defined this squad for most of the season.

One can safely assume that Morse could have helped with that problem. Or solved that problem. Or the personable and likeable and 'Take On Me" loving Morse would have kept that from ever BEING a problem in the first place.  

Beast Mode would have trumped World Series or Bust.

Natitudes and platitudes
* Maybe Mike Rizzo is not a genius.  Regardless of the Morse trade, the descision to not bring back Sean Burnett and rely on Zack Duke as our only lefty in the pen was a mistake. And Kilgore pointed out the the failure to resign Edwin Jackson does not look that good in the rear-view mirror AND cost the team a draft pick.
* Then there is Drew Storen.  Not sure how to assess how any pitcher could come back from the game 5 debacle, but save to say the Nats have not handled him well, and a pitcher who two years ago saved 43 games has regressed all the way to AAA.
*Finally, Kilgore did not mentin the bad ju-ju of picking William Howard Taft as the 5th

The Nats are killing me

As some of you may have noticed via social media, I've been a bit cranky when it comes to our hometown Washington Nationals.  Most of that crankiness was initially aimed at often ridiculous (the violence that pops up all to often during the Presidents race) and sometimes important (the stale and cheap patriotism of a standing ovation to honor convalescing veterans, an ovation that seems to absolve fans of actually helping veterans or thinking about our 13-year odyssey in Afghanistan*) topics.

But my crankiness is now metastasizing into full-on, Carolina losing to Dook after Zeller tipped in one of THEIR shots, depression.

The Nats are killing me.  

Two Sundays ago, Evan and I watched Washington complete a four game sweep of the Padres by scoring 13 runs.  THIRTEEN!  We had won 7 of 10 games, and were only 4 games back of the Braves.  Natitude was back!

But since then we've played our worst baseball of the year.  After this weekend's sweep to the Dodgers the Nats are now 2 and 8 in our last 10 games. Whatever good mojo the Nationals had has been eviscerated.  The Nats are now in 3rd place, half a game behind the Phillies for second in the East, and seven games behind the Braves AND the second wild-card spot.

It's hard to understand how a team that has Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Ryan Zimmerman can be this mediocre, and unable to build up ANY momentum over the course of 100 games.

Injuries is part of the story, especially for the lack of momentum that has kept this squad from ripping off a few 5 or 6-game win streaks.  Two weeks ago the 7 out 10 streak coincided with Harper then Wilson Ramos coming off the disabled list. 

But what gives now?  The big 3 pitchers have been great (despite today's stinker from ZNN), and even Dan Haren (on the hill tomorrow looking to end a 3-game losing streak!) has pitched better since coming off the DL.

It's not news that the offense has been horrible, frustrating, depressing, you name it. Saturday night's game was indicative of one of the biggest issues: driving in runs. The Nats had 12 hits but only scored one run, driven in by pinch hitter Roger Bernadina.  Against the Dodgers the Nats batted .077 with runners in scoring position.  

When a team with so many good players underachieves, who is to blame?  Is it Davey Johnson, his line ups, the way he uses the bull pen?  Is it hitting coach Rick Eckstein?  The Nats rank near to bottom of almost every offensive category.

Is it underachievers like Denard Span or Jayson Werth, who had a great second half last year but is currently making almost $500,000 per RBI this season and is hitting less than .200 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs?

I'll offer two things that could help a now healthy squad play better, maybe catch the Braves, and/or secure one of the two wild card spots.  I'm not going to touch the pitching, which outside of 2 or 3 bad outings from Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano has been generally great.

One is a simple line up change.  I'd go back to the future, and move Werth and Harper back to the top of the order, Zimmerman, then my big move of Desmond at clean up, followed by LaRoche, Rendon, Ramos, and Span (who has played great defense but is simply not getting on base enough).

Werth seems to stink everywhere else, and excelled at lead off last year. The second slot is the new third; you want to put you best hitter there since that spot gets about 15-20 more plate appearances than the 3 hole does a year.

Desmond often rises to the occasion with runners on base, and moving him up two places gets him a few more - important - at bats.  He's a free swinger but drives in runs.  

Two, fire Rick Eckstein for a number of reasons. One is admittedly cosmetic. Do something to get the team's attention/make them feel guilty/light a fire/insert sports cliche here. 

But others are valid.  The team is not hitting, and more importantly their approach to pitchers seems odd and confusing.  

Hitters guess and look for one pitch when they should be aggressive, take pitches when they should be expanding the zone looking for a pitch to drive.  

Or they frequently expand the zone at the wrong times, swinging at first pitches when it's actually time to work the count.  At bats look discombobulated; case in point was Harper Saturday night. He struck out LOOKING, taking all three strikes, when the situation called for looking for a pitch to drive no matter where it was (like Joe DiMaggio** or Tony Gwynn).  As much as I pick on Werth - ask Evan - we can not ignore that Harper has been swinging at too many bad pitches and taking too many 2-strike ones since he came off the DL; his pitch recognition - or approach - needs some improvement.

You can't fire the players so sadly have to fire the hitting coach. Bring in Frank Robinson, or Mrs. Robinson (the nation(als) turn their lonely eyes to you**) but do something.

These changes would work, or are at least worth trying, and I hope the Nats do something soon. It's past time to get hot. Going to last year's line up with Desmond at clean up and Eckstein at home could very well work.

GO NATS!

* One other thing I've been cranky about has been the generally lousy music the Nats play but that has gotten a little better. Positive developments include LaRoche using Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' as his walk up song; LCD Soundsystem's 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' and Stevie Wonder's 'You Haven't Done Nothing' making appearances lately, and Chuck Brown's 'Bustin' Loose' is heard after most homers (but there is still too much modern shlock country, too much AC/DC).
* One ray of hope. Line up change or no line up change, Harper is capable of getting red hot and carrying a team as he did in May and September last season. The big 3 should continue to be awesome. And we play the Braves head to head alot; if we sweep those games we're in!

This Year's Model

Hard to believe this is my first blog, let alone blog about Carolina basketball, in months.  I'll admit that the combination of some lingering ennui about Carolina athletics in the wake of the on-going embarrassment involving the football team and the African-American studies department (perhaps combined with getting older) has kept me off line.

But as is often the case, a win over a rival like NC State has rekindled my enthusiasm.  The switch to a smaller lineup has seemingly resuscitated this year's basketball team AND the Carolina Hellenic Blue blog.

I shouldn't attribute too much to Saturday's nice win over the Pack since the Heels have actually been playing better of late. After getting spanked in Coral Gables by Miami Carolina has outplayed Duke yet lost due to some terrible foul shooting and one Blue Devil run in the second half, scored 93 points versus a tough Virginia team, won on the road at Georgia Tech (which is actually news in the Roy Williams era), before taking down NC State on Saturday.

The wins are justifiably credited to Carolina's new small line up and more specifically to the insertion of PJ Hairston into the starting line up at small forward. More on that move in a minute.

What makes each of those games significant is not only did Carolina play well and win 3 of those 4 contests, but that Carolina finally started doing what every good Carolina team usually does - which is do what they want to do, and impose their will on the game and their opponent.

Against Duke we got shots we wanted and were aggressive, but the win over the Wahoos is the best example.  Virginia likes to control tempo, but the Heels would not allow that to happen. They rebounded, ran the floor and made shots against Virginia's tough, pack-line defense.

That takes talent, but almost more importantly it takes confidence and a faith in your teammates and coach. It took a while for a young team, especially for our freshman point guard, to develop that confidence.

But now it's here, and it's fun to watch.

The interesting this about this year's model is the style of play the Heels are imposing on their opponents.  In a word, that style is very 'un-Carolina.'

For practically 60 years, to the days of Frank Maguire but canonized during the Dean Smith era, Carolina basketball has featured a "big man down low, feed the post first, inside out" offense.  Those big men could often run the floor, and other attributes such as getting shots in transition before the defense gets set have characterized Carolina basketball.


The recent run of powerhouse teams assembled by Roy Williams took that model to a different level with a dominant big man balanced by one or two lights out shooters on the wing and a terrific point guard.

First and foremost, Carolina's offense has always prioritized getting a good - or better yet easy - shot. Logically, the closer a player is to the basket - from either a pass down low or on a fast break or the secondary break - the easier the shot so the Heels have always looked inside first.

This year's team does NOT do that, in fact CAN NOT do that, and therefore makes this year's squad the most un-Carolina-like team since ....when?  Ever?

Even before the recent switch to a four guard lineup, the 2013 Heels were unbalanced and did not fit into the historical arc of Carolina basketball.

This year's team, with four guards and a power forward, is more like a modern NBA line up (or even dare I say recent Duke teams). Folks may have noticed that this year's NBA all star team ballot did not include a category for center; you voted for 2 back court players and 3 in the front court.  The three-point line and in my opinion Magic Johnson and the age of big guys who can handle have completely changed the game of basketball. Instead of going down low first, to a Hansbrough or Sean May or Eric Montross - or to a Kareem or Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain - today's basketball revolves around players who can slash to the rack and drive and dish, or positionless, offensive-polyskilled freaks like LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant (or Michael Jordan for that matter).

You have to give ol' Roy credit for making that work this year (or criticize him, I suppose, for failing to recruit a successor to the May-Hansbrough-Zeller line).

But he does deserve credit. This small line up is starting to believe in itself, and obviously the coach is a big part of that. He's getting defense from a three-point specialist, great rebounding from his small forward, and leadership and savvy from his 150-pound freshman point guard.

And this weekend, this most un-Carolina line up did a great job of playing smart, winning Tar Heels basketball - and winning a rivalry game to boot.*

Go Heels!

 * and got me blogging again!

A Few More Thoughts 

• NC State LOOKS really good, and I wonder why they have struggled at times this year.  They have plus-talent at the one, two, four and five.  Richard Howell is particularly impressive. I guess the easiest explanation is one that came into play on Saturday; C.J. Leslie disappeared at times.  Credit Hairston for some great defense, too.
• It looks  like the ACC will have 5 teams - Carolina, Duke, NC State, Virginia and Miami - in the NCAA tournament, but that's it unless Maryland or FSU run the table in Greensboro.
• Two years ago I was convinced that Tony Bennett was in over his head at Virginia, but I was wrong.  A program seems to be building in Charlottesville.
• Though the Heels are doing well I don't see an first-team all ACC players on the roster.  My first team all-ACC team is Larkin, Plumlee, Howell, Joe Harris, and either Kenny Kadji or Erik Green.  Reggie Bullock and maybe Hairston could be second or third-team members.  

Desperation in College Park

Lots of topics but so little time - or space.  But after watching Carolina defend the ACC's honor on Saturday, I feel compelled to jump start my blogging with Maryland's short-sighted decision to leave the ACC for the Big 10.  

The decision to leave speaks more to desperation even more than it points to money.

The athletic department at Maryland's flagship university has faced severe budget cuts recently, and drastically decided to cut seven Olympic sports in the last year. Cuts included core collegian sports like swimming and track and field. 

The school had hoped that football and basketball would pay the freight for the rest of their athletic department - as it does at the other ACC schools - and expanded the capacity of Byrd Stadium as part of that plan. But those new seats stayed empty even as now-fired Ralph Freidgen reinvigorated the football program.  At the same time, the men's basketball team oddly slid into mediocrity in the wake of the 2002 National Championship, stopped going to the NCAA tourney every year, and as a result attendance - and revenue - dropped.

Much of the cash that did come in was mismanaged, sports were dropped, and the solution was seen as a conference with its own TV network in the Big 10.

Maryland may make more money from the Big 10 Network, but don't forget the ACC has its own network - at least when it comes to basketball.  It's called ESPN, so the TV money will likely be a wash.

But back to mismanagement and the ill-fated decision to expand Byrd Stadium.  Where Maryland will make money is selling out their stadium but with Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan alums instead of Terps fans. The athletic department is probably happy to trade schools like Wake, Duke, BC, and Miami with schools that have large alumni fan bases in DC. Or ones that have fans that travel; the ACC arguably only has one football program with fans who will go anywhere, and that's Virginia Tech.

In that regard, the Terps are replaying a sad and common refrain sung by other DC-area teams - "come watch the other team." The Wizards have done that for years, alienating a grassroots basketball community so much that a recent survey of local sports fans found the Lakers as popular as our hometown team.  For years the Nats did the same, courting Phillies fans to come to DC until a noticeable fan backlash, and an infusion of talent, stopped that noxious ticket-selling strategy.

Unfortunately, instead of getting more competitive – at least in football - Maryland decided to desperately chase the equivalent of Phillies fans to balance the books at the athletic department.  Disapponting and desperate.

A few more Maryland notes:

• Maryland the university and STATE belong in the ACC. The university was a charter member, but culturally and geographically the state is an ACC state. Like Virginia,  the Carolinas, and Georgia it has a tidal coast on one end with mountains at the other. It's early economy was dominated by tobacco (and slavery). It shares the same weather and many of the same demographics as its fellow south of the Mason-Dixon Line brethren.  Now the Free State is mixed up with states like Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota (all great places to play football in October and November).  Good luck recruiting Florida and the southeast!
• Fans of Terps football should get used to winning only 2 to 5 games a year in perpetuity. Why would any player play football there? Maryland could - and did - compete for ACC championships even after FSU and Miami joined.  But does anyone think the Terps will ever compete with Ohio State or Michigan or anyone in football?
• Don't expect basketball to benefit either. Big 10 basketball is NOT as glamorous as the ACC. And big time recruits from the east will likely stay in the area to play at Carolina, Duke, UConn or Syracuse. And why would big-time recruits from Chicago or the Midwest pick Maryland over Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio State or other regional powers?
• Finally, Maryland has become a big time soccer school, for both men's and women's teams. Outside of Indiana, the Big 10 stinks regarding the world’s most popular sport, while the ACC excels.  
• Other than those reasons it's a great move!

Republican Paradise?

One reason most Greek-Americans will likely vote for Barack Obama – again I might add; most surveys from 2008 showed more than 60 percent of Greek-Americans voted for Obama - is the way Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Republicans everywhere compare the Obama Administration’s spending and economic policies to the current crisis in the motherland.

“If the President gets reelected we’ll end up like Greece” they shriek (of course, many of us still think some things in Greece are worthy of emulation, but that’s another matter).

But modern Greece should look like a paradise to Republicans, especially ones like Paul Ryan who idolize Ayn Rand.

As you know, Rand’s central philosophy was that enlightened selfishness and hyper individualism was the best way to build a modern society, and she rejected collective - especially government - action and programs. 

In Rand’s idealized society, it’s every man for himself. Do not help others; they will eventually crawl their way out of the mire, or perish (either way, taxes stay low!).  Small government, anti-tax Republicans love her - even though she was an atheist.

So to the modern Republican Party, ‘Greece’ is shorthand for ‘bad’ and ‘failure’ and Rand is simply fantastic.

But the current situation in Greece is as much a failure of Ayn Rand-like thinking as it is a failure of an over-leveraged nation state.

In Greece, the political and economic elites have always operated under Rand’s central principle of every man for himself.  Consider:

 

• Wealthy Greeks do NOT pay their taxes.  Republicans don’t want to pay taxes, so they’d love Greece.  
• Greek elites such as judges, politicians and regulators always put themselves and their economic self-interest above all else. That’s why bribes are a way of life in Greece. Bribes are seen as a way of increasing your individual wealth rather than seen as weakening the public’s confidence in the nation state or government institutions and accountability.  I got to get mine! Who needs public confidence in the nation state anyway?  Not Republicans. Once again, for the GOP Greece should be the word. 
• Instead of hiring legal, Greek workers, economic elites love to hire and rip off illegal aliens.  Hiring illegal aliens and paying them in cash, off the books and without receipts epitomizes enlightened selfishness. Why pay someone legally, pay taxes and fees on income, or contribute to building a Greek middle class by using union labor when I can save money by hiring (and intimidating) an illegal alien who will work for peanuts?  The bottom line is more important to Ayn Rand Republicans - and Greek business leaders - that building a middle class or certainly unions. 

Those are just 3 examples of why crisis-ridden Greece is a Republican paradise - and the main reasons why Greece is in such trouble.  Maybe the insults will stop. 

Or worse! Maybe folks like Paul Ryan will move to this unbeknown Randian paradise know as modern Greece.

Guns and Cynicism: Two Strains of Anti-Americanism

Today’s most recent outrage involving guns reminds me of one of the greatest ironies in contemporary American life: gun owners claim to be the most patriotic citizens in our nation.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. Only loving one of the Bill of Rights does not make you a patriot, it makes you a cynic - and it makes you un-American.

Here’s why.

One, a functioning democracy is based on trust. Americans trust their fellow citizens to collectively pick our leaders and decision makers every two to four years.  But you have to trust you fellow Americans with that power and authority.

Two, America is an act of faith.  Faith in people’s better nature, faith in your fellow citizens’ ability to choose good leaders, faith that if you work hard you will get ahead no matter where you started.  More importantly, faith that the shared values enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our laws – as opposed to an Old World shared blood, ethnicity or religion – and institutions will result in the kind of society where everyone’s rights are protected and you can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Owning a gun conflicts with both trust and faith (let alone life and happiness). 

Gun owners do not trust their fellow citizens with their own safety. They justify gun ownership, at least hand gun ownership, with the paranoia that they could be attacked by their fellow citizens AT ANY TIME. 

If you don’t trust someone with your day-to-day wellbeing and safety, why would you trust them with the vote or any profound decision making? 

On faith, gun owners have absolutely no faith in American society, ideals and institutions. In addition to needing a gun to protect themselves from their neighbors, gun owners argue that they need protection from the government or other large forces (usually the UN, not Exxon or Monsanto).  Do they really have so little faith in U.S. laws, courts, the press, citizens groups – let alone their elected officials – that their only recourse is to arm themselves?  Are they that cynical about our democratic institutions that they think our elected officials or decision makers are capricious dictators - or kings or despots - who will eventually attack or arrest them?

Institutions like the police or military have often stumbled in our republic’s history; ask any African or Native American.  But in 21^st century America our institutions and democracy are strong, and can be trusted. That’s why gun ownership should be limited to law enforcement and the military; that’s what a mature democracy would look like.

Obviously, especially now with Obama, many right-wing nuts who love guns more than Jesus – who was against violence in any form, by the way – or money no longer think that we have a democracy or rights. 

They have absolutely no faith or trust in America.  Their cynicism toward their country is both sickening and too often deadly.  And it is un-American. 

6 great minutes

For six minutes on Friday, the world seemed back in balance.  After George Samaras tied Greece's game versus Germany in the EURO 2012 championships in the 55th minute - on a beautiful pass from Dimitri Salpingidis - it was as if Ellas was finally able to draw on some of it's civilization equity to make things even with the EU, European Central Bank and the IMF (AKA the troika).


We owe you billions in bailout money, you owe us for inventing most of what makes up modern western society.  Let's call it even, 1 to 1.


Then stubborn reality showed up in the form of a blizzard of goals from Germany, and all of a sudden it was 1453 again.  After overachieving, we lost Constantinople and the football game 4 to 2. 


Germany is very, very good.  They made great passes and were aggressive the entire game.  Ellas was on her heels most of the game, yet resiliently stayed in the EURO longer than anyone expected. 


Of course, the country looks likely to stay in the euro zone longer than expected, too.  All the hand wringing leading up to last weekend's election proved to be nothing more than that.  The Greek electorate was pretty mature (something you can't say about our electorate, at least in 2010) and elected enough members of parliament from the 3 'stay in the euro zone' parties - New Democracy, PASOK, and the Coalition of the Democratic Left - to form a new coalition government and ease fears that the motherland would leave the common European currency.


Much like the performance of our football team, the elections turned out as well as could have been expected. Though Greeks elected a pro-euro coalition into power, almost 60 percent of the electorate voted for anti-bailout parties. That number gives the new government some leverage to renegotiate the terms of the bailout with the troika.


With Merkel stubbornly opposing euro bonds or a EU stimulus package, Greece's best hope for economic recovery is a renegotiated debt repayment schedule. One reason so many Greeks voted for Syriza (the Radical Coalition of Leftist Parties) and other anti-bailout parties is the accurate assessment that Germany and the European Central Bank are more concerned with repaying loans to German banks then in helping Greece out of it's current crisis.  


Of course, that perception helped make the Germany-Greece football match so news worthy and prominent on front pages - not just sports pages - around the world. 


The Ethniki played hard and well in advancing to the elite 8 of the European championships.  Let's hope their play shows Greeks what can happen when the nation rallies together and thus inspires Greeks to pay their taxes and keep their heads up as they face the crisis. 


Let's also hope the elections inspire the troika to cut Ellas some slack and renegotiate our debt repayment schedule.  


After all, the Germans scored 4 goals to our 2 - how much more do they want?


And don't forget, for six minutes everything was in balance with our contributions off-setting our debt.  Zito H Ellas!


A few more EURO 2012 notes:

• What are the odds that 3 days after Antonis Samaras is inaugurated as prime minister that George Samaras scores our game-tying goal? Big week for Ellas and that sir name.
• Though the game was not really THAT close, would have loved to see what would have happened if suspended Greek captain George Karagounis had played against Germany.  Tough way for him to go out.  At 35 you have to wonder if he will play for Greece again even if Ellas does qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
• Sports is always full of 'what ifs.' For Greece, hard NOT to wonder what would have happened if Karagounis had converted that penalty kick versus Poland.  If Ellas wins that game we play Portugal instead of Germany, a team we defeated twice in Lisbon on our way to the 2004 European championship. Tι εάν ...
• I'll blog about this later, but congrats to Labron James and the Heat.  I'm not a big fan of Dwayne Wade and strongly dislike Pat Riley, but James is clearly the best hoopster on the planet, worked hard after last year's humbling loss to Dallas, and Miami was the best team.  The decision show and the stupid and preening celebration with Wade and Chris Bosh will always be viewed as huge, ego-driven mistakes. However, James learned from those mistakes. Isn't that the point of life?  Congrats to him.

Greek voters may decide world economy's future

"Greek voters may decide world economy's future."  That's the headline, on page A15, for one of the Washington Post's 3 articles on today's Greek elections.

For most peoples, that headline would be a bit intimidating.  But Greek voters have decided the fate of the world's future before. We did it at Thermopylae, at Marathon, at Guagamela.  We were the first nation to defeat the Axis Powers in World War II.*  We established three of the greatest cities of all time in Athens, Constantinople and Alexandria.  

We may even smite Germany in soccer this week.

Bring it on.

Like many Greek-Americans, I have gone through bouts of hand wringing in anticipation of today's vote (which, by the way, will likely be inconclusive).  

I don't like the idea that New Democracy, the centrist party seen as the counterbalance to the leftist Syriza, winning today.  They are the heirs to George Bush in Greek politics; they cooked the books and lied to the EU about Greece's debt and ran the country into the ground, leaving a mess for Barack Obama/PASOK (the traditional Greek left party) to clean up.  Voting for them would be like rewarding Mitt Romney with the presidency in November so he can do what Bush 41 did to the economy: tax breaks for the wealthy and no regulation of our criminal financial sector. 

But my loathing of New Democracy is not the main reason I hope Syriza wins today.  No, after much internal debate I actively hope Syriza wins so that finally, a political party and more importantly a people will stand up to the barbarians (AGAIN in the case of Greece) and say NO to austerity.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras wants to keep Greece in the euro zone, but he - and the battered Greek people - also want the troika of the European Central Bank, World Bank and IMF to compromise and give Greece a better deal.  

[Syriza will also - and finally - start collecting more taxes from wealthy Greeks, a huge part of the problem with the nation's financial crisis.] 

Most Greeks believe, and liberal economists such as Paul Krugman agree, that the current bailout deal has mainly helped German banks recoup their money.  However, the bailout and debt repayment schedule has NOT helped Greece's economy grow.  It has devastated the Greek health care system and shaken Greek civic society and even bruised the arrogant Greek psyche.  

Austerity and only caring about paying back your debts is not a successful program for any nation, as the U.S. can attest, and does not lead to growth.

How Greek voters react today will beg the big question for Angela Merkel and Germany.  It's time to act like a responsible nation, but will they? The Germans fashioned the current monetary union for Europe - and have benefitted like no other nation on the continent.  

If Syriza wins and forms a government, Germany will be asked: do they care more about Europe?  Or do they, and Merkel, mainly care about protecting German banks from their willfully-made bad investments?  

The Germans should compromise, and renegotiate Greece's debt repayment, if they are serious about the euro and saving Europe.  Doing so would go a long way in deciding the fate of the world's economy.  It can't always be the Greeks!

But as has often happened in our planet's history, the Greeks will have to decide the world's future one more time, in this instance by rejecting austerity today.

If it weren't for bad luck

Sometimes a person, but in this case an entire country, simply can not catch a break, has absolutely no luck.  


That's true of the Greek state, a nation battered by bad leadership, bad economic problems - and even worse solutions.


Sports is one potential reprieve.  But whereas Friday's spirited fight and 1-1 tie with Poland was inspirational, today's depressing defeat to the Czech Republic was just 'throw up your hands' sad. 


What more can happen to the motherland?  We came out sloppy on defense, victim to a new back line made up of transplanted midfielders and a new goalie. The Czechs immediately took advantage of Greece's awkward back line to score two quick goals within the first seven minutes (a EURO record, BTW).


Our back line was weak, our goal keeper Halkias even weaker. The second goal in particular simply and sloppily squirted right past him.  Bad luck defense, bad goal keeping.


Like they did versus Poland, things proceeded to get a little worse. With five minutes left in the first half Ellas scored, but the goal was negated by another bad call - this time a terrible offsides call.  It's soccer's worst and most inconsistently called rule, and it stung the inventors of civilization today.


Greece did admirably fight back in the second half, and Fanis Gekas punched in a misplayed ball by Czech goalie Peter Cheh to cut the lead in half early in the second period. Despite outplaying the Czech Republic squad for the final 50 minutes Greece could get no closer, and lost a crucial game today.


All is not lost.  If Greece manages to defeat Russia and if the Czechs defeat the Poles the motherland could advance to the knock out round.


Greece miraculously won EURO 2004; no one expects a repeat of that improbably championship. However, it would be nice to see Greece win a game or two, or at least not run into so much bad luck, bad goal keeping, and tough calls from the refs.   But I guess when you are on a country-wide losing streak, complete with double digit unemployment, a 3-year long recession, record deficits, and a mean spirited and ineffective austerity plan' that's simply too much bad juju and bad karma for the Greek soccer team to overcome. 


Our Ethniki has admirably shown some fight at EURO 2012.  Let's hope the team - and of course the nation - is rewarded for that effort against Russia on Saturday.

THAT'S what it is!

As many folks know, the Washington Nationals' new slogan is 'Natitude.'  It's hard to define a made-up term, one primarily chosen - in this case - because it sounds cool and is a nice melding of Nationals with a sports and societal buzzword.

In the old days, when lions like Dean Smith or John Wooden or Bobby Cox or even Joe Torre coached a team, attitude was bad. Teams strove for the antithesis, a sort of honest blend of confidence, success and humility sometimes called class, grace, or simply sportsmanship.

Now attitude is strived for, easy to market and exploit.  Combine that with a team coming into it's own led by young and therefore modern stars, and voila - Natitude.

I like using the hash tag #Natitude, but could not really define it in the case of the 2012 Nats.  But that was before this weekend's sweep of the Red Sox IN FENWAY.

The Nats went into Boston and were not intimidated as they swept the three-game series. Nor did they display much attitude.  They were LeBron James in game 6 serious as, for 3 nights, they picked up each other.  On Saturday, Ian Desmond got a big hit, with help from Adam LaRoche.

On Sunday, it was Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina with huge hits, with help from Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman.

On the mound, Mike Gonzalez and Sean Burnett picked up Gio Gonzalez one night, Tom Gorzelanny picked up Jordan Zimmerman the next.

And Tyler Clippard picked up everyone all three nights, earning an equal number of saves.

Doing your job, helping your team and teammates, is one definition of Natitude.

The one exception was Friday night, when the Nats' modern young stars simply dominated and didn't need much help.  Stephen Strasburg struck out 13, including Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the 6th, to shut down the Sox with poise and simply nasty stuff.  Bryce Harper did the same  with his bat in blasting 3 hits, including a 420+ foot bomb to center.

Harper may best epitomize Natitude, specifically his home run trot.  It's actually a sprint that takes less than 20 seconds.   No boasting, no standing in the batter's box admiring his handy work.  Simply and confidently blasting a home run, then not showing up the pitcher and getting back in the dug out as fast as you can.

Success without excess.  Natitude.

Maybe Football DOES Explain Everything

Yesterday's post pointed out how, contrary to one book's title, soccer does NOT explain the world.


But today's 1-1 tie between host Poland and the motherland was practically a microcosm of Greece's current plight. 


Facing the host nation in the Euro 2012 opener, Greece came out with what appeared to be a mixture of lethargy, sluggishness and even disinterest.  The players on the pitch vividly, too vividly, represented the populace of a proud nation whose citizens have been worn down by recession, unemployment, incompetence and pessimism.


Less than 20 minutes in, Greece trailed 0-1 after Poland took advantage of our goal keeper getting out of position; was it a metaphor for Greece's out of whack accounting ledgers? 


Things got even worse - believe it or not - when Sokratis Papastathopoulos was forced to swallow the equivalent of hemlock when we was given two highly highly dubious yellow cards (which equals a red card) and was ejected.  


So Greece was cheated by a referee and after the ejection were reduced to 10 players - a metaphor for austerity?


The combination of lethargy and being a player down resulted in Greece being thoroughly outplayed in the first half, and down 0-1 after 45 minutes.


But then, improbably and hopefully, some rays of hope emerged.

One, instead of giving in to the notorious Greek fatalism the Hellenes fought back.  Led by second half substitute Dimitris Salpingidis - the best player during the qualifying round of EURO 2012 - Ellas was much more aggressive and active.


Salpingidis was rewarded for his effort when he scored the equalizer less than 15 minutes into the second half after he poked in a rebound off a header from Fanis Gekas.  Despite being down a man Greece had come back and tied it.


The good fortune continued in the second half when the Polish goalie was given a red card for taking down Salpingidis in front of their goal.  


Of course, we are talking about Greeks here, a peoples who seldom do a good job with good fortune (for instance, we get the Olympic games but they help bankrupt the country; after World War I we're given half a loaf of Asia Minor but blow it trying to conquer the entire loaf, etc. etc.).


Today, that turned into George Karagounis, the Greek captain and a hero of the 2004 European champions, failing to convert a point-blank penalty kick.  Though we were down a man, we should have scored there and won the game.


Ten minutes later, Greece's bad luck struck again when a iffy off sides penalty was called against Kostas Fortounis - a Greek footballer who plays where else, in Germany - and negated another potential goal from Salpingidis. 


What a game.


Greece, a country battered by their own political incompetence and punished with a draconian austerity plan imposed by their European partners, fielded a team that had their own battles against a partisan home crowd, a bad referee who called two crazy yellow cards, a 10-player squad for most of the game, and a tight off sides call that negated the potential game-winning goal - yet still managed a tie and thus a point against Poland.  


Being down a player seemed to inspire fight rather than fatalism.  It was a proud nation showing admirable fight and pride in the face of adversity.  


I think all Greeks, members of the Greek diaspora, and phil-Hellenes hope that kind of fight continues in Euro 2012 but also inspires our motherland to do the same.


Zito H Ellas!

• Greece's next game is Tuesday at noon against the Czech Republic. The Czech's were demolished 1-4 against our Orthodox brothers from Russia today.  
• If Greece plays 90 minutes versus the Czechs the way they fought in the second half today I love our chances.  Greece was on the attack in the second half, and made a great comeback.
• Kudos to ESPN's crew for their Hellenism.  
• One, Greek-American Alexi Lalas proudly talked about the Greek squad in the pre-game show, complete with excellent Greek language skills pronouncing the long Greek last names.
• Two, ESPN's Ian Dark pointed out the many Greek Communists settled in Poland after their side lost the Greek civil war. Excellent historical note!
• Finally, three, Bob Ley summed up 2,500 years of Greek history when he said in the post-game shpw: "Sometimes your good, sometimes your lucky, sometimes your Greek."

Greece Still in the Euro . . . 2012 Football Championships

Greece will be in the Euro for at least one more month as the Ethniki Omada (national team) compete in the 2012 Europe Football Championship, the second most prestigious title in world football.  Greece kicks off the tournament Friday at noon eastern when they take one of the two (racist?) host nations, Poland, in group A (to be fair to Poland, the real racists appear to be in the other host country, Ukraine). The game will be shown live on ESPN.


Since World War II there have been 3 significant events in Greece.  One is the restoration of democracy after six years under the junta in 1973.  Two is Greece's entry into the European Union in 1980.  And three is the sporting events of 2004, a year that saw Athens host the Olympic Games and the motherland some how win the 2004 European Championship.


That 2004 title is one of the improbable in the history of sports. It's Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985, or Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson.  Consider that prior to 2004 Greece had NEVER WON A GAME in an international football tournament, let alone a title.


Of course, 2004 was the good old days in Greece.  The country was flush with money, some borrowed and some donated by the EU, to build new Olympic facilities, up grade ports and build a new airport (which is efficient but styleless, but what do you expect when you pick a German architect to build it?), dramatically expand the Athens Metro system (which was a huge success), and build new hotels.  


We visited in 2005, a year later, and the pride in their city was evident from every Athenian we talked to.  


Now we know the back story: that the government in power in 2004 and 2005 had been cooking the books and lying to the EU about Greece's deficit spending for years; the wealthy (who supported the conservative New Democracy government) continued to NOT pay their taxes; and the deficit got larger and larger and larger - and Greece's standard of living was not sustainable.


What a difference 8 years makes.  Greece was riding high in both sport and society in 2004.  Heading into Euro 2012 it's doubtful that this year's team can repeat that magic, or how long the motherland will even be in the euro zone once the Euro tournament ends the first week of July.


A few more EURO 2012 notes

• There is some good juju for Greece's team, however.  In 2004, Greece opened the tournament by beating the host nation Portugal 2-1 to put the tournament on notice.  Once again, Greece opens the entire tournament by playing the host nation.  If Ellas wins 2-1 again watch out!
• Why would you award EURO 2012 to Ukraine in the first place? Racist behavior by their fans has been a long-standing problem there, to say nothing of the performance of the Quisling government in Ukraine during World War II.
• During the 2010 World Cup, I read "How Soccer Explains the World." It was a fun read, but it was also depressing.  It should be called "How Soccer HELPS PERPETUATE SOME PROBLEMS IN the World.'  Chapter after chapter talk about soccer rivalries that serve as proxies for ethnic or political or racist strife and tensions in Serbia (Nazi collaborators vs. partisans), Scotland (Catholics vs. Protestants), Spain (fascists vs. Catalonian nationalists), etc.  I guess we can expect a new chapter or editor's note on new Ukrainian racism in the next edition.  

Good Playoffs, Shorter Seasons

Watching the NBA playoffs, one wonders why bother with the regular season?  Of course, you need the regular season to figure out who makes the playoffs.  But it's striking - and obviously obvious - to see how much better the play is in the post season.

Both series are pretty compelling; the young Thunder led by arguably the best scorer since Michael Jordan taking on a Spurs team that is professional and compelling, and the old guard Celtics led by young gun/old soul Rajon Rondo taking on the must see TV that is LaBron James and the Heat.

The NBA should consider institutionalizing the 66-game, lock-out induced schedule.  Like all leagues, the NBA regular season is too, too long at 82 games (the only exception to this is college basketball, whose 30 game schedule capped by a tournament seems about as perfect as 90 feet between the bases*).  There are too many bad NBA teams - thanks mainly to expansion - to waste our time watching.  Shorten the season, and put us and hapless teams like our hometown Wizards out of our collective misery sooner than later.

But the playoffs are a different story. The level of play is fantastic, as is the effort.

That, along with wanting to see who wins,  is what really stands out for me watching these playoffs.  Effort.

One stereotype about the NBA is that players don't play hard for four quarters or that defense is an afterthought. Watching the playoffs should dispel both of those lazy analyses. 

In the playoffs, every shot is contested. And that's true for the first shot of the game and especially the last.  You can feel the defensive intensity oozing from your TV screen.

The effort extends both ways.  It was pretty compelling to watch Rajon Rondo play 53 minutes - 53! - and make shot after shot in a losing cause.  It was inspiring stuff. 

Ditto Manu Ginobili or James Harden as they recklessly and repeatedly attack the hoop, or Kevin Garnett go down low - though he hates it - to exploit Miami's lack of a big man.  Or watch Kevin Durant patiently wait for the game come to him then simply blow up and take over, as he did last night.

Anyway, check it out.  It's the playoffs after all not the regular season - inspiring stuff.

A few more sports notes:

• What else is inspiring? Watching Stephen Strasburg bounce back from 3 consecutive average outings, only one of which he actually pitched badly BTW, with seven innings of shut out ball, with 9 strike outs and no walks to boot.  Not only was it great to see him dominate yesterday and lay to rest rumors of a tired arm or similar post-Tommy John surgery problems, Strasburg did what number one pitchers do on a contending team - he slammed the door on a 3-game losing streak.  
• We're heading to Nats Park in about an hour for Evan's annual birthday party game with his crew.  Excellent weather, an excellent celebration - and we get Gio Gonzalez on the bump.

* Schedules

Back to scheduling for one more second.  On one level, it's easy to understand the main reason why owners and TV execs in particular would oppose shortened seasons: fewer games to sell tickets and TV rights.  

But shortened seasons would benefit all four of the major leagues (baseball, basketball, football and soccer; I do not consider a sport that penalizes players 5 minutes a game for fighting a major sport; you ball your fist in any of the real major leagues and you get suspended 5 GAMES - as it should be. Grow up NHL.)

Expansion has greatly diluted talent pools for all the sports, as has the simple explosions of sports and leagues.  The larger number of teams in each league is one - but not the main - reason you see so many foreign players in all the leagues not named the NFL.


One way to minimize the impact of a diluted talent pool is to player few games.  A shorter season in all the leagues would help immeasurably.  Or, measurably.

• It would help cover the lack of pitching depth in the majors.  If MLB went to the old 154-game schedule teams could experiment for 4-man rotations, need fewer pitchers in general, and baseball can get rid of the asterisks that go along with comparing records in the pre and post-162 game era.   And, with baseball expanding it's post season a shorter season would ensure that the Fall Classic is completed before November.  Baseball is already a grind; why not make it a little less grindier?
• We've already discussed the NBA.  A shorter season gets us to what we want to watch - the playoffs - sooner.  No one pays attention to the NBA any way until after March Madness anyway. Start the season like the NBA did this year - with a Christmas Day triple header (which was awesome, BTW).  Let the NFL have Thanksgiving, the NBA can take Christmas.
• The MLS season already makes no sense, interrupted with side competitions, national team games, etc. and spanning from who knows when to who knows why. They should go back to the traditional world football schedule of games from October to May; MLS is afraid of competing with the NFL for fields and attention.  But with teams getting their own venues that is no longer a problem. And the NFL only plays once a week; MLS should shoot for the other six days and play a shorter season, too. Like the NBA, the MLS playoffs are usually more compelling that a numbingly boring 0-0 tie played in August during the regular season.   
• In an earlier post I pontificated on how to fix college football, including a shorter season, and try to restore the balance between being a student and athlete.
• But the NFL is most in need of a shorter season.  In the old days, when I first started watching the NFL, they played a 12-game season. It's now ballooned to an abusive 18-game schedules that wears out bodies faster and faster. In an era with heightened concerns over head injuries and an epidemic of debilitating injuries, doesn't it make sense to expose the players to fewer risks via fewer games?  The NFL will still make boatloads of money thanks to their lucrative television deals.  The least they could do is shorten their employees' exposure to life altering traumas by playing fewer games (and giving out guaranteed contracts).