Names

I've always been fascinated by names of athletes. With the start of Pitt's basketball season, I noticed the re-emergence of DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields. They now share the local sports pages with Pitt's football stars, LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stevens-Howling. On the professional side, we've got this week's matchup of the Steelers' DeShea Townsend and LaMarr Woodley against the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson (DeJuan Tribble won't play - he's injured.)
Its amazing how many athletes sport first names beginning with some variation of "La/Le" or "Da/De" or the ever popular "D", as in D'Brickashaw Ferguson.
Everyone knows about all world basketball star LeBron James and his teammate Delonte West, but there are many other NBA players, from new guy Lamar Odom to vereran Dwayne Wade, who fit this category.
A quick review of NFL rosters shows that most teams, like the Steelers and the Chargers, have two players who would make my list.
Now that we've elected an African American as president, we're allowed to notice these things, right?

Memory Almost Full

I couldn't name a song on the album, but just the title of Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full," makes me smile. McCartney and I are about the same age, and I know how he feels.
Think about dates. Not the dates that you write on a calendar, but the dates that are permanently written onto your personal hard drive. You start out with only two meaningful dates: your birthday and Christmas. Its not too long before you find out about New Years, Easter, July 4th, Halloween and Thanksgiving. By the time you get to school, you start paying attention to Labor Day, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, Valentines Day and the ever popular April Fool's day. Along the way, you started to pay attention the birthdays of your siblings and your parents and your parent's anniversary, along with Mother's Day and Father's Day. We Catholics pick up a bunch of Holy Days throughout the year that I still remember, even if I don't observe them. Jews seem to have even more.
If they hang around long enough, you pick up boyfriend/girlfriend birthdays - and the dates remain in your brain long after the relationship fades. Then you get your spouse's birthday and, of course your own anniversary, plus the birthdays and anniversaries of your in-laws. Soon enough your siblings have gotten married, and you've got their anniversaries and their spouses birthdays. Then you start with your own kids, your nieces and nephews; then their marriages and then their kids. The cycle is not complete until you start accumulating some dates for the passing of those whose birthdays we remember.
There are the other days you can't forget: Pearl Harbor Day, September 11, and for me, November 8. There are days you could easily give up, but can't seem to - the third Saturday in October is the date of the Alabama-Tennessee football game.
I may have space for a few more dates to remember, but I have to be judicious. The memory is almost full.

Reflections on the Election

1. K. Leroy Irvis was a long time member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives elected from Pittsburgh's predominantly black Hill District. Upon his election as Speaker of the House, he said that his colleagues did not elect a black Speaker, rather they elected a Speaker who happened to be black. I think in much the same way, we have elected for the first time, a president who happens to be black.

2. I see a lot of patting ourselves on the back for electing a member of a minority as president. We should remember that in 1990, Peru elected as president an ethnic Japanese, Alberto Fujimori. That administration was less than successful. Facing a corruption scandal, Fujimori fled the country in 2000. He was later extradited back to Peru and is currently serving a six year prison sentence.

3. I know we don't vote for Vice President, but the defining moments for me in this election were the selection of running mates. Obama, taking to heart the criticism that he was relatively inexperienced, picked a seasoned senator, Joe Biden, who made a credible run himself for the presidential nomination. McCain, completely ignoring the concern of many that he would be the oldest person ever to be elected president, and that his vice president might be called on to fill his shoes at some point during his presidency, chose a person with no track record.

4. I'm a registered Democrat (the primaries are more interesting), but my political leaning is probably more to the conservative side. But George Bush has done great damage to the Republican party. For the guy who touted himself as a "uniter," not a "divider," he's done a lot more of the latter than the former. For a guy who talked about America being a "humble" international leader, his foreign adventures have been a lesson in arrogance. So we'll now give the Democrats their own opportunity to screw things up. When the next cycle comes, I hope the Republicans can offer us a better alternative.