Nobody Loves You (When You're Down & Out)

2008-10-07 - 1:21 p.m.

"...and that's the Ministry's report. And now, here's Dave at Chez Too Old to tell you about the world of sports. Dave?"

Thank you, Bob. Well, the Angels tried their usual brand of small-ball on Monday night.

This time, it didn't work.

Top of the 9th. Score is tied 2-2. Reggie Willits - a fast runner - is on third base. Erick Aybar is at bat. The count is 2-0. The situation practically screamed for a squeeze play...which is what Mike Scioscia called for.

Unfortunately, Aybar missed the bunt and Willits was a dead duck.

In the bottom of the 9th, a ground rule double and a hard-hit ball to the outfield sank the Angels.

So the Angels return to Anaheim, beaten by the Red Sox again in post-season play. They still had an amazing year, capped off with their first 100-win season.

IMHO, Scioscia made the right choice. This is the kind of baseball the Angels have been playing all year, the kind of play they use to manufacture runs. Aybar and Willits were the right guys in the right places at the right times. It just didn't work out.

I'm still an Angels fan. I'll be watching the off-season news for the Rodriguez and Teixeira negotiations...not to mention all the team options and roster changes.

April is a long way off. But for now, I'm rooting for whoever plays the Red Sox in the rest of the play-offs. And for now, that's Tampa Bay.

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A middle school in Richland, WA has started a new five-step discipline program that evidently has some parents up in arms. Here's the plan:

The five-step program emphasizes students' responsibility for their own behavior. If they disrupt class, they're making a "choice" to move to Step 1 of the program.

That means they sit facing away from the class for a few minutes. If they continue acting out, they go on to Step 2 and stand facing away from the class.

Step 3 means focusing on the school's rule that, "No one has the right to interfere with anyone's learning, safety or well-being."

Steps 4 and 5 involve a parent conference or leaving school for the rest of the day or longer.

Gee, it sounds like your basic "time-out" to me - having the child sit in the corner.

But some parents say it "has the potential to humiliate students in front of their classmates". Well, yeah - it also shows that disruptive behavior has consequences. What are the teachers supposed to do? Just pat the behavior problem on the head and send it to the principal's office? School is a place (like it or not) where status is important. If you know that there are consequences for how you act and that one of those consequences is humiliation, you just may think before you act.

Oh, and some of the students wore buttons equating the program to Hitler. Some of the staff had to explain who Hitler was and why some folks just might be offended by the buttons.

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Here's a WSJ write-up on the man in charge of the bailout.

And the beat goes on.

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Okay, time to move on with the day.

Be seeing you.

Bindyree aka Brin - 2008-10-07 20:29:44 -
Well, at least it wasn't a shutout!

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