Sports Thoughts

1) In my opinion, Washington, Washington State and Gonzaga all NEED to fire their basketball coaches after this season. These coaches are too "nice and polite" and aren't demanding of championship caliber performance enough. That is why Gonzaga always loses early in the NCAA tournament, Washington doesn't win big games and Washington State had one two-year stretch of decent performance before the coach left for Virginia. Gonzaga needs a Bobby Knight-coach who will motivate and occasionally berate referees. You need that in order to gain an edge.

2) How come the NHL Owners and media don't come out against Gary Bettman and demand that this jerk IMMEDIATELY resign for acting like a dictator and alienating players and other sponsors? He is a first-class megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex who has ruined hockey, as an American he doesn't truly understand hockey and is trying to make it sissier. Are people that cowardly against Bettman, Selig and Stern? I suppose so. These men are Napoleon wannabes and I fail to understand why other people don't stand up to them. Just because they went to law school doesn't make them the King of the Universe.

Bachelor versus Bachur

There is a HUGE difference between being a bachelor and a bachur (Yeshiva guy). A bachelor has a profession, or is preparing for one, whether in University or Graduate School, a bachur "takes college" to make a Parnasah (livelihood).

 

Another difference is that for a bachelor, Judaism is a nice hobby, not an all-inclusive lifestyle, to be spent at all hours. A bachur spends his time learning and studying and other "Jewish activities". If it means that Shabbos ends an hour and half after Sundown, so be it. It's not like he has a hot date or a boss who wants him to come into the office to work on a trial or big business deal.

Difference #3: Bachelors and Single Jewish guys are NOT supposed to be eunuchs. That means that we need some socializing time with members of the opposite sex. Because of this, it is UNREASONABLE to expect us to spend 4.5-6 hours EVERY SHABBOS with you older couples and younger couples with young children. It doesn't do us any good. Your priorities are different than ours. It's NOT OUR JOB to be the "community fall-back option" if a Jewish organization needs a "Rabbi" or Chazzan". There's more to that position than reciting the words or singing the notes without vowels.

Difference #4:  Basically, other than being a donor and occasional participant in synagogue, we aren't meant for the Orthodox world. Our priorities are our jobs/careers, living quarters (houses, apartments), transportation (bus, car or trying to buy and maintain one) and socializing with guys and women.Additionally, the types of women and men that we find interesting WON'T BE FOUND in the synagogue and Orthodox Jewish Community. Accept it and move on.

Good teams, AWFUL ballparks

Of the eight remaining teams in the major league baseball playoffs, two teams have truly awful or substandard ballparks. They are the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays. Oakland plays at the O.com Coliseum (or Oakland Coliseum) and the Rays play at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, just outside Tampa. The Oakland Coliseum is an outdated multipurpose facility that isn't even good for the Raiders, let alone the A's. Tropicana Field is essentially this generation's Kingdome, a monstrosity that doesn't work for baseball in the 21st century. I beg Allan H. (Bud) Selig, to coax these teams and their cities to build appropriate ballparks for the 21st century. The two wild card losers, Cleveland and Cincinnati, have attractive ballparks, Progressive Field and Great American Ballpark. Too bad that they couldn't have replaced these two teams and their lousy ballparks.

What a Professional Organization Looks Like

Rather than continue to lambast the Seattle Mariners, Seahawks, Blazers, Gonzaga Bulldogs, etc. for their ineptitude, let's focus on a few solid sports organizations:

NBA: San Antonio Spurs:
Joined the NBA in 1976-1977 after the demise of the ABA (American Basketball Association). Made the playoffs about 28 times or so. Reached the NBA Finals 5 times, winning 4 of them.

You never hear much about the Spurs in the off-season or even in the regular season, for that matter. Only in the playoffs, when it counts.

One other cool thing about the Spurs, the owner, Peter Holt, has contributed money to the Republican Party and the current Governor of Texas, Rick Perry.

NHL: Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings
Chicago has won 2 of the last 4 Stanley Cups. Since Rocky Wirtz assumed control of the team after the death of his father, the team has had a great turnaround.

Detroit has made the playoffs every year since 1990. They've won 11 Stanley Cups, only Montreal has more.

MLB: St. Louis Cardinals

Just win and have professional players and attitudes. Not to mention great fans.

NFL: New York Giants and New England Patriots

Mariners loss and mediocrity

After last night's meltdown in Massachusetts, I have come to the conclusion that the sports fans in Seattle are way too accepting of mediocrity, which further reinforces my decision to root for Chicago/Midwest teams. If we had an owner who gave a damn about the team, someone would have been canned last night or this morning. Not a player, a coach or GM or scouting director which would send a message to the Mariners and rest of the division that we won't put up with mediocrity.

Hall of Shame weekend

This weekend, Major League Baseball holds its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Unfortunately, not one player will be inducted. Instead the honors will be limited to a writer from Philadelphia, a broadcaster from Toronto, who unfortunately passed away recently and a few old-time Negro Leaguers. While I don't wish to denigrate these individuals, and they have worthy accomplishments, the point of this post is that this weekend, which is usually one of the highlights of the summer, is a black eye for Major League Baseball.

Yes, we know why the writers didn't elect anyone into the Hall of Fame. It's spelled S-T-E-R-O-I-D-S!

However, if that's true, then why bother having an elaborate ceremony? The NFL doesn't have qualms about putting people in the Hall of Fame who weren't choir boys, such as Lawrence Taylor and O.J. Simpson. But these baseball writers are a bunch of old white stuffed shirts who want to reminisce about the good old days, then count me out.

Maybe the Baseball Hall of Fame should scale back the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

In very Orthodox Jewish circles, there are certain Rabbis who have set rules about how big certain celebrations can be, such as a limit on the number of guests invited as well as the number of courses that can be served at the meal, so as not to make other members of the community uncomfortable if they don't have the means to have a 500-guest wedding. Baseball may be served to emulate such a practice, if the writers are going to be persnickety about every player from the 1990's-early 2000's who they suspect of steroid use.

ESPN does it again

ESPN is at it again. Not content to have alienated sports fans with their East-Coast-centric bias, now their liberal bias is showing. Starting on August 26th, Keith Olbermann will have a show on at 11 pm to discuss sports, pop culture and politics. Great! Just what red state, red-blooded men want to see at 11 pm.

Fox Sports is AWFUL

I know that I sound like a broken record, but every time that I watch Fox Sports, I am reminded of how unprofessional and shallow their broadcasters are. The ironic thing is that I really enjoy Fox News Channel.

Joe Buck is the ultimate legacy announcer. If his father wasn't a Hall of Fame announcer, he wouldn't be Fox's top voice for both football and baseball, which is annoying and pathetic.

Why can't ABC/ESPN Sports or CBS sports do baseball instead? They're more professional than Fox Sports will ever be.

Wedge- why I don't like him

This is a more in-depth piece on Eric Wedge, the Seattle Mariners manager.

The reason that I don't like him is that he plays not to lose. I went on this rant last week, when the Mariners lost to the Rangers and he didn't pinch-hit for Blanco, when he should have. Additionally, in an April game against Houston, he didn't pinch-hit in the ninth inning and let a weak hitter swing away and cost them the game. He doesn't play to win, he does the best he can to a point and that's it.

One other thing: The Mariners could use someone who will throw inside and plunk some people. Particularly some of the jerks on the Angels and Rangers. Why won't they start up with some of the other teams? Because they're good little Boy Scouts? What's the point of playing if the other team has no respect for you?

Seattle Coaches

After last week's rant about Eric Wedge, and unfairly comparing him to George Karl, who reached an NBA Finals against one of the best teams in NBA history, I am doing a ranking of the top Seattle professional sports coaches. For purposes of this discussion, I am limiting it to the Sonics, Seahawks and Mariners. I don't know the Storm or Sounders well enough to rank their coaches.

Number 1, Lenny Wilkens, 1978-1985 Sonics. Won Seattle's only major pro sports championship with the Sonics in 1979 against the Washington Bullets.

Very Good 2-4
George Karl, Sonics 1992-1998
Mike Holmgren, Seahawks 1999-2008
Lou Piniella Mariners 1993-2002

Good not great
Chuck Knox, Seahawks 1983-1991, yes he took the Seahawks to the AFC championship game in 1983, but that was as good as it got.
Bernie Bickerstaff, Sonics 1986-1990
Nate McMillan, Sonics 2000-2005

Incomplete: Pete Carroll, 2010-present, let's see if the Seahawks can reach and win the Super Bowl. Good start so far.

Seattle sports fans, let me know your thoughts. Who else am I missing that was good.

Coyote Ugly- why they should stay

The Phoenix Coyotes saga has come to an end. There was talk that if the City of Glendale didn't approve the new lease with the Jobing.com Arena, that the Coyotes would move, possibly to Seattle.

I think that Seattle wouldn't necessarily take to hockey. It would be a curiosity, not something that the average fan would get into. Plus there are too many games for the casual fan (which Seattle would have lots of) in order to make it work at Key Arena. The capacity for hockey at Key Arena is between 11,000-15,000. That would be unworkable after a few years. The NHL is more dependent on gate receipts (attendance) than the other three sports (NBA, NFL & MLB). Even if the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Chris Hansen and the City of Seattle would be amended, it would take a couple of years to build the arena. I don't know if the NHL could wait that long.

New job

I recently started a new job. I am now working in the City of Seattle as a Public Records Assistant. It's in the Office of the City Clerk. The City of Seattle has to respond to numerous Public Records Requests, so I am helping out the Public Disclosure Officer respond to those requests.

Congrats to the Blackhawks

I haven't posted on my blog recently, but congratulations again to the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the Stanley Cup on Monday night in Boston. The Blackhawks scored two goals in the last minute, with goals from Bickell and Bolland to beat Boston 3-2 and win the Stanley Cup. The parade is set for tomorrow morning at the United Center. Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe Award, which is given to the MVP of the playoffs. It's a little different than the NBA, which gives an award for the Finals, which LeBron James won this year. Congratulations to Gabe Deutsch and other Miami Heat sports fans on their team's NBA championship.

Chicago sports teams- What's good about them

This month the National Hockey League is holding its annual Championship, or Stanley Cup Final. The Stanley Cup Final features the Chicago Blackhawks against the Boston Bruins.

The reason why I am rooting for Chicago is because I like the fact that Chicago teams, when they are at their best, can play like champions.

Let's go back a few weeks to the last game of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. The game was tied with about two minutes left and Niklas Hjalmarsson scored an apparent go-ahead goal, however there were coincidental penalties on the play, so the goal was disallowed. Eventually the game went into overtime. In the first overtime, Brent Seabrook (aka Seabs) scored the winning goal about four minutes into overtime to win the series for Chicago. Chicago faced adversity, but didn't whine or kvetch about it, and had the resolve and resiliency to make it through and win the game. The 1990's Bulls faced adversity and challenges, yet won 6 NBA titles. The White Sox won a title after nearly blowing a 15 game lead in September.

Let's contrast this with attitude of a champion to some of the Northwest's teams reactions of a disallowed goal, the team would whine and moan, cries of conspiracy theories would abound and the team would lose, whether based in Vancouver, Spokane or Eugene, Oregon.

I'd like to see ONE Northwest team prove me wrong, but I'm not waiting around for it to happen. Regardless of what happens in the next few games between the Hawks and Bruins, Chicago has earned my respect for its sports teams.

Yeshiva High Schools v. Conservative High Schools- which is better

This week's topic is the subject of Orthodox Jewish High Schools, or Yeshiva High Schools as compared with Conservative Jewish High Schools. Which type of school is better and why?

Part of this depends on what your goals are in life. For those who wish to be Rabbis, teachers, social workers, etc. then a Yeshiva High School is great. If you plan on going into fields such as finance or law, I would suggest staying away from the Yeshiva High School and go to a Conservative High School or public school.

In my humble opinion, only a small percentage of Yeshiva High School students truly belong there and truly embody the mission of the high school. Despite my record, I am not sure that I belonged in a Yeshiva High School and may have been better off in a school that's "Conservative" or part of the Schechter movement. One that comes to mind is Chicagoland Jewish High School.

When you have a school with a dress code and rules about boys and girls not getting too close to each other, etc. you are over-regulating the students' lives. Eventually they either really buy into the system or go in a different direction. Very few students have the drive and makeup to totally buy into the Orthodox lifestyle 100%, in my opinion. While it may take a while for the kids to buy into the system, and some kids get really religious and devout after High School in the "Gap Year in Israel", that year may wear off after a while.

I would rather take my chances at a school like the Chicagoland Jewish High School than a school like Ida Crown Jewish Academy, because of the strictures that Orthodox Judaism places upon their students and faculty. From the dress code to the extra-curricular activities, going to a Yeshiva High School would bore me to tears today and I wouldn't want my son or daughter in such an environment.

Additionally, it seems like there's a stigma in being Orthoprax as compared with Orthodox. In other words, it isn't sufficient to go a Yeshiva High School and just do all of the rituals. Some people have the innate desire and drive to be truly Orthodox, but some can only do "Orthoprax". I feel that I am in the latter camp now, whereas when I was younger, I was in the former camp.

People who go to work and study in the outside world are in for a rude awakening when they leave the Orthodox Jewish bubble. Not everyone subscribes to our insular way of doing things. In fact, it's just the opposite.

Many of the good religious kids are nice but socially flawed and have a limited understanding of the outside world, particularly people who are under 35. They don't know what it's like to be religious when 80% of your peers aren't interested in being religious.

If being a religious Jew today means surrendering to the Yeshiva world, then count me out.

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Normand

Boston Sports Teams- why I dislike them so much

Boston Sports teams are the most annoying teams, win just enough to get "respect", have a few teams that haven't won a lot, but have a passionate fan-base, win a few titles, bend the rules and away we go, Boston is a "great sports city".

Let me preface this by saying that what happened last month is an atrocity and an act of terror that shouldn't happen ANYWHERE!!!!!

However, just because we want to see the city of Boston heal and those who were hurt recover, doesn't mean that I have to root for your teams. Certainly not with a French-Canadian coach like Claude Julien, who probably is a socialist, Bill Belichick, who bends the rules on using cameras and is nasty to reporters and other coaches, the Red Sox with their shenanigans after 2004 and Manny Ramirez probably used some HGH. Okay, maybe the Celtics are clean and respectable.


I was rooting against (or EH-GAYNST) Boston as I was rooting for Toronto in the just concluded Eastern Conference Quarterfinal which Boston won 5-4 in overtime to take the series 4-3. What a shame: Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens lost. At least there's Ottawa.

Seattle sports media lacking

The sports media in Seattle is lacking in quality.

For example, we have three unattractive female sports reporters who look like "tom boys". Their names are Jen Mueller, Shannon Drayer and Angie Mentink. I refuse to buy the notion that these reporters are so knowledgeable about sports that they can't be replaced. Let's go get someone young pretty and in their twenties.

Also on this list is Dave Grosby aka the Groz. He's a little chubby and old and too "Seattle-centric" for my taste. Brock Huard is handsome but one-dimensional in his sports knowledge, if it's outside football, he is out of his element. Jim Moore and Ian Furness are Cougars so that clouds their vision about sports, plus they are very rah-rah about the teams here.

My issue with Soccer (European Football)

I have a few issues with soccer which make it a secondary sport in the US.

1) Field is too big and there's very little scoring. Action yes because the players run around a lot, but very little scoring.

2) This yellow card and red card business is a little too "Boy Scout-like" for my taste. Getting kicked out of a game means missing the next game as well, doesn't happen like that in the other sports, depending upon the nature of the action.

3) No cheerleaders. Red-blooded American males like attractive and athletic females cheering on the team.

4) It seems like its target audience are effeminate males, who don't have a lot of traditional masculinity.

One area where I agree with the President

While I don't believe in higher taxes and more government spending, which would put me at odds with President Obama and the Democratic Party, there is one area where I would agree that there should be taxes. That would be taxing the NCAA and major universities who play in Division 1 conferences in football and basketball, which are still tax-exempt because of their being under the auspices of "education". The BCS as well as the Basketball Tournament generate hundreds of millions of dollars. Let's tax this area and let the educational establishment pay their fair share. You might even see some Republicans support this idea. What a concept.

Northwest teams are awful

As I mentioned on Facebook after the Gonzaga loss, no team in the State of Washington will ever win anything in a men's sport worth a darn.
Because of that, if I were the athletic director at Gonzaga, I would fire Mark Few and tell him to go to Division 2 because he has plateaued and can't take the Gonzaga team to the Final Four, which is where the elite coaches aim for and reach on a regular basis. The same applies to Lorenzo Romar of Washington.

Announcers Not Worth Their Salt- Yet Appear Regularly

There are three sports announcers who are like weeds in a garden, not worth their salt, but appear anyway on one's television screen: Jim Nantz, Bob Costas and Joe Buck.

Jim Nantz sounds too cool for his own good. I often wonder if he should have a show on PBS or NPR lecturing the American people about civility. What annoys me about Nantz now is that for most of the year, he does the NFL and some PGA (Golf events) then magically after a few Big 10 games, he's fit to do the NCAA tournament, including the Final Four. Could you imagine someone in baseball not doing a game until September and then calling the World Series? Me either.  I'm glad that Craig Carton of WFAN pokes fun at Nantz, because someone needs to. Additionally, Nantz and Simms WORSHIP Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who bend the rules.


Let's get to the announcer at Fox who does the World Series and the top NFC games, Joe Buck (aka I got the top gig because of my last name). Joe Buck sounds like a guy who isn't totally into the sport, but enjoys the celebrity part of the job. I am not particularly impressed with him.

Lastly, is Bob Costas, a guy stuck in the 1960's when there weren't divisions and wild card teams. Moreover, he is for gun control. Maybe he should work for Senator Dianne Feinstein (D- California).

Single Guys who act like Rabbis

Recently, I have noticed that there are some unmarried or single men who attend synagogue with the frequency of married men. These men are over 40, or older than me by a considerable margin.

One thing that I have found is that the older one gets, the more that one's formerly single guy friends either get hitched or drop out of Judaism, at least Orthodox or Traditional Judaism. However, this trend doesn't apply to these particular men because a couple of them are either Rabbis, scholars or Chazanim (Cantors). These men know how to lead services and be part of the Jewish community.

While it would be nice to be blessed to be able to have the focus to concentrate on one's religious growth and pursuits, the fact is that for most of us single men, we have this challenge called a Sex drive or the desire to either date or get married. Additionally, the other single men are working, in grad school or looking for full-time work. While working or networking or in graduate school, us "mere mortals" are exposed to young ladies who a) aren't Jewish or b) are Jewish but not observant. Therefore, we see ladies, even just a few of them, who can "turn us on" and if they're smart and attractive, it will be virtually impossible to see an Orthodox single woman who covers herself from head to toe, keeps negiah (no physical contact), yichud (no seclusion) and other rules that the devout women do, as ideal. It is not a good match.

In my humble opinion, these men are the exception to the rule, not the rule and in some ways mislead guys like me who participate on a weekly (or more often basis). What ends up happening is that because I am in synagogue on a weekly basis, people assume that I am some sort of "frummie" or quasi-Rabbi. That couldn't be further from the truth and I have some emotional scars to prove it from a previous marriage as well as a short-lived relationship with someone my age who wants that kind of man in her life.

Now, as far as the non-Observant Jewish women are concerned, I think that they know instinctively that I am too knowledgeable for them, so we can be friends or casual acquaintances. Yet these women are closer to what I want in terms of professional accomplishment, secular education and general outlook on life.

Even some men who are fortunate enough to be married exhibit some of these geeky or nebbish traits. Maybe this single-mindedness of purpose is what's necessary to be religious today.

Orthodox Judaism is comprised of many different stripes and backgrounds. I just feel that single men who are "quasi-Rabbis" are not representative of Orthodoxy and may cause others to think that the only men who are Sabbath observant are quasi-Rabbis or pseudo-intellectuals who have limited social skills.

Church and Synagogue- losing members?

I just read an interesting article on ClashDaily.com about how come men are leaving the Church. One theory is that there is too much touchy-feely effeminate messages being communicated at the pulpit, which turns off a lot of men. I was wondering if the Synagogue is suffering from a similar illness or are our challenges much different?

One question that would be good to ask is how many men in these churches are Single NBM's (Never Been Marrieds). Married men have more incentive to go to church (or synagogue) than single guys. Most of what single men do relates to their job or academic training and social life, and quite frankly, their social life is found at bars and clubs, not at places of worship.

What is important for both the Church and Synagogue is to keep the seats filled or stop losing members. Strong messages and male leadership is important for both Jews and Christians. Otherwise, there is very little point in attending a place of worship.

Cowboys not special- Prove it

In my humble opinion, the Dallas Cowboys are no longer America's team. They aren't worth all of this adulation. They shouldn't get 5 or 6 nationally televised games (NBC Sunday Night, Monday Night Football). So, what Fox Sports should do is FIRE all of the Cowboys and replace them with players from other teams. That means Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman and Darryl Johnston, see you later. Because there are former Cowboys in the media, that's why they get all of this attention.

Why I want Gonzaga to reach Final Four

I have followed Gonzaga's men's basketball team for a while. They have been consistently good, but have yet to reach the Final Four. The closest that they got was in 1999, when they made the Elite Eight and lost to Connecticut, who won the NCAA title that year.

What Gonzaga reaching the Final Four would do is the following. It would remove the monopoly that Washington enjoys. Since the Washington Huskies have been around for the longest time and had their glory football years, people assume that they will do so in basketball. To be truthful, Washington made the Final Four, in 1953. However, the NCAA Men's tournament of the 1950's was a far cry from what it is today. Television coverage of college sports was minimal, obviously this was before ESPN and other networks. Quite frankly, some of the pro-Husky sports talk show hosts on KJR 950, such as Dave Softy Mahler don't acknowledge Gonzaga's existence or like it when Gonzaga loses to a Butler or Ohio State. These people need to be put in their place and realize that Washington may have "NBA-Talent" but very little clue of the team concept necessary to win. Let's take last year. Washington had Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten Junior, two talented players. Yet, Washington didn't win a big road or neutral court game all year and was relegated to the NIT. Washington rode three home games to the NIT Final Four where they lost on a neutral floor again. This is so typical of Northwest teams, the inability to win a big road game. It would be nice for Gonzaga to demonstrate to the Husky honks how it's done and maybe, just maybe these clowns would learn the art of winning on the road.

GOP Outreach- Ocean Shores ideal location

It's interesting to me that there was a conference called The Roanoke Conference, held this past weekend in Ocean Shores, Washington on the Pacific Ocean coastline. The point of this conference was for the Washington State GOP and Conservative groups to get together and figure out what went wrong in November.

It seems to me that while it's important to get away to reflect on what went wrong and what went right, the GOP brand nationally is damaged. One solution is to make inroads with non-whites and to set up shop in the urban areas. I advocate for this. One of the things that impressed me about McKenna was the fact that he had an office in the International District, not too far from Rainier Avenue. Unfortunately, there needs to be more of this done by the Republicans in Washington State.

The GOP in Washington State, as well as nationally, has to get out of comfortable places such as Ocean Shores, Bellevue, etc. and get down and dirty in the urban areas and fight for the urban vote. If the Democrats want to hold fancy retreats, let them. We have to focus on our problems first.

Unless someone can convince me that today's Democrats will stand up for Israel and the Jewish state, as well as for free enterprise and growing the economy, I can't support them honestly. I suppose I could fake my support for the Democrats, but where do we agree? Taxes, Social Issues, the Environment? Because many other Jews in Orthodox and Conservative synagogues vote Democrat?

I need a legitimate opposition party philosophically, not just me-too ism to get along and have cushy jobs and pay lip service to "Republican" ideals.

Political ponderings

While a lot has happened since the Election, with the catastrophic loss of life at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December with the horrific shootings, the subsequent push for gun control and the inauguration, I have a few comments or thoughts.

1) The Republicans need to set up offices in the urban areas and do outreach to young and ethnic minorities, or people who aren't usually thought of as "Republican" if they wish to be a viable opposition party. I don't live and die with the GOP, but I do share common interests and values with them, so it's in my interest as a religiously committed Jew to have them succeed. I certainly don't want our country to turn into a larger Britain or Greece, which is where we are headed should the Democrats continue this run of theirs. Imagine if Romney had won, Chuck Hagel would be nowhere near the Secretary of Defense nomination. John Kerry wouldn't be considered for Secretary of State. We'd have an Attorney General who would be stronger on crime.

2) Jay Inslee really makes me sick to be a Washingtonian. What is his top priority? Talking to Eric Holder with the equally inept Bob Ferguson about exempting Washingtonians from being prosecuted for growing and smoking marijuana. Forget job creation or making public education effective. No, the pot smokers are more important to him.

I realize that McKenna may not be the ideal or dream Republican for the more socially conservatives in this state, however, sometimes you have to put the greater good of a state or nation ahead of your personal preferences. The good news for Washington State is that Kim Wyman is Secretary of State and that with the guy from Medina we control one of the houses of the legislature in Olympia, so it may be harder for Inslee to jam too many wacky things down our throats.

Red Sox Ruses

Recently, the Boston Red Sox have done some things that I find problematic. After a dramatic collapse in 2011, in which the team blew a seven-game lead to the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card, they fired Terry Francona and had the "brilliant" idea of hiring ESPN announcer Bobby Valentine. In 2012, they had their worst year since the 1960's, going 69-93 and then canned Bobby Valentine. All of a sudden, they decided to get someone who is already managing, in John Farrell, their former pitching coach, and were able to get him for a backup middle infielder. This is unethical and bullying on the part of the Red Sox. Who are they to dictate who gets to be a manager and who doesn't? The commissioner should have stepped in and forced the Red Sox to give up a position player or starting pitcher and draft picks for a manager under contract. Good news for Toronto, they made a big trade with the Miami Marlins and are expected to contend in the AL East this year. Toronto re-hired John Gibbons as its manager. Gibbons managed the Blue Jays from 2004-2008. I would have liked to see Toronto hire Sandy Alomar, Jr. as manager. Maybe after Dale Sveum loses 96 games for the Cubs in 2013 he can go to Chicago and fix the Cubs.

Also, Boston recently traded for Pittsburgh's closer, Joel Hanrahan. They sent four nobodies to Pittsburgh for an All-Star Closer. This again is bullying. We're Boston and we can push you "small-market" teams around if we want to. Let Pittsburgh have a chance to win for once.

Boston's sports teams think that they're above the law, especially with some of the former Red Sox using Steroids and the Patriots spying on other teams. I wouldn't be surprised if the Celtics and Bruins engaged in shenanigans.