The French, The Yankees, and some guy named Drucker

I crossed an intresting article in the Time about the current state of the economy. Which openly challenged the current federalization of corporate enterprises in America. While I'm aware this is a fresh topic among some bloggers, I was urged on in my idea to add my comment when I recieved an article from my father entitled "What Peter Drucker Would Have Said?". While I have not been able to find where the article was from it quickly capitalized on many of Drucker's hypothesis' about the direction the US economy and where we were today. In fact in one of Drucker's last articles he mentioned the shift of financial power shifting from New York, where financial power has been since it's days as a trading post in the colonies, to Washington D.C. and this year with the current state of the market it seems that his hypothesis' may be increasingly right.
Throughout the history of the US we have abided by the laissez faire stance of economics as introduced by John Keynes. However recently it seems that as we've relied more and more on the credit industry to help fund our efforts and now we need the federal government to come and bail out an economy that for years screamed hands off until it needed help. The problem however is that with the federalization of the economy, not just in the US but globally, we face needing to deal with the govenment regulations and rules that can further restrict and suppress natrual growth. However another intresting problem is in the belief that the experts of wallstreet really were experts. Instead they were just men who can now rely on a government paycheck to bail them out of their mistakes. Much like NASA making a miscalulation that loses millions of tax payers dollars these financial experts have lost billions of dollars and hope only that the US government that they are protected under will bail them out. What comes next? When teachers don't teach will the government start doing it for them? For a humours and contemporary look at this issue please take a look at how the world of sports sees the issues of the financial market. (editors note: please read up to the first heading, and a reminder that this was written as a joke and not an actual new story. Also the most entertaining look at why the Yankees failed to make the playoffs this year.)

I posted on AlmostFamous' blog under the "Careless Drivers" post. You can check it out here

The Sanctity of Sports

The sanctity of football. The domination of water polo. The clash of lacrosse. The passion of soccer.

What is it about sports which so thoroughly hold our attention that people across the world are consumed with not only playing but watching these sports. In every part of the world their are sports which dominate the community and manage to unite and hold the attention of the public. In fact, with the proliferation of networks such as ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programing Network ), NESN (New England Sports Network), YES (Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network), Fox Sports, NFL Network, and other such area sports related networks it's hard to find a place where televised sports are not available. Coupled with the proliferation of Foxsports.com, espn.com, espn360.com, cbssports.com, nfl.com, nhl.com, mlb.com, etc. it's impossible for there to not be somewhere in the world that someone can access immediate sports news on their favorite team. What is it than that holds us in such constant admiration of sports?

As a swimmer in my youth I constantly pushed myself to a higher limit. I learned life lessons of how to manage my life and push yself out of my comfort zone and become a better person. On a personal side the lessons I learned from sports greatly complimented the fact that I got to stay in good shape. However growing up in the swimming world I came to appreciate the things that athletes put themselves through. For example, watching Michael Phelps break Mark Spitz's record this past summer at the Summer Olympics for me was truly remarkable because being a swimmer I could openly appreciate the effort and training that went into the remarkable accomplishment. For my friend Carolyn however, being a softball player it was extremely important to watch the USA woman's team play on the olympic stage for the last time. Connected to the sports we grew up playing we were both intrinsically attached to these moments of watching the best of those who played our sports compete for greatness that only comes once every four years.

My friend Sean is on the other end of the spectrum. A born football player the NFL holds a remarkable hold over him as he analyzes salary caps, team rosters, playbooks, scouts games, and other miscellaneous things. For him the NFL is all about the sport and not the marketing aspect that has resulted in the spawn of everything football. Perhaps it's the marketing that has taken over the sports industry. As players are paid more and teams compete at higher and faster levels there is a growing chain of marketability to an action addicted audience. Forget cigarettes or Proctor and Gamble, the sports world has by far some of the best marketing in the world. Why? Because it connects to those moments in our lives when we're kids. Because we're passionate about the local sports teams and people know they can market that and build suspense on it to make money. The things we are loyal to and that connect to us on a personal level have become the things that we admire and hold and grasp our attention. Is it the marketing than that holds our attention or is it the personal aspect of our lives that truly connect us to sports. Either way it seems that like every other Monday I'll have Monday night football on, and like every October I'll be watching cheering on the Red Sox, and like every four years I'll be cheering on Michael Phelps and the USA water polo team, it seems that I'll always be following sports for whatever reason.

Sick Day

I’ll never forget my junior winter of high school. I was involved in Varsity Swimming which had double practices, I had an amazing girlfriend, a heavy work load to look good for colleges, a couple term papers, and community service. And I was sick the entire time. With a temperature holding in the steady hundreds one would think that I would be seeking medical help and resting. However I continued to push away at my work load and continued to maintain my life the way I always did.

Most kids are probably now thinking, well why didn’t his parents call him out of school. Why didn’t he just cut class and get better? The answer lay in the fact that I went to a boarding school where I lived on campus so there was no easy way to call out of school. Even if there had been there was a trend at school of kids coming to school with all sorts of sicknesses. From the constant strain of mono to sinus infections and massively high temperatures, the culture we were in pushed us to exceed past the limits that we set for ourselves. Students were constantly coughing and struggling past headaches and nasal congestion to hear a lecture.

Once leaving for college I figured I’d left this behind. After all it surely was a rare thing that I could attribute to the competitiveness of my private high school. My idyllic dreams were quickly shattered when I realized it was simply worse in college. The general attitude among kids was that they were invincible and that they by no means needed to take care of themselves outside of their general hygene. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that infections and such run quickly through dorms and sports teams and most people didn’t want to deal with being held back from their daily agenda by their health. In the end it became apparent that something is just simply wrong.

Students should be constantly encouraged to take care of themselves. While sickness can be dealt with thanks to the plethora of drugs on the market (legal, over the counter drugs only of course) it’s a burden that generally drags someone and the people around them downward. So the question is raised if being sick is so bad for us why do we continue to press on? Is the culture we live in and the drive to succeed really that great that we can put off caring for ourselves to better our future achievements? Why can’t our future achievements take a week off while we get better so that we can more fully deal with the life we all need to live. If it’s not our culture that pushes students into this situation, is it the teachers or their peers who lead students to wanting to succeed and impress everyone which leads us to going to class sick, throwing up, or with raging fevers? Are these really things to have to deal with when trying to learn new material and succeeding in life? Personally I believe that on a whole students need to take care of themselves when their sick so that they can then better understand and comprehend the learning that they’re then required to take a part of in the classroom. This way we can learn things perfect the first time. Like the age old question goes, “If you’re not going to do it right, why do it?”

On a side note please excuse me from class today as I have a sinus infection that I caught from my roommate and I plan on aptly resting and sleeping it off today.

Name

Kelevra, what's in a name?