When I returned home from umpiring tonight, Leah had “Jeoprady” on as she was watching TV. For the first 10 minutes I was only listening to the show, I was really impressed with the guest replacement host and how smooth he read the questions and kept the show moving. It was a voice I recognized but I couldn’t place it. I finally went in to check it out and was surprised to see it was future hall of fame quarterback Aaron Rogers of the Green Bay Packers hosting the show. Rogers was as relaxed and smooth handling Jeoprady as he is when he is playing against the Lions. Who knows what he will be doing once his football career has ended. A career in TV is a definite possibility.
The director of the CDC along with many others are asking Governor Whitmer to “lock” Michigan down as the governor did early in the pandemic as the best way to stop this seven week surge in cases that has led to jammed ER’s and high hospital occupancy. Based on all the heat she has taken over the last year for her “executive orders” she is finally resisting any new “executive orders” and is allowing people to make their own decisions, which does not appear to be working. Fortunately, the surge in cases and hospitalizations has not resulted in a corresponding surge in deaths, since the cases appear to be in the younger half of our population. Four schools in the region that I umpire in have had to put their baseball teams on pause due to Covid-19. If we would be responsible for a few more months we can get through this pandemic without too much more damage, but we need to social distance, wear our masks properly, wash our hands regularly and get vaccinated.
The New York Times is reporting that “the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop near Minneapolis mistakenly confused her gun for her Taser” police officials said on Monday, quickly releasing video as they tried to ease tensions in a state on edge over the Derek Chauvin trial. In a brief clip of body camera video, officers from the Brooklyn Center Police Department can be seen trying to handcuff the driver, Daunte Wright, before he suddenly lurches back into his car. One of the officers, whose name has not been released, aims a weapon at Mr. Wright and shouts, “Taser! Taser! Taser!” She fires one round, and Mr. Wright groans in pain. “Holy shit, I just shot him,” the officer can be heard shouting. This is a major reminder that our law officers are put in life and death situations on a daily basis and sometimes in the heat of the moment accidents occur. It is important that we let the facts come out before we jump to conclusions and assume this was a racially motivated shooting.
Yesterday, four of my umpire colleagues and I spent three hours training youth umpires for the Northville baseball association. We all had a great time giving back. It was so nice to see 30 plus young kids so willing to learn a new craft. Even though I am one of the instructors, I always come away from these sessions learning new things that will make me a better umpires as my colleagues share some of their tips in what they do to make themselves better.
On Friday I umpired my first high school baseball game in over 22 months. It took me about two pitches get back in the groove. Somethings are just like riding a bike. Unfortunately 2 and 1/2 hours behind the plate is still a long time to be calling balls and strikes. It is good to know the time I have spent in the gym and riding my bike has paid off as my legs held up quite well.
Do the right thing when it comes to Covid-19 prevention.
Quote of the Day: “I’ve had zero cases of voter impersonation brought to my attention in the 13 years that I’ve been an election official in my county.” Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck, a Republican who co-chairs the Michigan Association of County Clerks’ legislative committee
Orchid of the Day: Hideki Matsuyama whose Master’s win allowed him to become the first Japaneses man to win one of golf’s major titles.
| Onion of the Day: Donald Trump for his continued spouting of the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. |