The seven stages of grief as they pertain to Ken Griffey, Jr.

The Kid is back. Yet somehow I am not doing cartwheels...

To add a lil insight into my perspective on this topic, I compare Griffey leaving the Mariners to being dumped. Griffey decided that Seattle was no longer good enough for him and/or he could find better options elsewhere. So he left.

That stung.

So I am writing this from the perspective of a jilted fan...a jilted fan who, for the most part, has no interest in dealing with parties who deem him unworthy. (Ask anyone who's dumped/slighted me...I don't talk to or acknowledge them. I am an ass like that.)

With that said, it may be easier to understand why I am less-than-stoked to welcome Griffey back with open arms. Why stroke the ego of someone who's already said and acted in ways that say 'Seattle, you aren't good enough'?

1. Shock- I can still remember when I heard that a recliner-in-the-clubhouse Griffey decided he was too good for the M's. The reasoning at the time was that he wanted to return home. To re-visit the team of his father. (Never mind the fact that the M's had signed his then over-the-hill father to a contract earlier in Junior's career.) Griffey wanted return to the clubhouse he literally grew-up in. He wanted to return to his roots. I couldn't believe it. How could he?! How could he leave the team that was so symbiotic with him. As much as Junior had built the M's into a legit contender, the M's had given him his break. I couldn't fathom how someone could turn their back on those who made them. It was a bitter lesson, but one I am glad I learned early.

2. Pain & guilt- I am not too proud to admit it. I loved Ken Griffey, Jr. He was, in his prime, the best baseball player I have ever seen play the game live. The thought of Junior no longer patrolling center field simply hurt. How can you replace him? Mike Cameron (while a serviceable ballplayer) is no Ken Griffey, Jr. Why couldn't we have accommodated his requests? He is the reason Safeco was built...how could we not give him what he wanted? Maybe it is our fault, we should've done more to keep him.

3. Anger & bargaining- (mostly anger) Ok, if we re-sign (purportedly pre-roids) A-Rod and keep Buhner in right, will that keep you happy, Junior? You ego-centric bastard, who do you think you are?! We made you! Remember when you were 19 and loved playing 'for the fun of the game'? You two-faced Son-of-a-bitch!

4. Depression- Cincinnati? Really?! Have you been there? Oh crap, you grew-up there. Now you are gone. And we no longer have A-Rod or Randy Johnson. What's wrong with us? Do we smell? Hello...?

5. The upward turn- We've still got Ichiro...the ageless wonder! Maybe a return to the house that Junior built will provide fuel for a Griffey renaissance. Maybe a return to All-star form. If nothing else, Griffey's return will sell tickets. (I know I will attend a game simply because Junior is back.)

6. Reconstruction & working through- Jeremy Reed, hurt. Yuniesky Betancourt, error-prone. Adam Jones & George Sherrill…to Baltimore for an over-rated POS. God Damn you Bill Bavasi. Speaking of reconstruction...how're those injuries Grif? Wait, what's that? You are coming back to Seattle?! Seriously?!!! Flippin' sweet! Welcome home! Oh wait...you are also looking at Atlanta, so that you can do what? Watch little league games? Uh, well family does come first. But what about those folks who made you a household name? Those folks who still followed your career even as it spiraled-down the toilet into 'over-rated'-ville? What did we ever do to you?! (OK, I am pretty much stuck at stage 3, but screw it.)

7. Acceptance & hope- So here we are. Stuck with a washed-up version of Griffey's former self. For what it's worth, I'd much rather have a washed-up Griffey don an M’s cap over Garrett Anderson. Maybe Griffey can teach the other youngsters in the clubhouse how-to appreciate what they have while they have it. Hopefully his return to the M's will re-light a sputtering fire and we'll get one last glimpse of greatness.

Baby steps to getting green V

I finally took the plunge and invested in some rechargeable batteries. The initial investment is kinda steep, right around $50. But for that I now have 4 AAA and 8 AA batteries along with 2 chargers.

The 2^nd charger is pretty handy, as I keep it at work to juice-up the batteries for I use for my wireless keyboard and mouse. (I now feel much less guilty for using those.)

I went with Duracell, mostly because they were (nearly) giving away the chargers and they were reasonably priced.

I steered clear of Energizer because of bad reviews online. Duracell got decent reviews online, but Rayovac got higher marks. I saw all brands available at Target this weekend. Though I got the deal on the chargers at OfficeMax.

So far they are working very well. But having had them for just over a week I cannot give good 'real world' assessment as they haven't run outta juice yet.

However, the coolest realization I've come to in making this move, is that most of the stuff I use daily (cell phone, laptop, mp3 player) already utilize rechargeable batteries. Which is cool because the same can probably be said for you. So this really is a baby step and should be a pretty easy move to make.

About the only items I own that need 'traditional' batteries are my TV/home theater remotes and Wii-motes. So the $50 investment should last me for quite a long time. And the prospect of never buying batteries again is pretty sweet...they always seem to be the thing you forget to buy until you are half-way home from the store.

One note, I do still have some non-rechargeable batteries laying around (I said these were baby steps). But I recently discovered that my office collects dead batteries for recycling. So take a couple minutes and ask around at your office to see if your company participates in such a program. If so, truck them into the office monthly, I know it helps me feel a little better about prior portable power transgressions.

*While on the topic of green and energy I thought I'd direct you to this web site: http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php Save this date: March 28, 2009 8:30 PM as a gesture towards acknowledging energy consumption and it's affects on climate change, I am encouraging you to take part in Earth Hour. All you need to do is turn-off your lights from 8:30-9:30 PM on March 28^th. I'll be doing so...I just signed-up online and tossed the date into the scheduler on my cell phone. 

And the fists flew...

So I recently came across an article on the front page of the Seattle Times web site, that got me a lil fired-up.

The story re-hashed an incident dating back to 1997, where tempers flared in a high school basketball game between Garfield and Redmond. The story notes that the cause of the friction wasn’t adolescent male aggression, but race. The re-telling of the story was prompted by a recent brouhaha between the two schools earlier this month.

Shocking...A media outlet playing up-the race card.

The first question that came to mind, was: “Why bring-up such an old story?”

Is it still relevant today? I mean, if race relations are as bad as this story makes them out to be, why did they have to dig so deep into the archives to find another example? Shouldn’t race-fueled acts of aggression/violence be peppering the headlines every day…and not happening once every 10 years?

I am not going so far as to say race-relations are perfect now that we are in the ‘Age of Obama,’ but why harp on the negatives?

More upsetting to me was the gross over-simplification of the cause of the fight by the mainstream media.

There are a myriad of issues that play into the grudges that do exist between Suburban and Urban schools. Not the least of which is economics.

Sure, race is an easy divider. But the one that really hurts is economics.

As a white student at a predominantly black high school, I saw the dichotomy from the other side of the coin. I shared the same angst towards the ‘Eastside’ (read: Rich/White) schools as any other Rainier Beach High School student (read: Not Rich/Not White).

The feeling of being short-changed in comparison to the ‘haves’ of the world was exacerbated when taking one of the few AP-level classes Rainier Beach offered. The class was nearly canceled as there were not enough textbooks for the class. Meanwhile, on a visit to an eastside school that same year, I saw laptops and new computer labs. (Laptops were a very big deal in 1996-1997.)

I really didn’t have an issue with any of the eastside students just because they were white, I had an issue because they were so well-off and not only seemingly didn’t appreciate it…but they acted as if it was owed to them. *Maybe those eastside kids were unwittingly on to something, perhaps every student is deserving of a top-notch education. But all I did know was that we at Rainier Beach sure weren't getting one.

Only adding to the condescension was when eastside schools would ‘adopt’ or ‘partner’ with Rainier Beach. This was when in an attempt to broaden horizons, (read: assuage white-guilt) a school would invite Rainier Beach students to their school for a look at the good life and then, in-turn would spend a day slumming on a tour of Rainier Beach.

Instead of seeing how much we had in common, these tours only magnified the differences between the haves (them) and the have-nots (us).

So what does this have to do with a fight at a basketball game? Quite a bit actually.

Over-simplifying the cause of this brawl by attributing it to race is simply wrong. The issues are socio-economic.

And as long as everyone wants to focus on attention-grabbing headlines instead of reporting on the actual root causes of problems (urban decay as wealth has left the cities for the ‘burbs and/or the fact that in cities like Seattle the average blue-collar family has been priced-out of home ownership) fights and tensions are bound to persist.

For the record, high school dudes are gonna fight. Fights happen in high schools all over the country, regardless of racial make-up. Testosterone and egos are a volatile mix (regardless of age). Add a cheering crowd and maybe a couple of cute ladies and viola- a young fella is gonna get a over-zealous and the fists start flying.

To claim race is the driving force of tension is making a mountain out of a molehill and subverting the bigger issues like offering all American youths the same shot at a quality education.
For what it’s worth, I was able to complete that AP class in high school, and though I am not sure what the subject was, I’ll never forget that I was only able to do so because the teacher was able to finagle getting the books from a ‘better-off’ school.

I used experiences like that as fuel as I paid my way through college. But looking back at stories like that, it’s easy to see why so many kids feel like second-class citizens and just give-up

I am living proof that urban schools produce reasonable members of society. But I had to work a lil harder than suburban kids as my resources were limited.

Am I still pissed about it? Hell yeah.

But seeing as I am not 16, I am not going to punch anyone in the face over it. And I don’t think any other members of my graduating class are either. We need to work together to bridge the gaps in education/opportunities given to all students.

The real question is why don't we see anything about the education gap on the front page?

Obama + a couple weeks

Well, I gotta say, Obama seems to be making some pretty big rookie mistakes.

At least I hope they are rookie mistakes.

First there was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson who had to withdraw from an Obama post over issues of improper actions while governor. *Dick Cheney and Halliburton anyone?

Then there was Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner who ‘forgot’ to pay taxes. *The Treasury is where taxes actually go.

And just this week there were two more nominees: Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer who both withdrew their nominations for…wait for it, not paying taxes.

Now I don’t blame Obama for these transgressions on taxes. These folks are freakin adults and supposedly public servants, so paying taxes seems like a given. Obama had nothing to do with their personal financial mismanagement.

I do blame Obama for nominating them in the first place. Seems like item #3 on every ‘will this person pass the scrutiny of the nomination’ list is: Have they paid their freaking taxes?

I just hope Obama learned a lesson and has his team working double-time researching the backgrounds of future nominees.

I know what you are thinking, “But JR., this is Barack Obama, he can do no wrong, don’t you love him like we do?”

And Yes, I do believe in Obama. I am still a big fan, which is why I am so upset.

This rant about Obama’s stumble out of the gate is similar to the way a mother scolds her child who just darted-out into the middle of the street before looking both ways. I am more scared than angry.

In today’s hyper-polarized world of partisan politics and light-speed journalism one mis-step is enough to kill a career: Howard Dean, anyone? Luckily, Obama is in office, so he dodged a bullet there.

A lot of the ‘change’ that Obama campaigned on was an end to partisan politics as usual…

So what is the first thing Obama and the newly-in-the-majority Democrats do as their first matter if business? Force through a huge stimulus bill that didn’t get one Republican vote. (Disclosure: I am a registered Democrat.)

Hardly the bi-partisan kumbaya moment everyone envisioned on election night.

Now I am not saying it was all the Democrats forcing this down Republicans throats. I am sure the Republicans were playing politics as well and decided not to vote for it regardless.

Which is utterly ridiculous.

Now is not a time for partisan-ism. America needs bold action, the stimulus package was just such an action.

But between the Democrats acting like 5-year-olds who just got a Nintendo for Christmas, rushing to pass anything they could with their newfound power and the Republicans licking their wounds and relishing their sour grapes, the Average American is lost in the shuffle. (Disclosure: I am not a fan of the stimulus package as it stands.)

So what is the remedy? Shoot, I don’t know. I am a loser who works in a call center.

But even so, I can see that this system isn’t working. Obama was elected to shake things up. But so far he’s looking like the first-round draft pick who is expected to save the franchise, but still has to spend the season carrying everyone’s bags.

Obama should step-up and reign-in the Democratic leadership- ‘Fall in line with my agenda of bi-partisanship or be gone.’ Obama also needs to tell the Republicans to quit bitching and do the job they were elected to do. The Republicans had the keys to the city for 8 long years, I can understand some bitterness after losing that. But we are all adults here and much the same way we all have to pay our taxes (Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer) we all have to roll-up our sleeves once we clock-in at the office.

America is hurting. Now is not the time for plotting for the next election. Now is the time to remember that we are all on the same team. Now is the time to restore some luster to our great country.

I still think Obama is the man for the job. He just needs to find his legs and remember to look both ways before darting into the street.