Alright Hobbs, knock the cover off the ball!

When my wife and I married 13 years ago, we wanted to give ourselves a wedding present upon return from our honeymoon. We're both dog lovers, so it was natural that we started our family with a puppy before even thinking of having any kids.

Our search began and ended at Wayside Waifs. While trying to find that perfect dog, my attention was soon captured by a little black Labrador mix. The folks at Wayside allowed us to take him into a special room to get acquainted with the little puppy, and he immediately came over to my shoe and untied it with his mouth. This was our dog.

The next step was deciding on what to name him. Being a huge baseball fan, I was thinking of anything associated with the sport. Then I thought of what my favorite movies were that had to do with baseball. "The Natural" is one of my all time favorites, and I've always been fascinated by the lead character Roy Hobbs. I didn't want to call him Roy...too many dogs named Roy. How about Hobbs? That's a cool name. My wife liked it, and Hobbs was "born" to the Spano family in July of 2000.

The headline to this piece is a line from "The Natural" when Roy Hobbs comes to bat in a game for the very first time. He laces a triple into the gap in left-center field, and in the process, actually knocks the cover off the ball. It's that moment in the movie you know that Roy Hobbs is a very special ballplayer.

Hobbs was about as good-natured and playful of a dog as anyone could have right from the beginning. Sure he was a bit wild and rambunctious, but that's how most puppies act. We were strict and meticulous in our training. He learned all the basic commands of "sit," "stay," "lie down," and so forth. But what we liked best about him was how he became loyal and protective. He wasn't a vicious watchdog by any stretch of the imagination. If an intruder happened to enter our home, he would give a few, loud barks and then probably lick them into an uncontrollable laughter.

When a car door slammed outside, that was always the worst...especially in the middle of the night. I don't know how many times I hit the ceiling after waking up from his loud bark. But I loved the fact that he loved us and wanted to protect his territory.

He never suffered from separation anxiety like a lot of dogs can when we left the house for lengthy periods of time. We began to trust him more and more and as he got older, we allowed him to roam the entire house when we were gone. Rarely was there an accident, but never was anything damaged.

Hobbs became a great lake companion. He loved our weekend trips to the Lake of the Ozarks during the summer, the excitement almost too unbearable for him...and us. Being a black dog, it didn't take much for him to overheat, so he wasn't shy about getting into the water to cool off.

When my wife became pregnant with our first child, we had heard stories about how dogs can become jealous or even withdraw when a baby joins the family and is the new center of attention. Hobbs, although extremely curious at first, couldn't have been better suited for the situation. Somehow he knew, when my son Jack was born, this new person was part of the family, and he was someone he had to love and protect too. It was uncanny the way he took to Jack immediately.

It happened again just three short years later when my daughter Emily was born. This was becoming old hat for Hobbs.

My kids grew to love Hobbs as well. His gentle nature around kids and even strangers when they entered my home was something to behold.

But somewhere along the way, Hobbs got older. His bark became muted, although still startling me in the middle of the night or when he saw a stranger walk down the street. His hearing began to go. His walk became slower. And in the end, he began eating less.

My final memory of Hobbs will be when the veterinarian opened the door of the exam room while he lay motionless on the floor with a catheter in his leg and he sees me, my wife and my two kids for the very last time, his eyes glassy and sad, as he musters enough energy to wag his tail.

The four of us gathered around our friend for a last time as he took his final breaths, ending a short, and I hope painless, bout with cancer.

I will miss the jingle of his collar, the look on his face when I'd leave the house for work every morning, the look on his face when I'd get home from work every night, the excitement he'd show when we went to the lake, the times he wanted to play fetch with the ball, whenever he begged for popcorn, watching him roll around in the grass. I will miss everything about him.

I'm sure someday we'll bring another dog into our family, but for now, we'll grieve together for a fantastic friend and family member.

We'll have memories and photographs and stories to keep Hobbs alive in our hearts and in our minds. We knew that it was that moment in our "movie" that when we selected him, or should I say when he selected us, that we had a very special dog.

My wife and I really did knock the cover off the ball when we got Hobbs.

Lance Armstrong's tangled web

I had the fortunate, or unfortunate opportunity, to work with Lance Armstrong at a previous job. I always knew in my mind the guy was a piece of shit, and now, well, he has validated it.

Say what you will about his work to "fight" cancer, Armstrong lived a lie and did whatever he could to cheat and misguide his fans along the way.

It just goes to show how people will believe anything when it comes to worshiping a sports figure or celebrity. I believe the phrase is called "star fucking." I've never bought in to that philosophy, and I never will.

But see, not only were his followers fooled by his tangled web of lies, so was Lance. He was so good at convincing the world and those within his tight inner circle, I sincerely believe he began to accept his own words and actions as truth.

There is a famous George Costanza line from an episode of Seinfeld:

Once a liar, always a liar.

As Armstrong delved deeper and deeper into his complex and intricate delusional world, he threatened those that turned against him, discarded those he no longer had use for and took advantage of those he had a Svengali-like power over. This was not a decent or moral human being.

All of this behavior has been well documented over the years by various media outlets that have investigated Armstrong at great length.

I'm not a cycling fan, never have been, but it was hard to ignore the fact that Armstrong had won seven Tour de France titles and was a cancer survivor to boot. I never followed his story that closely, because, quite frankly, I didn't really care. But when Armstrong became a spokesperson of sorts for a company I was working for, I had to take notice. He was probably one of the most recognizable athletes/celebrities in the world at the time.

Admittedly, I didn't like the fact that he was part of my company, but there were a lot of people that did. They thought it was a good move, even with all of the unusual things swirling around in his personal life. I always felt uneasy promoting him and the foundation at fundraising functions, and I never wore the yellow bracelet. It had nothing to do with the fight against cancer, but everything to do with who Lance Armstrong was as a person.

The funny thing is I never thought it was cool that I got to hang out with Armstrong. I never bragged about it. It wasn’t something I was proud of either. Now that the years have passed, Armstrong is no longer associated with the company; however, his foundation is.

Once the USADA report came out in 2012, sponsors began dropping him like a bad habit.

Now, he wants to come clean. How ironic. Cycling seems to be as corrupt as politics. Is this a ploy to try to compete again? Or is it to try to make amends with his fans? Or, is he truly sincere and really wanting to make peace with himself?

The damage is already done. He has lied for so long, and I believe people are way too cynical, and hopefully smart, to fall for his charade. I’m not buying what he’s selling, but then I never have. Oh, there are still some diehards out there that will stick with Armstrong to the bitter end and cite the work he has done with his foundation. But I can't personally forgive someone who has vigorously fought to protect his reputation against an illegal activity for so long only to have it crushed under the lies he told in the process of protecting it.

Whatever the fallout is from his admission to using performance-enhancing drugs, or if he goes on some national apologizing tour, Armstrong should be finished as a celebrity/athlete. But of course, this is America, land of the glut and home of the absurd, and someone somewhere will partner with him, and he’ll resurface in some kind of reality show, and one of his fanatical followers will step forward and say, “See, I told you so. Lance Armstrong is a good guy. He just needed another chance to prove himself. Everyone else did him wrong.”

Because you see, we never are the cause of our own problems. It’s always someone else’s fault.

So you want to be a journalist

More than a decade now into the 21st century and technology rules our lives. Could any of us live without our mobile phones? How about our computers? Heck, what about something that’s been around even longer, our microwave?

These tools are now ingrained into our everyday lives, and are a part of our daily routine. So now I turn to something that’s been around for more than 500 years and has stood the test of time, but may finally be teetering on the brink of extinction: newspapers.

Call me old fashioned, but I’m one who still likes to go out to my driveway every morning and pick up my newspaper and read it with breakfast. I’m part of a dying breed. Sure, I can read it online free of charge, but there’s something about having an actual newspaper in front of me, flipping through the pages, that provides some sort of comfort.

This coming from someone communicating to you through a blog. Hey, I know where my bread is buttered.

Anyhow, I know there are many high school and college students that have dreams of earning a journalism degree. Although there are several different fields within the industry they could enter, there are some that still want to be a newspaper reporter. I can tell you now, that the hours stink and the pay stinks, but there was still that feeling of prestige and pride every time I saw my name in print.

Because of the rise of the internet and the world of blogging, the newspaper industry has suffered immensely, and it’s unfortunate. News isn’t covered as thoroughly as it once was. Ad revenue is down. Readership has fallen. People are getting their news elsewhere, and it’s becoming more specialized. If I want just sports news, I can subscribe to a sports site that will send me nothing but sports news. If I want it to just be baseball news, then it will be baseball, and if I want to be on a specific baseball team, well, you get the idea.

So what should these students who want to become the next great writer/reporter do? Don’t give up on your dream. Take some advice that I received some time ago…start a blog, and write about what you feel you are an expert on. Find your passion and expound on it.

Keep a journal. This is not a diary. Don’t write a detailed description of your days’ activities, unless it was something so interesting you don’t ever want to forget it. A journal can be pretty much anything. You can write a short story, whatever you are thinking at that moment, an idea you might have. The point is to always keep writing because it will spawn new ideas, keep your writing fresh, but most importantly, make you a better and more experienced writer.

Another idea is find a topic you are interested in, research it and write a story about it. You never know, there might be someone out there that’s interested in what you have to say about it. Don’t be afraid to shop it around to editors. Blogging and writing articles on your own, quickly builds a portfolio. Also, check around to various publications to see if they will allow you to freelance for them. It’s a great way to get your foot in the door, gain experience and again, add to your portfolio.

Hopefully, these will be useful tips and ideas to get the young journalist started on their journey to being the next great reporter. Like so many people who have worked in newspapers, I don’t want to see the industry die, but I’m afraid it will slowly fade away as this new-fangled internet continues its stranglehold on our lives.

It’s taken me some time, but I’m moving toward the technology. I have to because like so many other things in this world, it will pass me by if I don’t.

Words: A Language All Their Own

Does it bug you when you hear some pronounce a word incorrectly? Or even worse use a word that isn’t even a word at all? I have tried to compile a list of words and phrases that I have heard throughout my life that make me want to run head first into a jagged rock wall every time I hear them spoken. Now, I realize I’m probably just scraping the tip of the iceberg here, and I’m pretty sure, I’ve been guilty of using a few of these myself, but over time, I have made a conscious (not conscience) effort to correct my languid language ways.

Words that aren’t even words

Irregardless vs. Regardless
It never fails. People use IRREGARDLESS all the time when the correct word is REGARDLESS. I’m not sure where this came from, but some say it’s a combination of the words IRRESPECTIVE and REGARDLESS.

Acrossed vs. Across
Unfortunately, my mother is guilty of this one. She’ll say something like, “He walked ACROSSED the street,” and I cringe every time I hear it. Yes, he CROSSED the street, but he did it by walking ACROSS it. I once heard a baseball announcer on the radio say, “He throws the ball ACROSSED the diamond.” I almost fell out of my chair.

Theirselves vs. Themselves
There is no such word as THEIRSELVES, and you certainly can’t spell it THEIRSELFS; it’s THEMSELVES. I heard a former professional football coach always use this word and HISSELF in his weekly press conferences. Couldn’t their PR person work with him a little bit to make him look a bit smarter?

Hisself vs. Himself
See above. Again, HISSELF isn’t a word, and the correct usage is HIMSELF.

Alot vs. A lot
I see this one a lot. Many people believe ALOT is a word, and guess what? It isn’t. There is the word allot, which means to divide or distribute by share or portion. Next time, just put a space between the A and LOT.

Ain’t vs. Isn’t
AIN’T is the alleged contraction of AM NOT; however the correct grammatical contraction is ISN’T. There has been a lot (not ALOT) of debate about its origin and its usage over the generations. While its use is still accepted today, it’s still widely accepted as incorrect. During the nineteenth century, AIN’T fell under attack, and its use was condemned as a vulgarism — a part of speech used by the lower classes. Say it AIN’T so, Joe!

Pronunciate vs. Pronunciation
When speaking correctly and clearly, we want to annunciate our words, and we do that by PRONUNCIATION. People have been guilty of using the word pronunciate, a combination of annunciate and PRONUNCIATION.

Heighth vs. Height
When measuring how tall something is, we are measuring its HEIGHT. Again, many people will say HEIGHTH. It’s a common mistake they make because they are so used to saying length and width.

Supposedly vs. Supposively and Supposably
This one is easy to correct. If you say to yourself, “I’m supposed to go to the store,” then by adding an LY to the word SUPPOSED, you’ll never fail in saying this word. But there are still people out there that say SUPPOSIVELY and SUPPOSABLY for some reason.

False phrases

Center around vs. Center on
I see this quite a bit, especially in sports writing. To me both seem physically impossible to do; however, the correct phrase is CENTER ON. You can’t CENTER AROUND something.

One way or the nother
I don’t hear this one all that often, but there are people that have said it, and it’s grinding to hear since NOTHER isn’t a word. The more commonly used un-phrase, if you will, is the next one.

A whole nother
All right, I’m guilty of this one, so it makes me more tolerant when I hear others say it. But I am now much more aware when I catch myself beginning to say something like, “We have a WHOLE NOTHER dozen Easter eggs to color.” The correct phrase should be “We have ANOTHER dozen Easter eggs to color.”

Hot water heater vs. Water heater
I just threw this one in for fun. There really is no such thing as a HOT WATER HEATER, but people say it all the time, especially the ones that sell them. You can’t really heat up hot water now can you?

I could care less vs. I couldn’t care less
If you say, “I COULD CARE LESS” about something, doesn’t that really mean you care a lot about it? What you want to say is, “I COULDN’T CARE LESS.” It means you don’t care and you couldn’t care any less than you already do…or don’t.

Misused words

Their, There and They’re
THEIR is a pronoun and is a form of the possessive case of THEY.
That is THEIR house.

THERE is an adverb meaning in or at that place.
The house is over THERE.

THEY’RE is a contraction for the words THEY ARE.
THEY’RE coming to our house.

Your and You’re
YOUR is a pronoun and is a form of the possessive case of YOU.
Is that YOUR pen?

YOU’RE is a contraction for the words YOU ARE.
YOU’RE using my pen.

Its and It’s
ITS is a pronoun and is the possessive form of IT.
The clock was running slow because ITS batteries were old.

IT’S is the contraction for the words IT IS.
IT’S getting late.

Managing Expectations

What does it mean to manage ones’ expectations? Is it expect the worst, but hope for the best? Is it a set up to fail? Or is it simply about how a situation is perceived by your audience? Here’s a great example of how perception is used in managing a person’s expectations:

There was a small town in which there were two candy stores: Smith Candy and Jones Candy. A mother asked her son which he would like to visit for a treat. Her son replied immediately that he wanted to go to Mr. Jones’ Candy Store. Why? He believed he got more candy for his money from Mr. Jones. The truth was that Mr. Smith’s and Mr. Jones’ prices were exactly the same, but Mr. Smith’s practice was to put a large pile of candy on the scale and then remove it piece by piece until he reached the correct weight, while Mr. Jones put a few pieces on the scale and kept adding and adding until the correct weight was reached. The little boy’s perception was that he was getting more, even though the end result was the same.

When dealing with your audience, expectations should be set up front. They should be realistic. Let them know what they can expect, but don’t over-deliver. If you can’t provide what you say and on time, it’s nobody’s fault but your own.

Managing expectations has always been a vital part of my job when working with clients over the years. I worked for a large financial institution, and we always welcomed a feature piece on our funds from a major publication. The problem was when the piece came out in all its glory, the subject matter expect was never satisfied with some part of it. Maybe it was one tiny quote he or she felt was taken out of context regardless of the fact the piece was glowing, there were quotes from a third party endorsing the product and the one tiny quote was so buried in minutiae the majority of readers wouldn’t know if it was taken out of context or not.

Didn’t matter. The one person that needed to be satisfied was not, and going in was made aware of the ramifications of doing the interview. A story could be 99.9% positive, and you will still find that one person who will focus on that 0.1% that’s negative.

It’s what we deal with on a daily basis of managing expectations.

There's no PR like any PR

Bag Balm.

Ever heard of it?

Me neither.

At least not unitl last week.

"What is it?" you ask.

Well, it's a salve used to rub on cow's udders.  It's been around for more than 100 years.  But herein lies the rub (no pun intended), it's used for almost anything, including that.  In an Associated Press story dated January 27, 2010 about this gooey substance, people have used Bag Balm on squeaky bed springs, psoriasis, dry facial skin, cracked fingers, burns, zits, diaper rash, saddle sores, sunburn, pruned trees, rifles, shell casings, bed sores and radiation burns.

According to Bag Balm lore, the stuff went from barns to bedrooms when dairy farmers' wives noticed how smooth their spouses' fingers were after using it on cows' udders.  The wives were jealous.  The rest is history.

The genious here is that you can't pay for that kind of publicity.  Here's a product intended for the underside of a cow, and people are using it for their own home remedies and have been doing so for 100 years now.  The story is out.

According to the article, Bag Balm went to the North Pole with Admiral Byrd, to Allied troops in World War II, who used it to keep weapons from corroding, to Ground Zero for the paws of cadaver-sniffing dogs searching the World Trade Center rubble, and to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The article goes on to note that this small Lyndonville, Vt. operation is family-owned with a grand total of six employees.  Distributed by wholesalers and sold retail in farm stores, national drugstore chains and general stores, its popularity has grown largely with word-of-mouth advertising as converts becomes users and then devotees.

And now with this AP story spreading like wildfire so should the curiosity of this "udderly" amazing do-it-all product.

How social media helps (and hinders) during a disaster

There is a fantastic story in the January 30 edition of the Dallas Morning News about how social media has played a huge role in the Haiti earthquake relief effort...in a good way, and in a not-so-good way.

The piece by Theodore Kim notes that just as quickly as news spreads of the miraculous rescues each moment, the same can be said of erroneous information and scams.  Social media can be a blessing and its own worst enemy.

A link to the story follows:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/013109dnmetsocialhaiti.f4a6c7.html