Jeff's Commentary - 4/26 - Fighting at Hockey Games

I went to a fight the other night and there might have been some hockey played on the side. And the fight(s) were not on the ice. A friend got me tickets to the Coyote playoff game Friday night. We sat in a section that several Detroit fans also sat in. The game started innocently enough with the typical jawing and bantering between fans of both cities. But by the second period, the degree of animosity started to show. The friendly “Detroit Sucks” chants changed to include more non tactful words. One row down from us, finger pointing led to shoving which then led to punching. Normally you would think it’s just the game, but in this case one of the combatants was a woman. She took the first shot by throwing a punch in the startled Red Wing male’s face. Of course that was all it took and he walloped her back. Ejection. Then below us, taunting followed by beer tossing and again, Ejection. Across the ice, two Coyote fans took a Red Wing fan and held him down in a headlock while the other Coyote fan pummeled his face. Ejection.
In the third period, another fight by us. The Coyotes were on a power play but all heads in my area were directed to a shoving match that escalated to punching. Ejection.

All in all, there were over 7 plus fights we witnessed. I’m sure there were more we were not even aware of around the stadium.

I’m not sure what to think of all this. Return of the Roman Empire days is one thought. I felt a bit sad. For one, you should be able to attend a game as a fan of any team without the fear of being pummeled. I think that the old excuse of “its part of hockey” doesn’t play in this scenario. Drunken out of control human beings paying a lot of money to be morons. I don’t know. If the Coyotes want to change their image, they need to start with teaching some form of sanity classes when you walk in the gates. Maybe a card we get when we get to our seats.

Ten Commandments of attending a Coyote Hockey Game:
1. Watch the game.
2. Don’t drink until you are obliterated.
3. Try not to chant “F..K You Red Wings” every time you open your mouth.
4. Watch the game.
5. Pretend you are not the only person in the universe.
6. Keep the beer you do buy in your mouth and resist the urge to throw it at
other patrons.
7. Don’t hit women in the stands even if they hit you first.
8. Watch the game.
9. Keep your hands to yourself.
10. Don’t sucker punch your fellow patron rooting for the other team.

Maybe those would help. But I fear this is the new society we are in…where rules of civility don’t matter any more. Maybe the reason “bullying” has become a bigger concern out there is that people are becoming more destructive with their behavior and expose it wherever they please. I hope the Coyotes realize this before their fans become the Philadelphia Eagles fans of the West where jail cells are put in place within the stadium to take care of the volume of drunks. I would have liked something like that Friday.

Jeff

Jeff's Commentary - 4/20 - Worried Yet?

Is anyone worried lately? We have had some interesting geological events. No snow in Minnesota or Rochester, New York in March. (We want those people to be miserable there in March so they visit Arizona for Spring Training). Earthquakes on the Arizona border that shake Phoenix. Earthquakes in China, Chili and Haiti. Now the largest Volcano eruption in years that almost buries the economy in Europe for two weeks and strands tens of thousands. Health care passes kind of sort of. Nobody knows or understands what it means because most of it doesn’t have teeth for years. Too bad if you’re sick today. Toyota makes cars that speed up on their own and don’t stop when you brake. The banks fight regulation and continue to make record, and I mean record, profits.

Then in Arizona, the legislative body passes a concealed weapons law that any Joe can go get a gun without a permit and training. The state loses a couple of million dollars in fees that we can’t afford right now. I feel safer don’t you. The state legislative body also spends time crafting a law which passes that has President Obama show a birth certificate in Arizona before seeking reelection in 2012 and appearing on the Arizona ballot. I’m exhausted by these knuckleheads still consumed with conspiracy theories that the President comes from Kenya. The economy in Arizona is one of the worst in America. The business taxes are one of the highest. The school system is one of the five worst in America and getting worse with class sizes above 40 kids in many systems. Housing bankruptcies are continuing to grow...with an outlook that is unsure at best. Have you seen the hundreds, maybe thousands of empty commercial real estate office space and strip centers around your corner?

Then I think back to the earthquakes and volcanoes and climate changes. Is anyone worried?

Jeff

Jeff's Commentary - 4/12 - The one cent sales tax

I go to little dry cleaners in a strip mall by my house. A nice lady who is about 75 years old works there every day during the week. She is small and feeble but is there at 6am and works to close on most days. So when I heard that a thug went in and robbed her at gunpoint Friday, I got really upset. What kind of loser human being robs a little old lady by gunpoint these days? According to the police, the guy was a young man wearing a hood over his head. He staked out the cleaners from a nearby gas station and at 11AM in the morning went in for his take. Statistically he is probably a meth head say the police trying to score drug money.

Later I went home to an email from the Scottsdale Unified School District. The Arizona Legislature passed an 8 percent cut to all education funding. If the one cent sales tax increase ballot measure does not pass in May, education budgets will be cut by another 8 percent. At my kids high school, that means class sizes will increase to an average of 37 students to teacher ratio. It also means ten more teachers will be cut from an already downsized staff.

I can tell you this…..it’s already almost impossible for teachers to teach at the current 34:1 ratio. At 37 we can guarantee more failing grades, more kids lost in the middle and ultimately more drop outs for a state that is close to the nation’s worst in that category. So what happens to those kids who don’t make it and can’t find jobs because they have no skills? Statistics show greater propensity to be in bad home situations, early pregnancy, increased drug use and ultimately crime.

I can only think about the the little old lady at my cleaners and how this story will continue to multiple to other shops, businesses and homes around Arizona if we don’t start to take a stand on fixing our academic situation. Major employers will not settle in Arizona if we don’t figure this out. And for the little old lady at my dry cleaners who was robbed; maybe she was lucky. The next person may take a bullet for a few bucks to get drugs.

Think we don’t need to pass the one cent sales tax? Just look around for the young men and women wearing hoods that are coming into your neighborhoods. Think they aren’t there…..look again. Ask my sweet 75 year old at the local dry cleaners.

Jeff

Jeff's Commentary - 4/1 - The Grand Canyon

I spent three days in the Grand Canyon last week. Three days of peace and serenity. No stories of health care; nuts going after Senators and Congress men and women; unemployment; and your daily shootings, fires and local legislative malaise.

Just three days of seeing the beauty that the Grand Canyon offers. It “wows” you with its presence. When you stare out into the vast monument of nature, all the pains of the day seem minor to what really matters in life. Sometimes I long for the simplicity of what once was. We’ve removed ourselves from the beauty that is in our own horizons because we are so caught up in the now.

As we were coming back up after descending down a few miles, I watched the faces of those that we passed and those that passed us. A simple journey. An opportunity to exist with the canyon and the canyon’s rules. Though it was tiring and painful coming back up, it was something my mind and body accepted as the cost of being allowed to participate in something special. There was a sign at 3 miles that said something like, “it’s optional going down, but mandatory to get back up”. I guess that summed up the trip.

Health care, unemployment, fires and bad guys are all part of what’s going down in the world. It’s mandatory that we as human beings figure out what it takes to get back up and re build our society to mirror the peace and serenity of the canyon. That we take the time to look out for one another. That we actually say hi to our neighbors. That we understand what ails others and have compassion toward those issues. I want to hold those memories from the canyon in my mind every day moving forward so I can remember what it’s like to get back up. I want to have that “wow” moment more often in my life whether at work, home, with my kids or my friends.
I spent three days in the Grand Canyon last week and have renewed inspiration about my life and who I am.

That’s a pretty good value in a pretty messed up world.

Jeff