Well we are rolling through another week, but I will slow the clock momentarily for a few deep thoughts. I swear that it seems that the days just don't last as long as they used to. It seemed that we were just talking about high school football beginning and now we enter the winter of the NFL season. I try to grasp each day now as I feel very helpless in how quickly time goes. Before I had kids, time did not seem so obvious. Now, time is measured by graduations of some kind or another. Rather than brood over an uncontrollable force, I suppose we should celebrate each transition. It has been said that time waits for no man, and I guess that is true. So what the hell, you might as well have fun rollin...

Tina Turner certainly knows how to roll! A student in my father's high school band played sax with Ike and Tina Turner for several years. He said Tina Turner was a wonderful person and a true professional. I am not sure how old she is now, but she has amazing energy.

I know my Patriot friends are really bummed at the moment and angry at the outcome of last week's game. How can a oaf like Rex Ryan slide one by Coach Bill? In reality, I guess we all should have realized that the Pats overachieved a bit this year, with a very young defense and a cast of offensive smurfs. Ryan used the December loss to elevate the play of his entire team. This was the game that Randy Moss would have come in very handy...or Mike Wallace. Next week the Steelers will show the Jets how champions win. The good news for New England is that they that will be back and better next year...the bad news is that it will be much sooner than we expect. The other good news is that the Celtics are in full swing and the Red Sox will be headed out for spring training in a few weeks.

Here is a hilarious story that I had to comment on. This is an article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

"Either The New Orleans Times-Picayune was trying to translate some unprintable Rex Ryan trash-talk or someone forgot to change the dummy text in the headline on the inside jump from the front-page, Jets-Patriots game story:  

If you had told me the second line was about an Icelandic volcano,  I'd have believed it. This is what you get when you write a Jets-Patriots headline that isn't a pun involving Rex Ryan and feet.

Although I do think most Patriots fans would agree that the game was "barllskdjf fkdasd." 

With the negatives of the past week, I was pleased to read about Gil Meche. Here is a yahoo account of Meche's retirement from baseball:

"Royals pitcher Gil Meche retired on Tuesday at age 32, walking away from a $12 million salary rather than face shoulder surgery that could have ended his season before it ever started.

Meche signed a $55 million, five-year deal with Kansas City as a free agent before the 2007 season. But the right-hander had shoulder problems last year while going 0-5 with a 5.69 ERA.

There was a chance Meche could undergo surgery and come back in the bullpen. There was no guarantee, however, that he would be able to pitch at all in 2011. 

“I didn’t want to go try it again for another season and be the guy making $12 million doing absolutely nothing to help their team,” Meche said. “Yeah, a lot of people might think I’m crazy for not trying to play and making this amount of money. I don’t think I’m ever going to regret it.”

Meche’s decision drew a predictable reaction from some of his friends.

I told a lot of people, the first comment when they heard this come from my mouth was, `$12 million,”’ he said. “My first reaction is I’m not a guy who’s going to sit here and play baseball for the money. I know you hear a lot of athletes say, `It’s not for the money, it’s not for the money. ’ Actually, it wasn’t.

And hopefully this does show a lot of guys do feel the same as I do. Yeah, I’ve made a lot of money in my career and I know I’m financially good. My kids are good. That’s comforting for me. I’m not a guy who’s going to go and blow money. The money wasn’t ever, ever a factor in my decision. ” 

It has been said that everyone has their price...not Meche. Here is a guy that has ethics. I cannot describe how refreshing it was to read this article today. Hooray for Gil Meche!!

So here is a question for you. Let's suppose that you have a kid that is drafted to play professional baseball, but also has scholarship offers to attend college and play baseball. The kid is a capable student but has dreamed of playing baseball. As a parent, do you steer him to college? Would it matter where he was drafted? College is different for everyone, but is an important part of growing.

Mike Singletary has agreed to join Leslie Frasier in Minnesota as the LB's coach and assistant head coach. I really like Singletary and hope that this gig goes well for him. Mike may have been moved to quickly to the head job at San Francisco. Perhaps with a bit more seasoning, Singletary will become a successful head man one day. I do know that he will be bring intensity to the Vikings.

That's all I have for this week. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment on your way out.

I will leave you with a bit of Jack Handy:

"I bet a funny thing about driving a car off a cliff is, while you're in midair, you still hit those brakes."
 

"When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car."