Sunday Morning Coming Down

The guy in the orange Miami Marlin Jersey at the World Series got a lot of press in Miami today and according to reports he is a long time season ticket holder.  How folks spend their money, is their own business.  OMG someone is actually talking about the Miami Marlins.  Royals brass wanted to stash him in a sky box, unsuccessfully. The television ratings for the game were dismal if you think everybody or maybe more folks should be watching the World Series like we did in "the good old days". I've been to four baseball games in person this year and find baseball in person entertaining, low key, and a good place to visit throughout the game.  I think the relative lack of interest in baseball at this time of year is almost entirely related to the calendar.  If a New York Team or Boston was playing Chicago or Los Angeles there would be more interest.  But up until last night's game, the playoff games have been interesting.  I heard someone complain a...

This morning I drove to the Coral Gables Library to vote "early".  No lines but the parking lot at the library was almost full with cars of the folks I like calling the human billboards, t-shirts blazing with their candidate's name.  I really don't like walking that gauntlet.  No Scott or Crist Folks on the early shift.  The results won't be known for about two weeks, but at least mentally, I'll skip through the commercials.  On the way out of the library, I made a right hand turn so I would not have to pass by the ground troops littering the parking lots close to the main entry for the library and get some steps in for my daily goal of 10,000.  Note to self, next time try the Segovia Avenue Entrance.  If there isn't a line, you will avoid the palm card, billboard folks. Voting, they gave me ballot #67.  I should have asked what #67 meant.  Was it the 67th ballot issued early in precinct  #641 or the 67th ballot issued at the library o...

With the advent of early voting and a lot of folks voting absentee, getting out the vote is a longer term process.  The daily phone calls have begun and wonder of wonders, they stop when they find out that you have voted.

Allowing early voting is a good thing.  Making registering to vote more convenient and easier are also good things.  The democratic process where folks can register the opinion through voting is one of the things that is to the good in this country.  In most issues I think local control is best. Banking on apathy, local control does not always mean everybody has a voice.  Less affluent folks can vote but there is always something in the way that may make them less likely to vote.  During my career working in government, way before early voting, it was easy to register people to vote.  My boss sent everyone who worked for the agency to be trained to register people to vote.  It was just something we did, along with helping folks find a job.  Having a voter id at the time was a good form of identification.  It was a good practice. Miami is a very cosmopolitan place. Most cities are.  Technology changes and laws change over time.  ...

I do remember some crazy celebrations after Mountaineer Victories.  Goal posts down University, bonfires, couch fires, and now tear gas as the celebration was close to threatening Downtown, Morgantown, West Virginia. The biggest victory in WVU history with the Big 12 as the Mounties beat the Baylor Bears or maybe the Bears collapsed. Either way, the celebration was eventually called a riot. WVU President Gee, gee whiz, tear gas, arrests. Score another one for College Football.  The celebration seemed to be contained to Morgantown, however, I'm sure there were happy WVU fans everywhere.

A lot has been written about cheating in horse racing.  Mostly this is about using banned substances to improve the performance of horses.  I'm not a horse pharmacist but there really is a need to make sure that the use of performance enhancing drugs by trainers is stopped.  This is more than just a noble idea.  If the sport is going to survive anybody connected with using these drugs needs to be banned from the sport.  Another noble idea, but in a sport where horses and trainers follow various racing circuits in many different states, each with their own laws, and abilities to enforce their own rules and some very muddled ideas about due process, the system is going to have some very serious holes. Even people in the industry seem to talk out of both sides of their mouth. The publisher of Track Magazine publishes a press release announcing some new security measures at the race track where the All American Futurity and All American Derby are run. JM Mirac...

Nicholas Nehamas of the Miami Herald reports that 35,000 in Florida will be losing their health care coverage from the ACA because they have not provided proof of citizenship or residence status in the country. They are almost 30% of the 115,000 that are losing their coverage nation wide. Hopefully people who are eligible will persevere and submit the needed documentation and get their coverage reinstated. The Sports Page lists 37 college football games that will be on TV from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight on broadcast and cable channels in South Florida.  The UM has the weekend off before it plays Virginia Tech this Thursday.  FSU/Notre Dame will be the most hyped, hopefully it will live to the hype.  Baseball resumes Tuesday 8:07pm. Carnival Cruise Line had a passenger who might(?) have handled lab samples from an Ebola patient was kept in isolation in her cabin and the ship was delayed from docking so long that the ship left to return to Galveston, Texas. I wond...