Senior Viewpoint

Today, Thursday, I went to the game with my Chicago friends  who were delighted with their cubbies. And well they should be because the outcome was a total Cub victory in 4 games.

The Cubs have a very good team and and excellent manager who gets the most out of his players and relies on conventional baseball strategy to win.

 Conventional baseball strategy includes a bunt, a stolen base, a hit and run and a pinch hitter.

The Brewers have a young and talented team and a manager who relies on his players to play sandlot baseball and does nothing to help them score runs. Teams need to score runs and the home run is not always the answer.

The game started with a no brainer bunt situation for the Brewers but instead the manager called on a weak batter to hit away.

The result was a lost opportunity to take an early lead.

This kind of decision has been the hallmark of the Brewer manager all season.

He is afraid to make a decision and is reluctant to replace a player so he doesn't hurt his feelings.

Brewer management has to decide on having a leader or a friendly guy to manage our team to a championship.

Enough said, now lets play ball.

Today, Thursday, I went to the game with my Chicago friends  who were delighted with their cubbies. And well they should be because the outcome was a total Cub victory in 4 games.

The Cubs have a very good team and and excellent manager who gets the most out of his players and relies on conventional baseball strategy to win.

 Conventional baseball strategy includes a bunt, a stolen base, a hit and run and a pinch hitter.

The Brewers have a young and talented team and a manager who relies on his players to play sandlot baseball and does nothing to help them score runs. Teams need to score runs and the home run is not always the answer.

The game started with a no brainer bunt situation for the Brewers but instead the manager called on a weak batter to hit away.

The result was a lost opportunity to take an early lead.

This kind of decision has been the hallmark of the Brewer manager all season.

He is afraid to make a decision and is reluctant to replace a player so he doesn't hurt his feelings.

Brewer management has to decide on having a leader or a friendly guy to manage our team to a championship.

Enough said, now lets play ball.

Today, Thursday, I went to the game with my Chicago friends  who were delighted with their cubbies. And well they should be because the outcome was a total Cub victory in 4 games.

The Cubs have a very good team and and excellent manager who gets the most out of his players and relies on conventional baseball strategy to win.

 Conventional baseball strategy includes a bunt, a stolen base, a hit and run and a pinch hitter.

The Brewers have a young and talented team and a manager who relies on his players to play sandlot baseball and does nothing to help them score runs. Teams need to score runs and the home run is not always the answer.

The game started with a no brainer bunt situation for the Brewers but instead the manager called on a weak batter to hit away.

The result was a lost opportunity to take an early lead.

This kind of decision has been the hallmark of the Brewer manager all season.

He is afraid to make a decision and is reluctant to replace a player so he doesn't hurt his feelings.

Brewer management has to decide on having a leader or a friendly guy to manage our team to a championship.

Enough said, now lets play ball.

I have been a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers since they were a AAA team playing at Borchert Field at 8th and Chambers. I remember one game when then owner Bill Veek was greeting the fans at their seats and he came over and sat next to me and we chatted about the Brewers. It was a thrill and to think the owner asked me for my opinions. I was only 8.

The American Association Brewers had their icons such as Tedd Gullic, Charley Grimm, Ken Keltner, Joe Just, Hal Peck, Heinz Becker, Casey Stengel, Jackie Price(and his pet snake) and many others.

The Brewers then transformed to the Braves at County Stadium led by such greats as Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Johnny Logan, Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron.

The Braves moved to Atlanta and after a period of no baseball a new franchise was born, the Milwaukee Pilots, to become the new Milwaukee Brewers playing in the American League and now the National League.

Historically player trades have been made over the years, some of which led to championships.

For example, the Braves traded for Hall of Famer second baseman, Red Schoendinst. The Brewers acquired Hall of Fame pitchers, Don Sutton and Rollie Fingers.

Our present Brewers have traded for C.C. Sabathia and Ray Durham.

Time will only tell but during that time Brewer Fever is at a high pitch and fan support is needed.

The Brewer chances are better than good, thanks to a great owner and many talented players.

I will be at one of the Cub games with an old friend who is from Chicago and a Cub fan. What's better ?

This is my personal list of the movie films that I recommend for both entertainment and content value.

1. Casablanca. An insight into foreign policy during the World War II era.

2. Yankee Doodle Dandy. A biography of the famed songwriter and playright, George M. Cohan, during the World War I era.

3. Pride of the Yankees. The true story about, Lou Gehrig, a great athlete and person.

4. Gunga Din. Based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling, with superb acting about the British empire in India.

5. Gone With The Wind. A historical drama about the challenges during the Civil War.

6. Animal Crackers. The Marx Brothers at their zany best.

7. Tora Tora. The events leading up to World War II, and the attack of Pearl Harbor.

8. Citizen Kane. The rise and fall of a giant .

9. Inherit The Wind. Clarence Darrow portrayed as the lawyer who defended a teacher accused of teaching the theory of evolution.

10. Young Man With a Horn. Kirk Douglas is a very talented musician seeking fame and fortune.

I have always been a motion picture fan and have many other favorites.

Relax and see a movie.

The recent retirement buzz about Packer football hero, Brett Favre, reminds me that retirement is not easy.

For some people retirement is well planned and is very fulfulling and for other people retirement is not well planned and leaves a void in their life.

For Brett Favre, retirement had been on his agenda for some time and each time the subject came up he changed his mind.

But, this year he made it very clear to the national media and expressed his emotional inner feelings and made it final.

The Green Bay Packer front office completely relied on Brett's final decision and went ahead and drafted 2 talented college Quarterbacks. By naming Aaron Rodgers the starting signal caller it became time to move on.

Some Packer fans held out hope that their hero would somehow return, regain his old form, and lead the Packers to a Super Bowl championship.

Brett and his agent know what his contract says. Both are well aware that the Packers are moving on and do not want to repeat the agony of Bart Starr playing beyond his physical limitations.

I have been a Green Bay Packer fan since as a youth when my parents took me to State Fair Park, where I saw such greats as Don Hutson, Johnny Blood, Buckets Goldenberg, Arnie Herber and Cecil Isbell.

The odds are against Brett returning and winning the Super Bowl so let us move on with 3 talented quarterbacks and a very good team.

The Green Bay Packers are a team with a proud tradition that has a chance to challenge the contenders, even without Brett, and have the opportunity to once again become a dominant force.

Lou Gehrig , New York Yankee first baseman, in 17 seasons, had a lifetime slugging percentage of .632, a record 23 grand slam home runs and 4 home runs in one game. With an amazing lifetime batting average of .340 and his 493 lifetime home runs and 4 home runs in one game, he never reached the $80,000 annual salary of Babe Ruth.

Gehrig's top salary was $39,000 per season and he never negotiated, it is said, and never had an agent. Lou simply accepted what was offered and he was grateful for it.

Lou was not a natural baseball player, his first organized sport was football, but his never ending practice sessions made him the greatest first baseman in baseball history.

During his career the Yankees won the American League pennant and the World Series 3 times.

Lou played with colds, fevers, lumbago, concussions and fractured bones while setting his iron man records, and he had at least 5 more productive seasons left in him when tradegy struck home.

It was on May 2, 1939 when Lou told Yankee manager, Joe McCarthy,to take him out of the game because he could not help the team anymore. Lou, himself, conceded that his once super athletic body could not function anymore.

Later into that last game , alone in the dugout, he wept and the streak ended at 2,130 consecutive games.

The disease that paralyzed him was diagnosed as amyothropic lateral sclerosis, and he became the victim of the incurable disease with 2 years to live.

Lou Gehrig never considered himself a hero, but his records included 6 all star games and most valuable player 4 times, with an all time World Series batting average of .361 and 10 home runs in 7 World Series, more than enough to have him inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

In his farewell speech in Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, before a capacity crowd, there was not a dry eye,when he said,"when you have a Father and a Mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body---it's a blessing. When you have a Wife who has been  a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed---that's the finest I know. So I close in sayting that I may have had a tough break but I have an awful lot to live for".