Meditation: Beliefs

Everyone has beliefs. My favorite saying about beliefs, is you do not want to have too many strong beliefs, because they will limit your thinking. Beliefs, defined in the dictionary states that it is an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. It can be further defined as something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction, like my belief that the Rays would upset the Dodgers. Then there are religious convictions, which are the hardest beliefs to prove or disprove. Reincarnation is a belief that is widespread, that is believed by anywhere from 40 to 50% of the world population. This belief can not be proved or disproved. Then there are Nihilist, who believe in nothing. Nihilism  is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, expressing some form of negation towards life or towards fundamental concepts such as knowledge, existence, and the meaning of life. Different nihilist positions hold variously that human values are baseless, that life is meaningless, that knowledge is impossible, or that some set of entities does not exist. Some beliefs are easier to disprove than others. If someone believes that the sun is not going to come up tomorrow, or the world is going to end on a certain date in the near future, time will take care of disproving that belief. Time disproved my belief in the Rays. These beliefs are pretty harmless but some can be serious. We, as a people, seem to have to believe in something. It just makes us feel better. It is the basis of organized religion. Religion, no matter which one, has a set of beliefs, that in most cases are impossible to prove or disprove. Back in the early years of mankind, these religious beliefs caused many wars, which led to much suffering for mankind. Even to this day beliefs can stir up strong emotions and lead to violence between many groups of people. The world has progressed enough to realized that there are many kinds of beliefs and we should be able to respect these beliefs, and live in some kind of harmony. Or has it? Is having beliefs a good thing? Is believing in nothing really a belief and should we all be like this.

The first thing that beliefs lead to is rules. Now, that is not always a bad thing. Rules and laws help society function and keeps things in some sense of order. However some of these rules lead to infringement of one’s personal space. It goes back to trying to legislate morality. What one does in their home, should not be determined by someone else’s beliefs. I guess you could say I have stated one of my beliefs. The law of the land is basically made my the government and, is made by a body of people to help regulate society. Laws can change. Beliefs can change, but this is less likely. We are always talking and discussing how a person seems to grow and evolve. If fact, it seems to be one of the big problems of most relationships. One person seems to grow and evolve and the other person does not. How much do beliefs have to do with this? When do beliefs form? Certainly your parents will have some influence on your beliefs. That influence could cause you to have the same or different beliefs as them. One of my beliefs is that meditation is the key to life. My parents never even thought of meditation in their entire lives. How should we live with our beliefs? I think we should examine them on a regular basis, at least once a month. Check to see if your beliefs are working for you. Are you having any doubts? They could be holding you back in certain situations. It doesn’t hurt to take that inward look when it comes to what you believe in and how you respond to the world around you. It won’t hurt to become a Nihilist for about 30 minutes, and work back from there to reevaluate. Beliefs can be very helpful in making your life whole and rewarding but only if you can look at them with an open mind.

Sports: Targeting

Targeting is the rule in college football which states, that no player shall target and make forcible contact against an opponent with the crown of his helmet. This foul requires that there be at least one indicator of targeting. When in question, it is a foul. It goes on to say that no player shall target and make forcible contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow or shoulder. This foul requires that there be at least one indicator of targeting. When in question, it is a foul. To me, this is one of the most critical rules in college football. The penalty is ejection from the game, and if it happens in the second half, you are not allowed to play the first half of the following game. With the status of concussions in the NFL, and the damage that has been done to many players over the years, this is a rule that puts players safety first and foremost. Because of the severity of the penalty, this foul always has to be confirmed by replay and not allowed to stand, if there is doubt about the call. Many times, the announcing team will disagree with the call, when the targeting penalty is confirmed. This was very evident during the Ohio State-Nebraska game, when there were three targeting calls made against Nebraska. The announcers, including the rules announcer, thought that all three calls should have been reversed. They were right only once on the first call. In my view, all three calls should have been confirmed. I think about 98% of targeting fouls should be upheld. I think the rule is very clear and coaching staffs have been very remiss on teaching how to tackle, in this new atmosphere of player safety. Either that, or players just don’t care and really want to maim and injure, even if it means ejection from the game. If this attitude is not changed in the very near future, then football is going to continue on this path of destruction.

Despite this rule being in effect in college football since 2008, the players, coaches, and the media just don’t seem to get it. Just make sure you helmet is to one side or the other of the player you are trying to tackle. You see this all the time, where the running back and the defender put there head down, and crack each other helmet to helmet. On those plays, there should be a double targeting call and both players ejected from the game. The announcers of the games do not help the situation out at all. To use the example of the Ohio State-Nebraska game, again, the announcers were talking about intent and that the hit was not that hard, to plead their case, that the targeting call should not be enforced. However, all three hits were initiated by helmet to helmet contact and that is targeting. The word malicious is not in the rule. Most announcers do the same thing, and question the validity of a targeting call, 75% of the time. I blame the coaches for most of this problem, about targeting. Not leading with the helmet should be emphasized every day at practice, and any form of targeting will not be tolerated at the great University of Money. If teams made the penalties for targeting even more severe, like 2 to 3 game suspensions then helmet to helmet contact may disappear all together. The players? Who knows what the hell they are thinking? Tackling has been replaced with head on collisions, that will have severe repercussions to their future life, but they do not seem to care. One thing is for sure. Football is headed for extinction, if they do not get their act together, when it comes to targeting. Football participation in young children ages 6 to 12 is down by 50%. Parents do not want to visit their children in head trauma facilities. As a sport, football has done nothing more than lip service, of trying to reduce the likelihood of a concussion during the game. They had better change their tune before it is too late. Targeting needs to have even greater enforcement and not this whining that it wasn’t that bad, and it’s a shame that a player was removed from the game for that hit. If it doesn’t happen, the only thing America will be watching on Sunday in the fall, is golf.

Sports: World Series

The World Series starts today, and Major League Baseball lucked out, by having the two teams, with the best record, make it though the expanded playoffs. Think of all that excitement, if it would have been a Reds-Blue Jay Series. The only way it would have been better, was for the Yankees to win, and play the Dodgers. It would have been a ratings coup. Both teams had their scary moments, as the Tampa Bay Rays jumped out to 3-0 lead in the series, only to see Houston win the next 3. However, they were able to prevail, in a fairly tense game 7. The Los Angeles Dodgers fell behind 3 games to 1, in their series, with the Atlanta Braves, but then went on to win 3 straight, as the Braves went brain dead on the base paths, and bat dead in the last 5 innings of game 7. We have the Tampa Bay Rays vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, and on paper, this looks like a bigger mismatch, than last years series, when Washington played the heavily favored Houston Astros. Hey, wait a minute, Washington won that World Series, that saw the visiting team win every game, for the first time in World Series history. Can it happen again, this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers finished in the top five in baseball, in OPS+, OBP, runs scored, ERA+, FIP, Whip, and Defensive Efficiency. On paper, this has the makings of a sweep. If on paper was the determining factor, the Dodgers would be playing the Astros. Let’s take a look at a most interesting 7 game series.

When this series started, I thought the Houston pitching was not going to hold up, but the pitching held up, quite nicely. It was the Houston batters, that left this series on the table. Houston outhit the Rays 59 to 44, but could only muster 22 runs, from those 59 hits. In the four losses, Houston was held to 2 runs or less, and only once scored more than 4 runs. Houston walked 29 times, 5 more than the Rays, and struck out 27 less times. Tampa Bay averaged over 11 strike outs per game. About the only thing they did better than Houston was hit more home runs, but only by 11 to 9. Of course, they won more games, and did score more runs, over all. So how did they do it? By embracing the way the game is played today. Like it or not, the basics are this. Swing for the fences. Strike out a lot, but do not care. Shift players around on defense. Do not let opposing batters see the same pitcher more than twice, if at all possible. The Rays add one little wrinkle, play everybody. Recent history shows, that during the post season, teams have a tendency to shrink the line up, rather than expand it. The biggest example is in bullpen usage. Bullpens of 6 or 7, may see 2, or even 3 relievers, not used, or used very little. Not so, with Tampa Bay, as everybody gets into the act, and I expect to see no change, during this World Series. Even the batting order and line up, changes on a daily basis. Tampa is the poster child for team concept, in this world of individual glory.

I thought Tampa Bay would beat the Astros in 5 games, and even though they won, it was a scary struggle. I also thought if a team won the first 2 games of the National League Series, they would go on to win the series. Of course, that did not happen. So, what is my cracked crystal ball saying for this World Series. You have the Tampa Bay Rays, who are dedicated to today’s style of baseball, vs the Los Angeles Dodgers, who use sabermetrics, but still play a more traditional game. They have the most potent offense in baseball, and as a team, do not swing at balls, outside the strike zone. Both teams are equally confident. You might think that Tampa Bay may have lost some of that swagger, when Houston made the comeback. However, they seemed to take it in stride, as they played a great game 7. The Rays have the system, which they rely on, and believe in. The Dodgers rely on Dave Roberts instincts, which in previous World Series and playoffs, have not been too good. I think having a day off, between games 2 and 3, and 5 and 6, may help the Rays. So far, this has not been the year for ending playoff hexes, as Oakland and Minnesota continued their playoff woes. The Dodgers have not won a World Series since 1988. Is this enough to have another upset winner. Me thinks so.

Baseball: The Final Four.

Well, baseball made it to the final four. No major surprises on who the final four are. The Houston Astros are the biggest surprise, based on the their regular season record. They benefitted from getting two playoff jinxed teams, Minnesota and Oakland, in the first two rounds. Minnesota lived and died, by the home run again as they could only muster 2 runs in the two games against the Astros. Oakland still can’t seem to get any playoff love since they went to Moneyball. Maybe it should be called Non-Moneyball. They barely escaped the White Sox, and they were no match for the Astros. Tampa Bay is the other American League team as they eliminated the Yankees with a typical 2-1 victory. Typical, that in 65 plate appearances for both teams there were only 31 balls put in play, 27 for outs, 2 errors, and 3 hits that stayed in the ballpark. There were 24 strikeouts, 7 walks, and 3 home runs that accounted for all the scoring. This is what baseball has declined down to, a game of swings and misses, walks and home runs. The National League really went according to plan, as both top seeds rolled into the championship series undefeated with each one only having one game that was really close. This may affect the outcome of the championship series, but more on that later. With this new expanded playoff system, baseball lucked out, where the best teams are playing for the World Series. Where baseball did not luck out, was that the games, for the most part were not that exciting. There were only 4 one run games, out of the 34 playoff games played. The best game was the elimination game between Tampa Bay and the Yankees, even though it lacked balls in play, it was still a good tense baseball game that went down to the wire. The most memorable play, was the Cody Bellinger catch, of Fernando Tatis’s deep fly to center field, which kept the Padres from grabbing the lead, in game 2 of their 5 game series. That play just sucked the life out of that team, and allowed the Dodgers to go on to sweep the series. Other than that, not much was memorable in these 34 playoff games, as 7 of them were won by 5 runs or more. So what is going to happen next.

The Astros should be taken care of by the Tampa Bay Rays, clearly the best in the American league. I can not see the Astro pitching holding up much longer. I will be surprised if the series goes more than 5 games. The National League should provide a much more interesting series, provided one thing happens. The first two games of the series are split. Both of these teams are hot, and brimming with confidence. If one of the teams wins the first two games then that team’s confidence level should skyrocket. If the games are split then I think it will be a dog fight and go 7 games. I don’t have a good feel who will win this series. The Dodgers are the heavy favorites, but the Braves seemed to have learned their lessons, from previous playoff failures, and seemed to be poised to make it to the World Series. Hopefully, the League Championship Series, and the World Series can create some excitement, that has been lacking in the playoffs, so far. No matter what happens, I will be watching.