Long pacts could mean long regrets

Omar Minaya should read this story before lengthening his rumored four-year offer to Jason Bay or two-year to Bengie Molina. Both are good players who may not pay off for that long — Bay is a not particularly athletic outfielder who strikes out a lot and was in the midst of an extended stretch of mediocrity with Pittsburgh before being traded to Boston last year.

(By the way, I predicted the Soriano deal would prove a bad one longterm for Chicago back in 2006 right after it was inked. Do I get points for that?)

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Head fake on health care

The health insurance reform plan approved by the Senate the other day can best be likened to a misdirection play in football, where all the action seems to be going in one direction while the real play is heading in another. In this case, we a plan being called “once-in-a-generation reform” — a bit of overstatement, really — when what we have is relatively modest insurance reform that expands coverage by mandating consumers buy plans from an a cartel-like industry that holds all the cards.

The misdirection here is the opportunity the bill gives the White House and the Democrats to claim a victory even if it is rather hollow — no public option (let alone any thought of a single-payer, Medicare-for-all approach) to create competition to keep costs down, no expansion of Medicare, no changed incentives, no alternatives for businesses stretched to their limits, but millions of new customers for the insurance companies.

So, is it worth passing? That’s a difficult question. There are good things in this bill and there is the possibility that it can be used as a foundation on which to build real reform. The problem is the discourse surrounding the bill. If it were being described by the press and the president as what it is — something short of reform — that would be OK. But it’s not. It is being described as once-in-a-generation reform and that creates the danger that this bill has become a once-in-a-generation chance to fix our broken system. If the House cannot fix it, cannot toughen this bill up, progressives need to walk away from it.

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The ugliness of high school sports

I played a year of football in high school and I can remember an incident after a game at New Brunswick in which fans of the hometeam got a bit unruly after the game, making for a tense situation and a great deal of fear. The team was on the bus when the fans acted up — I think we probably won that game, but our main running back was hurt badly and there were probably some words during the contest.

The fans rocked the bus some, and it was just an ugly and potentially dangerous moment.

I was reminded of this because of a story we reported in The Cranbury Press this week about a melee at a Colonia basketball game after Monroe staged a furious comeback to win. The Colonia fans assaulted Monroe’s fans, sending on to the hospital — a fact that should have administrators at all high schools concerned.

The fight took place on Dec. 18, a week ago, but got little press until we reported on it. Then, on Tuesday, a fight broke out in Allentown after a game, demonstrating that there is something very wrong with American society.

Look, the New Brunswick incident, which took place in 1978, shows that this kind of behavior is nothing new. But the fights at the high schools are part of a larger trend that includes brutality at youth league games, professional contests (fans taunting and players going into the stands) that is starting to make our sports culture resemble South American soccer.

Monroe Coach Bob Turco put the entire thing in perspective, calling it a “sign of the times.”

He used a Monroe student as an example, saying the girl had told him she wouldn’t wear her Monroe colors or jacket to away games for fear of retaliation from opposing fans.

“The sad part is this has become something to expect,” he said. “It used to be about school spirit and supporting your team.”

Sadly, it no longer is.

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Doggie diaries: The story of Rosie and Sophie New toys for Christmas

I hope we're not pushing things, but Rosie and Sohie are chewing on their new toys next to each other. This has been a recipe for disaster in the past, which is why we've only allowed supervised play and only rarely. But it is Christmas and they have been bored. And so far, they're doing OK.

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Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.