High Society

I would encourage you to go to the Oshkosh Community Media website and watch the debate in Tuesday night's Common Council meeting over reducing the fine for possession of marijuana.  It will provide you some interesting insight into the growing drug culture not just here in Oshkosh but throughout the United States.  That is, once you get past the persecution complex of the speakers who feel that they have been wronged by an unjust law and justice system.

It was comments from Councilmember Caroline Panske that really got me thinking: "We aren't just a bunch of stoners sitting around on the couch eating Doritos.  We are elected officials, we are doctors, we are teachers, we are parents, we are students, we are all types of people"

Obviously, she is referring to herself when she talks about "elected officials".  However, Panske tried to play the victim card claiming to have taken a "free joint from someone else" before her arrest for driving with pot in her car in Waushara County over the summer.  But think about a doctor that is smoking weed.  I'm guessing she's referring to a D.O.--who prefers "holistic" and "non-Western medicine" techniques honed from a time when humans lived to an average age of 36.  Do you want the person responsible for properly diagnosing a life-threatening illness--or performing surgery on delicate body parts to be toking up to "take the edge off"?

As marijuana use gains more social acceptance, it will force those of us who expect professionalism and expertise in some fields to eventually have to ask, "Are you a pot smoker?"  Can you honestly say that you are okay with a surgeon that may have been "getting baked" the night before you go to the OR?  Will you feel no nervousness knowing the pilot on your next flight has a dime bag in his carry-on up in the cockpit?  Are you okay knowing that guy fixing the brakes on the crossover you drive the kids to school in everyday hits up the bong?

The common retort from the pro-pot folks to questions like that is "Well alcoholics hold all those jobs too".  Too which I would say, I don't want drunks fixing my aorta, or flying my plane or making sure that my wheels aren't going to fall off my Jeep at highway speed either.  And that is why employers should be testing their employees on a regular basis and firing (or not hiring) those that fail those tests.

So continue your fight for your right to light up Councillor Panske, just don't expect the rest of us to support you or any of your so-called "professional" pot smokers.

Gaming the System

I have to admit, I failed to understand the real motive behind the Legislature's decision this fall to eliminate the minimum age for a "mentored" deer hunting license in Wisconsin.  I never bought the argument that "if a child isn't exposed to an activity by the time he or she is eight or nine years old they will never be interested in it".  I was 12 the first time I touched a real golf club--and I didn't take the sport seriously until my late teens--but now it is my passion.  I did try imagine an eight or nine year old that would be physically and mentally mature enough to safely handle the type of firearm powerful enough to kill a deer--and that his or her parent would be responsible enough to make sure they are handling that weapon safely at all times.

But yesterday's release of data on mentored hunt licenses sold for last week's gun-deer season revealed that the main reason for the change is not to "get more kids interested in hunting"--it's actually to "allow guys to shoot more deer".

How else to explain the sale of ten licenses to infants.  Children less than a year old were issued deer hunting licenses this year.  Another 50-kids under the age of five were sold licenses.  I had to laugh at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on those numbers as the reporter posited that some of those licenses "may have been purchased as keepsakes for the children".  I highly doubt that, because somewhere in Wisconsin a four year old bagged a deer last week.  Now I want you to think about that for a minute.  A four-year old fired a .10 guage shotgun or a 30.06 rifle accurately enough to down a deer.  Most four-year olds I've met couldn't sit quietly long enough for a deer to get within a quarter mile of them.  I'd like to see if our toddler sharpshooter's father also happened to bag a buck earlier in the season.

What makes this charade easier to pull off is that in-person registration is no longer required.  Nobody has to take a "successful" four year old hunter to a DNR registration station to present the deer and the tag.  All the "real hunter" has to do now is call the hotline or log on to the DNR website and enter the license information and nobody has any idea if the "mentee hunter" even set foot in the woods.

I'm not saying the hunters that got licenses for children too young to walk or talk did anything illegal.  Group hunting is common in Wisconsin and filling someone else's tag has been allowed for decades.  But lawmakers can spare us the public hearings and the floor debate about "preserving Wisconsin's sporting heritage" when it is now obvious that this is nothing more than an effort to get around the "one hunter-one deer" requirement.  And while ten newborns were "hunters" this year, you can bet that numbers will increase next year as guys realize what a great scam it is.  Or are you telling me that Oshkosh B'Gosh and Carters have to start making blaze orange onesies?

Old School vs New School

You know who has had a pretty good last couple of days?  The "old school", "fake news", "mainstream media".  You know, the type of reporting that has come under constant attack for the last few years--and who is always going to be "replaced" by the "new media".

Consider the story that broke yesterday that a group of political operatives tried to plant a fake news story about Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in the Washington Post.  A woman claiming that she was impregnated by Moore years ago contacted the Post and "wanted to tell her story".  She met with a reporter, in an encounter secretly filmed by the woman--and recorded by the reporter.  When the Post did the usual follow-up reporting--contacting others that could corroborate her claims and verifying her whereabouts to match the timeline of her story--the tall tale fell apart.

Further investigation conducted by Post reporters found that not only was the woman's story fake--but that she was working for the political group Project Veritas--and the goal of the operation was to put a false story into publication in the same newspaper that first reported on allegations of sexual improprieties by Moore--thereby "discrediting" all of their previous reporting, and the claims of the original victims. 

If Project Veritas sounds familiar, it's the same group that sent a young operative with a hidden video camera on him into a bar to record then-State Senate Majority Leader Mike Ellis of Neenah making disparaging comments about Green Bay Preble High School.  The subsequent release of the video effectively ended Ellis's long career in Madison.  Project Veritas targeted Ellis because he was not voting in lock-step with Governor Scott Walker's agenda.

The credibility of so-called "social media reporters" also took a big hit this week with the unbelievable mess that has been created in the University of Tennessee's search for a new head football coach.  The school announced on Sunday that it had offered the job to Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano.  Unhappy with that selection was self-described "college sports insider and blogger" Clay Travis--who posted a story with a link to a Washington Post report about the Penn State child molestation scandal where Schiano is mentioned off-handedly by a witness in the case as having told someone else that he saw Jerry Sandusky in the shower with a boy once.

Never mind that the deposition cited by Travis is hearsay evidence and would never be admissible in a court of law--or that Schiano is not mentioned anywhere else in the 800-page investigation into the Penn State scandal--or that Schiano was never accused, charged or convicted of taking part in the university's cover up of the child molestation at Penn State.  Clay's thousands of social media followers (many of whom are under the delusional belief that another internet rumor--John Gruden is leaving Monday Night Football to coach the Vols--is true) re-posted the story, which was reposted by their friends which eventually led to accusations that Schiano was complicit in the coverup and could not possibly be hired by Tennessee.

When a couple of Tennessee state lawmakers added their voices to the internet mob, UT Athletic officials rescinded their job offer to Schiano--making it look like the "stain of Penn State" really was on him and that he was no longer fit for the job.  Now, the Vols will have no choice but to hire someone with previous ties to the school--as no qualified "outsider" is going to ever want to be part of a program where the uninformed masses drive the decision making process.

So the next time you hear someone talking about "fake news" or how "social media makes everyone a reporter" remember the past few days.

Moving Forward

The news we all expected came down late Wednesday afternoon (in what we call a classic "news dump"--major news late on a day before a holiday or a weekend that allows it to be nearly forgotten by the time everyone gets back into their normal consumption patterns) that Oshkosh Corporation will buy a portion of Lakeshore Golf Course for construction of its new global headquarters.  The announcement did not surprise those of us who golf at Lakeshore, as the powers that be were working behind closed doors even longer than we were initially told to make it happen.

So what do we do now?  There are some that are pushing for redesigning what will remain of Lakeshore into a nine-hole public course.  Personally, I doubt that it will be economically feasible.  Plus, city officials have made it pretty clear they want out of the golf course business.  That is why I and some other golfers have decided the best course of action is to move on and try to preserve the spirit of the game that was established over a century at Lakeshore.

We are looking at forming what I am calling the Oshkosh Golf Association.  The three main goals would be to maintain the competitive traditions at Lakeshore--mainly the City Match Play Championship and the City Tournament--in some other form.  We are also looking to continue youth programs started at Lakeshore and to increase outreach to under-represented communities through golf.  And a final goal would be to establish charitable giving programs benefitting the high school golf programs in Oshkosh and perhaps provide scholarships for kids somewhere down the line.

I've already reached out to the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation for advice establishing the Oshkosh Golf Association as a non-profit entity.  Former Lakeshore pro Steve Ziblut and I will now be reaching out to potential leaders in this organization to staff volunteer committees overseeing finances, competition and outreach.  If you or someone you know might be interested in helping to form and direct the OGA, feel free to contact me or Steve.

We may have lost our course, but those of us who enjoyed Lakeshore over the years won't lose our love for the great game of golf or give up on the tradition, competition and comradery the venue provided.  If there is one thing that golf has taught all of us is that you don't just quit after a bad hole or a lost match.  You bounce back, work a little harder and make yourself--or the game itself--better the next time.

Fake Motivation

If you watch the Wisconsin-Minnesota football game on Saturday afternoon (as Wisconsin looks to stretch its winning streak against the Golden Gophers to 14 CONSECUTIVE GAMES) you may notice an unusual phrase printed inside the center stripe on the Gophers' helmets.  That phrase is "ROW THE BOAT".  That might not make a lot of sense.  Gophers don't row boats.  Boating has very little to do with playing football.  And most people that use the Boundary Waters area in northern Minnesota paddle their canoes--they don't row.  But that is the "motivational phrase" that Minnesota Head Coach PJ Fleck believes can raise his players' effort to a higher level.

Personally, I think it's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.  Fleck developed ROW THE BOAT during his previous job at Western Michigan.  You may recall hearing about it endlessly during last January's Cotton Bowl broadcast as Wisconsin manhandled the previously undefeated Broncos back on January 2nd.  As with Fleck's Broncos, Gopher players now run out of the tunnel pre-game holding an oar to signify their plan to ROW THE BOAT all day against their opponents.

Now I thought ROW THE BOAT was a metaphor for the entire team working together trying to head toward a common goal.  You know, if everyone doesn't row together, the boat just goes in circles.  But according to Fleck the oar represents "the energy your bring to life", the boat is "the sacrifice you are willing to make" and a compass (which I didn't realize was part of this equation) doesn't represent the direction you want to go--but rather "the people with whom you surround yourself".

Now does that psycho-drivel get you motivated to work harder toward your goals?  Would it convince you to get into the weight room at 5:00 in the morning to work out?  Or to put in a few extra minutes of film study on your opponent?  Does seeing ROW THE BOAT on the other team's helmets intimidate opponents?  "Wow man, those guys are bringing energy to the sacrifice they are willing to make while surrounded by good people!"  Given that the Golden Gophers have been boat-raced by their last three Big Ten opponents, social media pundits have taken to renaming the phrase WOE THE BOAT.

Obviously, some college kids buy into the ROW THE BOAT mantra--and the myriad of other meaningless phrases that coaches like PJ Fleck throw at them.  But what is the catchphrase of the most successful college football team over the past decade, Alabama?  Why doesn't Ohio State have a motivational phrase on their helmets?  And what incredible spiritual saying does the "boring" Paul Chryst provide to his offensive linemen before they bulldoze their opponents?  Let's face it, some coaches can coach--and some can only "motivate".

Oh, and Minnesota can plan on taking their oar back to it's hallowed location in the locker room--because the Badgers will be taking Paul Bunyan's Axe back to its nearly-permanent location in the Camp Randall trophy case for an unprecedented 14TH CONSECUTIVE TIME!!!

Last Man Standing

There is blood in the water, and the sharks are circling.  I can guarantee that every news outlet, website and opposing party operative is looking for women (and in some cases, men) to accuse politicians, media members and celebrities of sexual assault or harassment.  Every awkward first date, crude attempt at humor and even yearbook inscription is being scrutinized for any shred of inappropriateness--dating back decades if necessary.  Many of the men in Congress are likely lying awake hoping that any questionable incident from their past will not be uncovered in the days, weeks and months before the rest of the media tires of this story and moves on to the next "crisis".

But one man that likely is having no problem sleeping right now is Vice President Mike Pence.  You see, Pence has a policy that he will not dine alone with a woman that is not his wife, and he will not attend any function where alcohol is being served without her by his side.  It's a version of the Reverend Billy Graham's rule that he had for himself and his pastors--never be alone in a closed room with a woman that is not your wife.

Pence--who is an Evangelical--has always given a Puritanical reason for his "never alone" policy--it eliminates the temptation and opportunity for the type of behavior that every high-profile male is now at risk for accusation.  When this practice came to light, Pence was roundly criticized by feminists and liberals.  They accused the Vice President of being sexist and misogynistic.  They believe the policy denies women equal access to Pence--and treats all women as potential seductresses or false accusers.

But in the current environment, Pence's "never alone" practice looks like the greatest security policy in modern political history.  No one has to worry about a "He said/She Said" situation--because it will be a "He said/She said/The other person in the room saw" scenario.  Undoubtedly, there are people out there beating the bushes looking for any woman that may have slipped past this security measure (and if she is ever found, Gloria Allred will be there to "represent her"--practically sitting on her lap to make sure she gets in all of the TV shots at the press conference)--but the odds are they aren't going to find one.

Now, am I going to call for a ban on men and women being alone together because that is the only way to prevent accusations of sexual harassment or assault?  No.  We should be working our way to a society where every encounter between the genders is not sexually-charged.  But in the current climate of hysteria, it might not be a bad insurance policy.

A Glimpse Into the Future

So how are Packers fans enjoying their glimpse into the future?  I'm not saying the Brett Hundley is the future of Green Bay football.  In fact his play while Aaron Rodgers recovers from a broken collarbone is proving that his days in TitleTown are likely numbered after Number 12 returns.  But Aaron Rodgers is 33-years old, and only Tom Brady has shown the ability to actually get better as he gets older.

So Packers fans had better get used to not having a premier quarterback to make up for the shortcomings of the team's defense, receiving corps, running backs and play calling.  This is what Chicago has been dealing with for 30-years.  Cleveland, Jacksonville, New York Jets, and Buffalo fans have been wondering for decades which quarterback is going to show up this week--the one that throws five interceptions in the first half--or the one that completes 60% of his passes and they still lose?

It is pretty clear that when Mike McCarthy said in his press conference after Rodgers first got hurt "I'm a highly successful NFL Head Coach" that what he really meant was "Numbers 4 and 12 have really carried my butt for the past eleven years".  In fact, I see McCarthy deciding to hang up the play calling sheet the minute that Aaron Rodgers decides he is going to retire--or demands a trade to a different team like his predecessor.  It's hard to look like an offensive genius when you don't have someone chucking the ball around every play with pinpoint accuracy and world-class decision-making skills.

It's also possible that the next generation Green Bay Packers won't need to be a one-man team.  Maybe, they will have a future General Manager that sees actual value in early round picks.  That can scout linebacking talent that can actually apply pressure to quarterbacks and cover receivers in space.  Maybe that GM will allocate resources to field playmakers at several different positions instead of just at quarterback--so that QB doesn't have to do it all by himself.

Or should Packers fans hope their future is drastically changed by finding another NFL team to fleece in a trade for its third-string quarterback that turns out to be a hall of famer?  Maybe another 23-teams will pass on another hall of fame QB because of his "attitude issues" so he can fall into Green Bay's lap.  Aaron Rodgers will return to the field late this year--or at the start of next year and push these concerns out of fans' minds.  But remember, this is where your future lies, Packer Backers.