The beauty of aging football coaches

Courtesy of inveterate newsreader Tim Marsh:

Legendary NCAA Division III  football coach John Gagliardi, 82, (St. John's University) to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, about his job security:

"The monks give me a lifetime contract because they figure I can't last much longer. But there's a clause in there that if we start losing games, they can give me the last sacraments and declare me dead."

-- Spokane Spokesman-Review

Why most newspapers will fade away

Newspapers are clearly in trouble as we move deeper into economic recession. This causes me particular pain as I am a former newspaper journalist. I worked in the industry for about 20 years altogether and loved almost every minute of it.

I left in 1986 because the world was changing and it was clear to me that newspapers were no longer keeping up with the times, particularly in the technology arena. But, mostly the career opportunity was limited and uninspiring. Many newspapers were poorly managed, setting the stage for their failure to understand and recognize the threat the Internet was to pose in another 10 years. They thought they were in the newspaper business when in fact they were in the information communications business. The printed newspaper was merely a means for presenting and transporting information. When the Internet came along and everyone got computers and high-speed connections, it solved the delivery problem. When the Internet improved, it solved the presentation problem. In fact, the Internet ultimately was able to vastly outpace the capability of the printed page in delivering vast amounts of content.

Now, it’s the combination of the Internet and the economy that is putting the double whammy on newspapers. Many will not survive the current economic times. But they would be doomed even if the economy was fine. It would just take longer. Newspapers for the most part don’t get it and haven’t gotten it for a long time. They should have seen this coming, but they either didn’t or chose not to heed all the warning signs.

Now it’s probably too late. People are changing their habits. No one buys the local paper for its classified ads, the cash cow of yesterday. They go to Craig’s List, which is free and produces instant, interactive results. Quality publications with truly unique content will probably survive. But, I’m sceptical that local news will keep them in the game. TV stations stand an excellent chance to win that battle for the same reason that the Internet has won.

For years, newspapers have had web sites. But, many have been squandered efforts. They apparently thought that merely having a web presence was sufficient, but that it didn’t matter what was on the web site. Well those days have passed. Consumers are too savvy.

So, the world will change again. I was once hopeful that newspapers would merely morph into online sites. I don’t think that’s going to happen in most instances. For many newspapers, it’s just too late and they will slowly fade away. Perhaps they will hang on in some online guise for a time, but they’ve already lost that economic battle.

We still subscribe to a newspaper, but it’s published in New York, has unique global content, is printed at a satellite printing plant and has a great web site.

Dumb as we wanna be

I don’t want to go on forever about this because Thomas Friedman does it so much better.

I occasionally get emails from a dear friend, an educated guy who has lived all over the world, who just happens to be in with the wrong political crowd. He’s as intellectual and bright as anyone I’ve know in my life, but he still clings to the conservative right mantra and parrots back the same old crap about freedom, taxes and guns. His friends would rather talk about Clinton pardons than America’s standing in the world, our ruined economy and two failed wars. He also sends out emails to a list of his friends – most of whom are not of my persuasion on political issues or worldview. It’s the usual whistling-by-the-graveyard stuff , poking fun at the people who think before they email.

Well, he sent out an email yesterday about how he’d take his guns and freedom and the rest of us could have our change. I pointed out that change is coming and there’s nothing the head-in-sand crowd can do about it. It’s already started with the election of Mr. Obama and the increased majority of the Democrats in Congress. The American people have voted for change and new perspectives. It was clearly a mandate – something George Bush could not achieve in eight years.

His son, who is in the midst of his doctoral program (in law enforcement even) at Florida State University, responded to the mail politely suggesting that everyone read Friedman’s new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded. For those who haven’t read it, this should be your New Year’s resolution. If you want a taste, read Friedman’s column on the subject from this week’s New York Times.

A chill-out kind of Christmas

Now that we’re through Christmas, and the snow is finally melting away, I have to say this was one of the strangest Christmases ever. Given the current economic dilemma, I have to wonder if this wasn’t all meant to be.

What was different? Of course there was the backdrop of the economy, but this year it was the weather – our worst snowfall in decades, about four to be exact. That kept us housebound for most of the 10 days or so leading up to Christmas and cut down dramatically on the amount of spending. When you can’t get out to the stores and restaurants, you can’t spend money.

This all is going to hit the local merchants quite a whack, but it’s probably a lot more in line with what people need to do and I want to do. We have a lot to be thankful for and we had a great Christmas. It was small, affordable and for family even though we didn’t get out to see a lot of family. We also weren’t rushing around at the last minute, feeling guilty because we hadn’t bought enough presents or gotten enough baking, etc. done. It was just a low-key, chill-out kind of Christmas.

Really, this may indeed be the model for Christmases (if not life) going forward even thought we don’t expect to see this kind of weather again for a long time, if ever.

A bigger deal than I thought

Last week, we had our repatriation training. It was something generously provided by my company to help us adjust to moving back to the US after living overseas for more than two years. At first, I was inclined to pass it up. After all, it costs money and weren't we moving back to a country that we knew well and had lived in most of our lives.

The more I reflect on the training, the more valuable it becomes. We certainly don't see the US as a foreign land, but between missing our former surroundings and friends and being puzzled by why we are feeling the way we are about some things here, this was invaluable. We realized how much we've changed, some of it in very subtle ways. We also realize that our families and friends have different expectations of us than we have of ourselves.We lived a different lifestyle in London -- not better, just different. Two years was enough time to make some significant changes on how we view the world and some of that is at odds with the common wisdom here.

Nothing's changed and yet everything has changed. We are not living in our house because it's still rented. The government is about to change dramatically (something we welcome). And then there's the economy, which adds all kinds of additional tension. But there are other little things. We've been more reluctant to jump back into things with friends. We find ourselves craving time by ourselves. We miss the long walks and time together we had in London. Why? I think it had a lot to do with the two of us taking on a new experience in a foreign land two years ago. Now, we need some time to readjust. We didn't own a car for two years and rarely drove. Now, we have two cars. We've both been more tired. All part of the adjustment, we were told.

Just to be sure, we are moving on with our lives and we are adjusting. There are, of course, many, many things we love about living back in the US, but we now realize that our feelings are normal and that it'll take some time for us to re-enter. The training will help us cope with this and more than that perhaps help our friends and families understand that there is a re-entry process and it's normal and natural. As we were told and realize, we are changed forever.

Whites on the move in Oregon

This is a wine comment. The other night we went out to Newberg for the First Friday Artwalk. It's really more of a winewalk than artwalk. We didn't find much art, but a decent amount of wine.

One thing that struck me was the prevalence and quality of some of the whites we tasted. Oregon, of course, is known for its pinot noir and we are big fans. But, some are making a big bet on whites. Bill Stoller of Stoller Vineyards is among them. He planted a significant portion of his acreage in chardonnay. Harry Peterson-Nedry, winemaker and co-owner of Chehalem Vineyards is betting on Riesling. Harry once told me that if you can't make Riesling, you can't make wine. Then there's pinot gris, a wine I'd given up on a couple of years ago, but some of the pinot gris being turned out in Oregon is distinctive and interesting. Chehalem has a barrel fermented gris and Scott Shull at Raptor Ridge has been making a great gris for year.

While living overseas, we became big fans of white burgundies, especially meursault. We had a Coral Creek Chardonnay the other night that reminded us of the meursaults we liked in Europe. On the Riesling side, Lemelson's has always been our favorite. It's crisp, lemony taste is driven by an acidity that makes it ideal for laying down for a few years.

Living small

We are living in an 1,125 sq. ft. condo near our 2,500 sq. ft. house in Beaverton and we'll be here for at least another 5 months. It's about the same size as our flat in north London though not as well arranged. But, we've found ourselves saying to each other that we actually kind of like this small living.

More than anything else, living small has a huge impact on your accumulation of stuff. We can barely fit our two cars in the garage and one of them is a Mini Cooper. We have more furniture than we know what to do with. We have limited cupboard space in the kitchen. But, we have what we need, even a reasonably sized balcony where we can barbecue and get some fresh air and sun. It's more than adequate.


One of the ways that we've changed since moving back is our view on stuff. We don't need nearly as much as we accumulate. And, we're trying really hard to fall back into this trap. When our house is available next year, I'm sure we'll move back in and not sell it to take up permanent residence in the condo. But for now, this is doing us just fine.