Time to Vent

By...Erik Schuman

Gonna do something different this week. Instead of covering one main topic, this week I just want to “vent” air comment on a bunch of topics. Also, next week instead of posting a new entry on Monday, May 18 I am going to push it back a few days until Wednesday, May 20. There is a reason for it. Trust me, it is worth the 48 hour wait.

***TERM LIMITS! When I first started doing this, I set only one ground rule: No Politics! I have stuck to that and even though I am about to discuss politics it is not being political.

Milk is great. No one will argue that. There are many options from: Cows to Soy to Almond to...countless other choices. But even milk goes bad after a certain amount of time which is why even milk has an expiration date on it. As great of an athlete as someone like Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky was, at some point in time they hit their “expiration date” and have to retire. Our Founding Fathers never meant for politician to be a career. It isn’t for Presidents and starting with Eisenhower the POTUS is only allowed to serve two full terms. Yet we allow members of CONgress to serve as long as they like. I am not going to name names here, but I know we can all think of several members, both Democrats and Republicans who need to go and needed to go many years ago. We need “term limits” for CONgress.

Members of the House can serve no more than 6, 2-year terms while the Senate gets 2, 6-year terms. When you have served your 12 years YOU ARE DONE! Time to move on. You do not get the best pension and healthcare out there for the rest of your life. You get a certain amount contributed to your pension for every year you served. You get one additional year of healthcare then no more. You cannot be a lobbyist, either. The only problem is in order for this to be enacted the members of CONgress would have to approve it and we know what those odds are! But those who wish to make a lifelong career out of being in politics need to be told:

  

***Right now, we are going thru the worst times in the history of the entire planet in, maybe, forever. Covid-19 has crippled society and its effect will last many years after we find a vaccine for it. People are wearing masks and “social distancing” – as they should. SO WHY DO I SEE PEOPLE SMOKING A CIGARETTE WHILE WEARING A MASK! I know nicotine is very addictive. But unless the smoke kills off brain cells WHY DO PEOPLE INSIST ON SMOKING WHILE WEARING A MASK! Dumb!

***There are many, many, many, many, many, MANY MILLIONS of reasons to hate Covid-19. Just when it seemed like we couldn’t find any more we find that is not the case. A few days ago Garden Fresh Restaurants announced the permanent closing of all 97 Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants after 42 years of filling the stomachs of millions of customers. Realistically this is no shock and it is probably only a matter of time before similar places, like Hometown Buffet and Golden Corral announce closings, too. But unlike the latter two, Soup/Sweet’s closing hurts because, unlike the other two, these places are good. I live just over a mile from a Souplantation. I have been going there for decades. Unless the weather was bad (and in SoCal it rarely is) I would walk there and back. It allowed me to work off a few of the too-many-more-than-I-should-have-consumed calories I gorged myself on while there. My plan of attack was always the same. I would skip all salads since that is what they wanted me to eat. I would get some Rotelle pasta and put some Italian Dressing on it to make some pasta salad and then pig out on the good stuff in back. The Chicken Noodle soup had chunks of bigger than Rhode Island. I would get some, then take out some of the chicken, cut it up and place it over the Focaccia and have some “Chicken Pizza.” I got some pasta and usually put chili over the top of it. I always went during “Lemon Month” when they had all sorts of lemon special dishes. The Lemon Lava Cake was the best with Vanilla Ice Cream over the top, so it melted in. I usually went back a handful of times and always ended by taking a few muffins for the walk home. I know nothing lasts forever. But losing a place like this hurts and check their social media pages the pain is felt by many others.

***Brandon Leipsic is an NHL player. Or was an NHL player. Within the last week, or so, Leipsic engaged in a PRIVATE Instagram chat with some fellow NHL players. Leipsic used language and made comments that would make even KKK members feel a little uneasy. He was chosen in the third round of the 2012 draft by Nashville, a team he never played for and that is saying a lot since his four-year NHL career has seen him play for one more team than that, including my LA Kings the latter part of last season. Leipsic will be 26 next week. Once his team, Washington Capitals, saw the comments they did what they had no choice but to do – cut him. (Almost) no one is coming to his defence (since he is Canadian might as well spell “defense” the way they do there) over what he said. Some are coming to his defense saying he said what he said in a private chat. I will agree that what is said in private should stay kept private. However, NOTHING said on social media is private. Even if you think it is. If you are stupid enough to call African-Americans the “N-word” that is your right. If you say that in private when no cellphones are recording it, you might get away with it. Say it in public and you really can’t complain when you are fired from your job, you become a social outcast, and no one wants anything to do with you.

I have officiated sporting events for too many decades to count. I don’t know the exact number but my guess is at least 7,000 and maybe over 10,000 games. I know that with cameras and microphones as powerful as ever what you say to your partner can very easily be heard, even if you say it at a whisper level. We are told “Silence can not be misquoted.” Leipsic didn’t adhere to this and it cost him. Could another team in the NHL give him a second chance? Maybe. But it’s not like he was putting up great numbers, as is. He was a fourth-line player who was a healthy scratch quite often in his career. He can come out and say, “That’s not the ‘real’ me,” but we all know it is. If his (former) Capitals’ teammate Alexander Ovechkin made these same comments the Caps wouldn’t have cut him because “Ovi” is one of the best players in the NHL. Leipsic is like every other marginal professional athlete who needs to heed the advice of former NFL player and now current Arizona State Head Football Coach Herm Edwards:

***In December, 2016, we rescued a dog from a no-kill shelter. The name attached to her was “Cutie” but it was obvious that was not a name she had very long because we renamed her “Velvet” and she quickly grasped on to it. When you get a dog, it means taking it for a walk. We do it twice a day. Velvet can go for up to 2 miles and be OK. Taking her now through the neighborhood is heartbreaking because while walking her I see countless signs from people who have a high school graduating senior who is unable to walk this year because that was cancelled. As someone who has “walked” three times I soooooooooo feel for these students. They worked hard to be honored and now that won’t happen. For some it will be the only time they graduate since not all will go to college. I am hoping this all clears up by 2021 since my nephew (college) and youngest niece (8^th grade) will be walking and I hope they get that opportunity.

As always: STAY SAFE OUT THERE!