Lindsay Leopard Football

   Congratulations! to the Lindsay Leopards for finishing the football season with eleven wins and only one loss. This 2016 edition of Leopard football ranks up there will all the storied teams of the past - the 1962, 1970, 1973, 1977, and 1980 Leopard football teams. My message to this 2016 football team is this: Your memories of this season will last a lifetime. You will always remember your teammates and always have visions of events that transpired during the season. You will share them with your kids and grandkids as you go through life.
   I've only mentioned a few of the Leopard teams held in high esteem, because those are the ones familiar to me, as I went through Lindsay High School from 1972 to 1975. As a matter of fact, the Daily Oklahoman named the Lindsay Leopards as the program with the highest percentage of wins of any team in class-2A, for the decade of the seventies. The great 1970 Leopard football team entered the state finals that year with 12 wins and no losses. They were ranked first in class-2A most of the season and had shut-out five opponents that year,as they had scored 422 points while allowing only 44 during the regular season. The 1970 team boasted of great players such as Danny Simonton, Gary Cooper, Terry Henry, Billy Gibson, Danny Cunningham, Bud McGuire, Johnny Branch, and all-staters Mike Terry and Mike Flesher. I really don't like bringing up the not so great memories, but I will anyway. That 1970 Leopard team faced Nowata in the title game in December at Central State University in Edmond. The Leopards were heavy favorites and were in fact leading Nowata 12 to 0 by the end of the first quarter. In my mind, it was going to be another lopsided win by the Leopards, as I looked on as an 8th grader at Lindsay Junior High. The Ironmen of Nowata fought back, however, finally winning 14 - 12. My "football heroes" had lost the last game, much like this year's 2016 Leopards.
   The 1973 Leopards were almost identical to the 1970 team, except they relied on a ground control offense, instead of a back-breaking defense. The '73 Leopards, in the words of the Daily Oklahoman, "ground out rushing yardage the way a packing plant grinds out sausage". Once again, they ended the regular season with 10 wins against 0 losses, and ranked number one in class-2A. Like the '70 team, the '73 team had great players such as Stan Everett, Damon Clagg (6'5", 250), David Shahan, Duke Webb, Jeff Ardrey, Rick Lawson (6'6", 315), Mike Davis, and all-stater Bobby Simonton. They entered the play-offs 10-0 for the regular season, but faced another 10-0 team, the Bristow Purple Pirates in the first playoff game. Back in the seventies, only the district champs made the playoffs, so many very good football teams met during the first round. The Leopards were top-ranked, just like in 1970, but fell 9-7, so ended their campaign with a 10 wins and 1 loss record.
   The 1977 Leopards were much like their '70 and '73 brothers. They relied on a stellar defense that only allowed 6 touchdowns all year and were 10-0 when the regular season ended. The '77 Leopards also had many great players such as Joe Keith Foster, Johnny Beckham, Terry Winn, Dean Edzards, and Scott Gentry. The '77 Leopards eventually lost to another undefeated team, the Atoka Wampus Cats, to end their season - once again- with only one loss.
   So, the 2016 Lindsay Leopards are just the latest of several Leopard football teams to end the year with a single loss. They can count themselves among the elite of a long and storied tradition of gridiron legends - the tradition that IS Lindsay Leopard football.

California's SB 1383 and Proposition 2

   Proponents of SQ 777 "Right to Farm" cited two specific initiatives, both California bills, which could have been stopped if California had the "Right to Farm" in its constitution. Proposition 2, a ballot initiative, was voted on in 2008 - which increased the cage sizes for chickens, the pen sizes for veal calves, and gestation crate sizes for hogs (sows). As it was before Prop. 2, the sizes of these cages, pens, and crates - where livestock spends its entire lives - was too small for the chicken, calf, or sow to "stand upright, turn around, and even stretch limbs". Proposition 2 required cage and pen sizes to increase, to allow for this limited movement. It's a fact that only industrial corporate farms raised and produced livestock under the previous conditions, not family owned farms and ranches. Family farms do not raise and produce livestock in this way, so it's difficult for them to "compete" with the giant corporate farms, hence many went out of business - since only corporate farms grow and raise livestock like a gardener would grow a tomato plant. Most corporate entities such as Farm Bureau, only interested in the profit motive, did not like Prop.2 - as corporate executives and share-holders could see profits shrinking. Corporate execs said that egg prices would increase, as it would cost more to produce eggs. What actually happened, though, was egg prices initially increased - not because of the increased cage sizes - but because California was entering a drought period along with an outbreak of the avian flu (caused by small cage sizes). Egg prices are now, as of 2016, lower than they were before Prop. 2! In addition, since prop. 2 was a ballot initiative instead of a state law, it could not have been stopped by a "SQ 777" in California. By the way, corporations only interested in corporate profits, always support the corporate side of any initiative or law - not individual farmers and ranchers. A corporation which has share-holders and company executives are always concerned with corporate profits, and not concerned in the least with family farmers and ranchers. They are not concerned about how many family farmers they flush down the toilet, just as Wal-Mart is not concerned about how many family owned grocery stores, tire shops, pharmacies, optometrists, etc. it puts out of business.
   Senate Bill 1383 is the California law which forces local dairy farmers to drastically reduce methane pollution by 40% within 15 years. In order to comply with the new law, small family owned dairies (less than 3000 cows) will probably have to install $1 million "digesters" - giant manufactured tarp coverings which fit over cattle manure pits and designed to capture the escaping methane. The methane gas is then sold to electric companies for a profit. California has allocated $50 million for dairies to use for purchasing and installing "digesters". The only problem with this scenario is that there are over 450 dairies in California, so the only dairies that can afford to comply with the law would be the giant corporate dairies. In my opinion, SB 1383 is another corporate bill designed to consolidate the small dairies into the corporate giants. Several giant dairies already have the "digesters" in place, so the motivation behind the bill is to run the smaller family-owned dairies out of existence (like Seaboard Farms did in Oklahoma to our family owned hog farms). SB 1383 was fronted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in California because of air quality and greenhouse gases present in California only, not in Oklahoma. If the California Legislature had not taken action, the Federal government would have - so a Right to Farm bill in California would not have stopped the EPA. The good news for Oklahoma, is that several family owned dairies might relocate to our state, in order to avoid buying a $1 million digester.
   The bottom line for me is this: If I lived and worked a family farm in California, I would have been dead set against SB 1383 - as it is designed (just like SQ 777 in Oklahoma) for corporate farm advantages, for increased corporate profits. Once again, SB 1383 and SQ 777 pitted "corporate conservatives" against "traditional conservatives" In the case of SB 1383, however, the corporate conservatives and corporate liberals won, while in Oklahoma with SQ 777 - traditional conservatives won.

All-State Cheerleaders

   We've barely begun the school year, and Blanchard Public Schools is proud to announce the addition of two all-staters of the Oklahoma Cheer Coaches Association (OCCA). High school cheerleaders from public and private schools all over the state competed on November 8 at Jenks High School in Tulsa, for the opportunity to be named "All-State" in cheerleading. From a field of 128 cheer competitors, 32 cheerleaders - 16 for the West and 16 for the East, were named all-state. The 16 West all-staters were comprised of students from all classifications, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A. The 4 class 4A all-state cheerleaders named included Mackenzie Matray and Megan Musick of Blanchard High School! These two all-state cheerleaders comprised half of the total 4A competitors. What an accomplishment by Megan and Mackenzie! It's been several years since Blanchard High School had a cheerleader named to the all-state squad, the last being Karlee Morton in 2012. Mackenzie and Megan will be cheering at the  all-state basketball and football games to be held next summer. Once again, congratulations to Blanchard High School and to Megan Musick and Mackenzie Matray for being selected all-state cheerleaders 2016-2017.

Political philosophies - President and SQ 777.

   I'll now discuss my opinion of how specific political philosophies played a role in the race for President of the United States as well as State Question 777, The Right to Farm, in Oklahoma. These observations are strictly my opinion, but based on hard facts as to how both elections were won and lost. First of all, some political philosophy terms and definitions:
1) Traditional conservatism - A political and social philosophy which promotes retaining traditional  social institutions, such as family farms and public schools, in the context of the culture. Most Oklahomans, democrats and republicans alike, identify as traditional conservatives. They are sometimes called "tea-party" conservatives.
2) Corporate conservatism - A political philosophy which promotes the merger of corporations and    government whereby corporate power dominates. Corporate conservatism is sometimes called            corporatism or fascism.
3) Corporation - A for-profit entity which is owned by shareholders, can own land, and donate to campaigns just like individuals.
4) Non-profit - An association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without a profit motive. Corporate conservatives often refer to non-profits as corporations.
5) Traditional liberalism - A political and social philosophy which promotes government as a way to   solve societies problems.
6) Corporate liberalism - A political philosophy in which the corporate elite become "both the chief    beneficiaries of and the chief lobbyists for corporate profiteering. Corporate liberals and corporate      conservatives are almost identical philosophically. Corporate liberalism is also called neo-liberalism.

   Donald Trump is a traditional conservative like most Oklahomans, which is why he received 65% of Oklahoma's vote last Tuesday. Hillary Clinton is a corporate liberalist, just like Barack Obama. The Clinton Foundation as well as Hillarie's campaign received $millions in corporate donations over the past several months in an attempt to win the presidency. Donald Trump pretty much funded his  own campaign. He did not receive financial support from corporate conservatives or corporate liberals. He won the presidency because of traditional conservative support. Many corporate conservatives denounced the Donald Trump campaign months before the general election. They were the republicans such as Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, et al, who said they could not support Trump. Fortunately for Donald Trump, traditional conservatives saw through their disingenuous statements, and voted for him anyway.
   State Question 777, The Right to Farm bill, mirrored the presidential race in a number of ways. Corporate conservatives were able to convince many traditional conservatives that this bill was actually for them (family farmers and ranchers). The bill was finally traced back to 1996 to a corporatist organization called ALEC. The bill in 1996 was actually a state law to be adopted by state legislators (corporate conservatives), not a state question. In 2013, the law was officially changed to a state question which could be adopted by states. It was determined by corporations that individual farmers and ranchers would be easier to fool, and present it as a "state question", rather than a law to be passed. As a matter of fact, Missouri and North Dakota did pass the bill as a state question in 2013. Traditional conservatives in Oklahoma were not so easy to fool, however, as it went down to defeat - 60% NO, 40% YES. Many Oklahomans saw the bill for what it truly was - a bill written by corporations for corporate profits only, not our family farmers. Corporate conservatives in Oklahoma said those that advocated failure for SQ 777 were "liberals", and after failure of the bill, many corporate conservatives began the on-line name-calling and disparaging comments directed at those who "Voted NO". As a matter of fact, those "corporate conservatives'" actions closely matched those neo-liberal actions in California and elsewhere in protesting Donald Trump as our U.S. President.
   Donald Trump overcame attacks from corporate conservatives and neo-liberals to win the presidency, with the help of traditional conservatives. Traditional conservatives overcame attacks from corporate conservatives and neo-liberals to flush SQ 777 down the toilet. In both cases, traditional conservatives win and corporations lose...

 

The Best Team

   Congratulations to the Lindsay Leopards! 11-0, and still going! I don't know when the Leopards last ended a regular season 10 wins and 0 losses. It could have been in the early eighties or even 1973 (when I was in high school). I hear this 2016 version is just as good as any other Leopard team, but time will tell if they're as good as some teams from the late 1950's, early 1960's, or early 1970's. Good luck to them, and I hope to see them play over the next several weeks.
   Very rarely under Friday night lights does the "best team" lose. As a matter of fact, I can't remember a time in all my high school football commentaries that I said "the best team did not win". Almost always, the best team wins when football games are played. Sometimes, bad officiating contributes to one team's loss, but rarely does the best team lose because of bad officiating.
   I'll go ahead and say it for the game played Friday night between the Blanchard Lions and Heritage Hall Chargers - "The best team did not win." Oh, I know, the final score was Heritage Hall 27 - Blanchard 19, but... the best team did not win.
   I played or coached in over 150 games of high school football during my 18 year career, and I can remember only two games in which the best team did not win. The first one was a game in 1974 between the Lindsay Leopards and El Reno Indians which ended in a 0 to 0 tie (There was no sudden death or tie-breaker in those days). It rained the entire game, and the Leopards turned the ball over several times and simply couldn't maintain proper footing when threatening to score. The actual play on the field, however, was lopsided in favor of the Leopards. The best team did not win that night. The second time I remember in which the best team didn't win, was a game between the Duncan Demons and The Tulsa McLain Scots in the 1987 Class-5A State Championship game. This game matched the 8 wins 5 loss Demons against the 13 and 0 McLain Scots. Tulsa McLain High School entered that final game in 1987 by dismantling every team they played that yea. In addition to beating every team, they had thoroughly intimidated each team before every game that year. They did so by standing at mid-field during pre-game warm-ups and chanting, "We will rock you" over and over again to the opposing team at the other end of the field. They did this toward the end of the pre-game warm-up period, just before exiting the field for their locker room. Opposing teams were left with an ominous feeling toward the Scots, just before kick-off. As a team and coaching staff, the Duncan Demons had seen this intimidation tactic on film, so knew what to expect. The Demons had entered the playoffs with only 5 wins against 5 losses, as a 4th place team in the district (much like this year's Blanchard Lions) - but had battled all year to win games by one point usually. As a matter of fact, they faced the 10 and 0, number one ranked Carl Albert Titans in the first play-off game that year, and came away with a hard-fought 9 to 7 victory on the last play of the game. This was perhaps the most satisfying victory I've ever been associated with - and what was to follow a month later was probably the most heartbreaking loss I've ever been associated with. In that championship game in December of 1987, the Duncan Demons had turned the tables on the Tulsa McLain Scots. Instead of the Scots standing at mid-field chanting at the Demons, the Duncan Demon players had lined up at mid-field before the Scots had a chance, and began chanting "We will rock you" as the Demon marching band played the anthem. No Duncan coaches or fans knew what the players and band had planned, but it worked to perfection. The Scots had been out-flanked by the Duncan Demons. The Demons went on to out-play them by out-hitting, out-running, and having better statistics - but losing on the score-board, 7-6. The Demons drove the length of the field in the 4th quarter, only to miss a 23 yard field goal on the last play. I'll always remember that game.. always.
   The Lions' game on Friday night reminds me of that 1987 championship game. Blanchard out-hit, out-ran, and out-played Heritage Hall - the winner of 38 straight games - but still lost 27-19 because of the wrong breaks at the wrong times. It's just that simple - "the best team did not win".

VETERANS DAY - 2016

   Veterans Day, Friday, November 11, 2016. We, as American citizens, should recognize the sacrifices our veterans have made in order that we remain a free people. To remind myself of these sacrifices, I saw a movie last two years ago – “Fury”, starring Brad Pitt as a tank commander during the last days of World War II. Seeing this movie not only reminded me of our veteran’s sacrifices but also served to help me realize how trivial most of our disagreements are concerning how to best educate our students or who to vote for in any upcoming election.  Joe Tunnell (Lindsay H.S. football coach, 1968-1982), perhaps reflected on what’s really important in 1968 in the locker room following a Clinton-Lindsay playoff game  (I had written an earlier column about it). The Red Tornados had just put a “beat down” on a very good Lindsay Leopard football team, 35-7. Tunnell entered the locker room where the first thing he said to his down trodden players was “If we ever go to war with Russia, those guys are on our side.” Tunnell put the devastating loss in perspective for his team by reminding them that “it’s only a game” and there are more important things to think about, like the real-life “game” our veterans have played and won.

   We can honor our military heroes by recognizing the contributions of a real veteran today. For me, I’ll do that now: Warren H. Beckham (1920-1968) was a United States Army veteran of World War II and fought with the 87^th Infantry Mountain Division in Italy (1942-1945). Uncle Warren was awarded the Silver Star on July 6, 1945 for his actions during the push through fascist Italy in the war against Nazi Germany. The account of these actions that merited the commendation is located in the Army Hall of Valor and is as follows:

                                                                  “ General Order 127, July 6, 1945.

                                                                           Award of Silver Star.

                                                          Warren H. Beckham, 87^th Mountain Infantry.

                                           For gallantry in action on 15 April 1945, near Mt. Pigna, Italy.

   During the attack on a strongly defended mountain, Sergeant Beckham, mortar squad leader, emplaced his weapon on the top of a nearby hill, and then moved forward to the to the highest point, which was absolutely devoid of cover, to direct mortar fire on the hostile emplacements on the mountain. Despite direct firing of artillery and sniper fire, which endangered his life continually, he remained exposed to the intense enemy action, calmly zeroing in on the enemy machine-guns and pill-boxes which were holding up the advance of the company. His gallant conduct and skillful placement of the mortar fire on the hostile defenders greatly expedited the winning of the objective. Sergeant Beckham’s heroic performance of a dangerous mission adds luster to the finest traditions of the United States Army.”

   Warren H. Beckham, like all veterans, served his country when “winning” meant preserving our way of life in the U.S.A., and “losing” meant allowing the Nazis to change it. We must always put things in perspective and realize that the ultimate “game” has already been played by our veterans, and we won.

   Prologue: Warren Beckham was killed in an oilfield explosion near Ardmore, Oklahoma on March 11, 1968 at age 47.

            

History of Political Philosophies - 2016

   I think it's timely that I share my opinion on political philosophies, since it's the day after - the day after the November 8 elections. My opinion will be based on the standard definitions of political philosophies as applied to some misunderstandings of Tuesday's elections. Bear in mind,that these definitive philosophies are only one definition and anyone reading this blog may have an altogether different view. First of all, my definition of terms, according to Wikipedia, Webster, Brittanica, et al:

Conservatism - A political and social philosophy which promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization such as our public education system and our family farms.

Corporatism - A political and social philosophy which promotes a partnership between corporations and government in ruling a country. Sometimes called corporate fascism by conservative groups.

Neo-liberalism - A political and social philosophy which promotes government spending on corporations, as opposed to people. Sometimes called corporate welfare by traditional conservatives.

   These political philosophies played out on November 8 in an interesting and dynamic way. Many voters who considered themselves conservative, found out they were actually corporatists, as they voted for corporate interests on the State Questions. For example, many who voted YES on SQ 792 are in favor of corporate interests sharing authority with our government. SQ 792, which had over $ one million paid to the YES campaign by corporate entities, passed by an overwhelming majority. The only benefits of SQ 792 (the bill which allows corporations to sell liquor, as well as everything else in life) is to advance share-holder and company profits. The bill allows corporations access to liquor markets, which will ultimately destroy small business owners. Many traditional conservatives tried to point this fact out to their fellow voters, but it fell on deaf ears. Many voters actually self-identify as conservative, but are in reality, corporatists.

   Another example of corporatism disguised as conservatism was displayed by SQ 777. The bill actually was written by corporatists for corporations. Corporations working shoulder to shoulder with state lawmakers wrote the bill in 1996 at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The corporate factory farms involved were Seaboard, Smithfield, Tyson, et al - while the state legislators involved shall remain anonymous. Anyone who should want to know names, however, can see them in a publication called ALEC Exposed. George Carlin ranted about corporatism in his 2005 routine, The American Dream, and Abraham Lincoln expressed his fear of corporatism in a letter to one of his civil war generals.