The State of the Scribbler, Belatedly.

     April 6th came and went with barely a whimper of acknowledgement by the keeper of this blog, which is to say, me.  The teeming masses who read and follow this thing religiously know the significance of April 6th.  It is, of course the day that the Moonlight Scribbler emerged fitfully from the mind of its author back in 2006.  As I said back then, I say today, I never really cared whether people read whatever I posted to this blog.  It was meant to be a place where I could put whatever got lodged in my head, and wouldn't leave until I dealt with it. Usually, I mark April 6th as the official end to the annual winter hibernation that the Scribbler takes, until it bursts forth from its slumber ready and raring to take on the world, but more often like a grumpy old brown bear that shuffles out of its smelly ass cave, pissed off, needing to take a dump, and ready to kill whatever unfortunate creature that crosses in front of it.
      There are a few people who claim to read the Scribbler, although considering how often I post to the blog, I'm not surprised if they've moved on to fresher and more relevant fare. To those who still hang on for the drops of literary crumbs that fall from my mind onto this medium, I say 'thank you', and in the same breath, I incredulously ask, 'Why??'   I sometime ask myself the same question.  Last year was the the third lowest in terms of post count in the seven year history of the Scribbler. Only 19 posts were made in 2012..
     Now there are bloggers who put out 19 posts a day.  But my 19 posts are at least 600-700 words each. But it still must be said that my interest in maintaining this thing has waned over the years, and round about April 6th, I keep trying to decide whether to keep the Scribbler going, or whether to stop posting.  Now if I do stop posting, that doesn't mean that the blog will be taken down.  As long as Google allows me to keep it up, it'll stay up.  There is some good stuff here.  Some of my best writing, as a matter of fact.  So, if for no other reason than to at least keep a "Pierre was Here" plaque in my little corner of the Internet,  the Scribbler will always be here.
     But while I still must review my options re: the continued existence of the blog on a yearly basis, I have come to the conclusion that for 2013, I will keep posting to the Scribbler, although as per the rules of this thing, I never have been and never will be held to a rigid posting schedule.  Except when I do my City League football posts, which are a large portion of the content on the blog,  that go up once a week or so from August to November, It's business as usual.  I post when something gets lodged in my head and won't leave.  The posts will be cross linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts as they always have been.
    It seems like my desire to write has gone down significantly.  I don't post here nearly as much as I used to.  The current fan fiction piece based on the "Oh, My Goddess" franchise, The Liaison, that I have been working on since last year has all but stalled out.  I'm in no hurry to start the original fiction work that I've been wanting to do. Maybe I'm just being lazy. Maybe the writing muse has cleared out her things and took off down the road again like she did a couple years ago.  Maybe I just need a good swift kick in the ass.  I don't know. But I hope and pray that I can regain the spark of motivation again.  Writing is about all I can do anymore. If I lose this, what else is there?
    Let's get off this morbid tone, I'm getting depressed.   I hereby declare that the Moonlight Scribbler is back for 2013, and while her state isn't what it used to be, it's better than the alternative.

New Years Eve 2012

This was the last Post I posted to my Facebook account, hence the FB references, but the same sentiments remain for those throbbing masses that read this blog. So substitute 'Moonlight Scribbler' for 'Facebook.'

"This will probably be my last post for 2012 on teh Facebook.  It's been a fairly ho-hum year.  Some good, some bad, and a lot of the other.  But at least I fulfilled one of my goals and that was to stand at the end of the year with most of my senses more or less intact, and my mind still somewhat functional.  Anything more was and is gravy.  I keep my expectations low these days.  Therefore, what I wish for next year is pretty much the same as last year. To be able to still be here in another 365 days, hale, somewhat hearty, and able to look back on the past year having learned something that I can use for the next year.  To all my friends on teh Facebook, thanks for the laughs, counsel, the high weirdness, and letting me experience some of your lives thru this medium. I pray God's blessings on all of yinz.  Hug your spouses, kids, and critters and hope and pray (if you're inclined to that sort of thing) that sanity, and peace will be the rule instead of the exception in our society. Be careful out there tonite, NYE is amateur night.  And I offer my traditional New Year's Wish for all of my Facebook family.  Health, happiness, healing where needed, and may your 2013 be a damn sight better than 2014.  See yinz on the other side.  Pierre."

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Whatever...

     As is my habit of seeing merit in both sides of an argument and being committed to neither, in most things,  I don't really have a problem with the annual kerfuffle re: Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas.  I'm a Christian, although I suck at it.  But I don't have the right to say that the Birth of Jesus has precedence over a holiday celebrated by non-Christians.
     To me, it's not how you celebrate a holiday in public, but how you respect it in your heart and in your family.  I'm not a pagan, but I respect their right to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  I'm not Jewish, but if my Jewish friends asked me come to a Hanukkah observance, who am I to decline? I'm not British, but they have a right to celebrate Boxing Day. I'm black, but I don't observe Kwanzaa (although I probably should), and for those that do, more power to them.  Wikipedia, the source of all unassailable truth, mentions 27 different holidays, major and minor, that occur during December.
     And all of them are celebrated by someone in this world, or even in this country.  Who's to say that their holidays are or are not more important to them than Christmas is to me.  We in America love to throw God out there.  Which one?  There's a lot of them out there.  There are as many incarnations and representations of God as there are people who believe in him, her, it, whatever.
     To me at least, and I'm not very smart, but it's all about mutual respect of each other's beliefs and traditions.  We're too damn busy shoving our beliefs down the throats who differ from us, to truly understand and listen to what those beliefs really are telling us.
     I'm a live and let live kinda guy.  You do your thing, and respect my right to do mine, and I'll do the same for yinz.  So whether you wish me 'Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Pancha Ganapati, Happy Hanukkah' or any other holiday that happens around this time of year,  I wish you the same.  I don't offend easily.
     For me, Christmas is not something I celebrate by decorating the house and putting up a tree.  I live alone, and have no close surviving relatives, so why bother.  I celebrate it in my heart and in my mind. And I think we'd all be a little better off if we just practiced a little mutual tolerance.  Then again, what the hell do I know?

Fan Boycotts?...Feh!!!

     I love reading the stories in the local fishwrap about the NHL lockout and and the fan's comments about calling for boycotts and showing the players and owners their 'power' by not going to games in protest of how the lockout has affected local businesses and so on.
     And I feel for those businesses, and the Penguins should do something for them as a token of appreciation for what their games do for local businesses, but fan boycotts?  I laugh my butt off about that.
     All the fans want is their hockey.  Give them NHL hockey and they'll be back in a heartbeat, all will be forgiven, and talk of fan boycotts and shows of support will be just that...talk.  That's what the players and owners are counting on, and most likely they will be proved right.
     Show me one fan boycott that worked, or that ever got off the ground.  The NHL killed their season in '04-05, and the fans came back.  In '94-'95, the NHL cancelled almost half the games due to a lockout, the fans came back. The '92 strike cancelled 30 games, the fans came back. And if and when this current lockout ends, guess what, the fans will come back.  Recurring theme here, boys and girls.  It's like an abusive relationship.  Pro sports league go on strike or have lockouts, and the fans, who always get it in the end, always come back.

Where Do We Go From Here?

     Well, the curtain has come down on probably the most divisive and bitter Presidential election in this country's history. Although I use the word 'probably' because there's no guarantee that future elections won't eclipse this one in terms of ferocity and bitterness.
     And while I'm glad that my candidate won, I, for one, am not the kind of person who will gloat and rub it into the faces of those who supported the other guy.  One, because it's not in my nature to do so, and Two, other than making me feel good for a few moments, it serves no useful purpose.
     I have no idea about what the next four years will be like while President Obama continues to work on trying to get this country back on the right track.  But I know that he can't do it all.  The Constitution, among other things won't let him, and, whatever happens on his watch will be attributed to him whether he had a direct hand in it or not.  Everyone needs to have a single point of blame, however unfair that is, and the Leader of the Free World happens to be it for this country, and a good chunk of the rest of the planet.

    Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, as it were.

    But what I want to expound upon is an appeal to my fellow Americans to stop the divisive and bitter partisan bullshit that has crippled this country.  We need to start working together to address this country's problems.  No one side has all the answers, and many of the answers need the input of all sides.  I do believe that people who espouse such polar opposite agendas as the Greens and the Tea Party can put their mutual distrust of each other's agendas aside, and concentrate on the common issues that affect the people of this country. I mean, when a tornado is bearing down on your community and threatening to wipe it off the map, that's not the time to be debating the existence of climate change, and refusing to help those who don't agree with you.  Only an idiot would engage in such behavior, but sadly, it seems that there are those in this country that would do so.
    It seems these days that it's not enough to win over your opponent, we have to rub our opponents face in their defeat. Why is it that families and friendships are destroyed because we can't agree to disagree?
    I listen to the 'This American Life' podcast, and highly recommend it, by the way, and the issue that came out before the election was called 'Red State, Blue State.'

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/478/red-state-blue-state

   The onus of the podcast is that we as a nation are so divided that we even let our divisions affect our relations with our families and friends.  People are ending long lived friendships and disowning beloved family
members simply because they don't agree with each other and don't choose to agree to disagree.  This is madness.  Who in their right mind would let blood and friendship suffer because of loyalty to party and philosophy?  This is the sign of an immature person and an immature nation.
   
    One of the great things about living in Pittsburgh is that on the first Saturday in October, we have an event called the 'Head of the Ohio.'  It's a series of competitive rowing races that is quite popular and has gained some national attention.  Have yinz ever seen how a rowing crew operates?  Depending on the event, there are up to eight men or women in a very narrow and light boat who have to work together perfectly in order to get the boat through the water as fast possible. Their oars have to hit the water at the exact same time, drive through the water with equal force, and recover and repeat the evolution consistently hundreds of times during the length of the race.
    That crew can have a liberal, a conservative, a Green, a Socialist, a Tea Party member, two moderates, and an anarchist on it, and they may get into titanic political arguments, but for the singular purpose of getting that boat from Washington's Landing 3.5 miles down the Allegheny River to the Point faster than the other teams they are racing, that crew has to put their differences aside and depend on each other to achieve the ultimate goal.  For that moment, they do not care about how best to fix the economy or whether our foreign policy is alienating us in the eyes of our allies and enemies.  They are focused on that common goal.  They don't care who gets the glory as long as they all can share in it.

    The people who are digging out of the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy are of all different races, creeds, orientations and otherwise,  but when that storm hit, all that went out of the window, and they were reduced to one common identity.  Humans in general, and Americans in particular.  And Americans love to pride themselves on helping out their own. The storm doesn't give two shits that you're a Green, or a Tea Party conservative, it'll blow your house over just as quickly as it would someone who's the exact opposite of you. And facing that, if you see your neighbor is in need, are you going to vet their worthiness for help based on your political or philosophical ideology?  If you do, I wouldn't want to live next to you.
    It's about teamwork.  That is how it should be for all of us.  I don't give a damn who gets the credit as long as we all can put our differences aside and tackle the problem together.  Why does it have to require that humans face the possibility of sudden and violent death and the loss of our 'stuff', before they get their heads out of their collective asses, and get over themselves and their petty differences?
    While we're listening to and agreeing with the pundits that tell us what we want to hear and demonize those whose only crime is that they aren't a True Believer, our country is slowing devolving into tribes where we segregate ourselves into our own little ghettos, gated and otherwise, and are happy to surround ourselves with those who think as we do.  That's not the America that I took an oath to protect and serve.  I'm not saying that people shouldn't have their own opinions about how to deal with the problems that the US faces. That's to deny human nature.
    When I saw 'United we stand, Divided we fall', I'm not saying that we all have to march in lockstep.  What I'm saying is that we have to pursue those things that unite us.  The desire to live as you want as long as you're not harming others.  To be able to provide for yourself and your family.  To pass on positive values to your children. To respectfully disagree with those who share different ideologies than you.  Those are things that we all have in common.  We have different ideas about how to achieve them, and it's not easy.  But nothing worth having ever is. But it can be done.

2012 City Championship Review

     The Perry Commodores hoisted their 17^th City Championship title last Saturday at the George beating University Prep 9-6 in overtime. The One Stars owe their championship to an unlikely source.

     Cornelio Coates had only been the Perry kicker for one week. He normally plays wide receiver. His coaches noticed that he had played soccer since he was five years old, and asked him to be the kicker.

     This was his second year playing football, and get this, he doesn't attend Perry Traditional Academy. He attends CAPA High School Downtown and is taking courses in percussion instruments. Of course, CAPA has no football team, so their students can play for any City high school that has one. He chose Perry. It was Coates 27 yard field goal in overtime that lifted the Commodores to their second City title in three years, and ninth since 1997.

      Now, as the Advocate once said, the fact that Perry won the game on a field goal is highly unusual. According to PG high school editor Mike White's article on the game, Field goals are rare in the City League. Only 4 have been attempted this season by all six City schools. Perry hadn't made a field goal since 2009, and only has completed 10 in the last 12 seasons. The Advocate can attest to this because in all the years he's been watching City League football, he has only seen a handful of field goals attempted and even fewer made.

      Perry and U-Prep remained scoreless until the third quarter. Perry's Robert Willie broke the ice with a 9 yd scamper into the end zone to put the Commodores up 6-0. U-Prep got on the board at the 7:54 mark of the fourth quarter with a 4 yd touchdown run by Ryan Daniels. The Wildcats attempted a trick play off the extra point when the kicker took a direct snap and attempted to throw it for the two-point conversion, but the pass was intercepted. Perry was helped by 14 U-Prep penalties. The Wildcats were penalized for a whopping 136 yds. Both teams amassed 20 penalties before the day was done.

      Perry's defense held the U-Prep running attack to minus 8 yards, and despite U-Prep's all-everything quarterback Akil Young going 12 for 32 for 191 of passing yds, he threw three picks.

      In the overtime period, U-Prep got the ball first and went three- and-out. Perry took over and Coates kicked the field goal on 4^th and goal to win the game.

      Both Perry and U-Prep will represent the City League in the PIAA tournament. Perry has a bye this weekend and will play Erie McDowell in the AAAA playoffs on November 16^th. U-Prep will enter the AAA playoffs and play Somerset this weekend on the 9^th. The winner of that game to play the winner of the Punxsutawny-Clearfield game.  

2012 City League Playoff Preview

     The tickets have been mailed out. The tuxes have been rented, and the party dresses are arriving as the Advocate pens this Preview. The City League playoff matchups have been set.

     In the 'Someone Has To Go Winless' game, Westinghouse, the smallest school in the City shuts out its much bigger opponent, the Carrick Raiders 18-0 to finish the season 1-4 in the league and 1-7 overall. Carrick falls to an o-fer the season.

     Allderdice's Cornelius Ray provided the only scoring for the Dragons picking up a 36 yd punt return for a touchdown, but the Allderdice offense was completely shut down as Brashear rattled off 21 unanswered points via runs by Russell Page and Diondre Harris, and a 56 yd pick-six by Jamal Smith to pick up the 21-7 win, and the third seed in the playoffs. The Bulls will take on a University Prep team that laid their beloved teammate Ne'Ondre Harbour to rest earlier this week. This after the Panthers lost to Perry in a tight, emotionally charged game 12-6. The One Stars jumped out to a 12-0 lead off 69 and 8yd runs by Ahmed Turner. And U-Prep was able to pick up a score in the 2^nd quarter when QB Akil Young threw a 24 yd pass to Marcus Johnson for a touchdown, but neither team scored in the second half.

     With the win, Perry takes the regular season City League title and will face a fading Allderdice squad that has lost three of its last four games, and lost all its games against playoff contenders in the Friday night semifinal. Perry is on a three game winning streak and while the Commodores don't have the most prolific offense, that honor goes to U-Prep, they do have the stingiest defense in the league giving up only 26 points against City League opponents.

Thursday October 25

7:00pm

University Prep vs Brashear

     The Advocate has to believe that U-Prep was still in mourning over their loss of a prominent member of their team, and that had to affect their performance against Perry last Friday night. It would be easy for the Advocate or any other so-called pundit to say that it was the coaches' responsibility to get the team past that terrible circumstance and to put their warrior face and mourn over your fallen comrade later, and all that. But these are high school kids, not professionals. As the Advocate said in his preview, anything could affect their play, especially the untimely death of a teammate. And the loss to Perry didn't affect their eligibility for the playoffs. In fact, one could say that last week's game was a dress rehearsal for the Championship game next Saturday. But now that the Panthers have laid their teammate to rest, and have dedicated the rest of the season to him, however long it lasts, they can best honor Mr. Harbour by taking care of business tonight against the Bulls, and getting back to the title game. The Panthers beat Brashear 40-12 in Week 4, and the Advocate doesn't see the Bulls winning this game either. U-Prep

Friday October 26

7:00pm

Allderdice vs Perry

     This was supposed to be the 'Dice's year. They had a big bruising running back, they had plenty of seniors coming back from a team that lost to U-Prep in the City Championship game last year. But their lack of a passing game was a contributing factor to their disappointing season. Perry only beat Allderdice 12-0 in the regular season back in week Three, and there may be a slight chance that the Dragons can make a second straight appearance in the championship. After all, they held an undefeated Brashear squad to a mere safety in a 6-2 win in the semifinals last year. But Perry is on a roll. They haven't been in the championship game since 2010, they consider it their birthright. The Advocate makes it a U-Prep vs Perry match up for the hardware next Saturday. Perry