Rink Rats is now in our tenth year, hard to believe
it has been ten years of this hobby I started to improve my writing. I have
thoroughly enjoyed it.
The critics said it would never last, six months
tops they all said. Critics like NPR, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Maclean’s,
Fox and Friends, The Hockey News, Campus Times, David Allen, and The Ithaca
Journal.
We have some new ideas for the future: by the end of
the year a You Tube Rink Rats channel, to include original programming (watch
out Netflix). A Rink Rats pod cast is in the works.
So again, thank you for reading and for your
support.
Today is July 1, Happy Canada Day! Also, it is the
beginning of my favorite holiday week: July 1 thru the Fourth of July weekend.
This week has all the others beat: patriotism, hotdogs, hamburgers, beer, ice
cream, pancake breakfasts, golf, the July 4 celebration on the Washington Mall,
I could go on and on.
Easter Week: Palm Sunday thru Easter. Too religious
and the guilt thing that comes along with it. A spiritual week but not much
fun. Of course, there is the holiday trip to Florida, the Carolinas, or the
California desert, but again you feel guilty while being at these destinations.
Also, the confusion on what to eat? Ham, roast beef, turkey, salmon…I have a
headache.
Thanksgiving Week: Too much food, drink, family, and
then there is the Detroit Lions. To watch them year after year playing on
Thanksgiving Day is enough to sour you on any holiday week celebration. Also,
in Southern California, one word: traffic.
Christmas Week: Too expensive, gifts, parties, and
when do I celebrate what? It can be very confusing these days. This week
includes the most overrated holiday event of all time, New Years. Ugh! Then
there is the Holiday (Christmas) decorations. When do they go up? Thanksgiving?
December 1? December 15? When do they come down? January 2? January 8? Or as in
the case of my neighbors, Memorial Day.
So, have a great week. You do not have to buy any
presents, attend any dopey office parties, go to Church, watch the Detroit
Lions – wow I can’t wait!
WHAT’S ON
THE iPHONE? – five songs we are listening to this July holiday week:
1).
“The Stars and Stripes Forever”, 1896 – John Philip Sousa
2).
“California Love”, 1996 – 2pac and Dr. Dre
3).
“Summer Wind”, 1965 – Frank Sinatra
4).
“Blue Bayou”, 1977 – Linda Ronstadt
5).
“All Summer Long”, 2008 – Kid Rock
SUMMER
COLLEGE CHRONICLES
– While researching what would become their 2009 book, “Becoming Right: How
Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” sociologists Amy Binder and Kate Wood
conducted extensive student interviews at two schools: Harvard and the
University of Colorado at Boulder. Although the faculty members they
encountered were overwhelmingly liberal, Ms. Binder and Ms. Wood found that
students at Boulder “were far likelier [than Harvard students] to contend that
their professors bring those personal politics into the classroom.” This
stifling ideological conformity, they concluded, caused conservative students
to adopt “the provocative style” as their favored tactic to fight back.
The
authors’ visit to Boulder coincided with the arrival of Bruce Benson as
president of the University of Colorado system. If they returned now, on the
eve of Mr. Benson’s retirement this month after 11 years at the helm, they
would find a decidedly different campus climate. The reason is Mr. Benson’s determination
to bring vibrant and serious ideological diversity to the “Berkeley of the
Rockies.”
Mr. Benson
became president amid a sea of troubles after the 2007 financial collapse. The
ensuing recession led the state to cut funding for the university system by
about 35%. A successful businessman and one-time head of the Colorado GOP, Mr.
Benson didn’t limit himself to the traditional fundraising role of university
presidents. He also made achieving viewpoint diversity a priority.
It’s one
thing to admit privately, as many college administrators do, that liberal
faculties and the rigid conventions of academic hiring often combine to create
a campus culture that is hostile to conservative viewpoints. It is another to
devise a practical remedy. Mr. Benson pressed CU Boulder to come up with a
solution.
The result
was the establishment of a new faculty: the Visiting Scholar in Conservative
Thought and Policy. A parade of well-known and highly regarded conservative
academics have since rotated through Boulder: Bradley Birzer of Hillsdale
College, Brian Dimitrovic of Sam Houston State College, Francis Beckwith of
Baylor, Robert Kaufman of Pepperdine University, William B. Allen of Michigan
State and Stephen Presser of Northwestern. What started as a three-year pilot will
enter its seventh year this fall, welcoming its eighth visiting scholar,
Villanova’s Colleen Sheehan.
Hiring by
ideological criteria is an imperfect answer to universities’ leftist skew. Some
conservatives worried this approach resembled “affirmative action” for
conservatives, but it might be better to think of it as the intellectual
equivalent of antitrust, breaking up the increasingly anticompetitive
marketplace of ideas in universities. The University of California’s legendary
president Clark Kerr observed decades ago that “few institutions are so
conservative as the universities about their own affairs while their members
are so liberal about the affairs of others.” Change doesn’t come easily.
Although
most conservative academics don’t conduct themselves as deliberate ideological
advocates in the classroom, there is a benefit for universities to have some
“conspicuous conservatism” in Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield’s phrase.
Conservative students know their views won’t be mocked in the classroom, and
curious liberal students—I heard this from several—want the challenge of a
different perspective. It enables the university to live up to what Mr. Benson
cites as its mission: teaching students how to think, not what to think. It
helps reclaim academia’s place as a true marketplace of ideas and sends the
message on campus and beyond that differing intellectual viewpoints matter.
Perhaps most important, the effort is changing the culture on campus.
To avoid
the program becoming an isolated outpost of ideological sectarianism, Mr.
Benson revived and expanded a dormant Center for the Study of Western
Civilization to house visiting conservative scholars and develop an expanded
program of speakers, public events, seminars, and student and faculty
fellowships. Earlier this month the university renamed the center for Mr.
Benson.
A century
ago the Cambridge classicist F.M. Cornford wrote that the first rule of faculty
governance is “nothing should ever be done for the first time,” and Mr.
Benson’s model is spreading in variations at other universities. A few similar
programs already existed, such as the James Madison Program at Princeton and
the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas at the
University of Texas at Austin.
Bruce
Benson can point to a stellar record—tripling fundraising, finding hundreds of
millions in administrative efficiencies, research funding that surpassed $1
billion—that any college president would envy. But he is proudest of his
success in bringing real viewpoint diversity to campus. His model deserves to
be emulated.
BOARD GAMES - Here’s a
governance dispute you don’t see every day: One half of Wayne State
University’s Board of Governors sued the other half of the board. The lawsuit
says an open-meetings law was violated as the board plays tug of war over the
university’s direction.
POLITICS 101 –
- How
many Democratic candidates got their undergraduate degrees at public
colleges? Five. They are:
Tim Ryan (Bowling Green State University)
Elizabeth Warren (University of Houston)
Jay Inslee (University of Washington)
Joe Biden (University of Delaware)
Eric Swalwell (University of Maryland at College Park)
- What presidential candidate dropped out after two years at
Pomona College? Marianne Williamson.
- Which of the 20 Democrats majored in English literature? Beto
O’Rourke.
- Name the one candidate who attended an HBCU (Historically
Black Colleges and Universities). Bonus points if you know the
institution. Kamala Harris (Howard University).
Days until the 2020 election: 491
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to Dan Aykroyd (67),
Canada (152), Larry David (72), Lisa Looney …. famous educator, Ringo Starr
(79), United States of America (243)
MARKET
WEEK - The
collapse in bond yields since this spring has been stark, swift and global,
upending expectations that the world's economy would be strong enough to
support a return to normal monetary policy after years of easy money.
The drop says investors expect a recession may be looming, and
that central banks will have to step in with lower rates to try to forestall it.
Ten-year bond yields last week fell to record lows in Germany and France and
below 2 percent in the U.S. for the first time since 2016.
Apple is manufacturing its new
Mac Pro computer in China, trade war be darned, per the WSJ. The computer was
its only major device made in the U.S.A.
Deutsche Bank could lay off up
to 20,000 people as soon as next week, per reports from the WSJ and NYT. That
would be more than one in six full-time DB workers.
Anheuser-Busch has purchased the
’grammable wine brand started by social media personality The Fat Jewish. It’s
the largest wine investment ever for the brewer.
Stocks cap best first half since 1997. The S&P 500 notched
record highs in the second quarter, but wild swings continue to plague the
market. It "is a fabulous example of the volatility that is wrought by
headlines and emotions,” one wealth manager said. Concerns about geopolitical
tensions, interest rates and global growth are expected to linger in the third
quarter.
U.S. deals lead the way. A flurry of megamergers and big initial
public offerings have been a bright spot for the U.S., a stark contrast to
sluggish activity in Europe and Asia.
Tech's wild ride. Halfway into the year, technology stocks are
still climbing faster than the broader market—but it has been a bumpy ride.
Buffeted by trade frictions and regulatory concerns, investors are bracing for
more turbulence ahead.
Second Quarter Scoreboard YTD:
Dow Jones Industrials - +14.03% WSJ
Dollar Index – (0.09%)
Standard & Poor’s 500 - +17.35% Crude Oil - +28.76%
NASDAQ Composite - +20.66% Gold
– +10.28%
10-yr Treasury – 2.000% 30-yr
mortgage, fixed – 3.90%
G-AUTHORITARIANS - At the Group of 20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, President Trump
reserved most of the sought-after sit-down time slots for authoritarians or
like-minded nationalists with similar views on immigration.
In addition to Putin, Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping
and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was positioned prominently in
the front row next to Trump in the official group photo.
Trump also met with Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro; Turkey's
Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won reelection
by stoking sectarian tensions; and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison,
who takes a hard line against immigration.
Trump tweeted a friendly invitation to meet with North Korean
dictator Kim Jong Un in the demilitarized zone while the president is in South
Korea this weekend. Trump on Sunday took a step no other sitting American
president had before, crossing into North Korea with its leader, Kim Jong Un —
a theatrical gesture meant to kick start stalled nuclear negotiations between
the two countries.
It was a made-for-TV moment for the reality show-groomed president
that unfolded at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
RULES FOR THE BBQ – You have been designated the grill master for the upcoming holiday
week. Don’t screw it up. People are hungry, tipsy and depending on you
to prevent the holiday from turning into a fiasco. No pressure! Here are a few
tips to get you through the experience.
1). Get the grill going early. Do not wait until everyone’s on
their third cocktail. No food, it could get ugly. They’re going to start
yelling at each other about politics, or worse, the ending of Game of Thrones,
or even worse academic governance.
2). Project confidence, a grill master should display a certain
amount of swagger. Drop the match into the charcoal like Arnold Schwarzenegger
setting fire to a drug lord’s stash house.
3). If you are a rookie at grilling, keep that quiet. Nobody wants
a rookie grill master, it’s like a rookie airline pilot. Scary.
4). If you are grilling with an audience, be prepared for plenty
of unsolicited advice. Everybody has an opinion on that steak or chicken time.
5). Keep your speech about the marinade to a minimum. Your secret
ingredient is bourbon.
6). It’s the Fourth of July everyone wants a hot dog, be prepared.
7). If you are grilling kebabs, realize there is at least one item
on the skewer that is going to burn.
8). If you have burned everything and ruined the cookout, do not
panic – Plan B. Do not tell anyone, start watering down the drinks, order pizza
delivery and calmly walk out of there, never to return.
ON THIS DATE - On this day in
1971, an entrepreneur named Fred Smith founded a company to compete with the
U.S. Postal Service. He called the new outfit Federal Express.
GOOD READ - "The Rise and Fall
of the Professional Sports Bettor" by David Hill captures the current
state of sports betting while also telling the story of Gadoon
"Spanky" Kyrollos, one of America's highest-rolling sports bettors.
The beginning: In the 1990s, sports betting began moving to the
internet. That's when Spanky, a recent college grad working at Deutsche Bank,
realized he could take what he was doing for banks and apply it to sports
betting.
Spanky and a coworker wrote a program that scanned every online sportsbook
for arbitrage opportunities, or "middles." If one sportsbook had
Steelers +4.5 and another had them +2.5, they would bet on the Steelers with
one and bet against them with the other.
"Most of the time they would win one bet and lose the other,
and only lose the 'vig,' [the small cut bookmakers take as commission],"
writes Hill. "But whenever those games fell right in the middle of the two
lines, in this case if the Steelers lost by three points, then they would win
both of their bets."
The turning point: After a few big wins, Sparky and his colleague
started thinking bigger. Deutsche Bank was doing the same thing on Wall Street
and their bosses were loaded; why couldn't sports betting make them rich, too?
So they quit their jobs to start their own sports betting business
— an operation that continues to evolve as the landscape shifts around them.
According to the industry research firm Eilers & Krejcik
Gaming, sports gamblers fall into seven different categories: casual dabblers,
status seekers, super fans, action chasers, would-be pros, high rollers, and
sharps. These personae exist on a spectrum, where some of them develop into
others as they climb the ladder from casual dabblers to the vaunted sharps—the
players who can beat the house edge on a regular basis.
DRIVING THE WEEK - Trade: That President Trump/President Xi Jinping meeting we’ve
been telling you about finally happened. No deal yet, but more details on what
did happen below.
U.S. markets: Here’s to hoping the next six months are as strong
as the last six were—stocks had their best start in 20+ years and the U.S.
tallied its best six months for IPOs since 2014. Heck, even bitcoin rallied.
Reality check: Now that it's July, we're officially in the longest
U.S. economic expansion ever.
Monday: First day of Q3; OPEC
meeting begins; ISM and PMI manufacturing reports; federal tax credit for Tesla
buyers falls; Wimbledon starts; Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida speaks in
Helsinki; Japan resumes commercial whaling.
Tuesday: The U.S. takes on England
in the Women’s World Cup; earnings (Simply Good Foods, Acuity Brands); motor
vehicle sales.
Wednesday: NYSE closes at
1pm; ADP employment stats; earnings (International Speedway Corp.).
Thursday: U.S. Independence Day;
markets closed; Stranger Things season three binge begins.
Friday: June jobs report
COACH VALESENTE RETIRES - Ithaca College legendary Hall of Fame baseball coach and
alumnus, George Valesente '66, has announced his retirement after 41 seasons,
effective in August 2019. Valesente has been the head coach at his alma mater
since 1979 and departs South Hill with a career record of 1,136-507-8 at the
helm of the Bombers program. He maintained the tradition of excellence in what
is Ithaca College baseball for four-plus decades and guided IC to 38 seasons
with 20 or more victories. With a 31-9 campaign in 2019, Ithaca continued the
nation's longest streak of consecutive winning seasons (in all divisions) to 81
years.
SWAMI’S WEEK
TOP PICKS
–
MLB Game of the Week – Saturday 7/6 7:15 PM ET, Fox: Los Angeles
Angels (42-43) vs. Houston Astros (53-32). The Angels last gasp to get back
into the wild card race, no dice. Houston wins 7 – 3. (Season to Date 2-1)
Wimbledon 2019 – Men’s Singles: Djokovic, Women’s Singles - Osaka
WOMEN FIFA WORLD CUP – World Cup Final: Germany vs. United States, USA wins 2-0.
2019 Season
to Date (16 - 13)
THE ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY HOCKEY – Some notable St. Lawrence Hockey alumni recently got together. From
Left: Mike Keenan (’72), Ray Shero (’84), Mike McShane (Coach 1980-85), Joe
Marsh (Coach 1985-2012), and Brent Brekke (recently named head coach 2019-20).
Let’s hope some of that NHL Stanley Cup and coaching experience is passed on to
new Coach Brekke.
In catching up with my RR email, a few weeks back
we heard from teammate Jim Shatford (’76). To celebrate a milestone birthday,
Jim and his wife went on a 12-day cycling trip to Southeast Asia: Phnom Penh,
Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The group of twelve had a wonderful
time, tasty food, splendid scenery, and no arrests. Shad is back in Nova Scotia
after a winter in Florida, family health is good, golf game decent, great to
hear from him.
Next Blog: Summer
movies and summer travel. – July 15, 2019.
Until
next time, Adios
Claremont,
California
July
1, 2019
#X-3-392
3,085
words, six minute read
CARTOON OF
THE WEEK – Lisa Benson,
Washington Post
RINK RATS
POLL – Your favorite July 4 barbecue food is…
____ hot dogs
____ hamburgers
____ barbecue chicken
____ barbecue ribs
____ grilled seafood
____ grilled vegetables
QUOTE OF THE
MONTH
– “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
—President George Washington
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