At my parents’ church recently, they had a typo in the bulletin. It’s a real typo that really did somehow make it through unnoticed until after the printing was done. One of the hymns listed was the gospel classic, “When We All Get to Heave.”

What a difference an “n” makes.

I can’t believe this story is on the front page of the paper. A group called Community Builders Foundation used the council chambers to hold a prayer meeting, and now a national organization called the Freedom From Religion Foundation has written a letter of complaint to Mayor Jim Ardis about it. They claim it’s a “separation of church and state” issue.

But it’s not. It’s a public building that was used by a group to lawfully assemble and have a prayer meeting. Prayer is still protected by the first amendment.

The real issue is one of equal access. If they’re going to be letting groups use the council chambers, there should be a consistent procedure for scheduling the room and it should be open to everyone. As the story goes on to explain, there is no such procedure, but they’re working on one. The inconsistency doesn’t apply just to religious groups, but also to political uses.

This is a non-story, if you ask me.

Sources said Fox may want to give up the entire Divisional series because it would give the network some relief for all of the advertising inventory it has to sell. One source close to the situation said, “first round playoff [ad] inventory is harder to sell, you don’t get a lot for it, and production costs are high.”

 

ESPN officials would not comment, but according to sources close to the network, ESPN would be interested in getting TV rights for the entire Divisional Series rights if they became available.

So, to recap, the Divisional Series doesn’t bring in enough ad revenue to make it worth Fox’s while to air it in prime time, so there’s a good chance it will be banished completely to cable.  Less money.  Smaller audience.  Maybe it’s just me, but this doesn’t sound like a success story for Major League Baseball.  Might it be time to consider jettisoning the Divisional Series? 

The Journal Star has come out as a strong advocate of mandatory helmet use by motorcyclists, just as it has been strongly in favor of mandatory seat belt use in cars and trucks. You can read their argument on the editorial page today or by clicking here.

I, too, am an advocate of helmet and seat belt use. I can read the statistics as well as the next guy. Besides, it’s just common sense that you would want to take precautions and protect your self while hurtling down I-74 at 55 45 miles per hour. And I’ll never understand why you wouldn’t want to at least protect your face from bugs when you’re on a motorcycle.

But there’s a big difference between being an advocate for helmet and seat belt use and being an advocate for mandatory helmet and seat belt use. I’m a firm opponent of the latter. To me, it’s paternalistic for the government to be legislating your own personal protection; it’s akin to passing a law against running with scissors.

Most of the Journal Star’s arguments are very persuasive for voluntary helmet use, but they really only have one argument for making it mandatory:

Arguing for helmets is sure to offend those who want to feel the wind in their hair or reject government encroachment on their liberties. But operating a vehicle is a privilege, not a right.

And here is where we disagree. A very persuasive case can be and has been made that operating a vehicle — other than for commerce — is just the opposite: a right and not a privilege. It should come as no surprise that the argument is made by a libertarian. You can read it here.

What makes it so persuasive is that it’s not merely philosophical. Rather, it cites a multitude of court cases — legal precedent — for driving being a right; the “Right of movement, the Right of moving one’s self from place to place without threat of imprisonment, the Right to use the public roads in the ordinary course of life.” How could it be otherwise in a free country? Here are just a couple of quotes:

“The use of the highways for the purpose of travel and transportation is not a mere privilege, but a common and fundamental right of which the public and the individual cannot be rightfully deprived.” Chicago Motor Coach vs. Chicago, 169 NE 22; Ligare vs. Chicago, 28 NE 934; Boon vs. Clark, 214 SSW 607; 25 Am.Jur. (1st) Highways Sect.163.

“The right of the Citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, either by horse drawn carriage or by automobile, is not a mere privilege which a city can prohibit or permit at will, but a common right which he has under the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thompson vs. Smith, 154 SE 579.

Take away the “driving is privilege, not a right” argument and you’re left with no justification for creating a new crime — the crime of riding without a helmet.

I appreciate the sentiments of the Journal Star; I certainly don’t want to see people getting themselves killed. I’d rather people wore helmets and seat belts. But that’s their liberty. And with all due respect, I don’t need the editors of the Journal Star to protect me from myself through the power of the state.

During the NLCS (Houston Astros vs. St. Louis Cardinals), Fox broadcaster Thom Brennaman commented that Houston has never been to the World Series in the history of their franchise. Then, wanting to make the point that the Texas Rangers haven’t made it either, he said, “There has never been a World Series game played in the biggest state in the country.”

Of course, he’s right. There hasn’t ever been a World Series game played in Alaska. How old of a guy is Brennaman? I know we all laughed at Bob Dole when he referred to the Brooklyn Dodgers, but at least he was alive when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn. Is Breannaman old enough that he went through geography class before Alaska was admitted to the union?

While I’m on the topic of idiocy by Fox, what’s the deal with the “diamond cam”? You know, the little cameras on the ground right in front of the pitcher’s mound and home plate that look up at the pitcher and batter, respectively? This is perhaps the biggest waste of technology since the wristwatch television. Couldn’t they come up with something that would actually enhance their coverage?

I think the best camera enhancement I ever saw of a sporting event was EyeVision from CBS during SuperBowl XXXV. That’s where they could stop the instant replay and do a “Matrix”-like 180-degree spin around the play. Such a system in baseball would be really cool for plays at any base — especially home. See, a real network uses technology to focus on the plays, while Fox uses technology to give us an ant’s-eye view of the players.

So, I renew my plea to Major League Baseball: please, please, please give MLB coverage to some other network once Fox’s contract expires!

Congratulations to the Houston Astros. In the National League Championship Series, they played better baseball than the Cardinals. They got the clutch hits and had superior pitching overall. The World Series will be a good competition with the White Sox.

That said, though, I still maintain that the whole wild card thing is patently unfair. During the regular season, the Cardinals won 11 more games than Houston — a team in their own division — and won 11 of 16 games in head-to-head competition. The idea that they should have to play them again in the postseason is ridiculous. It’s like having the gold and silver medalists in the Olympics play each other to see who really gets the gold medal. Why should a team get a second chance? I felt the same way about New York having to play Boston last year (before Boston beat the Cardinals). It just didn’t seem fair that New York, after beating the Red Sox in the regular season, had to play a short series against them again.

A while back, I read a book by Bob Costas called Fair Ball, and he had what I thought was an excellent suggestion. If there must be three divisions, you can still have two rounds of playoffs without a wild card. You give the division winner with the best record a bye for the first round. Have the other two division winners play each other in a best-of-5 series. The winner of that contest faces the team with the best record in a best-of-7 series. The winner of that contest goes to the World Series. That would be much fairer and would reward regular season performance instead of marginalizing it.

Finally, I close out my comments on the Cardinals’ season without mentioning Albert Pujols’ home run in Game Five. That was the most exciting and dramatic home run I’ve ever witnessed. It doesn’t matter whether they won or lost the NLCS — that was a moment for the history books. It allowed the Cardinals to play one more time in St. Louis before the old stadium was torn down, and it showed that the Cardinals are a competitive team that doesn’t go down without a fight. And it showed what a talented and classy player Pujols is.

Farewell, Busch Stadium. See you next year in your new home.