Testing to see if this shows up on the blog.

Have you ever had a supervisor, manager or project manager that takes every opportunity to run you or your team down?  They take no responsibility that their team failing and take every opportunity to run their team down in front of other people.  They question you or your team’s competency instead of trying to make the team better or make corrections.  Or used the clarifier “don’t tell anyone I said this, “but they say it.

I don’t know about you, but if I worked with someone like this, would you want to work for them?  Do you want a supervisor, manager, or project manager that takes every opportunity to run you down in front of other people, questions your competency, not help you to succeed, and then blames you for a project’s failure?  Or do you want a boss that will give you the tools that you need to succeed, talks you up to others saying how valuable you are to the organization and that they would take you into any project in the company and will be successful; and that they will help you with a personal or professional problem.  This is a boss that we would all love to work for.

We all know that is hard to gauge who your leader is going to be, but when things are not going well you always have to keep in mind who your leader might be telling others around the office including your boss’s boss.

I was watching a WNBA game one afternoon.  I like the women’s game better than the men because they play more as a team and they play defense.  While I was watching the game, the star player on the team was not playing very well and the commentary was getting down on her and blaming her for the team’s poor play.  I asked myself, does she score all the points, does she get her own rebounds, and they wouldn’t have to track assists because she has no one to pass it to.  Last time I checked, basketball, baseball and football are all team sports.  The star of the team may not play well during the game, but that is why their teammates step up and try to achieve the ultimate goal.  Win the game.  Tom Brady has many records, many victories, and many championships.  I don’t recall Tom Brady ever having to make a game saving tackle at the end of the game or knocking away the game winning pass in the end zone.  When he didn’t play well his teammates stepped up to pick up the slack.  Team sport.

Aaron Judge does not go four for four in every game that he plays and he doesn’t hit a home run every time he comes to the play.  There are days when he goes hitless, but he may find other ways to help his team win on with his defensive skills, or his teammates may help out with the bats.  Sportswriters and broadcasters forget that important word.  Team.

I remember hearing about an interview that former baseball great Kirk Gibson did years ago that if he did well and if the team lost, he would be upset, but if he didn’t play well and the team won that he would be happy.  This is a guy that you want to play on your team.

I remember the movie Hoosiers about a high school basketball team that against all odds won a state championship.  In the movie during the first practice, the coach played by Gene Hackman stopped a drill that was going bad to correct the players mindset.  “Let’s be real clear on what we are after, … five players on the floor functioning as one unit team, team, team no more important that the other.”  Sportscasters and journalists put all their focus on one player other than the other four, eight, or twenty-one players that are on the field or on the floor.  They want to think that Lebron James, Mike Trout, Josh Allen or Nathan MacKinnon are on the floor, field or ice by themselves, and the press makes it sound like they can win the game on their own, but they need those other players in order to succeed.

I’m reminded of an anacronym for team.  Together Everyone Achieves More. By in the world of broadcasters and writers, sports is all about the individualism.

First of all, I’m sorry for not posting in a while.  My primary job has kept me really busy.  A lot has transpired since my last posting.  The Broncos have solved their quarterback problems by drafting Bo Nix and some other pieces to the offensive puzzle and will as some depth on defense.  I think with these improvements the Broncos will be more competitive this year.  But I have read and heard that the Broncos have the worst roster in the NFL this year.  And these guys are supposed to be experts, I have a few choice words for them:  Let’s just cancel the season let the players collect checks that they haven’t earned and not play a down of football during the season.  Sports are not played on paper or in the press.  They are played on the field, so I have an idea.  Let’s let the players play the game and see how the season plays out.  These men are world class athletes and should be given the chance to prove that not having some armchair quarterbacks judge their talent before the game is even played.  Most of these experts are able to turn a phrase, but most of these guys never got past Little League baseball or Pee Wee football and don’t realize the time, dedication, and sacrifice that it takes to become a world class athlete and the time it takes for all these athletes to jell into a team. 

My other observation is the play of Catlin Clark of the Indiana Fever.  The talented rookie is having a fantastic season.  She is not flashy or arrogant.  The woman loves to play the game and she is exceptionally good at it, and she attracts the fans.  She is the assist leader in the league this year and she is the first rookie in league history to achieve a triple double.  She is good for the game.  This is evident by the new 200-million-dollar media deal that will help with giving more money to the players.  The attendance is up and Ms. Clark has writer’s cramp from all the autographs she signs.   And what sport has a runway fashion show before the game and then a very entertaining, competitive game where the women work as a team and play defense. 

I watched the All-Star game and was impressed with the talent highlighted, and I think it will be a wild ride down the stretch towards the pennant races in September and October. 

And lastly, I’m really looking forward to the Olympics in Paris coming soon.  All the swimming, gymnastics, track and field, volleyball both indoor and beach volleyball.

This summer is chalk full of sports and I’m loving every minute of it.

Thursday is another painful opening day for Colorado Rockies fans.  Once again, the owner of our beloved team that  we waited so long to get and year after painful year we suffer through a losing season after losing season.  The Monfort family is more interested in making Coors Field another Golf Galaxy than putting a winner on the field.  More interested in trading away talent than paying them what they are worth or getting those players more help to win a championship. 

   Why do we put up with an owner whose mantra is “if you don’t like, don’t come to the ballpark!”  I think the Monfort family does not realize that we in the Rocky Mountain region like winners and we will support them.  If the product is good, we will spend the money to come watch them.  We have had the Nuggets, the Avalanche, the Rapids, the Mammoths, and once upon a time, the Broncos have all won championships in their respective sports.  But the Rockies have not won the National League West division, and they have had one World Series appearance in their 31-year existence.  Other expansion teams like the Marlins and the Diamondbacks have won championships but the Rockies trade away their best talent or fail to resign them in free agency.  So as we start a new year of losing, we need to send a message to the Monfort family, we are begging and pleading to give this region a winning team or sell the team to someone who wants to win.

This past week Jason Kelce announced his retirement from the National Football League.  Many professional athletes painfully agonize on when it’s to “hang up” the tools of their craft that they have known for so many years.  They have to ask themselves if they have those tools to keep them playing at the high level that they have aspired to?  Do I want to put my body and mind through the preparation of a one-hour game that I spend weeks, months, even years preparing for?  Why do they put themselves through all the work week in and week out?  Because they make a lot of money? Because of the status of being a professional athlete? Or just because they love it?  There are many reasons why people work.  Because it challenges them, because it keeps them accustomed to the lifestyle that they are living.  A sense of accomplishment, or just pride.

Why do we work?  Do we work for those reasons listed above?  What happens when we retire or are not able to work anymore.  We have a pension or take a part-time job to stay busy: or even start a new career.  Some take the time to travel or spend time with loved ones, travel or start a new hobby or that “honey do” list that has built up over  the years. 

What drives us to work?  Not just the vehicle, but what motivates us to work.  Besides paying bills and wanting to live, why do we want to get up and go to work each day.  Is it our families that makes us go to the job?  We all have different motivators that make us get out of bed every morning.

What happens to the relationships that we make after we retire?  What happens to those co-workers who are almost a second family, what happens to that family?   Athletes miss the comradery of the locker room, all striving for that one thing to win a championship.  What about the others that work is that so we all go home safe every day, is it finishing that project ahead of schedule or on time or maybe saving a life, or just  giving their life to something greater than themselves is maybe the accomplishment that we all need.

So when we retire, how will we make that decision?  Will we be sad or relieved?  Will we miss our co-workers or just the work itself.  We are all driven by different reasons to work or not to work.

Tonight I made hamburgers for dinner.  Instead of using my normal combination of pork sausage and ground beef, which with the pork sausage has its own seasoning, I used ground pork tonight.  I found that the ground pork was a much better choice than the sausage.  I used my normal seasonings of Worchester sauce, breadcrumbs, burger seasonings, and eggs to bind them and they turned out a  wonderful flavor after cooking them on the grill this evening. 

I think we have to experiment with different things or try new things in the kitchen.  Last weekend I tried making Loukoumades or Greek doughnuts.  It was my first time trying them and they turned out very well.  I have had them at several Greek festivals in the Rocky Mountain region and they were fantastic.  So I went looking on the Internet for a recipe and found one that was easy to follow and yielded results that were very successful.  It was nice to stretch my culinary legs and try something different.  This morning was making biscuits and gravy from scratch this morning and they turned out very well.  I’m very proud that I’m willing to try different things, and if I do make a mistake, don’t get discouraged, dust off the apron, and try again.  If I had let screwing up a recipe discourage me, I would not be cooking today and would be relying on takeout instead of really enjoying cooking and hardly ever eating out.  I cut my own French fries.  I have made my own bread and do my own soups but my real accomplishment is making spaghetti and meatball from scratch.  I make my own meatballs and my own pasta from scratch the only thing I have yet to do is make my own sauce, but I’m willing to try and fail because I know that eating my mistakes is just as rewarding as anything else. 

I have really enjoyed baking.  I have made the Loukoumadesbut I have  made  many other things like Oreo deconstructed cupcakes, lemon cupcakes with a candied lemon on top, lemon tarts, miniature apple and cherry pies, apple and cherry turnovers and M&M and Oreo brownies. 

I call cooking and baking my culinary recreation.  It helps me relax and I have a lot of fun and enjoy myself.  Many consider cooking and baking a chore, but I really love experimenting with different flavors and different techniques that I see in cooking shows on Food Network, the Cooking Channel and YouTube.  I have now tried experimenting with different herbs and spices.  I have done a lot of reading and watched videos on what herbs and spices go with meats and vegetables and have really experimented with the spices in the baking realm.  I put a lot of different spices in my oatmeal raisin cookies to give them an extra boost, and it has made them delicious.

So if you’re looking for a new hobby or just want to improve your skills in the kitchen, get yourself some good ingredients, find the right combination of herbs and spices, tryout, and the new recipe, put on an apron, and get to cooking.

 As I look through social media there’s always a meme or some picture that has a caption on it that reads “should so and  so go to jail for election fraud” or some other despicable  crime.  Well in the case of elections, they should be.

Elections are my voice in the political process and a person that tries to manipulate my voice in that process makes my blood boil.  Years ago I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.  I consider someone who interferes with an election or a member of the government who is not true to that oath as an enemy of the state and should be removed from office and put in jail for it. 

The political process in this country is broken, but it is a lot better than it is in other countries.  Free elections are the cornerstone of democracy.  A person can try to persuade me to vote for their candidate, but it should still be my choice, and a controlling party should not try to force me to vote for their candidate.  This country still has freedom of choice and freedom of conscience.  These are some our most precious blessings, and as ancestors of former patriots we should fight anyone who tries to take that away from us anyone foreign and anyone domestic.

If we don’t fix this issue, this country could be heading for another civil war.  The first one was not the greatest and we still have issues with it, and if we don’t learn from it we are heading in that direction.  I implore our leaders that we must not divide this country, which is a beacon  of freedom and liberty that we should come together to solve these problems, and not to divide us even further.  This nation has made many sacrifices to make it great, let’s use those ideals to make this country great again.