One of my favorite quotes from Richard Brautigan:

"The only hope we have is our children and the seeds we give them and the gardens we plant together"

and another Brautigan thought:

"I've decided to live in a world where books are changed into thousands of gardens with children playing in the gardens and learning the gentle ways of green growing things"

Thought for this Friday afternoon, from Ken Kesey:

" The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."

Right on, brother Kesey!

A quick take on 2005 Big Ten football:

Here is how I see it shaking out:

1) Michigan-they are my favorite team, so maybe I am biased but they are capable of finishing first. The offense if anything should be even better than last year with experienced players returning at quarterback and running back. The question mark is the defense...if they get the job done, then an undefeated regular season and a shot at the national championship is entirely do-able. If not, then two losses may occur.

2) Ohio State-they stumbled early last season, but came on strong in the end and that momentum should help them get off to a better start. I see the Big Ten race coming down to the Big Game at Ann Arbor on November 19...just as it should.

3) Iowa-the Hawkeyes are a solid team that always gives it their best, but there are too many question marks so I see them coming in third.

4) Minnesota-they started out strong then faded at the end of the regular season, but they have a lot of starters coming back and have built a pretty good program in recent years.

5) Penn State-the Lions were horrible on offense last year (a 6-4 loss to Iowa being merely the ugliest incident) but they are strong on defense and return most of their starters. And one should never count a team coached by Joe Paterno out too soon.

6) Michigan State-the Spartans had an up and down 2004 and 2005 looks to be more of the same. They have a fair amount of talent and potential, but also lost a lot of starters, particularly on offense.

7) Purdue-they are not called the Spoilermakers for nothing, and they usually manage to field at least a competitive team. Their entire defense returns, but they lost their starting QB and one starting WR to graduation. They may do better than this, but in a competitive conference I see them struggling to do much better than seventh place.

8) Wisconsin-the Badgers are also probably a better team than this ranking indicates, but with so many good teams someone has to finish in the lower spots. They collapsed down the stretch last season and also lost many starters (6 on offense, 7 on defense) to graduation. Therefore I see a rebuilding year in Madison.

9) Northwestern-Another team that has a tough time competing in the very tough Big Ten. They finished a respectable 6-6 overall and 5-3 last year, and knocked off two ranked teams (Ohio State and Purdue). Maybe they will do better than ninth place, but it will take all the effort they have to give.

10) Illinois-this program has a new coach which is usually worth at least something in terms of fresh thinking and positive attitude. That being said, the Illini have not exactly done much lately so they would do well to just get out of the league basement.

11) Indiana-The Hoosiers finished in a tie for last with Illinois last year (both had identical 1-7 league and 3-8 overall records). Over half of last year's offense is gone, including the QB, RB, and two WRs. It is going to be another long "waiting for basketball" season in Bloomington, where hardly anyone seems to care anyway (average home attendance of just 28,377).

"We are in a society of icy intolerance, where the slightest diversion from, the mildest breach of, the reality principle is violently repressed. Realist Philistinism and Pharisaism are triumphant on all sides. All ideas are immediately cast in concrete. The anathema level is the equal of any religious or Stalinist society. Nothing has changed. The conspiracy of imbeciles is total."

This quote, from Jean Baudrillard's "Fragments: Cool Memories 1991-1995" jumped out at me as I was reading it today, as it seems to capture at least some of what life is like in the late-capitalist Amerika of Gee Dumbya Bush and His Gang O'Thugs, the sold out, neo-Republican Democrats, and Jerry Springer/reality TV. It truly is a conspiracy of imbeciles, and it is making not only the United States but also the world in general a more dangerous, unjust, and insecure place.

I have also started reading Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72" again. Although the book chronicles an election that happened nearly 33 years ago, it still rings true with Mainstream Politics in America Today. The craven, greedhead Republicans, the spineless sellout Democrats...just plug in the name "George W. Bush" for "Richard Nixon" and "John Kerry" for "Hubert Humphrey" and Thompson's book could be "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2004."

On the more optimistic side of things, I read in the latest Z Magazine about the leftward push of many Latin American countries such as Venezuela (with the government of Hugo Chavez) and Brazil (with the government of "Lula" da Silva. With the US bogged down in Vietnam, oops, I mean Iraq and Afghanistan, these and other countries have been able to at least begin moving in a progressive direction without (for the nonce, anyway) too much interference from Uncle Sam.

And the war(s) in Iraq, Afganistan, etc are beginning more and more to resemble the one(s) in Southeast Asia circa approx. 1965-1975. An endless quagmire, with more and more deaths on all sides, for no apparent good reason. As if there is ever really a good reason for war.

That's all for now...more political ranting to come as well as more of whatever else comes to mind.

Big Ten women's basketball early 2005-06 predictions:

I will preface this by saying that I am a Michigan fan, and so from a purely biased, fan standpoint of course the Wolverines will always be my pick to win anything and everything. That being said, they finished dead last in the Big Ten in 2004-05 and so they should realistically be considered a longshot to win the league in 2005-06. Then again, as the old sports cliche goes: they play the games for a reason. One never knows what might happen, and with the skillful coaching of Cheryl Burnett and her staff Michigan may indeed shock the college hoops world. Be that as it may, here is my early call for the Big Ten women:

1) THE Ohio State University (as they like to call themselves)-the Buckeyes lost a fine player to graduation in Caity Matter, but they still have a fine team and look to be the best of four very good teams at the top.

2) Purdue-their overall record was not that great last year but I thought they were a better team than the numbers may have indicated. The Boilermakers always seem to be a factor in the Big Ten and this year will be no different.

3) Michigan State-last year's NCAA finalists lost two very good players (Haynie and Roehrig) but still have enough left that they should not slip too far. Not yet, anyway!

4) Minnesota-the Gophers also lost a very good player (Janel McCarville) but like tOSU and MSU they have more than adequate talent to take up the slack.

These four teams appear to be the best of the league and will likely fill the top four spots. The actual order may vary somewhat, and it is possible that some other team(s) may displace one or more of them, but the general sense is that these are the teams that the other seven will be trying to measure up to. These four will definitely make the NCAA tournament.

5) Iowa-the Hawkeyes have a solid history of success in women's basketball (and women's sports in general) and they look at this point to be the "best of the rest." They may even be good enough to slip into the top four.

6) Michigan-it may be my Maize and Blue glasses affecting my perception here, but I really do feel like the Wolverines can improve enough to finish in the middle of the pack. Although they only won five overall games last year and only one in the league, many games were close enough that they could have been wins. Michigan lost Tabitha Pool to graduation and Becky Flippin to attrition, but there will be more experience on this season's team and so the record will be better.

7) Illinois-the Illini have been very inconsistent for some time now. They win some, they lose some, they seem to have a fair amount of talent but usually end up somewhere in the middle of the pack. Until they prove otherwise I can't see ranking them too much higher than this.

8) Wisconsin-like Michigan, this is a program that has been in rebuilding mode for the last few seasons. They are improving and may finish a bit higher than this, or they might finish a bit lower but probably not too much lower.

Iowa is probably the team that I am most certain about as far as where they will finish. They are a good team but probably not quite good enough to make the top four...on the other hand at this point they look better than the rest. Sixth through eighth place look like a toss up, much like places one through four. This group will be "on the bubble" for the NCAA with the fifth place team most likely to make it. The other three (as long as they finish better than .500 overall) will at least make the postseason NIT. Which brings me to the bottom three:

9) Penn State-it is hard to believe that the Lions could fall this far but it is a good possibility that they will. They have only nine players on their roster and it is a young and inexperienced group...much like Michigan last year and we all know (Wolverine fans like me in particular) how difficult that can make things. Controversy continues to surround Coach Portland, who despite her solid won-lost record appears to have some serious issues when it comes to relating to the players (there are also allegations of an anti-gay bias on her part). This may be a meltdown in the making.

10) Northwestern
11) Indiana

I will comment on these two together. They could finish in this order or vice versa. If Penn State totally collapses then they may sink to eleventh place and allow these two to move up a bit. Both the Wildcats and the Hoosiers appear to be in the same predicament in women's hoops that they are in football. They try hard, they change coaches, they bring in new players, but they continue to struggle to win in a very tough conference. They will almost certainly bring up the rear in 2005-06, unless as I say things completely go bad in Happy Valley. The bottom three will not be going anywhere after the regular season unless one of them somehow wins the Big Ten tournament and gets the automatic NCAA bid.

That's how I see it at this point, with the start of the season still several months away.

OK, so here is my first "real" post...

In the sports world, the two main things I am watching lately are the WNBA and the MLB.

My favorite WNBA team is the Detroit Shock. It has not been a very good year for the Shock so far. After a promising 4-0 start, they have gone into a slump and currently sit at 8 wins and 12 losses, next to last in the Eastern Conference. If not for the Charlotte Sting being hopelessly mired in last place, the Shock might be there themselves.

As it is, there is still enough time left for them to rally and at least sneak into fourth place which would put them In The Playoffs. They will have to get it together right away, though, before they fall even further behind.

Why has this happened to a team that just two seasons ago was riding the wave of a championship season? There seem to be several factors.

There has been quite a bit of instability in the starting lineup. Swin Cash, one of the best players in the game, was injured late last season and is just now back to playing again. Her production is not quite up to her pre-injury standards and it is uncertain when she will get back to her previous effectiveness.

Center Ruth Riley is underachieving by quite a bit. She was one of the key players in the 2003 championship run but so far this season her numbers (6.8 points and 4.3 rebounds a game) are significantly below what she is capable of.

Point guard Elaine Powell was suspended for five games and her numbers are not quite what they could be.

Power forward Cheryl Ford does a fine job with rebounding, but misses too many key shots both from the field and the free throw line.

Guard Deanna Nolan has clearly been the most consistent player for the Shock so far this season, and without her things would likely be worse in terms of wins and losses.

The bench seems somewhat improved from last season, with Plenette Pierson, Chandi Jones, and Kara Braxton making contributions.

Then there is the coaching situation. Bill Laimbeer seemed like the savior of this franchise in 2003 when he took the Shock from "worst to first." In the two seasons since, the team's fortunes have declined and although it is not all his fault, it is looking more and more like he is unable to gameplan effectively or motivate the team to do better. He has also at times acted as if he is more interested in getting a job in the men's NBA than he is in coaching the Shock. If things do not improve by the end of this season, he may be looking for another job anyway.

As far as baseball, my favorites the Detroit Tigers have improved greatly from a couple years ago when they almost replaced the 1962 NY Mets as the benchmark for terrible baseball teams. Alan Trammell's crew is right in the thick of the race for the American League wild card playoff spot, and if they can just put a significant win streak together they could make it to the postseason for the first time since 1987...when current manager Trammell was the starting shortstop!

This is Jerrybear54's Sports Desk. Although I am into many other things besides sports, I got the name from the late author Hunter S. Thompson, who often referred to "the sports desk" in his writings. I liked the way he combined insightful commentary on sports, politics, popular culture, and whatever else was on his mind.

My favorite sports are women's basketball and United States style football (I refer to it this way to differentiate it from the game that is generally known as "soccer" in the USA but generally as "football" in the rest of the world). I also like women's fast pitch softball and baseball, field and ice hockey, and men's basketball.

I am very interested in the various countercultures of the United States, especially the hippie and beatnik ones. The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Bob Dylan are some of my favorite musical acts and some of my favorite writers include Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Richard Brautigan.

My politics are left/socialist/anarchist/Green Party.

That's some of the basics about me...more posts to come.