And on the 7th day, God gave us basketball . . .

Why do parents say, "You can be anything you want to be?" 

If so, then I would be a great basketball player.  

But no matter how much I practiced in the cold fall and winter afternoons as a kid, the fact was I couldn't jump, I had small hands, and I had no speed.  The best I got to was church league basketball, basically because they needed bodies.  But it never bothered me, even when selected last in pickup games, just as long as I got to play. 

And I loved watching the game just as much.

I was raised in a fundamental Christian family where we attended two hours of church Sunday morning and then two more in the evening.  But my parents were cool enough to let me watch the NBA on tv in the afternoon after our big Sunday dinner.  And my love for the game became cemented watching the likes of Russell, Wilt, Barry, Havlo, West, Oscar, Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer, (notice a 76er fan with those last two?)

And I still love to watch, especially during March Madness and the NBA playoffs, even with some of today's "bad behavior," and my puzzlement over the appeal of multiple tattoos. (oh, just get over it, David)

I have always enjoyed the fine arts of dance and drama, but it's hard to beat the excitement generated from the unique combination of those two art forms in a close basketball contest.

And it seems we have a great series taking shape in the current NBA Finals.  Yeah, I guess I probably am rooting for the Mavs in the end (i.e. the so-called "good" guys), but what I really want, and if there is a god up above . . . we'll have a Game 7!

UPDATE:  Well, no game 7.  Oh well.  After the way Wade & James mocked Dirk (how immature!) I'm more glad that Dallas won (like most everyone else outside of Miami, I guess.)

So I settled on Tues evening for watching the Game 7 of the NHL, hockey - Vancouver vs. Boston.  Yeah, I used to watch the Bruins a lot as a kid, too, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and gang, but it was always second choice to basketball.  Gotta say, personally, no offense, but even with HD, it's still second choice for me.

What I am Reading for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War . . . and Why

As you may know, we are in the midst of honoring the 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War.  The Washington Post has been printing excellent installments, and I have been collecting them.

I also highly recommend reading the masterpiece, "Reveille in Washington," by Margaret Leech.  It was published in 1941, but it remains a classic.   It is superbly written and well-researched, resulting in riveting detailed stories.

If you had any relatives who fought in the Civil War or lived and worked in the DC region during that time, this is a must-read.


But even if you do not have familial ties to that era, this book well illustrates the seismic transformation our country underwent during those five years that continues to reverberate to this day. 

For example, it chronicles well how DC transformed from being a Southern political power base to a Northern-dominated town, one of the most historically important transitions for our country as it signaled the demise of the Great Compromise of the Constitution (where slaves counted as 3/5 of a person in apportionment).  

As historians will tell you, that one compromise impacted our history in many ways, ranging from the election of Jefferson as president in 1800 to shelving the debate on slavery thereby ensuring generations of suffering and irreversibly setting the country toward a brutal Civil War.

And this book shows the macro aspect of that through the telling of countless personal stories. 


And for those thinking this book might be just another exercise of reading "dry" history, let me just say that the author showed that our "proper" ancestors certainly had a lustful side to them that would make even readers of today's tabloids blush.

If you live in the DC area, an added bonus will be that this book will make walking and driving around the region so much more interesting for you.

If you can't find the book in your library, (I found mine in a musty bookstore up in southern NY) it is available through Amazon.


If you get a chance to read it, I invite you to share what you think of the book.

Should I take offense? Que piensa?

Many of you know that one of my life-long goals is to be able to speak Spanish completely fluently.  Yeah, it's a modest goal compared to what so many others have been able to achieve in their lives, but still, it's one of my top personal goals, and I'm having fun working at it.

Actually, I'm getting pretty close, maybe 70 - 80%, but I still have a ways to go.  (As a side note, my daughter is now very good with her Spanish skills - better than I am in grammar and vocabulary at least -and we converse and text in Spanish all the time.  That's fun -- and about the only way I can get her to answer me! ;-)

I was fortunate to attend a rather progressive public school system in upstate New York where I began studying Spanish is sixth grade.  And I continued to study on through my first year in college.

I was also fortunate that my family set up a private exchange through my Dad's work at GE with a Mexican family in Mexico City.  Their kids stayed with us over the years and my brothers and I each spent a summer with them down there.

And then there was the formative summer I spent in San Jose, Costa Rica, working for a missionary.  That's a whole other story in of itself (i.e. how it started my eventual falling away from the religion), but I did get pretty good with my Spanish.

So I should have been able to achieve my goal of total fluency long before now.  But yeah, we get sidetracked in adult life, don't we?  Well, so what, it's now been a steady onward progress over the past five years or so.

A great assistance in my effort to improve my Spanish is the Hispanic population's tendency in general, at least in my experience, to be very patient with those of us who attempt to speak Spanish.  I've ended up saying some rather comical things in my attempts.  Like "How are you sitting down?" instead of "How are you feeling?"  But my Latino friends just laugh, graciously correct me, and genuinely appreciate that I at least try. 

Contrast that with my experience at attempting French. I am sure there are exceptions, and I do not wish to promote unwarranted stereotypes, but I think it's pretty safe to say that the French are less tolerant of those who imperfectly attempt speaking their language.

So, with that all said, you maybe can better understand why I listen to Spanish radio while driving around town.  We have about five such stations here in the Baltimore / Washington DC area.

I have found this to be a great way to improve my Spanish skills.

One of my favorites is listening to the morning news program, "Calentando la Manana" (Warming up the Morning), on Radio America, 1540AM based out of Wheaton, MD.  I really like the host of the program, Alejandro Carrasco.  He not only is very intelligent and an excellent interviewer, but he has succeeded in establishing himself as a good representative and yes, leader, of the growing Latino community here in the DC/Balt region.

And I also like him because he enunciates very well, and that makes it much easier for me to understand him.  I understand that he is from Colombia, and that many of the on-air personalities of the Hispanic world are from that western equatorial region of South America.  Their accent is a easily understood throughout the Spanish-speaking world, much like many of the American on-air personalities have traditionally been from the MidWest. (eg. Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, David Letterman, etc.)

So, with that said, let me relate what I heard on the "Calentando la Manana" show recently.  There was an ad for legal services that ended with the tag, ". . . Es Roberto, no es Robert.  Es un latino."  Translated that says, "His name is Roberto, not Robert.  He's Latino."

Hmmm, granted the station's audience is almost exclusively the Latino community.  And granted, it has been a solid tradition in our American history for minority and immigrant communities to rely on their own members for strength.  I mean, we see it in the growing Korean immigrant communities. And yes, we even have religious groups, like evangelical Christians, marketing their services among each other via custom telephone books and directories.

But I really have not been comfortable with such advertising.  I mean, advertising that one's business speaks Spanish is one thing, but something about blatantly saying in an ad that your name is "Roberto and not Robert" seems offensive to me, especially now in the 21st Century.

I mean, what about the many North American lawyers who advertise on the same station who also are fluent in Spanish.  Is the lawyer Roberto saying that just because he is Latino that he can represent the community better than Robert?

What would be the reaction to an ad on the English-speaking newsstation WTOP that said: "My name is Jack White, not Juan Blanco . . ."

So yes, I think Alejandro (again, for whom I have great respect) and his team should consider having "el abogado Roberto" revise his ad.

But ok, yes, maybe I am being too narrow-minded about this.  What do you think?  I open to being convinced that I am blind to a certain perspective.  I welcome comments below.

I invite you to also check out my media news and info website/blog: DavidRyanMediaSolutions.com
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