USA's Twight Zone is Key?????

I am convinced that Florida is America's Twilight Zone

For those of you too young to have watched the re-runs growing up, The Twilight Zone was an irresistible yet weird mixture of drama, psychological thriller, science-fiction , suspense, and/or horror. Florida is also an irresistible yet weird mixture of drama, psychological thriller, science-fiction , suspense, and/or horror as it is truly America's Twilight Zone

Every year the baseball season begins in Florida
 
 with spring training
 

and tourist travel their to go to party, vacation, enjoy the sun, and admire the eye candy



I've been going to Florida for years (known as "my cousin Richie from New York")  , 
I met my wife (not raised in Florida) there,  I have family there

, I've owned and still own property there, hell when I was younger I wanted to move to Miami. Yet in all my experience something has been off, different, weird, and difficult to understand about the people who live in Florida. They are not like us, and by us I mean NY/NJ/Northeaster folk.

There are clear exceptions, but generally speaking I find Floridians as :

1. Xenophobic - Outsiders are shunned. Strange considering Tourism carries the state
2. Homogeneous - act the same, dress the same, looks the same, and all want to be the same. Same ... Same ... Same .. its Twilight Zone ish .. almost phony and creepy. Too Generic
3. Rude - Combine points 1 and 2 above plus they are mostly distant
4. Difficult to communicate with - You ask them if they watch TV - They say No. You Ask them if they watch/follow the news - They say No. You ask them if they follow politics - They So No. You ask them about the weather and they complain about 65 degrees. What the Fuck????
5. Horrible Sports Town - No baseball love. None. Hope Miami Marlins do better, but its an uphill battle. Worse yet is their is No Loyalty when their teams are down. If you win, your in. If not, your done. See the Miami Dolphins
6. No concept of the importance of Public Transportation - Horrible. If an Alien spaceship landed it would be looked on more favorable than buses and trains that ran on time. 
7. Generally lack substance and are superficial. Its all about me.

It's like a twisted horror episode where you want to like everyone, but as you get to know them you notice something isn't quite right. Appearances are deceiving.

Don't get me wrong.  There are good people who live there, I love Florida. I love Miami, and I love my family and friend who live there, but I'm glad I don't live in America's Twilight Zone. Something is wrong there. Yet despite their obvious short comings, election after election its residents hold the key to many presidential candidates aspirations. Crazy. Tomorrow is the Republican Primary and a good win here would establish a front runner. Florida could change everything, the Horror ... my god ... only in the Twilight Zone

Permit Me to Introduce Myself

Today I attended a Public Hearing
 



at the very nice Chelsea Recreation Center regarding the following rule amendment that impacts us all


"For applications received during the relevant application period, the Parks Department will first consider Youth Recreation (under 18) permit requests before any Adult Recreation permit requests. Adult applications will be considered after"


The City requires public hearings to institute new policy, but the truth is that it has been voted upon and already decided beforehand.  They were pretty much just collecting comments and opinions.That's why many interested parties were well represented and on hand







to express their thoughts on this issue and the importance of the Power of the Permit.

Youth Advocates stated their case

Now that their permit monopoly is threatened other tried to "work something out"

Now - Boooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if work something out means join my league, just wondering.

Admirably, Adult Softball Advocates AKA "Fievrues" stood up and gave more genuine appeals



for the love of the game and the city we live in.

While I am glad the permit process is under going long overdue changes by not just "grandfathering" request, there is a clear and present danger in a general broad Youth Leagues come first policy. What if a newly formed youth league forces a good loyal law abiding tax paying permit holder to lose their privileges?  Is that fair? Of course not. No one wants to lose their permit. What it means for the future - who knows? 


I have dealt with the Park's Department for 13 years and they have improved, but they still need help with this and the following issues:

1. Permit Costs have increased 50%, but they have very little weekend staff due to budget cuts. This is a contradiction. Very frustrating. Poor perception
2. Lack of Staff - makes it difficult to check on field use and provide proper maintenance.
3. Youth Leagues needs should be more closely examined as this could be a seasonal or time related issue. Weekends are a challenge.
4. Other Policy Issues that should change "Maximum time that any adult single-permit holder/league may control a field is set at 32 hours a week,  per park." There is no limit or extra cost for holding a certain number of permits. This has created monopolies who hoard the fields, provide a lousy product,  and over charge NYC residents/companies for very right to play on the  fields they pay taxes on. This makes no sense. Institute a permit cap number.
5. Another Questionable Policy - "The Park's Department reserves the right to require clean-up bond and/or liability insurance for the use of the field." Some leagues can't afford this.

This is a wonderful city it would be a shame if we were not Permitted to play anymore.

Developing Market

People often ask me what I do for a living? Some think I make ends meat as a sports writing Renegade
trying to penetrate social media culture with a twist of my A96 point of view. Others think I create websites for a living ,while another theory has me working different jobs depending on the season -  umpire, treasurer, and commisiooner from Spring thru Fall

or minimum wage earning snow shoveling fool


in the Winter

Well the truth is right now I ain't doing a damn thing because I am unemployed, but "Once Upon a Time" I had a career. I was a bond analyst. Mortgage-Backed Securities bond analyst to be exact, yeah I am one of the motherfuckers that ruined the country.

Lately I've been trying to get back into the bond game but can't crack the lineup - no worries - I will. But on my journey toward reestablishing myself I can't help but notice the similarities between U.S. bond market and baseball/softball. Huh? Did I just write that ? And yes while I am drinking while writing this, the parallels between the two are sobering. I don't even need to add Barry Bonds 

to this conversation to connect the lines. I know that on the surface they seem very different, but if you look deeper and understand/appreciate the rules and strategies, there are many common elements between the bond market and playing ball.

Top Ten Bond Market and Softball Similarities 

10. Bullies and Thugs in Both -  Some wear ties. Some wear hoodies. Intimidation is their game. Same shit. Just worry about what you do.

9. Classifications - The bond market consists of a great number of types of securities - U.S. Treasuries , Corporate,  High-Yield , Mortgage-Backed Securities ,Asset-Backed Securities ,Agency , Municipal Bonds, Collateralized Debt Obligations. Softball consists of many different styles of play - Arc, Lob, Modifed, Windmill, Sling. The classification in both is broken down by the kind of pitch thrown. 

8. Competition - Both are driven by competition. Where can I get the best return on my financial, time, and pride investment? Compare. Compare Compare.

7. Knowledge is Power - The Bond market is tricky, but like baseball rules, understanding the basics takes the mystery out of them. Educated guesses and interpolations apply.

6. Mathematical Statistics - Bond Market investors want to know key stats like yield, to determine a bond's expected return so they can make an investment decision, Players/managers want to know their key stats like batting average, on base percentage, and earn run average to gauge performance and predict future results. 

5. Clutch - Pressure is a privilege as meeting strict deadlines and stepping up to the plate in key situations a must in both.

4. Benchmarks - bonds and players are both valued relative to a benchmark. For example, a 10-year Treasury might be used as the pricing benchmark for a 10-year corporate bond issue. While players are evaluated relative to the performance of their peers. i.e. Catchers stats are compared to other catchers
3. Curves  - Bond pricing curves are constructed using the yields/rates of underlying securities with similar maturities. In baseball/softball, a savvy pitcher will construct and develop a good curve to give himself an edge.
2. Risk - In both you expect a large return for risk, but you also pay a price.  In the Bond Market , the riskier the investment the larger the return/spread. In softball,  taking chance like missing a cut-off man can open squash a rally or open up a pandora's box. Managing Risk is crucial.
and the Number One Bond Market and Softball Similarities

1. Hustle Hard - No one is going to give you shit in either industry. Its cut-throat, but when you find a good friend and mentor hold on to them. Trust is earned not given away.

Sports Kobayashi Maru

The Kobayashi Maru is a test in the fictional universe of Star Trek. It's a training exercise designed to test the character of cadets in a no-win scenario. Yeah I am a geek and know this shit.Well lately sports has left me feeling

very Kobayashi Maru ish lately

Giants - Pats - Super Bowl - No Win - I'm a Jet Fan and my wife is a Patriots fan

Yanks - Phillies - Dominance - No Win - I'm a Met fan

Met Ownership - No Win - I'm a hardcore Met fan

Jet Collapse and Ugly Fall out - No Win - 43 years and counting

Hell let's be honest Choice Parts - West finals in Softball - No Win - no further comment

In the Star Trek universe the only person to pass the Kobayashi Maru was Captain Kirk who reprogrammed the test so he was able to win. He cheated. Despite having cheated, he was awarded a commendation for "original thinking."

Well in my current sports predicament there is no cheating. Its going to be a while and no one is going to feel sorry for me. Look for solutions from within.

Beam me up Scotty

Distraction Tactic - Playing Dirty

I've fixed softball fields and shoveled snow and no matter which way you slice it - It's hard work. Today I was suppose to go workout with someone, but the inclement weather cancelled that fun activity and left me the humbling task of earning spare cash by shoveling snow for my building.

This was going to be a decent workout so I set out on the task minding my own business

Before

Before

 and eventually got it done

after

after

I was feeling good 

when my neighbor from across the street came over and asked me "Have you been out here for a while?" I though he was going to compliment me, but I was shocked when he told me his door was kicked in and robbed, and asked me if I noticed anything.

I was shocked and felt so bad, like the feeling when someone gets their bag stolen during a softball game because everyone is so into the game that they are distracted and the thief swoops in.

I told him that earlier I noticed a truck with the word "limitless" with city workers cleaning up in front of his neighbors house, but thought nothing of it except, damn I wish this guys could help me. Crazy. Those bastards used that as a cover and distraction for robbing a good man's home in broad daylight


Next time cops tell me to watch my bag I will not brush it off. Distraction Tactics - playing dirty