Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Oracle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oracle. Show all posts

Monday, March 21, 2016

SEX & TENNIS and WHEN REAL MEN CRY

LEGACY
   Lone chimneys dot California wilderness and mountain areas. Sentries, guarding the past of what was once a place of life and settlement they are also powerful testament to enduring. Some things last and remain. So it is with life and human legacy.
REAL MEN TEARS
   The Detroit Free Press said it was his "most impressive moment after the worst loss," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo in tears, voice cracking after his highly ranked Spartans lost to little Middle Tennessee State. One of his key players Denzel Valentine said it had been his job to carry a team but he let them down and that's when a tearful Izzo reached out to touch the neck of an obviously hurting kid. Tom Izzo is one of the real and genuine guys in big time college coaching. Of course he was disappointed in the team's play and their loss but he was more concerned, even compassionate about how much it hurt his kids.
     Chris Mack coach of Xavier that lost on a last second shot  was interviewed live after trying to console his highly ranked team. He emerged solemn and shaken and was asked what it was like. He said, "that is a tough locker room right now, really hurting."
     There were other such moments as the NCAA tournament  played down to the Sweet 16. Even the professional analysts, Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were moved by the emotion, especially the Izzo comments and concern. Some may poo poo the emotions but one needs to remember despite their size and skill, they are still  really kids, many in their teens and most will never go on to play professional ball, so a tourney loss is the end of a dream and the ruin of hope. A coach, a good coach, cares about that as well. And so it is healthy, I think, to see a man who has drilled and trained an athlete, to respond to the kid, or young man with concern and compassion at one of the worst moments of their young life. And if tears flow, that's not only human, real and caring, it is also manly. Real man, manly!
AND THERE ARE MINDLESS WORDS 
     It didn't take long for most of tennis and much of the media world to fire back at Raymond Moore. He is the now besieged CEO of the Indiana Wells Tennis Garden and BNP Paribas tournament, one of the prestige venues in the world.
      Players, commentators, journalists and fans heaped scorn on Moore for his comment, on the day of the Championship Finals, that women tennis players had ridden the coat tails of men and that women players should go down on their knees to thank players like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.  
      Even if that was true, and it is not, it certainly is not wise to make such a sexist and outrageous comment to anyone, especially the media. Patrick McEnroe quickly said Moore should resign. Serena Williams and others have called the comments offensive. 
       I have not seen marketing studies to verify it but my hunch is the women professionals are every bit as much a box office draw as men. The top ranked women, like their male counterparts are millionaires from prize money and endorsements. 
       Oracle mogul Larry Ellison who owns the complex and tourney is expected to have the last word on Moore's unfortunate comments.
OBSERVED
   We caught this lovely scene and sound as we drove home from dinner in Cambria.
      Someone hired Voces Tapatias Mariachi to serenade those living in this apartment just off Main Street.
   It was a lovely pre sunset desert.  

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

HOP SKIP TO 2014

ONE AT A TIME
     Harvest carnivals, autumnal rites and the turning of the year.  
     Merchants launch Christmas longings even before we observe that night of dress up and masked extortion of candy where now social media provides a "safe house" map and GPS guide.
     In the last push of this 2013 we'll remember it has been 50 years since JFK inspired us. We remember vividly our own piece of history now a half century on. Boomers have become seasoned vets of the season. In Thanksgiving rituals we intuit another Yule, Holiday, Christmas, Advent and yet another rapid change of calendar.
      When days shorten and night becomes longer we reflect, remember and marvel at where it all goes, cued by  nature gone melancholy. Regret and hope ballet on our mood. This time of year is an acquired taste.  The more of it we sip, the better we appreciate the vintage. Still, can it really be time for this end of year run through the holidays and memories?  Already?
SECRETARY OF THE INTERNET
     So there in the photo of the cabinet, next to the pin striped Secretary of State is the secretary of the Internet in a black T shirt and jeans.  Intriguing?  
   As the Obama team, so slick at campaign social media, struggles to get the new Affordable Care market exchange computer system operating, maybe it's time to ask, should we elevate all federal government information and computer systems and programs to a single department or agency?  Do we need our own Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison or Steve Jobs?  Yea, I know the curse of a federal agency is first a growing bureaucracy and a diminishing efficiency, but if we imported some "google think"  or "oracle management" or "apple genius" it could spill over to the bloated federal mind set.  
     Better design and more efficient testing of the health care market place system probably would have been a product of a Facebook, or Google team.  And besides this embarrassment is the very real matter that most of everything today moves via technology platforms.  Should we trust the big picture, high altitude view on this to the snoops and investigators of the NSA and FBI or CIA or to the high platform warriors of the Pentagon?  Commerce certainly can't hack it?  Maybe we do need a son or daughter of silicon valley to mix it up with the Cabinet.

     See you down the trail.