James Clark Blog

On a lighter note, let’s discuss horses, thoroughbreds.  Mine that Bird, a 50-1 long-shot, took more than $1,000,000 from Churchill Downs to his home farm.  Jockey Calvin Borel rode the gelding to a dramatic finish. After three-fourths of a mile, Mine was 19th out of 19 horses. With a quarter-mile left, he was 12th.  At the finish, he won by almost 7 lengths.  Experts said Mine that Bird should have been a 100-1 bet.  Those same experts are now saying it was the greatest ride since Paul Revere.

The big horse not only hugged the rail, he literally scraped it.  After retirement,  Derby winners  (other than Mine, sans his cajones) rake in the cash for their owners in the form of breeding fees. Here are some well-known names and their actual (dead) and projected (still joyfully at it) lifetime earnings from the breeding barn.

Secretariat – 1973 winner.  Died in 1989, earned relatively little, because he sired mainly fillies, which sell for far less than colts.  Lifetime earnings: $100mm.

Smarty Jones – 2004 winner. Garnered $7.6 million in race winnings and brings in hundred-thousand dollar stud fees. Projected: $288mm.

Big Brown – 2008 winner.  Had a $600,000 UPS corporate sponsorship deal. Projected: $211mm.

Seattle Slew – 1977 winner. At his peak, earned stud fees of $1,000,000 per mare. Died in 2002.  Lifetime earnings: $411mm.

1945 Heisman Trophy winner Felix Anthony “Doc” Blanchard has died at his home in Bulverde, Texas, at the age of 84. Blanchard, “Mr. Inside,” teamed with Glenn Davis, “Mr. Outside” to lead the U.S. Military Academy’s Black Knights of the Hudson to three  undefeated seasons.  (Their record was 27-0-1 with a tie to Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in November 1946). Time & Life magazines pictured Davis and Blanchard together on their covers.

Interestingly, Blanchard tried to enlist in the U.S. Navy when WWII broke out, but was rejected as being “overweight.” He was a thorn in the Naval Academy’s side while playing for Army, beating the Midshipmen each of the years he played. On one memorable occasion, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, after an Army victory over Navy, sent a cable that read “We have stopped the war because of your monumental victory.”  Army Coach Red Blaik said “Doc Blanchard was the best-built athlete I ever saw.  Six feet and 208 pounds at his peak, not a suspicion of fat on him, with slim waist, Atlas shoulders, colossal legs.”

An icon has passed.

USA Today reports that a nationwide survey has been conducted, whereby NFL fans would vote on the top ten #1 draft picks in the league’s history.  Here they are:

1. Terry Bradshaw 2. Peyton Manning 3. John Elway 4. Troy Aikman  5.  Bruce Smith 6. O. J. Simpson 7. Earl Campbell   8. Lee Roy Selmon  10. Orlando Pace (actually there were ten but I forgot one).

Top ten NFL number one draft pick busts:  1. Ryan Leaf  (recently indicted for drug use, burglary of a habitation, obtaining CDS by fraud and delivery of CDS) 2. Tony Mandarich  3. Brian Bosworth   4. Lawrence Phillips     5. Heath Shuler  6. Blair Thomas  7. Ki-Jana Carter   8.  Bruce Pickens  9.  Andre Ware  10. Todd Marinovich

Interestingly, the NFL Combine has a rather simple 5-8  rating system on prospects that goes something like this:          5:  Will make it in NFL  6:  Likely starter.  7:  All-pro likely  8:  Certain  Hall of Famer.   Trivia:  Name the two players in NFL history who got “eight” ratings from the combine system.   Give up?   Answer at bottom of post.

Football buffs should ponder the validity of the NFL scouts’ current emphasis on speed.  Jack Lambert, the Hall of Famer LB for the Steelers (Kent State alum) ran a 40-yard dash in like 5.5 seconds.  Think he would be signed today? How about fellow Hall of Famer Raymond Berry (SMU) of the Colts?  Or Unitas (Louisville)?  Some of those guys were slow as Christmas but they got the job done.  They wouldn’t have a chance today.

Trivia answer:  NFL tryout candidates who rated an 8:  O. J. Simpson & Bo Jackson – Simpson is in Canton.

The Orange County Register reports two former pastors of Calvary Baptist Church of Yorba Linda charged with embezzling more than $1 million from the church are expected to accept a judge’s offer of a two-year prison sentence (didn’t know judges “made offers.”).  Richard Cunningham, who founded the church in 1971, and his son Phllip, who took over as senior pastor in 1995, have two months to decide whether to “accept” the offer. Two months!

The pastors resigned in 2006 after a private investigation found more than $3 million in funds from the church and an affiliated school had not been accounted for.

The ex-pastors returned some $3 million in cash & property to the church and that seemed to help them quite a bit, according to their attorney.  The embezzlement tally? $3,669,376 that the pastors withdrew from secret accounts in cash or cashier’s checks.  Between the 2 of them, they owned 6 homes, 2 timeshares, a Cadillac and a Mercedes-Benz.  Phillip deeded over a Palm Springs condo and sold his house. Phillip’s house was bought for $165k in 1989 and the church sold it at the peak of the real estate boom for $1.7mm.

Wow! Makes one think for a moment.  Wonder if they still have their pastor’s licenses.

In October 1993, 25-year old Tiburcio Arriaga-Espinoza, drunk out of his mind, drove a vehicle into a pickup, which killed a promising 21-year old Karen Andrews, a passenger in the truck. Arriaga was arrested, charged with misdemeanor DUI, and routinely appeared before a Carter County, Oklahoma District Court judge the next morning for arraignment. He entered a plea of Guilty to the charge and received a sentence of one year in the county jail, execution suspended, and a fine.  After the conviction, it was discovered, too late, that he was involved in a vehicle homicide, and had priors.  The District Attorney tried to re-file felony vehicular manslaughter charges against him, but the assigned judge, Hon. Charles E. Roberts, dismissed the case on the grounds of former jeopardy. The State appealed, and the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court dismissal. The parents of Karen Andrews were devastated. Since Karen Andrews died, Arraiga-Espinosa has incurred nine DUI convictions and served three stints in state prisons.

Arraiga-Espinosa did it again, and this time has received 50 years in the Texas prison system.  He went to Oklahoma after the arrest in Denton County, Texas, and was found by Texas authorities serving a 7-year sentence in an Oklahoma prison for his 9th DUI.  He was extradited back to Texas on a governor’s warrant and got the fifty.  Hopefully he’ll die in prison and never be able to destroy another family again as a result of his criminal acts.

The invasion of SE Asia that cost America over 50,000 young lives was justified as impeding the “domino” theory. Some dolts at the DOD came up with an absurd policy that if the corrupt Saigon-based government of Ngo Dinh Diem fell to Ho Chi Minh’s northern troops, then other SE Asian countries would, in turn, fall to Communism like “dominoes.”   It was a big lie, and it took hundreds of thousands of Americans marching in the streets to stop it. We left in shame in 1973, having lost the war. We ignored history, namely that Vietnam had been invaded and occupied many times in the past centuries, never successfully.  Last to be kicked out were the French in 1954. Ignoring history, we decided to invade. Disaster.

Now, Iraq. Based on false premises tantamount to fraud, we invaded this country, which was nothing but a military reservation with lots of oil, and toppled the Sunni despot, Saddam Hussein. Three theories were advanced by the Bush Administration after no weapons of mass destruction were found:  1] “we either must fight them (whoever in the hell ‘them’ is) over there or over here“; 2] the overthrow “will sow the seeds of democracy” in Iraq, turning that Muslim nation into a Christian one; and 3]  uh……. oops, forgot three.

Dick Cheney and Paul Wolforitz told us the war “will last 30 days and won’t cost us a cent; we’ll get repaid out of oil and be treated as liberators.” Yeah right. Liars both.  So far we’ve been there 6-7 years and the cost is running to a trillion.The Iraqis hate us but willingly take our money, stealing billions and moving to London.

So, Barack Obama comes along, promising an Iraqi troop withdrawal and reversal of W’s plans of disaster. What does he do? Well, looks like U.S. troop numbers are increasing, the Prez is being vague about when the guys are coming home, all the while cow-tailing to the DOD. He now plans to have 70,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by autumn. His plea at the G-20 for manpower help from the world’s nations was virtually ignored. Regardless, long-term U.S. plans are to station 30,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq as “caretakers” once the official “withdrawal” is ordered.  Lay book on 50k.

So…… I predict, like Vietnam,  the Afghans will do to us what they did to the Russians when they invaded, i.e., kill so many Americans that the flights carrying our boys home in body bags will be ordered to land at night, like the Russian trains were ordered to bring enormous shipments of Russian dead into Moscow’s Central Station at midnight.  It’ll happen sure as it snows in Minnesota in December.

Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely, a respected military veteran, says of Afghanistan, “…basically, let it go. This idea that we’re going to go in and bring democracy to these tribal cultures isn’t going to work. If we have a problem with terrorist countries, like Iran, it’s a lot cheaper to go in and hit them and get back out.”   So, I submit that sinking all possible young men, materiel and bureaucracy into Afghanistan to try to bring a corrupt Islamic culture into working modernity while simultaneously fighting the Taliban and wading  deep into treacherous Pakistani wars is no way to “victory.”  It will only bleed and further degrade U.S. military capabilities.

So…….. I ask the humble question: Why? Why are we there? The financial outlays are killing our country, and the death tolls will continue to mount. Readers with 6-10 year old boys need to think this thing through. We’ll be going full force in those two wild, untamed countries like gangbusters when those lads turn 18. The DOD, with its zeal to promote military officers during times of war, and defense contractors bribing our congressmen and senators to keep those tanks and weapons systems coming out of those factories in those congressional districts, will assure it.  That is, unless the American people take to the streets again.

Jim Lange, the 50-year veteran editorial cartoonist of the Oklahoman, died yesterday. Although he was always joined at the hip with E. K. Gaylord’s right-wing poliltical views, he had outstanding drawing talent and knew how to please the Gaylord clan.

Editorial cartoonists are unbelievably interesting to me.  I’m amazed daily how they strike at the very heart of our nation’s problems in a penetrating fashion. My favorites? Try Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and John Deering of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. My least favorite: “Moderately Confused” by Stahler.  Boring, boring and not funny.

Just watched the Cavs dismantle Detroit. LeBron James scored 38 and was overall the MVP without question. This guy can do it all.  For fans who missed the game, he launched a running one-hander just before the first half buzzer sounded; it banked in. The fans at the Cavs arena love this guy, and for good reason.

It’s almost considered heresy to say anything negative about Michale Jordan or Kobe Bryant, but LeBron, in my view, is way  better than both. He is defenseless and an unstoppable force.

James is the pride of Cleveland. He lives in a 33,000 square foot mansion with his girlfriend and sons, LeBron, Jr. and Bryce.   I think he’s 24 or so. His goal in life is to be the first billion dollar player.  He just might make that. Plus he just ran away with the MPV award.  NBA fans, think about that for a minute:  He gets 109 votes out of 121. Kobe got 2 votes first-place. That’s how good James is.  He posed with the MVP trophy in his high school gym at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, with his 2 strikingly handsome young sons and “girlfriend”  Savannah Brinson.  If this guy would make an honest woman out of Savannah he would rule the world.

You can count the number of black head coaches in Division One football with two hands, and take back a couple of digits. I think that’s an outrage. Auburn University, seeking to replace Tommy Tuberville (good coach in my view) had a chance to hire Turner Gill, the former Nebraska QB who would have taken the War Eagles (Tigers?) to the promised land. They opted to hire a white guy from Iowa State. Don’t think for a heartbeat that racism didn’t play into the AU Administration’s decision.

I’m not big on quotas, but when 60-70% of Div I football players are black, we need to see more black coaches on the sidelines. I can’t believe the sports columnists have remained mute on this subject.

Colleges and high schools have been abandoning their Native American mascot names for several years now. It’s time ALL of them do so! Here are some examples: Stanford from Indians to Cardinal. Southeastern State Oklahoma University (alma mater of Dennis Rodman) from Savages to Savage Storm (silly). St. John’s from Redmen to Red Storm (another silly). Syracuse from Orangemen to Orange (unnecessary).

The worst change was my alma mater, Oklahoma City University, dropping Chiefs, the greatest mascot name in sports, to “Stars.” Stupid. Why not “Smiling Good Guys?”

Oklahoma University, the Sooners, used to have a competition in the fall giving a 4-year paid scholarship to the best Native American dancer, aptly named “Little Red.” A member of the Plains Indians tribe invariably won, usually a Kiowa, since their dances were deemed the most colorful. Before kickoff, everyone would clear the field and Little Red would come out, long headdress and loin cloths, and do a “war dance.” The crowd loved it, as did I. It was intimidating. Famous sports writer Grantland Rice paid tribute to it when he traveled by train from Syracuse, New York to Norman, Oklahoma, with the Syracuse Orangemen football team, only to (as Rice put it) “get scalped on the Oklahoma plains” by the powerful Sooners. A couple of NA protests to the OU President’s office put an end to the war dance practice, which I felt was harmless (although the “Little Red” was a little much) and a grand tradition.

The worst NA mascot name is “Redskins.” Research the origin of that name and you’ll vomit. The Washington Redskins should change their name, pronto.

I’ve tried to get the Plainview, Oklahoma administration to change “Plainview Indians” to “Plainview Patriots” in vain. They won’t budge. Speaking of Plainview, football fans should remember the name Justin Blackmon, a Plainview alum. He’s a hot prospect for Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State University Cowboys this fall as a wide receiver, hopefully to take some pressure off their star, Dez Bryant. Look for Blackmon to shine. “He’s a man!” Gundy will exclaim.

I guess I’m waffling some, since I don’t see any harm in “Chiefs” or “Warriors.” The “Fighting Illini” of the University of Illinois gives me some problems, since the white guys wiped out the Illini tribe. It’s extinct. Think about that for a minute.