I am enjoying the recent influx of “30 Seconds” call-ins that are giving me some sports fodder to discuss. Here are two callers’ recent entries:

“Pop Warner coaches should treat players equal, not just by name. Give all of them a chance. Government says no child left behind. Come on, let’s give all of them a chance.”

“I’d like to wonder why the Norwich Cyclones aren’t put on the back of the paper like the Norwich Tornados are. They play on Sunday. They’re a good team. Both of them. Would you please put it in?”

The first comment is all at once humorous. The No Child Left Behind Act was put into effect to increase the nation’s standard of education, and each state is held accountable in order to receive federal funding. It is focused on the elementary and secondary education levels, not sports, and certainly not a recreational football league. That aside, Pop Warner rules require that every player on the team must participate a minimum number of plays during the game. Just like any competitive sport, the more talented players get more playing time. Guaranteed playing time, even if it is just a few plays, is not a bad deal. As competition and overall skills increase at higher levels of sports, playing time is designated for the athletes who give a team the best chance to win. Lesser players see lesser time or may not play at all. I know that reality quite well from my high school experience.
The second comment is easy explainable, and clearly the words of a parent unfamiliar with the reporting process.
Again, Pop Warner is a private organization unaffiliated with any local schools, and is youth-based with an age range of approximately 8 to 14. There are no standards of reporting those results, nor is it required by the coaches and organizers of the league to do so – unlike high school scholastic sports.
The reporting of weekly Cyclones results is done through the hard work and dedication of Norwich Pop Warner founder and organizer, Jim Edwards. He continues to put forth countless volunteer hours each year to maintain the program, and dutifully gathers information for each game, and submits the results to The Evening Sun. Typically, Mr. Edwards drops off or e-mails the results by Tuesday, and we print those results Wednesday or Thursday.
There would be zero Norwich Pop Warner coverage in our paper without Jim Edwards.

Seven years ago today I received a phone call from my brother, Dennis. “Are you watching TV?” he asked. I’d been heading out the door, but noticing something in his voice, I grabbed the remote.

Plans were immediately forgotten as I watched images of smoke and flames loop on the screen. I stayed in front of that TV for hours watching footage of what was happening in New York and Washington.

I juggled phone calls and tried to reach family members and friends. My efforts to reach those in the New York and DC areas grew more frantic every time I heard the words “all circuits are busy.”

I had countless relatives and college classmates living and working in and around the World Trade Center at the time of the attack. I had lived in Northern Virginia for several years, just a few miles from the Pentagon, and still had many friends in the area. Even though all of my loved ones made it home that day I can’t think of each of their stories, let alone write about them, without crying. I thank God for keeping them safe.

So many families were torn apart on that day seven years ago. My story is insignificant compared to theirs. I feel guilt and sorrow for the losses they deal with every day. My thoughts and prayers go out to them even more today as we look back and remember.

Previous generations talk about where they were when they learned of Pearl Harbor or Kennedy’s assassination. We’ll talk about where we were on September 11th. As I sit here typing, I am back in my sister’s living room all over again, witnessing the world change on 32″ screen.

I remember looking at the calendar that day, determined to commit the date to memory. Like any of us would or could ever forget. I know I, for one, never will.

Some people are more technically advanced than others. That much is obvious. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me when I meet someone who doesn’t have a computer or know how to send a text message or who has no clue what a blog is. However, I think the technology of an answering machine is something that everyone should be embracing by the year 2008.

According to About.com’s history of the answering machine, the first automatic answering machine was invented in 1935, and machines were being sold in the United States by 1960. They may not have been popular and readily available until the 1980s, but I think 48 years is long enough to become acquainted with a product and to figure out how it works.

I know there are people who dislike answering machines and voice mail, and I’m okay with that. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but if you’re a public official, I think you should be required by law to have some type of answering machine. I’m not sure how any public official could keep up with their constituents and the important news they need to be aware of without some type of answering device.

Maybe I’m the only one who is annoyed by the fact that I can’t leave messages for some public officials, but try calling a number everyday for a week, getting no answer and having no ability to let them know you called, and you might just get annoyed too, so if any public officials are reading this, please, for the good of my sanity, submit to modern technology and get yourself an answering machine.

The change of season seems to have come overnight to the hillsides. Perhaps it is Colorscape’s spell that has inspired mother nature to pull out her pots of autumn-tinted paints and drag her brushes with practiced hand across the landscape, weaving a full spectrum of crimson and gold through yesterday’s palette of verdant green.

I can understand because I, too, feel myself inspired by the festival. As I walk through this gathering of musical and artistic talent for the first time, my thoughts are of osmosis. I fervently hope that the passion and creativity surrounding me will leach through my skin and be absorbed by every cell.

I breath in, savoring the scent of paint and lullaby of music in the air. And then I exhale with the hope that I am making some small contribution to the creative melange on the wind. My addition to the mix? The love of poetry and prose.

“I wonder why the powers that be in Norwich and Sherburne don’t schedule each other. We’re both Class B, I think. We play some of the same teams that Norwich does know. If Norwich played Sherburne instead of each playing some of these northern communities, I estimate that the citizens of both communities would save $4,000 in gas. Really. Let’s schedule these games closer to home. We’re 13 miles apart.”

This comment will appear in an upcoming “30 Seconds” column, and I don’t often have the opportunity to address statements from that forum. And I cannot call them up and offer a brush-up or clarification on the realities of scheduling, due to the callers’ anonymity. As much as anyone, If it made sense, I would love to see the Marauders and Tornado play more games. In the case of Norwich – and conversely Sherburne-Earlville and Otselic Valley – it is in a “league” all of its own. The Tornado have competed as a member of the Southern Tier Athletic Conference (STAC) for over 35 years. Most of Norwich’s opponents are Triple Cities-area teams, or those of like school size – Class B or A. There is, though, a small window for Norwich to play local schools, all of whom are much, much smaller in size. In the past two years, Norwich has faced various teams from Sherburne-Earlville (basketball), Unadilla Valley (basketball), and Greene (football). Other than those rare non-league crossovers, the opportunities to square off against Chenango County neighbors are rare. Sherburne-Earlville, as informed readers may know, positioned itself in Section III about six years ago, and plays teams primarily from the Utica area. It is true, Sherburne-Earlville and Norwich are only a dozen miles apart, yet the centerpoint of each other’s leagues covers about 90 miles. We also need to consider the competitive balance of each school. There will be years where the smaller school (S-E) will have a strong, competitive team in a particular sport. Perhaps that team will beat Norwich. Heck, I know of at least two or three sports where Sherburne-Earlville would consistently upend Norwich. In reality, the overall competitive balance swings heavily in the Tornado’s favor, and old rivalries that took place in the ‘70s and ‘80s are a thing of the past because of Norwich’s dominance. And as for the gas prices, I feel your pain.

I made the mistake, I mean decision, to take a road trip over Labor Day weekend. In a roughly 72-hour period, my boyfriend and I traveled the 1,740 miles round trip to visit my brother Dennis and his family for approximately 30 minutes. OK. Maybe we were there for a little longer than that, but not a whole heck of a lot. I’m still recovering.

We departed for our southern destination on Friday afternoon, “enjoying” construction related traffic jams and inclement weather much of the way through Pennsylvania. The mountains of western Virginia are gorgeous, but difficult to see in the dark.

After close to 12 hours on the road, we finally stopped for a few hours of rest. We were just three hours or so to our destination in Dunlap, Tennessee, but too tired to continue on.

An early start saw us enjoying the beautiful morning meandering through the Tennessee mountains thanks to the scenic route our GPS had mistakenly assumed would be faster and more direct than that recommended by Dennis. I tried to make the argument that perhaps, since my brother had actually lived in the area for several years, we should follow his directions. I was overruled. Apparently I lack the required testosterone (or internal electrical circuits) to make decisions of that nature.

Once we arrived at the mountain-top lake my Tennessee brethren call home, we had a great time. We spent blissful hours fishing and paddling around the lake. I lost count of the number of puzzles and board games with my 7-year-old niece, whose birthday prompted the visit.

The time flew by and, all too soon, we were packing the car again to head north. Our trip back was relatively uneventful. The weather was gorgeous, and it the drive was mostly enjoyable. Other than the whole driving part. And being in the car.

I’m not disappointed that we took the trip. I have always believed that the purpose of travel is to open our eyes to the world around us. And let me tell you, my eyes were opened to one thing in particular. The huge disparity that exists between gas prices here in Chenango County and those outside our area.

Gas was easily the biggest expense of our trip and I paid close attention to prices along our route. The most we ever paid for gas was before leaving New York State: $3.63 a gallon outside of Binghamton. Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee? All cheaper. I’d have to take a closer look at my receipts to give you an average, but I’ll tell you this–I nearly wept with joy when we filled up for $3.44 per gallon at a service station somewhere off Interstate 75 in Tennessee.

I did weep when I returned to Chenango County and saw gas stations along the Route 12 corridor still at over $3.80 a gallon. And it certainly was not with joy.

Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin says she won’t support sex-explicit education… but said she doen’t just support abstinence only programs. What exactly is in between? Talk about semantics. When you add pro-life (anti-choice) with pro-abstinence programs you get… a pregnant 17 year-old daughter.

“Sex-explicit” is a political term designed to make a health class that teaches proactive measures in avoiding STD’s and teen pregnancy sound dirty because many religious traditions forbid premarital sex.

I understand the agony of using words like penis and vagina in an educational high school environment, it must be torturous. Even more terrible is actually acknowledging the glaring statistics of teen sexual activity and then not trying to address it.

Shocking I know, but pretending that kids aren’t having sex or that they’ll stop if we pretend it doesn’t exist doesn’t make HIV or teen sex vanish. If someone is really pro-life how about taking proactive measures on sex education and birth control to help avoid it?

The U.S. has a deplorable teen pregnancy rate compared to other countries.An abstinence ideal might soothe the minds of parents but in practice it’s a religious fundamental joke.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7593735.stm

If I told you the only way to ever lose weight was to never eat any of the foods you enjoyed, you would probably not be the least bit interested in being healthy. There would be some people who were willing to ignore temptation and be healthy individuals, but many would probably be tempted into cheating at least once in a while.

I think abstinence only education has about the same chances of working. Ever since hearing that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, an advocate of abstinence only education, is the mother of a pregnant teen, I’ve beet thinking about all of the failures of this type of program. There are going to be some teens who are for it. They’re going to hold firm to their beliefs and wait until they’re ready to have sex. Other teens are going to determine they are ready and like it or not, they’re going to do what they want.

I think it’s obvious that abstinence only education isn’t the answer for every kid. A cookie cutter solution isn’t going to stop teen sex, and if you ignore all of the other options, you’re basically sweeping the issue under the rug and pretending it doesn’t exist.

I know there are those who think that teaching kids about sex education is like giving them permission to have sex, but I think in the long run, you need to give kids the ability to be safe and responsible and hope that they make the right choices. If you’re preventing them from getting the knowledge they need to make informed decisions, you’re just setting them up for failure.

It was with a heavy heart that I wrote my Norwich City School articles for today’s paper. I penned first the Notice of Claim and then the Thomas Knapp interview before trying to get some sleep. I was fairly certain of the type of response these pieces would elicit and I’ll admit, it kept me up much of the night.

Because of legal constraints, the Norwich City School District was unable to respond to the allegations against them. My coverage is, therefor, decidedly one-sided. I don’t like that. It feels biased, even to me. I am glad that I have this forum to express my thoughts on the matter.

First, I’d like to thank Tom Knapp for granting me the opportunity for an interview. When he gave me his phone number at the August 19 board meeting, I thought I would be lucky to get a comment or two. I never dreamed that he would be willing to speak so candidly and at such length.

He was so open, in fact, that I was left wondering if his lawyer knew he was speaking to me. I think probably not.

But I was honored that this man, who is so well-loved and respected by the students and staff at Norwich High School, chose to speak with me. It was a gift, as Adrian Monk might say, but also a curse.

After reading the Notice of Claim (which I believe Jeff is planning to post on the site), I was left with a lot of questions. While my conversation with Knapp answered some of them, I hung up the phone with even more buzzing around my brain.

I have heard so many rumors as I’m sure have all of you. And I feel like it is my responsibility to help separate fact from myth for our readers. But that is difficult because of the very nature of a Notice of Claim.

As the first step in bringing litigation against a district, any and all allegations that may be named later have to be enumerated. The claims made are just that–claims. There is no proof or evidence attached. A read of the document yields references that the allegations made are based “upon information and belief” and what so-and-so said “in substance.” Remember if and when you read the document that none of the allegations have been substantiated at this point.

Despite his assertions, I just have a hard time believing that Tom Knapp has absolutely no idea what prompted the superintendent to call for a medical review under section 913 of the state education law.

Regardless of your personal feelings, if you have spoken to Gerard O’Sullivan you know he is an intelligent man. Legal counsel was present at the meeting in May where Knapp was suspended, so it can not be said that O’Sullivan acted alone.

I won’t sit here and poke holes in either Knapp’s story or the Notice of Claim. That is for the lawyers on both sides to work through. But I do ask that you remember there are two sides to this as there is to every story.

One of Tom Knapp’s claims is that the district has denied him the right of due process. If you read Knapp’s interview and the notice of claim and convict the district, the school board and O’Sullivan based on their contents alone; you are committing the same crime.

At this point, the matter is destined for the courts. Unfortunately, there is nothing to stop it from being tried in the forum of public opinion long before it ever sees a judge.

I read with interest a story about the LPGA tour requiring all of its membership to speak English beginning in 2009. Tour members have two years to learn the language and pass an oral evaluation of their English skills.
My initial reaction was, “Big Brother is watching over you.” It seemed like a personal infringement based on pressure from the tour’s public relations office. Dozens of women from the Far East, most notably Korea, have infused the LPGA Tour with talent. Along with playing the tournaments, part of the job for professional golfers is to play in the Wednesday pro-ams. Obviously it makes for a more enjoyable round for the amateurs when their professional speaks English. Couple that with the public relations aspect of the tour and promoting of the sport – which finds its home in the United States. Part in parcel with that is conducting intelligible interviews with the American media.
While the Tour has some valid points, it is also a clear case of micro-managing The PGA Tour does not have a English-speaking requirement, although the majority of non-American players are already fluent in English. No other professional sport has any similar rules in an effort to promote their sport.
Clearly the Olympics prove that understanding English is irrelevant to fan support. The Chinese love their native son, NBA player Yao Ming. They love NBA superstar Kobe Bryant nearly as much, and I would guess half a billion people in China speak little to no English.
Promoting a sport comes first from a player’s performance. Excellence on the field of play reels the fans in. With a touch of charisma or elan, you then have a superstar. Perhaps that next superstar is a Korean who speaks no English. In that event, her actions would speak much louder than any English words.

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There was a question in “30 Seconds” earlier this week in which a man asked why the New York Yankees are often given front-page coverage, while the New York Mets – who were in first place at the time the man called in – do not. The Yankees appear on the front page of our sports section for the same reason the New York Giants often get preferential NFL coverage over the Bills and Jets. In our readership area, there are simply more fans – and readers – of the Yankees and Giants than other New York teams. I am a lifelong Bills supporter and would love to supplant some Giants coverage. However, my first obligation is to our readership and their preferences.