Cup of Coffee

May 30, 2017: Benjamin Franklin

54 Comments

Frank Deford passed away over the weekend. I will admit that I only caught his GOML shtick while annoying my Wednesday commute in recent years, but he still seems like a hell of a journalist.

54 thoughts on “May 30, 2017: Benjamin Franklin”

    1. Long time fan, Frank Deford and Dan Jenkins were my favorite bylines in SI back in the 70s.

    2. Luis Tiant set the record at 5.33 in 1968 before Ryan broke it 4 years later. Tiant led the league in pitching WAR, ERA, ERA+ and FIP and did not receive a single Cy Young vote (back then, they only voted for first place). That was the year Denny McLain went 31-6 and won the Cy Young unanimously and also won the MVP despite Yaz having more than 3 wins in WAR more than McLain.

    3. the remarkable thing is that 4 of the top 25 are 2017 seasons to date, compared to 3 from 1968 (the "Year of the Pitcher") and 5 from prior to 1920. Small samples, to be sure, but 10-11 starts is bordering on Not Small Sample.

  4. I quit reading DeFord after he detailed Kirby Puckett's sex life and condescendingly pointed out that Minnesotans foolishly treated him like a hero in Sports Illustrated.

      1. Huh...I did not read that article, nor can I specifically recall many articles that I know he wrote.

        In fact, off the top of my head, I can only think of about a half dozen articles where their corresponding author stands out. Mostly these are Gammons or Dennis Anderson or Joe Pos... and of course, he had this to say about DeFord, but also:

        ugh SelectShow

          1. So I've been told.
            Not sure if he'd be considered a sports journalist, or an author who also wrote about sports, but I've always been partial to David Halberstam too.

  5. So . . . anyone here ever have a kid who suddenly became a frequent visitor to the school office? The jalapeno (1st grade) started having trouble right after spring break in mid-March, and we're now having contact with the teacher and the intervention specialist several times a week. Today on the way in from recess, he hit another kid. I am at such a loss.

      1. Thanks. I've talked to her a bit--we were going to meet up at a playground yesterday, but the rain foiled those plans.

    2. Sorry, to both you and Jalapeno. Is there something else going on that could trigger this? Other changes, other kids at school, etc?

      I have nothing in way of advice or anything that helpful, but can commiserate at least a little, though it sounds like on a smaller scale. We have gotten two notices in the last month that our 3-year-old bit someone at school. Plus, he will commonly hit his brother or a dog seemingly just out of boredom. "I don't have anything to do at this moment? I guess I'll hurt someone!"

      So far our response has been to have a timeout and talk to him about why that is wrong, but I can't say it's actually done any good so far.

      Good luck.

      1. Thank you, Mike. I think some of it is stemming from the dynamics between him and some of the other kids in his class. First they were banned from playing football at recess and then they were banned from playing kickball as well because they can't seem to figure out how to play fairly. A second grade teacher who happens to live across the street from my parents told them that ALL the first grade classes this year are crazy. So hopefully with a few months to mature over the summer and a new mix of kids in the classes in the fall, things will get better.

        He started seeing a therapist at the school once a week, and he'll continue to see her over the summer. The good news is that he adores her and they've been trying to work on what he can do to calm down once he's gotten upset. (This seems to be a pattern--he gets up start, starts to cry really loudly, gets mad that other kids are looking at him, and then lashes out.) He's able to go to the school office to take a break and calm down anytime he needs, and in the last few weeks he's done that and then been able to successfully return to class.

        As far as the biting goes . . . ugh. Both my boys went through biting phases at daycare, though that was more ages 1 and 2. It's just the worst feeling to show up to get your kid and have the teacher hand you an incident report to sign. We read the book Teeth Are Not For Biting about a million times, and I can't say for sure that it helped, but they boys both really liked the book and it was a way to talk about biting without making it directly about them.

        Thanks also to those who sent email messages. I'm so glad to be part of this half-baked community. 😉

        1. #notthatkindofdoctor, but executive function is a thing. Best wishes that this is just something within the parameters of "typical" and will pass quickly as he and his brain matures. And kudos for linking him with a therapist to help him work on strategies.

        2. When I was in second grade, our daily recess game of "Trench" against the third graders was banned due to strong feelings and lots of bickering. I don't think it ever got more physical than contained in the game, but some balls were thrown hard at heads, and I'm sure the teachers were tired of adjudicating or putting up with arguments in the lunchroom and any other places the grades intermixed. For all the problems, it did give our class cohesion.

        3. Sooo many "that rings a bell" phrases in this thread.
          I like to use the phrase "continuous improvement parenting" as the concept that has brought us to the point where every kid anomaly is getting treated with process-change attention and demands! a response and correction. My kid sounds like your kid (especially he gets upset, starts to cry really loudly, gets mad that other kids are looking at him, and then lashes out), and I can imagine him having the struggles that zoom described in his. I think giving wide room for development ends up being much of what things come to.
          Mine has developed the self-narrative as a screw-up who makes bad decisions, even though he's good and smart and talented. That attitude comes out whenever he feels bad about things, often non-related, or is just generally frustrated with life and obligations. So there's that risk as well in handling these situations.
          Good luck to all.

          1. Yeah, I'm wary of the jalapeno developing a similar self-narrative. When he's in a bad mood, he'll go on about how "dumb" he is, etc.

            1. Ugh - Kernel with the "I'm stupid and you hate me!" outburst every once-in-awhile ... heartbreaking, even though we know she doesn't believe it.

            2. AJR (now 7!) does that a lot when she's upset about just about anything, then she adds morbidity to the shouts.
              I don't think she really wishes she or we were dead, but it's a hard balance between keeping her from acting that way and giving those statements too much power. (So far, no one else has picked up on it.)
              She's already more morbid than her siblings put together, talking about blood and viscera and what happens when bodies fall off cliffs and such. I'm probably just lucky she doesn't have access to a medical dictionary.
              She's also the smartest (for her age) and the one I most relate to. She's a deep-thought introvert.

              Thinking about this now, I've got to make sure I get on a good level with her before she becomes a teenager.
              AJR will be the one to do destructive things to lash out and get attention.
              LBR will do it to make others happy. She's a peppy extrovert and I hope my wife has some ideas on how to handle that.

              1. Oh, God, my four-year old has recently started saying he wishes he were dead or we were dead. We know he doesn't mean it, but damn that's hard to deal with.

                We try hard on the self-narrative, too. Not saying things like, "You did a naughty thing," but just trying to remove adjectives as much as possible. "When you did this, this is what happened, and I feel this way about it. I know you want to do better at this thing and I know you'll do better next time."

                1. Always, always, always encouraged to know is isn't just us...
                  Did previous generations of parents have better exposure/perspective on this, or did they just not care?

                  Thursday Video suggestion: The Kids Are All Right

                2. I can't imagine how you, as someone in the mental health field, deals with your own kid saying the wishes-he-were-dead thing.

                  1. So suicidal thoughts from a child is not uncommon, but that isn't what this is. He just found a phrase that he knows upsets us and uses it when he's feeling out of control. That said, he has emotional regulation concerns to go along with his autism. There are times that I feel helpless, but for me being a mental health worker at least helps me with perspective and resources. To wit, I know that I can't do this all by myself and need to rely on peer and professional supports; if nothing else being a mental health worker has given me patience and humility.

                    1. This hits home, but I am not a mental health professional. I should probably catch you offline sometime.

          2. I try really hard to keep my kids out of that kind of a self-narrative even though it feels like I'm only ever correcting them. Particularly with math.
            Sorry to hear your boy is in that funk. HPR gets there at times (though I guess it's different for homeschoolers... it skips the "other kids looking" step), but he also has times where he thinks he's King $#!+, often helping him get out of one place puts him in the other.

            We're busy for two weekends, but maybe our families should get together some time? We had family obligations and just too much to do last weekend, but I remembered fondly having your family over on Memorial Day weekend last year.
            Also, I waved to you as you sat in your car after mass on Sunday, but you didn't see me. We were parked next to you.

            1. *facepalms*
              I'm usually more observant...I hope.
              Meeting up is overdue, and would be most welcome. Hmm...how long till your eldest can babysit the lot of them?

              Boy has always kind of been that way, and he does vascilate pretty broadly positive to negative based on mood. Weekend prior he was king of the world after really turning heads at his dance recital, and by the next day there's nothing in the world to live for.
              His flailing use of hyperbole has always gotten to me, as I'm the kind of person who a) treads middle ground and b) really feels that words mean something, or ought to.

              Moral of the story all around here seems to be that kids are considered "kids" for a reason and maybe need to be given a lot of consideration, if not actual leeway, in maturation.
              (But the local child psychologist/social worker/etc will be more than happy to see us through the process if we're too anxious to let things just play out...)

              1. She could probably sit them all, but I'm not sure how well it would work with your eldest, as she's not that much older.
                Even if we'd figure our boys are good enough by themselves where she's not really sitting them per se, that's a lot of girls to put under the charge of one teenager.

    3. Can't control our kids. We can only guide them the best we can. I just got a call from the principal's office that my junior in high school was sticking an empty foil ketchup packet into the electrical outlet. Now he has to pay for a new outlet on top of other disciplinary actions. Frustrating to say the least. He is off the charts smart and struggles to maintain a 3.5 GPA due to procrastination. We have had issues in every grade. Deep down he is a great kid who we truly love, but the poor judgement he sometimes displays in maddening.

      Thought about this subject a lot lately. My one regret as a parent is not doing more with him one-on-one, or as a family, enjoying fun, healthy activities. He has been busy his whole life with extracurricular activities, like sports, church, etc, so he has had a nice childhood. Just wish I would have spent more time proactively showing him how to have fun in a positive way, versus spending so much time reacting to his mistakes.

      1. Oh... one more thing:

        Conflict resolution is so important in healthy interpersonal relationships. My wife and I are great at it with everyone in our lives except each other. We have been making a conscious effort to display a more healthy form of conflict resolution in our household. We often fail, and I do think that is a factor in how my son handles the same issue. You may be awesome at this in your household, but thought I would throw that out there. Good luck, and my prayers are with you on this journey. It is a challenge.

      2. Testing the conductivity of metallicized plastic films? I hope he got some science credit, or at least was instructed in a safer way to test it. (Get him a multimeter.)

    1. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about Joe this year. It would be nice to see him finish strong this year and next.

  8. Prior to yesterday, the Astros had never won a game in franchise history when they trailed by six-plus runs entering the eighth inning.

  9. Both basketball and hockey now have their minor league teams in Des Moines. It would be great if the Twins could do the same.

    1. Yes, but what we do here in Minneapolis on summer evenings?

      That would have been a lot funnier last year.

      1. It won't ever happen. Just wishful thinking. Maybe they could go to Madison. Is Madison big enough?

          1. Nothing (other than smell and speeding tickets). I just wish they had their AAA team somewhere that could be accessible to Twins fans.

            And that reminds me, you can protest Cedar Rapids speeding tickets but simply telling them that you have no intention of paying them. They knocked mine down to a warning.

            1. Hey, I loved the smell of Crunchberries in the morning. When we lived there, Cedar Rapids called itself the City of Five Seasons, but we called it the City of Five Stenches. Things did improve a bit when they finally closed the downtown slaughterhouse, though. The only tickets I ever got in CR were for parking, and I'm guessing a few were still unpaid when we moved back north.

Comments are closed.