The Greatest of All-Time (G.O.A.T.)

Superbowl LIII is in the books and the New England Patriots have won another one.  The sixth one to be exact and all in the past seventeen years.  All with Head Coach Bill Belichick and all of them with Quarterback Tom Brady at the helm.  The sixth win as a head coach and quarterback has re-started the debate of who is the greatest of all-time.  Most people agree that Belichick is the greatest of all-time as Head Coach, while the connunndrum of who is the G.O.A.T. at quarterback still is debated by the experts.

Outside of Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw, both the Head Coach and Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steeler’s Dynasty in the 70’s that won four Superbowls in five years, no other duo can say the same.  Personally, I believe, there is no Belichick without Brady as there is no Brady without Belichick.  Neither has won without the other and there is no way for one to be elevated above the other unless and until they can either win one without the other being there or win somewhere else.  It is all then about the competition against each of them.  If that is the case, then they both are clearly the Greatest of All-Time for their respective posititons as no Coach nor any Quarterback had the success they have had in the playoffs and Superbowls.  

Statistically there are coaches that have had more success in a single year or quarterbacks who have thrown for more in a given year.  But at the end of the day,  it is always who wins the Superbowl that year and not much more else is remembered from it. As time marches on less is remembered from the actual year of play and only who made it to the Superbowl and more importantly who won it.  

The New England Patriots have won Six Superbowls, only the Pittsburgh Steelers can match that number.  However, the Patriots did it with only one Head Coach and one Quarterback during it’s six wins.  Hands down, those two are the G.O.A.T. until someone else can match at least that feat.  

I plan on putting together a series of articles detailing the greatest of all-tme at their respective positions but this needed to be put out there before all else.  

The Internet of Discontent

The Internet was supposed to make us all come together.  A place where we could meet like minded peoples, find and explore our interests, play games together and something akin to a utopia.  Each side of an arguement would be given it’s due.  There would be rationality and a curtsey to others.  Reality, like with any other Utopia, is something darker and with a hidden under belly of corruption.  It comes with a strong dose of the stink of humanity, cruelty and neglect.

A few years ago, the providers of the Internet, not the actual backbone of the net, but those who were connected to the backbone and provided Internet services to the consumer and other businesses, decided that they would limit and control traffic to certain websites (mainly competitors) for those they provided service to.  Now understand, in a free market system this would be okay, not ideal, but okay as changing the provider would allow the market to stay competitive.  However, the system is designed such that you have no choice on your local internet provider or worse in bigger markets the providers have colluded amongst themselves to limit the traffic.  Under such an attack net neutrality was set by the FCC under the Obama administration and then less than two years later was overturned by the Trump-sters. 

As we have seen in the past few years and months, is that the internet is used by corporations, governements and those with their own agendas out to influence and change our way of thinking.  And yet, the reality tends to be to that we as a people are holding on to our belief systems very tightly and we watch, read and consume online (digital) materials that strength and corroborate those beliefs.  Even when they are wrong.  Okay, I take that last bit back.  Even when they are not factually accurate.

What we have now is a system where those on the fringes of belief systems try and drag the majority of us sitting in the middle with slight inclinations towards them even further and further towards the edge of their insanity.  What has lead even more down the path is the polarization of the politicians.  The fringe brings out the fanatcially obsessed believers quicker than they can be disposed off.

Is there a solution?  The erosion of true morals and values to fringe beliefs and outrageous behavior is being perpetrated is happening on a continual basis.  Common decency, compassion, morals and ethics are taking a backseat to “winning” an arguement and bullying tactics.  We must be able to police ourselves or the internet will be a place to get quick information in a sea of advertising and hate.  A quest to find the treasures while being surrounding by hazards and trolls.

Missing Halloween

This year I am in India and I am missing my favorite holiday – Halloween.
It is nearing the end of October. The leaves should be turning different colors, or have settled into the brown of fall. The weather in the north should start to get nippy and jackets have made at least an appearance. In the south, the weather is just a little colder nothing to worry about but the rains usually come with the change in seasons.
When I was younger, fall was a season of school and football. A bridge to winter and the holidays that came with it and the snow. It was a season that was usually fourth on my list of favorite seasons, right after winter and right after winter.
There was only one date to look forward to in all of fall – Halloween. It would take weeks to figure out what costume we were going to go as. We would harass my parents into helping with the costumes and then, my brother and I, would spend time planning a route https://isverigeapotek.com/. As we got older, the route planning was more involved, adding friends, merging groups with others, splitting off, and looking for the treasure houses that gave away full candy bars rather than the worst offenders (handfuls of candy corn, nutritious treats, and pencils).
When we got too old (in our teen-aged minds) to go out for candy, our time was spent going to costume parties thrown at friends houses. There was still the build-up to Halloween as we staked out and planned our costumes. We would then spend the party socializing, making mayhem and living up to the shenanigans of youth.
College life led to the drought of Halloween as College Football took precedence. Many years went by without thinking of my favorite holiday except to think of it as a regret that I was not able to celebrate it properly.
After the kids came, my wife and I spent years doing what I did in my youth except for our kids. Dressing them up and going out with them. One of us (the winner in Roshambo or rock-paper-scissors) would end up getting to stay at home and pass out candy. Seeing all the kids with excitement on their faces as they breathlessly got out “Trick or Treat”; the happiness on their faces when we would pass out the full candy bars.
Time marches on and now that the kids are in their teens I miss the Halloween of my youth and even of their youth. We would sit with other parents at candy stations in the neighborhood and reminisce of times gone. Still catching up in the excitement of the younger kids as they come running in to get candy as we offer their parents an adult beverage to tide them over til they get home.
Candy, Costumes, the pageantry, the closeness of friends and neighbors these are things I miss on Halloween.

Just got back

My wife, kids, parents, maternal-uncle’s family including my cousin and his family have just returned from a pilgrimage from Parasnath Hills in Jharkhand.  Jharkhand is a state in Eastern India.  We were in the mountains/hills for a week.  It was an amazing spiritual experience.  We saw the ancient sites of Nirvana for more than 20 Tirthankars on the Hills.  The vibrations and spirituality settled over you like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night.

To reach said place requires a serious hike.  It is 9 km from the base of the mountains to the peaks where the shrines are site internet.  It is also approximately 9 km or more on the mountain tops.  Then it is another 9 km to get back down.  We started the climb at 4 AM and didn’t reach back down till 7 PM.  Suffice to say, we were all exhausted.

We also went to see the ancient capital of Rajgir in Bihar.  There we saw the ancient University of Nalanda and also the pilgrimage sites of some Jain monks.

I will be adding more detail and photos over the coming days.

"There are two goddess in your heart. The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love, and attention and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous and follow you.

- Dr. Joe Vigil, Legendary Track Coach

The Goddess

I am currently reading this fascinating book by Christopher McDougall call Born to Run.  The quote is attributed to Dr. Joe Vigil, Legendary Track Coach

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Frank Herbert - Dune

Fear

Review of Norwegian Wood

NorwegianWoodI finally finished reading Haruki Murakami’s most popular novel Norwegian Wood.  I have to say that for the sake a brevity and for those that just want a quick recommendation and not to read a long and most likely boring review by this reviewer, I will let you off the hook quick.  It was generally speaking a good book that gives an insight into the Japanese psyche as a whole for the 1960’s.  I would recommend reading this for those reasons.

I will make sure that I don’t leak any spoilers on the book itself.  It is about a character who for most of the book seems like a cold fish and that is the hardest part of liking the book is the inability to like the protagonist.  Even worse is that you actually feel nothing for the protagonist as he winds his way through the first half of the book.

The first third is about the ex-girlfriend of the protagonist’s best friend, who committed suicide on his 17th birthday.  The two survivors have moved on to college in Tokyo and take solace in each other’s company without seemingly connecting with each other.  However, they are connecting and then the ex-girlfriend commits herself to an asylum after a passionate night between the two.

The middle third is about the other girl that the protagonist meets and connects with.  This seems more like a real relationship and this is where the book starts to pick some steam.

Ultimately, this book is a coming-of-age type story in the 1960’s Japan.  It details loss, free love, smoking, booze, student uprisings and finally gain.  Definitely, something to pick up and read at least once.

Though, I am adding a warning that there is suicide in this book and actually quite a lot of it.

Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare - MacBeth Act V-Scene V

My favorite line from Shakespeare

This is my all-time favorite line from all the works of William Shakespeare.