Sports, Obama, Running a Business and Cleaning House

Go Blue!  It is so nice to wake up on a Sunday morning with a smile on my face from the University of Michigan football game.  There was a time that the Wolverine football team embarrased me very much due to their consistently poor play.   Today, I see that their sophomore quarterback, Denard Robinson, is a legit contender for the Heisman Trophy.  Now if we could only improve our kicking game!

Today, we find out if the Cincinnati Bengals can live up to the hype.  They go on the road to play the New England Patriots and Michigan alumni Tom Brady.  I'm looking for the Cincinnati Bengals to go all the way to the Super Bowl this year.   I also want to see Cedric Benson and Tank Johnson have great seasons.  Those are the favorite players for my two youngest 'uns.  Bengals season begins today.

Cincinnati was able to give some props to Pete Rose yesterday at the Reds baseball game.   Apparently it's been 25 years since Rose became the all-time leading hits leader in major league baseball.  Of course, Rose's personal demons and character flaws have kept him in baseball's shadows for most of the past 25 years.  I know how he feels.  I feel like I've been in the shadows for the past decade.   It is difficult to regain your footing when your character flaws cause your downfall.

President Obama shouldn't need to worry about such things.  His character is strong and positive.   I have confidence that he will lead our nation out of its current economic doldrums.  I have no confidence in the likes of an old man from Kentucky (McConnell) or a tanned golfer from Ohio (Boehner) ... just as I had no confidence in McCain or the Half-Governor when they were running for the White House back in 2008.

How soon we tend to forget the spirit of hope, change and renewal that our entire nation felt when Obama was campaigning two years ago.  He's the same man.  He is still cool, calm and collected.   I just wish that he and his team would find the magic potion to reduce the unemployment rate.

I've never been to an unemployment office.  I'm an entrepreneur trying to get my consulting business on.  I've been full-time entrepreneur since July 5, 2002.   Things haven't been fly all the time ... and right now I'm at a point that I need to get very busy in order to make ends meet.   Maintaining this blog ain't bringing home many duckets ... but, I enjoy it ... so I'll keep doing it.   However, I may need to listen to Paula Mooney or some other role models out here in the blogging world that are more successful than I've been in creating a revenue stream from their web-work.

Time will tell.  For now, I'm going to sit back and enjoy my Sunday.   Hmmm, I may need to take some time to clean up my place.  There is no longer a Mrs. Villager to ensure that it gets done.   Anyhow, I'll talk at y'all again tomorrow.

Pete Rose: 'It Was 20 Years Ago'

Yesterday was an interesting day. Over 40 business owners and service providers attended the monthly Lunch'n'Learn seminar hosted at my incubator. The presentation and Q&A session were focused on learning how we can do business with the city government. I anticipate that most of my incubator clients will take steps to register as a Small Business Enterprise in the near future.

Later in the day I attended the 78th annual meeting of the Allied Construction Industries. My incubator strives to build the capacity of MBE/WBE companies in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. So, networking with ACI is important. Frankly, it is impressive when any organization can do something for 78 years in a row ... so, I looked forward to this meeting over at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. There were over 1,000 folks in attendance. The keynoter was baseball's 'hit king' -- Pete Rose.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. As such, I used to truly dislike Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan and the rest of the so-called Big Red Machine. That's how things are when you are a kid. You love your team and you pretty much hate all the other teams. I used to hate the Cincinnati Reds.

So, I wasn't all googly-eyed about hearing from Pete Rose. However, I must admit that he was hilarious and a perfect match for his hometown audience. He had me and the others in the audience rolling with laughter at least half a dozen times during the course of his speech and Q&A session.

His discussion ranged from his childhood on the west end of Cincinnati to his years in baseball beginning as a minor-leaguer in 1960 to his son's continuing quest as a 36-year old to play pro baseball to his 16-1 record as a member of the National League all-star team to his gambling addiction to his relationship with the current baseball commissioner to his interactions with Joe DiMaggio, Priscilla Presley and others.

Pete is 65 years old ... and his life revolves around his career as a baseball player. He clearly expressed a dream of becoming a major league manager again in his future.

The most compelling moment of his speech for me was simple. When asked a question about his suspension from baseball as a result of his betting on the games ... he said simply, 'It was 20 years ago...' I must admit that in today's baseball when it is acknowledged that huge numbers of players were cheating with steroids and when drug fiends, wife-beaters and drunks are still accepted into baseball's Hall of Fame and are still managing or playing ... you have to wonder why they don't cut this guy a break.

It was 20 years ago. What do you think? Is it time for baseball to bring Pete Rose back from purgatory?