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March Madness-TBone messes with Hoops, College no Less!

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:23:11 GMT

Just when you thought I was going all baseball, I throw a curve at you. Here's my take on the upcoming NCAA Tournament. You might not ever see me write about hoops again, so enjoy!

March Madness. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has become a gargantuan, media-fueled, hypefest comparable to the Super Bowl. Media outlets begin handicapping the possible participants in December, and the debate continues through the conference championships, right up to the day the brackets are announced. Announcement day has become an all day event itself, with camera crews posted at all of the schools that are breathlessly waiting to hear whether they are in, or if their bubble is going to be burst. Teams that were a “lock” to make the big dance sit around waiting for their opponent to be announced and we get to watch them watching TV while the matchups are revealed.

The East bracket appears to have the heavyweights in it this year with North Carolina, Georgetown, Texas, and Southern Cal. all looking like contenders. Boston College will make some noise, with ACC Player of the Year Jared Dudley leading the way, but they won't get past mighty Georgetown. It should come down to North Carolina vs. Georgetown for the right to go to Atlanta for the Final Four.

Ohio State is the big dog in the South bracket, but there are several teams in here that could emerge to beat the young Buckeyes. They should breeze through the first two rounds, but they will meet up with either Tennessee or Virginia in the Regionals, either of whom could unseat Oden and company. If they should manage to get past that point, they'll face either Memphis or Texas A&M, both defensive monsters. I love the Buckeyes, but I've got a feeling that Texas A&M, playing in their own backyard, will end up in Atlanta.

In the Midwest, there are plenty of folks who believe that Florida is bound for a repeat this year. I'm not sold on the Gators, who have been inconsistent down the stretch, despite their SEC tournament win. If the Gators manage to beat Arizona in the second round, they'll likely face Maryland, the best team in the ACC. The other end of the bracket could feature the biggest upset of the tournament with this year's “Cinderella story”, Winthrop. They've won 18 straight games on their way to the Big Dance, and could easily be this year's George Mason. In the end though, it should be Maryland punching their ticket to Atlanta.

UCLA got a gift from the bracket committee, which placed them on their home turf in the West bracket. They shouldn't find it too difficult to make the regionals, where they'll likely face Pittsburgh. Duke is in that bracket too, but they simply don't have the makings of a Final Four contender this year. Kansas is in the other end of the West, where Kentucky and the Southern Illinois Salukis will just be bumps in the road on the way their matchup with UCLA. Expect the Bruins to march off to Atlanta.

So, I'm calling for a UCLA, Maryland, Texas A&M, Georgetown Final Four. Now go fill in your brackets and win the office pool. Remember, you heard it here first. BTW- the winner will be Georgetown! Shake it easy!

TBone's MLB Notes

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:19:14 GMT

Today marks the beginning of my "Almost Daily" MLB Notes. I'll do my best to update this daily, but I'll have to see how time allows. I expect this to be a compendium of news, links to interesting stories, and my own views on which players are worth a look. Here goes:

American League

Looks like the Detroit Tigers are going to platoon their leadoff hitters this season. Centerfielder Curtis Granderson gets the nod against righthanded pitchers, while catcher Ivan Rodriguez will leadoff against lefties. This makes sense since Granderson was absolutely dreadfull against lefties last year (.218), while Rodriguez hammered lefties (.340). Oddly enough they were comparable in the SB dept last year, as both had just 8 steals. Granderson should improve on that, while it's doubtful that Rodriguez will. Even so, "Pudge" should be good for a handful of SB's, maybe 7 or 8.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are realigning the top of their order, putting Rocco Baldelli at leadoff, followed by Carl Crawford, then Delmon Young. This puts all their speed at the top and puts Young and cleanup hitter Greg Norton in line for some decent production. Baldelli should be good for a 20/20 season, while Crawford should do something like 15/35-40. Look for Young to nail 100+ RBI's if he can show a little more patience at the plate. Last year he swung at something like 68% of the pitches he saw, so he needs to cut down his freeswinging ways before pitchers figure out that they need not throw him strikes.

National League

After thumbing through the Baseball Prospetus 2007 Edition, and reading various and sundry projections, here are a few NL players that are high on my draft lists this spring:

Michael Barrett - (C, Chi) He's going to break the 20 HR ceiling this year and hit .300 while he's at it.

Adam LaRoche - (1B, Pitt) Playing every day will net him 40 HR's to go with a .300 avg if he can figure out how to hit lefties (.241 last year).

Ray Durham - (2B, SF) He should post similar numbers to last year if he hits behind Bonds again.

Carlos Quentin - (RF, AZ) He's going to play every day. 25+ HR and a .290 avg easy, maybe more.

James Loney - (1B, LA) If the Dodgers go through with moving Nomah to 3rd base, Loney becomes the everyday 1B. Can you say Rookie of the Year?

Kelly Johnson - (2B, Atl) He's got double digit steal potential, good patience at the plate, and emerging power.

OK, that's it for today. Shake it easy!

Zito Pitching Differently This Spring

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 02:36:55 GMT

The San Francisco Giants thought they signed up an ace pitcher for their staff, but what pitching coach Dave Righetti saw today made him a little nervous. "Yeah," he said. "He said he was going to do a little something different. He was right. That's a little bit different. That's a first. I got my measuring stick out. He was talking about being bound up and having some freedom on the mound. He's doing all right. We'll get used to watching it. ... We'll see if he can make pitches doing that. He'll end up finding out." Huh?

Evidently, Zito has changed his delivery. He now bounces a bit before taking a big step back. Then he drives the pitch forward using more of his legs than in the past. This is supposed to make his stride longer and more fluid. When he releases the ball, and sticks the landing, he gestures delicately with his hand as though raining pixie dust on the pitch.

Zito says, "It's an old-school kind of delivery." While Coach Righetti seemed to have other things on his mind, "We'll see how sore his groin is tomorrow. Most guys won't do that, they'll think about it, he continued. They won't really take it all the way unless they've had an injury or unless they've been getting killed. It's very rare that you see this. He's been successful. He must have felt pretty strong about it." Huh?

Baseball's Steroid Issue is Eroding Our Rights Too

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:21:46 GMT

There is a story on ESPN.com today outlining an appeal by the Major League Baseball Players Union of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals to allow drug test results of some 100 players to be used by investigators in the steroid scandal. The results were parked on a computer that was seized by government investigators in a 2004 raid of the company that conducted the tests. The tests were agreed to by the Players Union and MLB with the condition that the results be kept confidential. If the government is allowed to use the results to subpoena players to testify it will set a dangerous precedent for us all. Basically, it means that investigators can seize a computer under the guise of looking for a particular piece of evidence and then peruse the full contents of the computer and use whatever they find against the owner of the computer. One aspect of this that I find surprising is that the testing grew out of an agreement between two parties and anonymity was promised between them. That anonymity went out the window once the federal government became involved. How is it that the privacy of the parties involved was so easily scrapped? I thought the right to privacy would trump all here and that an agreement between two parties would be protected as long as it was lawful. Now it also seems that if the government decides it’s going to find evidence of crime, presenting paper results won’t be enough. If the information they want is parked on a computer, they can seize the whole thing and scrutinize everything on it to find what they want. Naturally, if they find evidence of some other crime they will probably be able to prosecute based on the evidence they find on the seized computer. It’s just another example of our civil rights eroding away folks. I don’t feel badly for, or care about the baseball players who may have their drug use exposed by this. But I am worried about the legal precedent being set. It affects us all. And that is scary.

TBone's Bones to Pick - A Quick Look at the News

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:30:32 GMT

There was an interesting story in the Chicago Daily Herald this week about baseballs. The Commissioner’s office is now mandating that teams keep their baseball stored at a uniform temperature once they are delivered by the league. It goes on to say that it’s recommended that they be kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 50%. According to Joe Garagiola Jr. all 30 teams will be keeping their baseballs in temperature controlled environments this year. The Commissioner’s office isn’t suggesting that teams need to use humidors, or that teams have mistreated their baseballs. In fact, there is no word on what will happen to teams that don’t take proper care of their baseballs. Of course, this is an outgrowth of the humidor that has been in use at Coors Field during the past few seasons. During those seasons the Rockies offense has withered with the use of the humidor. When the Rockies stopped using humidor balls in September of ‘06, their offensive numbers rose to their pre-humidor levels again. Obviously, how the baseballs are kept has a dramatic effect on how they react on the field. Who would like to bet that the next great scandal in baseball will have to do with a team that has “mistreated” their baseballs?

OK, let me see if I’ve got this straight. The Giants and Barry Bonds reached agreement on a contract for 2007 that pays Bonds roughly $16 million. The Giants are happy because they got rid of Barry’s clubhouse entourage and a clause that gets them out of the deal should Bonds be indicted for perjury. But wait! The Commissioner’s office rejected the deal because of a personal appearance clause, and Bond’s agent, Jeff Borris says the language that allow the Giants out of the deal is unenforceable. So the Commissioner’s office sent the contract back to Borris with documents suggesting necessary changes, but Borris is now advising his client not to sign the deal. What this all means is that spring training is just days away now and Barry Bonds is still not signed. Is it possible that he won’t play? Will the Giants even bother anymore? If the Giants opt out will any other teams be willing to take Bonds in at any price, let alone $16 million? Is it even remotely possible that I’ll get my wish that Bonds retire and Hank Aaron’s record remains untainted?

Finally, from the strange ideas about parenting department. This Rhode Island couple regularly had sex in front of their 9 year old daughter because “we wanted to prepare her so she would know how.” I’ve seen some strange parenting in my day, but this pair takes the cake.

Strange Contracts Signed this Hot Stove Season

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:40:13 GMT

    There's some crazy stuff going on in Major League Baseball as far as pitching goes. Gil Meche, a guy with a sub-.500 career record, who hasn't pitched particularly well for the last couple of years, gets a 5-year deal for $11 million per year. Jeff Weaver, another guy who looked all but washed up in LA, is traded to the Cardinals where he puts up some decent numbers in their run for the World Series. Then he hits the free agent market and ends up with an astonishing $8 million for one year! Aaron Harang gets a 4-year deal worth $36.5 million when he isn't even a free agent! Baltimore shells out $42 million for 3 relievers contracts. It's apparent that all teams, not just the big teams with deep pockets, are locking up pitchers for the long term. There is a real scarcity of decent arms available. Left handed pitchers can write their own ticket. If you have a pulse and can throw strikes as a lefthander, you can get a contract with a major league team. Promising young pitchers do not need to put in their service time to cash in and get a big, long-term contract. It costs $50 million dollars just to negotiate with a decent pitcher from Japan. Then you've got to pony up millions more to sign them. Recently, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced that he's changed his mind about retirement and will pitch in the '08 season. He's made it clear to the Sox that he'd come back for $13 million, the same salary as '07. However, the Sox must sign him now or he'll test the market. They'd be nuts to pass up this deal. He will get whatever he wants on the open market. Just look at 74-year-old Randy Johnson getting $26 million for 2 years.
    Yes, it’s been a strange hot stove season for pitching, but there are position players cashing in too. I can’t recall another year that had so many instances where washed up, or otherwise questionable players were getting ridiculous money and lengthy contracts. Gary Matthews Jr, Carlos Lee, Jose Vidro, Jose Guillen, and J.D.Drew all got contracts that either paid them much more than they would normally have gotten in recent years, or have long term commitments that are questionable given the health/injury history/age or some other factor regarding the player.
    Can we expect to see more of this? I think so. As teams identify talented players within their organization, they going to need to lock them up with long-term contracts and begin marketing them as the faces of the organization. The Red Sox are doing this now with Papelbon, Hansen, Delcarmen, Lester, and Pedroia. They have refused to part with them in trade because they fully intend to have them be the backbone of the team’s future. They’ll do the same with position players if they show the skills that brought them to the majors in the first place. If Dustin Pedroia hits, walks, and otherwise gets on base, and his defense is good enough to save runs and win games, then the Red Sox will tie him up as the Phillies did with Chase Utley.

Medical Decisions Part II

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:55:36 GMT

I wasn’t really breaking any new ground by stating that the decisions parents have to make is what make parenting so hard. In reality, every aspect of life is guided by decision whether it is over how to dress, or what to say in a given social situation, or whether or not to take a different job. Many of the decisions we make are “no-brainers” that are obvious to us the instant we’re confronted with them. It’s the less obvious decisions, the ones that don’t have clear answers, or the ones where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t that are difficult. I’ve got a story like that for you today, but first I must give you a little background information.

If you’ve read my profile, then you’ve seen my favorite quote - “If the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” I don’t know who said it. It could have been Bob Vila for all I know - but I read it a book a long time ago and it stuck with me. A lot of people don’t understand what it means. The best example I can give relates to an orthopedic surgeon. The surgeon basically has one tool - the scalpel. Surgeons, for the most part, really only know of one way to fix a problem - surgery. When you go to see a surgeon for a medical problem, the only approach that most of them will take will be surgical. If they can’t fix it with their scalpel, a good surgeon will refer you to someone else. It’s been my experience though, that many surgeons will try to fix the problem with their scalpel anyway. I think a lot of people were brought up like me - to respect what a doctor says and go along with what the doctor wants to do. They went through a gazillion years of medical school and know what they’re doing, and I don’t. So if a doctor says you need surgery - you do it. It didn’t occur to me that maybe that’s not a good idea until I read a book titled - The Lost Art of Healing by Dr. Bernard Lown. Without getting into a full blown review, I’ll just say that Dr Lown’s book changed the way I think about doctors radically. He made me see that doctors , and surgeons in particular, usually have a narrow view of possible solutions to medical problems and that we need to advocate for ourselves at all times to ensure that the treatment we’re getting is truly what will be best for us in the long term. Now that I’ve told you all that, I can tell my story.

My youngest son was born prematurely with several severe medical problems. The list of issues is long and ponderous, but this for this story I’ll focus on two of them - cerebral palsy (CP) and primary lymphedema. CP is basically damage to the area of the brain that controls motor skills. This is an oversimplified definition, but it works for this situation. His damaged brain constantly tells certain muscle neurons to fire and causes the muscles they control to contract. This contraction causes the muscle to eventually stiffen permanently, making movement anywhere from awkward to impossible. Lymphedema refers to a damaged lymphatic system which can cause limbs to become grossly over swollen when lymph fluid collects because the damaged system can’t “pump” the fluid out of the limb. My son’s CP mainly affects his legs in the hamstring muscles behind the thigh and his heel cords just below his calf. His lymphedema affects only his left leg which swells to twice its normal size if he doesn’t wear a compression stocking.

When my son was four years old, it became apparent that we needed to treat the muscles in his legs to prevent them from stiffening permanently. We took him to three different doctors to get opinions on the best course of treatment, a neurosurgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, and a rehabilitation specialist. True to form, the neurosurgeon wanted to perform surgery that would deliberately “damage” certain nerve roots to relieve the contracting muscles permanently. It’s a very risky surgery with only a 50-50 chance of success. My son would have had to relearn how to walk and there was a chance that it could fail, forever confining him to a wheelchair. There wasn’t a chance in hell we were going to do that. The orthopedic surgeon wanted to do a “muscle lengthening” procedure that was minimally invasive, involving four small incisions that would allow the muscle to slide out to a better length. It’s a highly successful procedure, but it carried a serious risk for him because of the lymphedema. Any surgery could further damage his lymphatic system causing his leg to swell even more than it already did. This would impair movement and could lead to problems with systemic infections which would mean hospitalizations and IV antibiotics. We ruled this out too as the lymphedema was under control and not a factor in my son’s otherwise difficult life. We went with the rehab specialist’s recommendation which was botox injections (long before it was used as a wrinkle reliever for wealthy women) and physical therapy. This plan worked wonderfully for him for seven years, managing his muscle contractions and keeping him mobile.

All during those seven years, we continued to see the orthopedic surgeon who always kept trying to convince us that his method would have been better and that the risk of lymphedema problems was minimal. I’ve always thought it was odd for him to say that because he based that opinion on his own consultation with the same doctor that cautioned me against any surgery to that leg. (They are colleagues in the same hospital) The orthopedist always seemed to be working towards his own personal goal of getting my son on his operating table. And so it came to pass. Eventually, the botox stopped being effective. My son’s body built up anti-bodies to the botox injections, and he also began to grow at such a fast pace that we could no longer keep his muscles from contracting and stiffening. We were left with no choice but to consent to the orthopedic surgery.

The procedure itself went remarkably well. My son had some difficulty with anesthesia and there was some pain from muscle spasms (a normal side-effect), but overall it was a good experience. That was in June of 2006. All through the summer, we worked together with physical therapists to help him regain, adjust, and strengthen his walking patterns. He was a trooper through it all, never complaining, and always looking ahead to the time when he could run again. We went to see the orthopedic surgeon in September of ‘06 who felt that my son had a great response to his procedure. His walking was greatly improved, the muscles in his legs were no longer stiff, and his range of motion was much improved. At the time, I agreed with him. My son looked better than I had ever seen him. We haven’t been to see that doctor since then, we’re due for a visit this coming March. When we go, I have a bone to pick with this doctor.

You see, since that visit in September, a not so funny thing has happened. My son’s lymphedema has gotten dramatically worse. His left leg swells like a balloon any time he doesn’t wear his stocking. In fact, he used to wear a knee-high stocking because the swelling was mainly in his foot and calf. Now he has to wear a full-length (thigh-high) stocking with a higher compression factor to keep his whole leg from expanding so much that socks, shoes, and even some pants are difficult to put on. In other words, all those doubts that we had about this surgery that led us to a different treatment seven years ago were right. We had been cautioned that my son’s lymphedema could become a permanent factor in his life and that appears to be coming true. Furthermore, the orthopedic surgeon who was convinced he had it right, that the surgery would not affect his lymphedema, was completely wrong. When he finds out, I wonder what his reaction will be. Will he be apologetic? Will he try to pawn it off as the result of something else? I’ll let you know.

The killer of all this is, we really had no choice. If we hadn’t treated the stiffening muscles, my son’s mobility would have continued to deteriorate. Eventually, he would have been unable to walk, but by treating one problem, we’ve now created (or aggravated, I guess) another. Lymphedema will now become a lifelong factor for him. He’ll always have to wear a compression stocking. He will have to be very careful not to allow normal cuts to get infected, because the infection could go systemic in the presence of too much lymphatic fluid. Lymph fluid is loaded with proteins and will provide a perfect growth medium for any bacteria that’s introduced to it. Eventually, he may have to undergo daily massages to move fluid along in his leg and reduce swelling. (This is something he had to have done as an infant - it’s not fun) I keep telling myself that we had no choice. We were damned if we did and damned if we didn’t. We did the right thing by doing what we thought was best. Or did we? Nobody said being a parent was easy, but making decisions like this, ones that could potentially haunt my child into his adult years is just unbearable.

Medical Decisions I

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:13:15 GMT

Someone once asked me what the most difficult part of being an at-home Dad is. Truthfully, I don’t find parenting to be any more difficult than any woman would as an at-home Mom. I’ve spent the better part of the last eleven years as an at-home Dad and the experience has been nothing less than phenomenal. But, if you were to rephrase the question to - what is the most difficult aspect of being a parent? - then my answer changes quite a bit. Before I answer that, it’s only fair to tell you that I became an at-home Dad because when my second child was born his considerable medical needs made it necessary that one of us, either my wife or myself, stay home with him. My wife had, and still has, the better paying job with better benefits. Therefore I became the at-home parent and primary caregiver to our children. It’s a role I’ve since grown into and become as comfortable with as a broken in pair of sneakers.
    Most of what it takes to raise a child is, I believe, instinctive. What isn’t instinctive is learned as needed. The rest I just kind of make up as I go along. The most difficult part (you’ve been waiting for this, right?) is the decisions. I’m not talking about things like - Do we go to the park or the zoo today? I’m talking about the decisions on things like doctors, medicines, education plans, surgeries, therapies and the like. These are, by far, the most gut wrenching, and difficult aspects of raising kids. Especially kids with special medical, educational, and behavioral issues.
    A few days ago, I sat in a meeting of the various people involved in my son’s education. My wife and I sat there with eleven (yes 11!!) professionals, many of whom had been administering test to my boy over the past several months, and we listened to each give their snapshot assessment of my child. For two hours we were literally bombarded with information, statistics, percentiles, and recommendations that we’re supposed to consider before signing the recommended IEP. After listening to them babble for two hours, my eyes had glazed over and my mind was going a mile a minute. While these folks agreed on most things and were presenting a somewhat unified front, most of them seemed to think it was pretty cut and dried as far as what should be done. What they all seem to forget is that we have our own agenda of concerns and priorities for our child and regardless of what they all say, we’re ultimately going to do what we think is right whether it meshes with their recommendations or not.
    It’s been like this with my child since birth. Of course, back then it wasn’t educators and administrators we were working with, but doctors, surgeons, nurses, and countless other medical type folks. One adventure with this group I’ll never forget happened around six months after my son was born. He wasn’t doing well. He had difficulty nursing and had to have a g-tube installed. (A g-tube feeds by tubing liquid food directly into the stomach and is surgically placed through the skin of the belly) Once the g-tube was in, the gastroenterologist wanted us to give my son a continuous drip of food around the clock and not give him a bottle at all.
    Think about that for a second. Food always in your stomach - so that you’d would never experience the sensation of being hungry. Never feeling a grumble in the belly. I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t have anybody to discuss this with besides my wife - nobody else to turn to. We were his sole advocates. It occurred to me that if he never felt hunger he’d never be motivated to try to eat and would go through infancy without ever having to demand food by crying. And what about taste? You don’t taste food given by g-tube. Food that tastes good motivates you to eat more. We’d be denying him that. (Of course, I don’t know how much the flavor of Enfamil would motivate anybody)   Anyway, it just didn’t seem right. It seemed like we were giving up from the get-go. We were assuming that he’d never be able to eat enough on his own and that he’d be a lifelong dependent on supplemented feeding. This plan would never give him a chance to learn or change. I fought with the doctor over this. I explained my position to him and he refused to change his mind.
    Of course, once we had our son back home we could do as we pleased. As long as he gained weight it didn’t matter if we did it the doctor’s way or mine. So instead of blindly following the doctors orders, I did it my way. I fed my son one third of his daily calorie requirements three times a day via the tube, pumping his nutrition in over an hour or so. But doing so only after trying to feed him with a bottle first. It was hellish, to say the least. There were days when I literally spent the whole day feeding him. But the effort was well worth it. Just two and a half months after the g-tube was installed, we were able to stop using it because my son was regularly draining his bottles (I modified the nipples to allow a greater flow of formula). He was gaining weight and we no longer needed the g-tube at all. The gastroenterologist was floored. He said he had never seen this happen in his 20+ years of practicing medicine. My instincts were proven right, but the decisions were gut wrenching. If I was wrong, I could have been viewed as negligent for not following the doctors orders and putting my son at risk of malnutrition. But if I had done it his way, my son could very well still have his g-tube today.
    This was just a sampling of the hundreds of decisions I’ve had to make as a parent. For the last 11 years I’ve had to make countless difficult decisions - and that is by far the hardest part of parenting. I’ll share some other stories of decisions, including some that didn’t go quite so well another time. Until next time, Shake it easy!!

Asperger's Syndrome is Not a Defense for Murder

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:44:28 GMT

There are some very disturbing news stories in the papers these days. In today’s Boston Globe, the top story is about the stabbing of a 15-year-old student at Sudbury High School by a young man of roughly the same age. The story goes on to tell about some of the various medical diagnoses that are part of the alleged criminal’s profile. Most prominent is the mention of Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism that generally affects an individual’s ability to read and comprehend non-verbal communication cues. Aspergers has other characteristics as well, including the tendency to perseverate and monologue, or be stuck on, certain topics, and the tendency to become obsessed with parts of things (at the expense of the “whole”).

What happened in Sudbury is an awful tragedy, the death of a child is devastating, and so I cannot defend the alleged criminal’s actions. However, I feel compelled to speak of his disability and how it is, or is not, a factor in this crime. Several sources quoted in the Boston Globe cited the accuser’s knowledge of weaponry and claims to a collection of weapons. Others mentioned his questioning of a forensic instructor regarding the best methods to commit a perfect crime. The Globe went on to mention that he often wore a trench coat and the name ‘Columbine’ was invoked. The defendant’s attorney saw fit to reveal medical information at the arraignment and the connection of disability to actions ended up in the press. He announced his intention to defend his client by pleading diminished capacity due to Aspergers. Unbelievably, that defense that has worked 22 times in recent years according to the Globe.

I’m very troubled by such a defense. For the past seven years, I’ve worked with middle school aged kids with Aspergers Syndrome, Non-Verbal developmental disorders, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a long list of psychosocial disorders far too long to list. I have never met a single one that could possibly commit such an act of violence. In addition to Aspergers, most of them experienced anxiety that often paralyzed them in certain settings. Many social settings that we consider safe, healthy, and normal are anxiety inducing, scary, and awkward for them. However, they all know right from wrong. Not one of them would be capable of thinking that committing a crime would be no problem.

I’m also troubled that some parents who read today’s Globe and know of Aspergers afflicted kids in their children’s schools will draw the wrong conclusions from the events in Sudbury. Parents need to know that kids with Aspergers are not necessarily dangerous. Typically, other underlying factors, or causes make kids violent. There can be other psychological diagnosis, or medication issues that can cause the kind of violence seen in Sudbury Friday. There are no medications for Aspergers, so these drugs are usually for depression or attention deficit disorders.

The lawyer for the accused has done a disservice to his client and other Aspergers patients by revealing the medical information of his client in open court as he did. Aspergers should not be considered a defense or cause of violent acts. In addition, parents need to understand that kids with Aspergers Syndrome are not violent.

AFC Championship Prediction

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:59:45 GMT

Hi All. Just a quick hit for now. Will post another story later or tomorrow. Wanted to get my prediction for today's Colts-Patriots game in writing. I'm calling for a Patriots victory by the score of 27-20. Look for the Patriots rushing game to run rampant over the mirage that is the Indy defense. Dillon and Maroney will combine for about 150 yards and 3 TDs. Go Pats! Shake it easy!