America's Safety Obsession

 

Toughen Up America: The Future Depends on It

I was watching a college baseball game on TV, when I heard the commentators talking about tough minded players. They saw the Oral Roberts Baseball team as being scrappy and competitive. Kids who take risks, like drinking from a garden hose, make good baseball players. The thinking was they don’t need much in life, tough kids just show up and play. I agree, but is drinking from a hose considered risky…really? That made me think about some of the other ways our lifestyle/culture is risk averse compared to say 50 years ago. 

From bike helmets for recreational riders to hand sanitizer in every building, we’ve turned safety into a cult and it's having deleterious effects on our culture.

When everything is dangerous, nothing is. 

Fear of Lawsuits

Covid showed us how malleable a society of supposedly rugged individuals can become. Too many of us couldn’t leave the house without a bottle of Purell and an industrial size box of N95s.   

The NFL has changed more in the last 15 years than any other time in history.

The league was sued by former players in 2014 over misdiagnoses and lost. That’s roughly when the head injury protocols came in. Initially I thought Roger Goodell was earnestly creating a better game. But after the ‘can’t hit the quarterback’ penalties and subjective targeting calls, I went the other way. There is only one thing you need to know about companies that get sued, they have money. In the NFL’s case, a lot of money. Anyone making windfall profits will get sued at some point. Don't focus too much on the details of case. No one sues the poor.

 I don’t mean there was nothing to the lawsuits. But the culture was different and the league wasn’t as scientific or professional. It wasn’t that organized and salaries weren’t stratospheric. New businesses are always freewheeling. It’s the established ones that start protecting everything.

This is where the league is today, afraid of lawsuits, social justice warriors and a woke mind virus that’s destroying everything.

I’m not going to make a case that today’s athletes are babies (not even close) but they are used to a catered existence. I’m glad the NFL has cracked down on the dirty late. It’s a profit machine and allowing defensive players to body slam your QB is potentially expensive. I get it. But all of this tweaking of the rules changes the sport to an unrecognizable degree. There is a good chance we won’t have kickoffs in the future either. Why? Too dangerous. Most injuries happen during kickoffs, can’t risk it.

Fear of Disease 

Like the NFL, businesses got very risk averse during covid. Every company over a certain size probably got the same lecture from their legal team over the possibility of lawsuits in 2020. It’s a shame that so many companies are slaves to lawsuits. They’re cautious to a fault and it has a multiplier effect on everything else in society. Grocery stores didn’t let you return food, retailers didn’t let you try on clothes. All of these arbitrary rules were implemented because of a disease that was essentially a nasty flu strain. Even if a lot of that was just business taking advantage of an opportunity, it was ridiculous. Tulsa passed masks ordinances, likely with the approval of the Chamber of Commerce. If local businesses didn’t want a mandate, there is no way the Chamber would support it.

Oklahoma was one of the saner places during the pandemic too. Some states didn’t allow the kids to go back to school until late into 2021. Kids who get the virus as often as Halley’s Comet is visible from earth, were kept from their peers. The “lucky” ones came back and wore masks like doctors prepping for surgery. More than a safety fetish, this was either outsized fear or opportunism. Sadly, a lot of people really snapped. I talked to a Fed Ex driver who couldn’t even walk packages up to certain doors. The home owners would come out with masks and insist he set down the parcel on the driveway and leave. The opportunists were the teachers’ unions. They used their collective muscle to keep teachers from classrooms, knowing the risks were basically zero.

I’m not the first person to make this claim but it’s clear to me that kids are overprotected to their own detriment. Playgrounds are significantly safer than they used to be. From  rubber flooring and safety slides to restrictive swings, it all has an effect. It probably seems heartless to long for the days of more risky playground equipment just to keep the kids in line. But that’s not exactly right. Like the NFL’s new risk averse rule book, kids see a sanitized version of everything and don’t learn how to exercise right amount of caution. When every play area, living room, jungle gym and school are covered in foam children become reckless. A healthy sense of caution is imperative to function in the world, that’s especially true for children.

Conclusion

Covid exposed our own sense of risk avoidance, and we let the authorities do whatever they wanted. Shut down schools "no problem". Close down businesses "sure thing". Keep people in separate rows at church and the grocery store "just tell me where to stand". Allow city councils to impose masks in public "if it saves one life!" I can’t draw a straight line from safety measures to a totalitarian state, but the connection is clear. First comes suggestive guidelines, followed by health scares. At some point we get mandates and penalties.

 The safety obsession is making us soft and dependent, two characteristics Americans have never been.

I’m not sure how to fix it, but we have to get the money out of the lawsuit business. Why do pirates rob merchant ships? That’s where the loot is. As for parenting I’m a little out of my depth not having any kids of my own. But the good news is kids are naturally resilient. It’s the parents that need to ease up. Maybe don’t wash their hands thirty times a day and prevent them from drinking from the garden hose.

I hope we’ve learned to depend on each other for help and not the authorities. We won’t survive another pandemic with the same freedoms we have now. Buck up a little America. The future depends on it.

Adjusting With Age: Less Is More

 

Begin A Good Thing

I didn’t run this weekend. It’s been raining since very early and the gym I go to is replacing the flooring in the treadmill section. I’m not against treadmills but it’s really painful to go more than 6 miles on a treadmill. Not painful but boring, so boring. Next week I’m sure they’ll have the gym put back together. It hasn’t rained in quite a while on a Saturday morning because I nearly always go. I used to be far less committed to running but that was years ago. I took off about 1 week every month, either because of the weather or because I wanted to sleep in. These days I realize the importance of exercise in general and running in particular.

Better Habits

I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday to have a prescription refilled. I hadn’t been to the doctor since before Covid and I’d lost my refill options. Fortunately, the visit was short and sweet. I got in early and left early. Fridays are slow. I’m in good shape because of my dedication to running and eating better. Notice I said “better” and not good. I’ve started paying attention to the foods I eat. Yes, I still eat plenty of foods heavy in saturated fat and salt and sugar. The cupboard shelves still groan under the weight of snack foods. But the way forward for me has been less is more. Cut down on the overall calories instead of trying to reimagine my diet from the ground up. It’s more likely to stick anyway. Good habits are tough; tougher without the incremental approach.

One or my first conscious choices was to stop buying pop at the grocery store when I got my first apartment. While in college, a few of us split rent on a dumpy 4 room walk up. I had to use the little money I had for food. Soda became a luxury I could do without. Yes, the decision was financial and didn’t have squat to do with health. But I noticed a significant drop in weight, also energy. I never went back to consuming as much pop. I’d learned my lesson. Water first, everything else second.

Since then I’ve been forced into other adjustments in diet and exercise.

Much of the increased discipline comes from getting older and not having the same choices. When I fill up from dinner it’s tough to sleep through the night. If I eat anything after 7:00 pm it has to be light, popcorn or fruit. About 10 years ago I went to the doctor with an excruciating case of acid reflux. During those years, I was working late and cleaning the milk coolers at Quick Trip. On the way home I’d grab a couple of their spicy Taquitos for the road. Those are deep fried heart stoppers of greasy goodness that warm up on gas station rollers. The food worked me over like an MMA fighter, and forced some serious lifestyle changes. But not eating heavy food late wasn’t a dramatic change. It was just a small step necessary to move on. My body made the decision for me. 

I cut out eating ice cream every night a few summers ago. I’ll still buy it on occasion but packing in 1000 calories just before bedtime had to go, like keg parties and McDonald’s breakfast. I’ve never cut something out of my life all at once. I’m disciplined to a point, but like chopping wood I need to take a few whacks at the log before breaking it in two. The one thing I always had going for me was my dedication to hitting the gym 4 to 5 times per week. The foundation necessary for getting in shape was already established, it just needed some tweaks.

Better Fitness

 In the early days (college, Army) that meant lifting weights and putting on muscle. I always mixed in running, rowing and spinning. But gaining muscle was my goal. That changed close to a decade ago. I started running all year long (even the winter) in addition to the gym visits. I guess my idea of fitness changed. Suddenly big muscles didn’t seem all that important. Concern for heart rate, cholesterol and blood pressure scores overtook my enthusiasm for strength.

I don’t remember how the mental shift happened exactly, but I knew I needed to up my cardio training. I’ve increased my distances and training ever since. One year I had some issues with planter fasciitis and another time I struggled with hamstring pulls. But I’ve always come back to running. Just yesterday, the doctor told me my blood pressure was amazing. That felt good. It’s also confirmation that my efforts aren’t in vain. The healthy choices I’ve made over the last 10 years map perfectly with my spiritual growth. It turns out, maturity isn’t just learning to take care of your body as you age. God is with us in the process and He's patient. Oh is He patient!

Conclusion

When God gets our attention, He breaks us down until there is nothing left but our dependence on Him. Then He ‘restores our soul’ and leads us in steps. Whatever vision exists for our lives is completely in His hands. We trust it too. He’s shown us a better way and given us a heart of gratitude.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 1:6)

 

Golf Belongs to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

 

Monahan Wants a Mulligan 

It was a slow Monday at work or I wouldn’t have noticed the headline scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen. It said something about a golf merger. The guy being interviewed was the ever present Jay Monahan, the PGA Commissioner. I put the Golf Channel on at work because it’s easy to ignore. ESPN isn’t quite as good for background. They have too many yelling, excitable anchors who treat their own opinions like preachers treat the gospel. My first thought was, this can’t be true, not after the way the PGA treated players who left their league.

Monahan himself is on record questioning player loyalty. "I would ask any player who has left or any player who would consider leaving, 'Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?'" The implication here is that since the Saudi’s own the LIV tour it’s tantamount to playing for terrorists. Actually this whole, the-Saudi’s-don’t-respect-human-rights, PR campaign has been in full swing since the split. The PGA and its players have leaned into it. It was the case when the US government started selling them military equipment. It was true when global oil companies did business with the kingdom. Formula One held a race in Jeddah in March. Global horse races, art shows and martial arts exhibitions all go there.

This new deal doesn’t mean the kingdom is suddenly cosmopolitan and liberal however. But it always felt like a reactionary barb, meant to put a mark on those players who decided to leave. It looks downright silly now. Calling someone a criminal isn’t the same as calling them greedy. We assume the greedy person can become generous, or at the very least pragmatic. But when you call someone a criminal, multiple times and in multiple ways, where can you go? The PGA just shamelessly turned around and said, “nah brah, it’s cool”. That underlines their original position entirely and makes them look ridiculous.

I have no idea how decisions are made in any sport. But dumping on the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and their country’s problem of abuses was a negotiating technique by PGA officials to keep as many players at home as possible. If they only lost some of the older stars like (Mickelson, Garcia and Poulter) they could weather the storm. The PGA was desperate to keep its brand intact but ultimately lost the gamble. Was this the plan all along, to merge leagues so that everyone makes more money? Both leagues probably decided it made more sense to end the war in the courts. Most of these court cases will drag on for years and end up hurting the bottom line of both.

My sympathies are with the golfers PGA loyalists, Rory and Morikawa and Scheffler. They resisted the millions offered to leave and now they look like suckers. Their good deeds and loyalty were held cheaply by a backstabbing tour. It left them in the fox hole while negotiating a settlement during the firefight. Staying with the PGA, also meant these players had some kind of future promises of a better financial arrangement. The PGA was setting up larger purses, more tournaments and chances to earn money. It’s hard to imagine a more duplicitous public act. Monahan should resign, at least then it would appear that the anti-Saudi wing of the PGA lost the argument.

We don’t know the details of the new arrangement yet. So far it’s just a press release. But the wealthy PIF is the biggest investor in the new merger. It’s also going to bring in the DP World Tour which is Europe’s primary league. Basically that means the Saudis own golf now. Global golf belongs to the Kingdom of Saud. Amazing.

I prefer the old days where America dominated everything in entertainment and sports. It wasn’t that long ago was it? But too many people think of the United States as spreading democracy to the rest of the world. It isn’t. It doesn’t. It won’t. If the last 8 to 10 years hasn’t made you realize how actually corrupt our government and businesses are then you aren’t paying attention. That probably seems like moral relativism but it’s really just an acceptance of the way things are. I don’t excuse any country for its history or its present, but I’m also not in the mood to lecture after what’s become of our own institutions.

At first I bought the story the PGA was selling, the historic tour doing it’s damnedest to keep the sacred game unsoiled from the barbarian horde. But I also figured a little competition would be good for golf. Some of the changes in the LIV game were interesting at least, 54 holes and team play. Both tours came to Tulsa in the last two years. Not bad for a midsize city. But now it looks like all the grand posturing from the PGA was a big joke. Should I be surprised?