Wednesday, February 18, 2015

In the News 9

While I have not touched an actual newspaper in some time, I do skim through the online news headlines each day. There is always something that catches my attention, whether it involves human conflict, a human interest piece, the sports wrap, or just the usual absurdities. In this series, I carve out a space for my opinions, reminiscences, or comments.

John Smoltz - Last year in a post in my In the News series, I celebrated the baseball Hall of Fame inductions of two former Atlanta Braves pitchers, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. In this entry, I celebrate the recent induction of the third member of that group, John Smoltz. John pitched for the Braves from 1988 to 2008 and in many respects was my favorite player on the team. Not only was he immensely talented and competitive, but in his post-game interviews on television and radio, I always found him to be cerebral, insightful, and well spoken. Even though John had a number of significant problems with his arm that limited him, he always seemed to find a way to reinvent himself to be effective. He was also one of my sport's heroes when I was younger and is strongly associated with my memories of those years. John was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame on January 6, 2015.

Joseph Morrissey - Joseph was serving as a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates when he was arrested for having a sexual relationship with his underage secretary (who is now pregnant). As a result of the scandal he resigned his seat. However, he changed his mind and decided to run for election to the seat that he had resigned. In fact with his work-release program from jail, he campaigned during the day and served his time in jail in the evenings. Joseph won re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates on January 14, 2015.