"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves." -- John Adams

"No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." -- Indiana Constitution Article 1, Section 6.

"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." – Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Baseball Interlude: A Thoroughly Decent Human Being

Earlier this month baseball lost one of its best. Stan Musial died at age 92.

Musial was one of those players who transcended team. He played on the Cardinals for all of his 22 years in baseball, but was universally respected. Like Christy Mathewson, Lou Gehrig, and Henry Aaron, Musial was one of the good guys...a great player and a great human being. ABC wrote
No last name necessary.
A slew of batting titles. Corkscrew stance. Humble. A gentleman. All-around good guy.
Stan the Man.
Musial's friend Bob Costas gave the eulogy at his funeral. He said,
"What was the hook with Stan Musial other than the distinctive stance and the role of one of baseball's best hitters?" Costas said. "It seems that all Stan had going for him was more than two decades of sustained excellence as a ballplayer and more than nine decades as a thoroughly decent human being."
Costas went on to tell about the two aspects of Musial's life...his baseball and his decency.

I remember watching Musial play against the Cubs in the 50s and early 60s. I remember my dad (a Cub fan) talking about "Stan the Man" and how good he was: 3630 lifetime hits, a lifetime .331 batting average, 475 home runs, and a .989 fielding average. Musial was a great ballplayer...7 batting titles, 3-time National League MVP and 24 all star games.

The eulogy below is about 20 minutes long and is a great tribute to a great ball player. If that's too long for non-baseball fans among you then skip to the second video below where Costas, a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, tells a story that epitomizes the kind of person Musial was.
Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight." — Quote inscribed on the base of Musial's statue, attributed to former commissioner Ford Frick.



Costas, a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.


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Stop the Testing Insanity!


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