Random thoughts for a sunny Spring day

By Jeff Orvis

Happy Spring everybody!

I've been collecting a few random thoughts these past few days, so please stay with me and you will soon discover why I call this column “Ramblings.”

Many of us have been impatiently waiting for warmer weather. Perhaps it's because we remember a year ago, when we were basking in 80 degree temperatures. A few weeks ago, I was sure Spring was on its way when I saw a patch of lawn in our complex covered with about 40 robins. Less than a week later, we had six inches of snow and if these robins could talk, they would have been saying, “What the heck is this?!”

Then I thought surely with the birth of our two newest bald eagles at the Alcoa site, Spring must be here. But the other day, as snow was again flying in the area, I saw that one of adult eagles was sitting on the nest, protecting the young ones, as snow covered him.

But the best sign of spring may have come earlier this week, when I noticed that the supermarket in our neighborhood was getting ready to display dozens of flowering spring plants in front of the store.

Several local golf courses opened today and the Major League Baseball season begins on Sunday. That must mean Spring, right?

I have several friends on Facebook and I notice that quite often, they are complaining about their jobs and long for more days off. Speaking for those of us who have been without a job for a lot of days now, my only advice is to cherish what you've got. It's tough out here, especially for those of us who worked in a profession where we truly believed that if you were doing something that you liked, you would never admit to working a day in your life. I also realize that I have been very fortunate in that I landed each of the few positions I held over my work life on the first try. In fact, one of the newspapers called me after being gone for a couple of years and asked me to come back (which I did, since I left on the best of terms).

But this is a different world. If you have a job, especially if it is one you enjoy, never take it for granted. Be grateful each day for what you have.

Finally, we are in the midst of anticipation for Easter Sunday. I'll admit I took care of the less important things this week. I bought a bag of jelly beans and a bag of “Robin Eggs” malted milk balls, so I have my Easter candy for the next few months. I've got my menu planned and ham and other things purchased.

But most importantly, I have been busy in rehearsal with our wonderful choir at Asbury Methodist Church for our songs we will be singing in tonight's Good Friday service and for Sunday's Easter service.

Last Sunday, the newspaper was filled with ads for Easter candy and gifts. The toy stores apparently view this holiday as another big one. Nothing says the death and resurrection of our Lord quite like a Barbie doll!

My hope is that if your youngster asks you why we celebrate Easter, you can come up with the true reason for the season.

May you all have a happy and blessed Easter!

My feathered visual addiction

By Jeff Orvis

I don't know if this is the best place for this, but I have a confession to make. I have a new visual addiction. And before you jump to any conclusions, I am not talking about the basketball tournaments, preseason baseball or even golf tournaments telecast from sunny, warm sites.

My latest addiction can be found by Googling “Alcoa eagle cam.” Taking a break from the round-ballers for a few minutes this afternoon, I checked out this site and was reminded of what some of God's other creatures are up to on this sunny, cool early spring day.

Thanks to the efforts of the good folks at the Alcoa plant in Riverdale, IA, we have the opportunity to spy on “Liberty” and “Justice.” A camera is trained on the nest of this pair of mature bald eagles. A few weeks ago, their two eggs hatched and it has been fascinating watching the two youngsters begin to take shape and pester their parents for food on a nearly constant basis.

Much of the time you can't see the youngsters as their parents take turns shielding them from the wind and cold. But just a few minutes ago, the adult got up off the middle of the nest and we could see, and hear, the little ones. Within only a couple of minutes, the other parent swooped down and landed on the edge of the nest and began feeding the youngsters. The adults are apparently good providers, as there are two or three fish and what looks like parts of a rabbit and squirrel in the nest. One local radio personality termed it “surf and turf.”

After about 20 minutes of feeding, one of the adults left the nest and the other resumed his position on top of the kids. There is good audio with the camera and you can hear the wind whistling through the trees, as well as flights of geese, other creatures and even an occasional train passing by.

It's interesting that a company that prides itself on producing aluminum for the wings of commercial and military aircraft also recognizes that before Wilbur and Orville were born, there were plenty of other objects flying around. This camera is a fitting tribute to nature.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I've become more appreciative of wildlife, thanks to things like the eagle cam and thanks to the bird feeder outside my living room window. I marvel at the special sense birds of all sizes seem to have to know when to seek more food because of incoming bad weather and when to put out the word when I fill the feeder.

Birds definitely have a tough life. But on the other hand, they have no interest in reality TV, who will win the basketball championship or if this might be the year for the Cubs. Next time those of you who must make flight connections for business or pleasure, as you are waiting in line for the security check or hoping that your flight is not delayed, you might have a new appreciation for the sparrows and cardinals and robins and eagles who don't have to file a flight plan.

My annual fearless NCAA predictions

By Jeff Orvis

Long before I began writing this blog, I was writing columns. Everybody has an opinion on something. I was just fortunate enough to convince a parade of editors that my opinions could be printed in a newspaper.

Each year, I have devoted one column to the postseason basketball tournaments. In past years, I have posted my fearless predictions on the NCAA men's tournament. This year, there are no fewer than five teams from the state of Iowa in postseason play, so I've had to broaden the scope of these choices.

Before going any further, I should admit that some years ago, I put down a buck or two on an NCAA pool orchestrated by a former city clerk in Independence. After careful consideration, I would submit my picks just before the start of the tournament. By either Friday morning or certainly by the following Monday after the first weekend of the tourney, the clerk would stop by and thank me for my “donation” to the pool. It was his not-so-subtle way of telling me that I missed so many on the first day, I had no chance of winning.

Despite my rather poor record, this is an exciting time of year for college basketball fans. It all comes to a close in early April, when the eventual NCAA champ is crowned and CBS-TV ends its coverage with the playing of the theme song, “One Shining Moment,” as highlights of the tourney are shown. It never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

The postseason gets underway tonight for teams from the state, as Iowa hosts Indiana State in the NIT. The game will be shown on ESBN 2, starting at 6 p.m. Northern Iowa is playing in the College Insider Tournament tonight, playing North Dakota. But there's no television for this game.

The next action for Iowa teams is not until Friday night, when Iowa State takes on Notre Dame at 9:45 p.m. CBS has the coverage. On Saturday, the women open their tournament play when Iowa State takes on Gonzaga at 3 p.m. That game is on ESPN 2. The Iowa women will open on Sunday against Miami. ESPN 2 also has that game, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Another team I'm going to be watching is the Creighton men. They are coached by Greg McDermott, former coach at UNI and Iowa State. Their main man is the coach's son, Doug McDermott, who could be the national player of the year this season. Creighton opens against Cincinnati Friday on CBS at 2:45 p.m.

Actually, I stayed up past my normal bedtime last night to watch Stanford beat Stephen F. Austin by a point in an opening round NIT game. Stanford has a player who played his high school ball at Rock Island and Stephen F. Austin has a player to starred at Davenport Central.

Those are the first round games. Check the web for times for all of our local teams that win their first games.

That brings me to my fearless first round predictions. The selection committee has done a pretty good job of pairings this season. Of the first 32 games, I'm going with the upper seed in all but five of the games. I think Missouri can beat Colorado State in what could be a mild upset. In another eight-nine match, I like Wichita State over Pittsburgh. And going with my heart instead of my head, I've got Iowa State, the tenth seed, stopping seventh-seed Notre Dame.

Over on the other side of the bracket, I'm going with Minnesota over UCLA. The Big Ten is the best basketball conference in the country this year. My other upset in this half is Oklahoma State over San Diego State, another nod to the Big 12 over the coast team.

The top seeds in each of the four regions could go all the way to the Final Four. I think Duke might take down top-seeded Louisville in the Midwest. Look for Gonzaga to take its top seed to Atlanta for the Final Four. I like Indiana and Kansas on the other side, just as the committee predicted.

So, get the snacks ready, the remote control warmed up and the “reserved” sign on the recliner and get ready for a ridiculous amount of basketball in the coming days and nights. Go Hawks, Cyclones, Panthers...and Blue Jays (Creighton)!

My question to CNN: Why cover this trial?

By Jeff Orvis

Many of you already know that I'm a big fan of CNN. Having grown up in an era where you had to wait until 5:30 each week night to find out what happened in the world that day by switching on the national news on one of the three networks, when cable TV came into our home we could see immediately if there was a plane crash in this country or if we went to war.

I have long been a fan of correspondents like Anderson Cooper. He appeared live late one night, waist-deep in flood waters in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, imploring our government to come to the aid of the citizens of that area faster. He's been in some of the most dangerous hotspots around the world, risking his own life to bring us closer to what's really important.

But in the past few weeks, his lead story most nights involves a murder trial in Phoenix. Jodi Arias is accused of stabbing her boyfriend 29 times, slitting his throat and then shooting him. This crime happened almost five years ago, but her trial is just now underway.

As near as I can figure, nobody outside of their families of friends had heard of the accused or her victim prior to the murder. But suddenly, it's the lead story on CNN. Fox News, ABC, CBS, the Huffington Post and numerous other media outlets are now devoting countless hours and resources to this story.

This is the time when I wish TV could be a two-way communication device. My question to CNN and the others would be simple: “Why?” What makes this case any more unique than the undoubtedly hundreds or thousands of murders that have occurred since June 2008? What prompted the first news producer to decide to cover this trial and cause the unwarranted avalanche of media that followed?

Just imagine how much the networks must spend for the coverage of this routine trial. There's a lot more to it than one person with a microphone standing outside of a courthouse. There's the camera operator, sound person and probably a producer on scene. There's the travel, food and lodging for those people. A satellite truck must be on the scene and satellite time reserved for each broadcast. Those things aren't cheap.

Awhile back, I attended a murder trial in Scott County for a week. The media consisted of myself, one other daily newspaper reporter and her photographer and a couple of local TV reporters who were there for the final day. We never saw CNN or NBC. I'd be willing to bet that today, while the networks stumble all over themselves reporting the Arias trial in Arizona, there's probably at least one similar trial happening in each of the other 49 states in this country.

We hear so much about the shrinking budgets of national media outlets, both printed and broadcast. News bureaus are being closed or consolidated around the world. Meanwhile, we hear “breaking news” about a trial involving people we will forget within days of its conclusion.

As I indicated earlier, I have been a devoted fan of CNN and Anderson Cooper. But now each night, at the first mention of this trial, my hand finds the remote and I find something else to watch. I just wish some pollster would call me for my opinion on TV news. I would tell him the same thing: show me something that somehow will affect my life and I'll probably be back.

Breaking news indeed...

Memories of reubens and crab legs

By Jeff Orvis

Another St. Patrick's Day is in the books and grocery stores have probably already restocked the display bins that held packaged corned beef briskets with Easter hams.

St. Patrick's Day has served as an excuse for millions of us to set aside any concern for sodium-laden meat and dive head-on into the preparation and consumption of corned beef. While a traditional Irish dinner consists of cooked cabbage along with the corned beef, the idea of cooked cabbage is an acquired taste that I have luckily not yet acquired. It's strange though, since I'm a big fan of cole slaw and occasionally can eat saur kraut. Fresh and pickled yes, cooked, no. I also haven't had the nerve to try sardines, sushi or liver.

My corned beef dinner consisted of a brisket roasted for about three hours, then accompanied by cheesey mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. The subsequent reuben sandwiches the next day from the leftovers brought back memories of my earliest encounter with the meat.

Those of you who are long-time residents of the Quad-Cities probably remember Al Klass and his Town and Country restaurants in Rock Island and Bettendorf. The radio commercials claimed they were the “home of slices, slices, slices.” Each of the “slices” was punctuated by the apparent sound of a meat cleaver.

They would slice the corned beef paper-thin and pile it nearly an inch high on good rye bread, along with the kraut, Swiss cheese and sauce. I know the restaurant served other typical midwestern fare, but if my dad or one of my friends suggested a trip to Town and Country, my first thought was the reuben sandwiches.

I have many Quad-City restaurant memories. Long before the TGI Fridays or Applebee's of the world, we thought chain restaurants were limited to Dairy Queen or McDonald's. One exception to this was the midwestern chain of Bishop's cafeterias. We had one in a mall in Bettendorf. There was another in downtown Davenport. Both of those are long gone. One year when I qualified for the All State Chorus in Des Moines, my folks took me out to a Bishop's in a mall in Des Moines.

The aforementioned Town and Country was a bit like Applebee's or TGI Friday's, only a little more moderately priced. It was a place you might be able to afford once or twice a month.

We had a few memorable local eateries where you should remember to wear a suit jacket and tie and bring a fat wallet. They were the places you would take a date for homecoming or prom. The Cellar in Geneseo, IL is in the basement of a downtown building, but it still serves wonderful steaks. My junior prom date and I double-dated with another couple. He got the keys to his mom's Cadillac for the 25-mile trip. It was like riding in a limousine.

For my senior prom, the only place to go was The Plantation in Rock Island. This place had quite a reputation developed many years before we were born. They may have served liquor during prohibition and may have been a hangout for some of the area's notorious characters years before. By the spring of 1971, I just know it was the best place to take my date, whose grandfather was the vice president of a major corporation. (If you met this girl, you would never have guessed this. That's why she was my best friend in high school). While she was really a down-to-earth person, she still delighted in making fun of me when I was confronted with a silver service featuring three or four forks!

My only other memory of The Plantation was when I was invited to my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. It was truly the first place you thought of if you wanted the best and could afford it.

Another memorable wedding dinner was hosted by my aunt when her only daughter got married. Ben's Gourmet House in downtown Rock Island was the site. All I can remember of that night, some 40 years ago, was my introduction to king crab legs. Up to my elbows in melted butter and crab shells...what a night!

While this trip down culinary memory lane has included several price levels, one thing that was consistent in all of them. Not once was I served an entry that was the size of a baseball card in the middle of a dinner plate with stuff that would have been more appropriate in an art gallery. Many of us, especially here in the Midwest, expect good food and a good quantity of it for the price. It should look good when it is served, but I'd rather the chef devote his or her time to how it tastes instead of attempting to make some sort of artistic statement.

It's nearing 3 p.m. For some reason, my thoughts are already turning to what to fix for supper. After already having the post-St. Patrick's Day reuben today, maybe it will be a night for a TV dinner. I can close my eyes and imagine I'm at the Plantation or at Ben's for a small fraction of the cost.

An old-timer asks, where are the real disc jockeys?

By Jeff Orvis

Could commercial radio be the next victim of technology? Could there come a time when finding a radio station that plays music be as tough as finding a printed version of your favorite news magazine or newspaper?

Thanks to the internet and information storage devices, more and more folks who listen to music choose to make their own play lists without the talk or commercials. More and more radio is being taken over by talk radio. Seems like anybody with access to a microphone and a telephone line can get a radio show.

Some of my friends already know that before I decided to work for newspapers, I had a notion that I would go into radio. I had a taste of the airwaves on college radio stints at Central College and then later at St. Ambrose. But when the realization hit that radio folks often have to work on major holidays and at all hours of the day or night, the newspaper field seemed to be a more sensible route for me.

Back to the state of radio today. There's not enough variety. The dwindling number of stations that are still playing music have fewer and fewer radio personalities, disc jockeys we called them, that separates one station from the next.

If you listened to pop radio in the 1960s or 1970s, you probably had your favorites. Cruising the streets of Davenport in the summertime with the windows down, you could probably hear Guttenberger or Rich on KSTT. The station was on River Drive and if you were driving toward Bettendorf, you had the double treat of smelling fresh-baked bread from the Wonder Bread bakery on the left, followed by a chance at a glimpse at the radio guys at work in their studio by looking in the big plate glass window in their building on the right.

When I left home for my freshman year at Central, 150 miles away, the natural freshman homesickness was intensified when I found out that the KSTT signal didn't carry that far. Maybe that's why I decided to try my hand at hosting a campus radio show. I even took the Saturday night shift and played what I wanted, including some jazz cuts from albums I brought from home.

On my rare trips home, before we were in range of KSTT, once we reached Interstate 80, we could pick up WLS-Chicago. I can still remember it like it was yesterday: “John “Records” Landecker here at 89-WLS, the ROCK OF CHICAGO!”

Naturally, since three of my college friends who also worked at the campus station were from the Chicago area, it wasn't long before we tried to copy that slogan. But somehow the “Rock of Pella” lacked something.

We learned how to cue up records (those vinyl things that came long before cassettes, CDs or MP3s) so that we had time to introduce the cut before the vocals started. If you had a long introduction, such as some song by Chicago, you often had time to do a short weather report or promo for the next show.

Those days are gone. Luckily, we have several stations that play great oldies music. But there's no energy displayed in the radio studio. I've proven to myself that I probably could never make a living as a media ad salesman. But I'd be willing to bet my collection of Blood, Sweat and Tears albums that a format with high-energy, where's the coffee or Mountain Dew disc jockeys would be such a novel concept, clients would stumble all over each other to buy commercial time.

A Methodist's view on the new pope

By Jeff Orvis

The news was swift and exciting from Vatican City this afternoon with the announcement that the cardinals had chosen a new pope, Francis, to lead the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church.

This is one Methodist who wishes him well and congratulates my friends and relatives who now have someone to lead their church. And congratulations to the cardinals who acted swiftly to find a new leader. In the church's long history, there was a time when it took three years to find a new pope. This time, it took less than two days!

While I don't understand a lot of the pomp and ceremony that we have witnessed the past few days, nor do I agree with some of the teachings of the church, it is still wonderful to see the thousands of people who flocked to Rome for the announcement. To me, it shows that in this era where religion is sometimes an afterthought, a Christian denomination represents over 1 billion people around the world.

The Catholic Church has had some well-documented problems. But what is not reported are the millions of weddings, first communions and funerals that the church conducts each week. Millions of children receive a wonderful education every day in parochial schools. Millions of people find refuge in Catholic churches, some in some of the toughest parts of cities.

To know that this work is done despite the obvious incredible expense associated with the formalities we witnessed this week is probably nothing short of a miracle. As a delegate from my former church, I attended several annual conferences of the United Methodist Church in Ames. We had some very impressive worship services during those extended weekends. But Hilton Coliseum is a long way from Vatican City and we sure didn't have 115 red-cloaked cardinals in attendance.

But we got our business done and were truly inspired by the worship and fellowship.

Putting aside the differences on such things as abortion and same-sex marriage for a moment, the one change I would hope the Catholics might make sooner rather than later would be allowing women in the priesthood. I grew up in another Protestant denomination that still does not allow female clergy. But when I joined the Methodist church, I quickly grew to respect several women who were pastors. To my mind, women are quite capable of being spiritual leaders and in some ways, they are probably better.

I would also like to see the Catholics allow their priests to marry. Being the brother of a woman whose husband is a Lutheran pastor, I know that pastor's wives (or husbands) can be a vital part of the ministry.

One of the big changes we witnessed these past few weeks was the apparent voluntary retirement of Pope Benedict. It marked the first time in some 600 years that a pope walked out of his apartment for the last time into retirement instead of being carried out to his final resting place. I hope this is a precedent that will continue and if the time comes that God tells Pope Francis that he can no longer effectively lead the church, he will feel free to follow Benedict into a peaceful and honorable retirement.

So congratulations to Pope Francis. May he lead his church out of its current problems to more stability and success in the new century.

Calling all Facebook friends for help

By Jeff Orvis

The unemployment rate is down this week nationally. Folks who are paid to watch such things claim that jobs were created last month. These numbers are just that, numbers, unless you are one of them.

For well over 30 years, I knew each morning when I woke up I had somewhere to be. There were stories to tell, news to produce, people to meet. When the cold reality of small town economics, coupled with corporate downsizing hit me, I thought at least I had somewhere to live. As I got ready to come back to the Quad-Cities, I thought, and still believe, that this was God's way of telling me I should be moving back closer to my mom and other family members.

My plan was to look for work here and continue to look after Mom. Those plans were suddenly altered in a tough way last September when Mom left us. Now I'm faced with no job and some hefty expenses as I attempt to settle her estate, sell her condo and find somewhere to live.

As I search for that next chapter in my life, I realize just how blessed I've been. I've been living proof that when God closes a door, he opens a window. As I wait for that next window to open, I am realizing, with the help of family and friends, that maybe He's going to unlock the next window, but I have to know how to open it and climb through it. And that's where my Facebook friends come in.

I realize I have to brush up on my networking skills, confident that somebody knows somebody who knows of a job I am capable of doing and then somebody knows somebody who would help me find a new place to live.

I know this blog entry is a bit of a departure for me. The personal nature is getting me out of my comfort zone. But I also have the ability to recognize that cold slap of reality and it's time to “suck it up” to borrow an old sports phrase and seek out those possibilities.

If you know of anyone looking for someone who has worked with people for many years, knows how to put together a coherent sentence and has some basic computer skills, please let me know via Facebook message. In the meantime, please keep me in your prayers and offer a kick in the pants or a pat on the back from time to time.

Some thoughts on televised sports

By Jeff Orvis

During my lengthy non-voluntary pause in employment, I've had way too much time to watch TV. I've always been a fan of many televised sports and with the explosion of choices on the satellite system, my addiction has seemed to grow.

Many of my friends concern themselves with individual performances on the baseball diamond, gridiron and basketball court. These are the folks who seem to have even more time than I do and a better mathematical mind and are wrapped up in fantasy leagues. I don't go that route. Instead, I try to pay attention to how a particular game or event is covered. In this era where newspapers seem to be falling like so many stalks of corn before a combine in the fall, there are times I'll admit I regret I didn't pursue a career in electronic journalism instead of the printed word.

Those frustrations are intensified when I watch some of the stuff on the big screen these days. Some, not all, but some of the directors calling the shots on these telecasts seem to believe that if they show endless close-up shots of coaches and players, the directors will win Emmy Awards. Sometimes, these close-ups come at the expense of action on the field or court.

One of the favorite tricks of these directors is to focus on coach close-ups when a player is down and injured on the football field. I suspect somewhere there was a memo from the NFL or NCAA suggesting that the public doesn't need to be reminded that football can be a violent game. It's as if when a player goes down, if the director switches to a lengthy close-up shot of a coach or player or worse, goes to a three-minute commercial, the fans will forget all about the poor guy who was hurt.

They seem to forget that with the rise in popularity of fantasy sports leagues, many fans probably want to know if their star is hurt and when he might return.

Another one of my pet peeves concerns basketball play-by-play announcers. Apparently, somebody many years ago reminded these folks that since the event is televised, it's quite alright to sometimes go two or three minutes of banter, virtually ignoring what's happening on the court. Sometimes, they start talking about other teams not even on the court! ESPN's Dick Vitale is especially guilty of this. There's no disputing that he might be the greatest fan of college football in front of any TV microphone in the universe. But I just wish he would pay more attention to the action in front of him instead of gushing over a particular coach or player in another gym.

Another one of my gripes is the number and placement of commercials on some broadcasts. I realize major events come at a steep cost to the networks. There's ever-exploding rights fees paid to the sponsoring organizations and then there's the big cost of production of an event. Recently, the Daytona 500 NASCAR race was telecast. After we waited well over two hours from the start of the broadcast to the start of the race, we were subjected to what seemed like four minutes of race action and then three minutes of commercials.

I posted a comment on Facebook about what I called the “obscene” number of interruptions. I got replies from two longtime friends. One, who jumped from the newspaper world to a job in television took exception to the comment, pointing out that ad revenue can help a station or network employ reporters, editors, etc. But another friend agreed with me, calling the broadcast “unwatchable.”

After working in the media for more than 35 years, I realize that if it weren't for advertising, I would have been looking for work long before now. But the way the folks at the network decided to place the ads was comparable to how a printed news story might look if every third or fourth sentence was interrupted with an ad.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to switch on the TV on a snowy winter afternoon and be transported to a sunny golf course in Arizona or a major stock car race in sunny Florida. I only wish the folks in charge of camera angles and choices and ad placement and duration would remember Joe Fan sitting in his recliner in Iowa.