The rainy season

Good morning, friends.  Not a huge surprise that it's raining here in central Kentucky.  Again.

Most of us here in this locality are a little tired of rain, but grateful that temperatures are such that this much rain isn't several inches (or even feet) of snow.  And I find it amusing that there is a direct correlation between how far from home business will take me and the amount of rain expected on a given day, at least during the work week.

As the title of my blog states, having "new shoes in the rain" certainly is a mixed blessing....

Keeping with the rain metaphor, when it rains, it pours, and the news lately has been raining down on us.  Yesterday there must have been eight or ten items concerning the tumultuous goings-on in the Trump White House, what with relatives saying they believe the President when he denies various claims made against him, or another of those relatives being stripped of a contentious security clearance, or a senior aide being questioned (again) by a Congressional committee, and on and on and on.

Then there's the growing story of agents having contact with prospective college basketball players prior to their entering schools, and records of loans and payments.  This seems to happen every few years, and this latest set of university and player names corresponds to the news that broke in the early fall and led to the firing of Louisville coach Rick Pitino and numerous assistants around the college basketball world.  There also were three players who play or played at the University of Kentucky named, as well, including one current player.  

Is there guilt?  Most likely.  Should the rules be changed?  Probably.  If memory serves, when the International Olympic Committee revised how it viewed amateurism, there were far fewer problems in that part of the athletic world.  And it's clear that college basketball (and football) is the money-maker for most universities that allows the "non-revenue" sports to exist.  Sports like baseball and track & field and swimming and volleyball and so on.  The NCAA needs to modernize its approach to what is and isn't allowed, and ensure that when a basketball coach is paid $5 million a year and the university receives millions in television revenue, players are allowed to share in that, at least a little.

In my opinion.

The Oscars are next weekend, and I still have only seen one of the Best Picture nominees, Christopher Nolan's masterful war picture "Dunkirk."  I was able to watch this for the second time recently and am stunned by its narrative structure and the images it conveys, including some rather unconventional camera angles.  

And to be honest, there are probably only a few of the other nominees I'd want to see, namely "The Post" and "Darkest Hour."  The remainder are not of as much interest to me, but that's why so many movies come out each year--hopefully something for everyone.

And I'll confess here--I saw "Justice League" recently and was pretty impressed with it, overall, in spite of the negative reviews it received at the time of its theatrical release.  The best line in the movie?  When asked by someone "what's YOUR superpower," Bruce Wayne (who, of course, is also Batman) replies "I'm rich."

One more thing before I go....

The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida are returning to school this morning, having laid all of their departed friends to rest.  Please keep them in your thoughts today.  They seem to be keeping the rest of us in theirs.