One Goal For Sunday, Just Win

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Photo by Oakland Raiders

London, England – There was a time when an eight and eight record would get you fired. Since then things have changed for the worse. Former owner Al Davis passed away almost three years ago, his son (Mark Davis) whose less of a daredevil than his father has kept his coaching staff in place despite two losing seasons. The senior Davis hated to lose and found ways to win especially if it meant handing out pink slips.

The past two years, the Raiders have gone 4-12. A far cry from the 8-8- seasons that led the former owner to fire his head coaches.  Oakland is looking for win number one before heading into the bye week.  Head coach, Dennis Allen is confident about his job security and that the Raiders will win just as he does every week.

“I’ve always felt confident that this team can win football games,” said Allen. “But we’ve got to be able to go out there and do it on Sunday. We get another opportunity this Sunday against Miami. We’ll go out and put forth our best effort and see if that’s good enough to win.”

Is it time to panic in week four? Absolutely. Oakland traveled across the pond after their loss to the Patriots last week to prepare for the Dolphins this Sunday. Miami comes in with a 1-2 record. The match-up should be good since both teams are almost equal in stats except for the Dolphins rushing yards which is considerably less than the Raiders.

“We’ve always felt together as a team, we just weren’t winning,” Safety Charles Woodson said. “Just as any team we’re trying to build that mentality going into a game expecting to win. The importance was not to go 0-1. Nobody around here wants to be 0-4, so we understand the importance of this being just another road game.”

Woodson was not shy with his comments after week two’s loss. He basically said, “We’re not good”. A harsh reality coming from a veteran whose played with the best and worst during his playing career. Oakland’s defense flatlined in the first two games but made some crucial stops and held New England three times on first and goal. A vast improvement from their first two games. The Raiders offense struggles with the red zone yet quarterback Derek Carr continues to find ways to move the offense.

“Our game plan was simplified,” Woodson said. “We knew exactly what to do and when that happens, guys fly around knowing what’s expected of them. It showed in the film, guys were where they were supposed to be and that’s why we had a chance in the end.”

Carr found an open Denarius Moore who was unable to catch Carr’s shotgun pass on fourth down. That ended the game.  Oakland walked away with a good effort and loss number three. Today’s practice at Pennyhill Park, the team seemed upbeat and ready to get back on the field to compete. The time away from the U.S. has given the players a chance to bond more.

“I think anytime you get a chance to get away and keep your team (for lack of a better word), sequestered in a small area. They spend a lot of time together, it’s good for those guys to get together and bond,” Allen said. “And hopefully it’ll help produce wins.”

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The Great Disclosure Debate: When Should You Tell Strangers Your Child Has Autism?

To disclose or not to disclose; that’s the question many parents whose children have autism wrestle with every time they set foot in a public place. Is it better to be upfront about your kid’s disorder to bemused strangers, or to keep your private business private?

It’s an internal debate that’s been raging ever since my son was diagnosed at age 3. Because he’s at the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum, by outward appearances he looks like a typical 5-year-old, yet there are situations in which he acts peculiar, borderline aggressive. For the time being, my strategy (if you can call it that) has been to say nothing unless his behavior strays beyond the quirky into the offensive.

Although I balk at the idea of him wearing his label on his sleeve — because he’s so much more than just a label — I also wonder whether keeping mum about his disorder is somehow unfair or discourteous to strangers. For a friend who relies on public transit to take her young son to therapy, wearing an ‘autism awareness’ sign has been nothing short of a game-changer. Because her little guy’s actions can range from what she calls “annoying” (spitting, high-pitch screaming) to violent (kicking, hitting, head-banging), she grew tired of having to explain, or justify as it were, his behavior to fellow passengers.

“I’m saving myself the grief of having people tell me off,” she tells me, “If they know [about his autism], they easily ignore us. People have been thanking me of letting them know, because it makes them aware.”

Starers gonna stare. Judgers gonna judge. Is my child’s autism really anyone’s business, anyway? And if I do reveal my son’s diagnosis, am I doing so for his sake? Or am I merely doing so to save face so that people won’t presume, as is often the case, that he is simply being ‘naughty’ and that I’m a mom who needs to dish out some discipline?

Disclosure isn’t a concern for another friend whose 9-year-old is non-verbal because his needs are more obvious to the untrained eye. As with other ‘visible’ disabilities, she rarely feels the need to answer to strangers. In the main, the public is more sympathetic and forgiving of her son’s behavior, yet even she freely admits that labeling “is not the answer to everything.”

“It’s not like we stop teaching him to behave properly because he’s slow to learn,” she says. “There are some limitations for sure, like his speech. But it doesn’t stop him functioning like other human beings. [All] kids are work in progress.”

Indeed, labeling is so such a slippery slope that some parents avoid it altogether, putting off clinical assessments or, even when a diagnosis has been made, telling no one except for immediate family. I know of some moms who are reluctant to tell teachers, lest autism come to dominate and infiltrate every future discussion about the child.

Indeed, disclosure poses a very personal quandary. There is no right or wrong, and every parent has to carve out his or her own comfort zone. Sometimes fathers and mothers will take different approaches. While I prefer to disclose on a need-to-know basis, my husband takes a more pro-active approach, preferring to inform people before something potentially discomfiting happens.

Quite honestly, it’s been a sore point between us as a couple, because though I’m proud of my son for who he is, autism and all, the mama bear in me would love nothing better than to protect him from judgment, or at least to defer that judgment for as long as possible. At times I still long for my friend’s handy card or a T-shirt that spells out his difference so people can just quit staring and move on already. Yet in the next breath, I always decide against earmarking him in that way.

Maybe as awareness for autism continues to grow — and as our kids themselves grow old enough to figure out their own ground rules for disclosure — we’ll no longer need to plead for the patience and understanding of strangers. But for the time being, like many parents, it seems I’m destined to continue shilly-shallying between the urge to tell and the burning desire to keep quiet.

What’s your stance on disclosure?

Michael Anthony Kerr, Inmate With Schizophrenia, Died Of Thirst After 35 Days Of Solitary

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina inmate with mental illness who died of thirst was held in solitary confinement for 35 days and cited twice for flooding his cell, according to prison records.

Inmate Michael Anthony Kerr was found unresponsive in the back of a van March 12 after being driven three hours from Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville to a mental hospital at Central Prison in Raleigh. An autopsy released earlier this week says the 54-year-old inmate, who had schizophrenia, died of dehydration. The report also said he was receiving no treatment for the symptoms of his mental illness.

A written policy at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety allows prison staff to respond to the “misuse of plumbing facilities” by turning off the water to an inmate’s sink and toilet. State prison officials did not respond Friday to questions about whether water to Kerr’s cell was cut off in the days before his death.

Public records released to The Associated Press show Kerr was placed in “administrative segregation” on Feb. 5. The status means an inmate is confined to a solitary cell for such reasons as “to preserve order where other methods of control have failed.”

In the following weeks, records show Kerr was cited nine times by correctional officers for violating prison rules, including disobeying orders and “lock tampering.” Inmates in the state prison system are often cited for lock tampering after repeatedly banging on the steel doors of their cells.

On Feb. 21 and again on Feb. 24, records show Kerr was cited for intentionally flooding his cell.

“Whenever an inmate misuses the plumbing facilities in his or her cell, the officer in charge may order that the water to the cell be cut off,” according to the prison policy and procedure manual. “The water may be cut off to prevent continuation of the misconduct or damage of the facilities or other property.”

The following day, Feb. 25, records show Kerr was moved to “disciplinary segregation,” another form of solitary confinement employed as punishment that inmates commonly refer to as being in “The Hole.”

While in disciplinary segregation, inmates are sometimes deprived of basic amenities, such as bedding and a mattress for their bunk. Food rations may also be reduced to “Nutraloaf,” a hard-baked concoction containing the blended ingredients of a meal formed into a block.

In an autopsy report released Thursday, Dr. Susan E. Venuti of the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s Office wrote that she was allowed to read internal prison report into Kerr’s death, though she was not permitted to make a copy. Venuti wrote that the report left unanswered key questions, including when the inmate last had food and water.

Because of the lack of information, the pathologist wrote that she was unable to make a determination about whether Kerr’s death from dehydration should be classified as natural, accidental or homicide.

“The nature of the dehydration, whether as a result of fluids being withheld, or the decedent’s refusal of fluids, or other possible factors, is unclear,” Venuti wrote. “Since the circumstances surrounding the development of dehydration leading to the death in this incarcerated adult are uncertain, the manner of death is best classified as Undetermined.”

For more than six months, North Carolina prison officials say they and agents from the State Bureau of Investigation have been working to get to the bottom of why Kerr died. There has been no indication of when, or if, the results of that probe will be publicly released.

Seven employees at Alexander have either been fired or resigned through the course of the investigation, including a guard captain, nurses and a staff psychologist.

The prison system also confirmed Friday that Dr. John Carbone, the prison system’s chief of psychiatry, has been reassigned to a lower level position. The agency did not respond to questions about whether Carbone’s demotion is related to Kerr’s care.

Records show Kerr, whose criminal record includes convictions for larceny, was sentenced in 2011 to serve 31 years as a habitual felon after being charged with illegally possessing and discharging a firearm.

North Carolina’s prison system has long faced scrutiny for its treatment of inmates with chronic mental illnesses. Numerous studies have shown that long-term isolation can have severe effects on the mental well-being of inmates, especially those already suffering from psychiatric disorders.

In 1997, a federal audit of Raleigh’s Central Prison followed the death of inmate Glen Mabrey, a Vietnam veteran with mental illness who died from dehydration after being held in solitary confinement. Mabrey’s water had been cut off for four days after he’d intentionally flooded his cell.

Stranger With Fiction: A TV Writer Reflects on Derek Jeter

Here’s a basic truism: in sports today you can either be a beater, a cheater or a Jeter. And since there is only one Derek Jeter, the other two categories are getting awfully crowded lately.

But here’s also the thing: Derek Jeter is a total stranger to virtually all of us, as are most celebrities, no matter how forthcoming or public they are.

During the game last night Yankee announcer Michael Kay kept trying to figure out what Jeter was thinking or feeling and that to me perfectly captured what the event was all about.

What it was not about was Derek Jeter because only Derek Jeter has the 24-hour job of trying to figure out who Derek Jeter is. Him and a few other people with perhaps a wandering lazy eye or two who have spent all their life savings at Lids and actually have Yankee themed bedrooms. And weddings. And funerals.

So what the hell was going on and why was I crying last night like my purse chihuahua died? Wait. Did I say that out loud?

After the game, Jeter admitted that rather than weep in front of his peers, he instead retreated to a bathroom stall to collect himself, he held back his man tears on the field and did everything that he could to mask his true self.

The life lesson here? There is crying in baseball and in my humble opinion, it would have been even more heroic to show it. Instead, the caveman rules ruled and boys were once again taught to keep it in and do their manly man job like a MAN.

But that did not stop any of us from privately weeping like middle-eastern widows in our beer stained secret bromance man caves.

But what were we crying for?

Derek? Uh. No. The guy’s a total stranger plus I think he will have a very nice life cherry picking top fashion models like rings at Tiffany’s and pretty much live the Michael Jordan royal way of life (he even gets to be smug and superior in underwear commercials).

In other words Derek will live on the fumes of his own MYTH, LEGEND and BRAND and we will all go to our graves still knowing virtually nothing about him.

Who are we crying for? We are crying for ourselves.

My friend Liz made the point that we New Yorkers have a rarified standard that is totally emblematic of where we live. We like our local heroes to be bigger than life with the powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men—especially those who were bought by that magnificent shopping spree sports owner George Steinbrenner.

Baby wanted the biggest and shiniest toys and baby got what he wanted, or baby threw a temper tantrum until he got it. And we all got to play with then in our legendary sandbox in the Bronx.

But even before him, we grew up with MANTLE, MARIS, RUTH and GEHRIG. And George bought us JACKSON, RODRIGUEZ (naw I’m just kidding) and of course we got the four living MT. Rushmore heads of JETER, POSADA, RIVIERA and PETTITTE.

Forget the Steinbrenners. By birthright we feel not only the illusion of the pride of ownership and but all the exclusive bragging rights that go with it as well.

We rhythmically chant Derek’s name and he obediently tips his cap right on cue. It’s good to be the king.

But we’re only playing at being rich and powerful.

You see, baseball is where men go to feel like little boys and where little boys go to feel like men. It’s where women get to swoon like little girls and little girls get to feel like one of the boys.

The truth is everyone, both players and spectators alike, are the exact same age at a baseball game.

Everyone comes dressed for the party, wearing a jersey and cap, and virtually everyone carries a glove (or an imaginary one) and everyone quietly dreams of snatching a foul or homerun ball from the air, which is the closest that we will ever get to catching a falling star. Baseball is where outsized dreams often, not always, come true right before your very eyes.

Baseball has always been there and will always be there. Just like the statues and buildings and bridges that we revere. It’s our communal ritual. It’s our shared national faith.

It’s magic made visible.

It’s Neverland where baseball boys are supposed to stay forever lost and are never, ever supposed to grow up.

Until, they suddenly do.

First comes that Andy Pettitte first blush of errant gray hairs, followed by a myriad of mysterious aches and pains and inevitably, the litany of sustained injuries that will do permanent body wreckage.

It’s the effects of Kryptonite in slow motion.

Meanwhile, in our own lives, there are marriages and divorces and illness and disappointing children and layoffs and dashed hopes and dreams that leave us beyond bewildered and battle scarred.

So we keep coming back to the park, because we want to believe that you can go home again, over and over again, until, despite the odds, you win the game.

But then our hero finally crumbles and falls.

And that is beyond tragic and unbearable to us because in this day and age of sheer terror, in a world where in order to access the future all you have to do is simply stand in line, with thousands of faceless, nameless others, waiting not for bread, but Apples, there are virtually no heroes left. Name five in five seconds. You can’t.

I grew up with tons of them. I thought in real life that my baseball heroes all smelled like Topps gum.

But sooner or later that bubble bursts. Just like it did last night.

And when it does, it is just a little harder to go on, because in the end, who will be there to rescue us?

Brazil's Economic Future

It was probably the great Stefan Zweig, who escaped to Brazil from Nazi persecution only to take his own life, who coined the expression, Brazil, the country of the future. Cynics, critical of Brazil’s unfulfilled promise, like to say that Brazil is the country of the future and always will be. However, a look at Brazil’s long-term record cautions against excessive pessimism.

Even as the world economy is recovering, Brazil is one of few countries in recession. The IMF predicts that this year and next Brazil will be one of the slowest growing developing economies. One reason is that Brazil’s inflation is far too high, causing the central bank to tighten monetary policy, throttling growth even more. And, after failed attempts at government stimulus, a high budget deficit means that Brazil’s fiscal arsenal is empty.

Brazil is also uncompetitive: its labor cost, and its cost of doing business according to the World Bank, is too high relative to its productivity. The country’s infrastructure is insufficient, there is a shortage of skills to which the education system is not responding, corporate taxes are too high and complicated. Crime–partly the result of very high income inequality–remains a big problem. Government corruption is daily fare in the newspapers. The exchange rate is overvalued by 10-15% according to the IMF. Locals call this syndrome “Custo Brasil”. Deindustrialization and a large current account deficit are the result, the latter made worse by a relatively low rate of national savings. Instead of dealing with the underlying causes of weak competitiveness, Dilma Rousseff’s government has engaged in open protectionism. Not surprisingly, confidence is low and investment in Brazil has severely lagged that of other developing countries in recent years.

Case closed? Not entirely. The prospects for Brazil’s economy will depend on the vigor with which the next government will pursue policies that remedy these problems–and, technically at least, they can be remedied. Encouragingly, there is a long historical record that suggests Brazil can do much better. After all, despite its many problems, Brazil has risen to become the seventh largest economy of the world, bigger than France or Italy. Today, it has a sizable middle class and consumer market. It is, for example, the world’s fourth largest car market.

In 2008 the Growth Commission–a group of prominent economists chaired by Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence–included Brazil in a group of just thirteen countries that stood out by achieving very high growth over a 30-year period. Brazil grew at an annual rate near 8 percent over the period from 1950 to 1980, multiplying its output about nine times in a generation. Then came two very bad decades heralded by the Latin American debt crisis. Brazil continued to grow but at a much slower pace, not even keeping pace with the rich countries. Then, from 2000 to 2012, the prices of primary commodities surged, macroeconomic management improved, helped by a more flexible exchange rate, and growth picked up again to around 3.5% a year–a very respectable rate. And one achieved despite the advent of the Great Recession. So the story of Brazil’s development is–even quite recently–far from the unqualified disaster that is sometimes portrayed.

No one can say for certain whether Brazil’s promise will actually be fulfilled. But here is an economy which evidently can grow fast over long periods, has large natural resources, and boasts a market of 200 million people. It is also a vastly underperforming economy, whose productivity is about one-third that of the United States, and where policy-makers are not delivering.

So don’t write Brazil off yet. As the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said when asked for his view of the French Revolution: it is too early to tell.

This post originally appeared in L’Espresso.