Blog

As a child growing up in western Canada, I had little meaningful exposure to soccer.  We were consumed with ice hockey, Canadian 6-man football, baseball and softball, among other pastimes. There was little television coverage of any sports and certainly almost none of international sports like soccer and cricket. In the past decade of my life, things have changed…..

My grandson, who is 11 years of age, has been playing soccer for several years, first in Omaha and lately in Tsawwassen.  His enthusiasm and engagement in the game have rubbed off on me.  And, the wavefront of North American interest in and support of the game of “football”, as it is termed in many parts of the world, has been like a burgeoning tsunami of progress. The evolution of Major League Soccer (MLS) across the USA and Canada has spurred young kids to get further involved as well.  Some of the global stars have come to play here, and the quality and relevance of soccer has further risen. While it is a slower game than ice hockey and typically less dynamic than either version of North American football or Aussie Rules Football, soccer has gained an important foothold on the continent. It will surely grow in the years upcoming.  The skills that reach from footwork to headwork and body positioning gradually become clear, and once one has watched Messi run with a ball and strike you are hooked. The crowd atmosphere at the “pitch” as it is termed is very stimulating and encouraging of one’s spirit to be a fan. This is so apart from the hooligans that occasionally have a prominent face in some international locales where such behaviour seems more tolerated.  Generally speaking, the affordability of a professional soccer match for an adult or a child is considerably more so than a professional ice hockey game.

With all of its virtues, soccer is to be supported and endorsed.  It is a spirited sport, mirroring global diversity of ethnicity and origin, and reachable for aspiring young kids in even the poorest countries and communities. Bravo!

Yet, like all sports, there is room for improvement.  Three key things need to happen in soccer that would improve the match.  Soccer is the only game wherein so much fake injury and misery are on exhibit.  Players are forever moaning, groaning, writhing and laying around on the pitch after various “tackles” that have not hurt them at all.  Of course their motives are to help to or possibly attract referee interest in giving the opposing team a yellow, or indeed red, card.  This silly behaviour ruins otherwise great contests.  It also makes it difficult for fans and referees alike to discriminate the “fakers” from the few that are truly injured. In ice hockey this kind of behaviour leads to a penalty for the faker or whiner.  In Aussie Rules Football, there is much more contact, tough play, and blind collisions at high speed, but these young players don’t fake injury.  Women’s rugby is a tough game too…….yet rarely does one get a sense that players fake injury.  The faking in soccer needs to stop.  It needs to be penalized.  Coaches and the leagues must clamp down on this nonsense.  Play the game with personal integrity and don’t violate the principles of this global pastime.

The second area where soccer could quickly improve its integrity is by having two primary referees on the field.  While there are secondary referees on the sidelines and there are occasional video reviews, the primary referee makes the vast majority of decisions in a relatively complex, medium-speed environment. Given the width of view on a big space like a soccer pitch, the single referee, even if of high integrity, simply cannot see all of the goings-on. When a referee is biased, and this is obvious in numerous matches, the second primary referee could balance off the decision and lead to the correct decision in some cases when it would otherwise be lacking.

Finally, the game of soccer is fraught with a lot of time violations.  Teams leading the second half abuse the player change times by walking slowly on and off the pitch.  Coaches use this strategy as well to run off the clock. All player changes should have a stopped clock. As well, when full time is approaching or has been reached, the primary referee has a lot of latitude as to when the final whistle is blown.  At times it is right on the moment of full time and at other times it can be up to a minute or two late even when the coaches, players and fans know the whistle should have already been blown. I am not writing here about the amount of “added time” for injury stoppages (some of which were for fake injuries), but rather for full time at the end of “add time”.  Cleaning up this timing thing will bring more legitimacy to the game as well.

I hope that these reflections will be read by someone who cares about the game of soccer, and importantly, has some level of influence to fix these obvious weaknesses.  Soccer as the most global game would benefit and the exhilaration of the game would increase.

 

Mother Earth is not happy. Allowing for the natural forces that shape our world’s aqueous and land-based surfaces, and the atmosphere above them, the human species has had accumulative injurious effects of ecosystems in the oceans, lakes, canyons, grasslands, wetlands, and the air we breathe. All of the evidence shows the ways in which we have carelessly influenced climates by putrid emissions, disturbed tectonic plates by fracking, and polluted nearly anything you wish to name by being wasteful, throw-away societies.

As we sit in wonder about the raging forest fires across BC and Alberta, in the USA and elsewhere, wherein the lack of rain of any usual proportion as left the earth parched and primed for deadly blazes, and as we listen to analysts in their amazement about the number of active and potentially destructive hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, or we hear reports of the next big piece of glacial ice falling off Antarctica, we must take serious pause. Not only are people dying, animals dying, flora dying, coral reefs dying – the entire system of harmony in nature is being dramatically disrupted. It may never normalize now.  It may be too late.  These extremes of climatic behaviour reflect the Earth’s anger and pain. We in our smallness do not see that this is not about one emergent environmental catastrophe after another, it is about the new abnormal-normal that we have created.

Of course, there are many forces that have brought us to this tipping point of environmental unrest.  There is ignorance – lack of knowledge about how the complex systems of atmospheres and oceans actually work.  We have come a long way in understanding these, and now we are fearful, rightfully.  There is denial – lack of interest in how things work with an accompanying doubt that we are responsible for how the Earth feels or behaves.  This lack of capability to learn, read and think is pervasive and prevents us as communities or societies to do our significant part to alter the course and destinations of climactic changes, above and below the seas and the land. There is greed – many policies prevent governments and industries from being responsible.  They are always breaking rules, modifying laws and ignoring facts for self-interest – the “all-mighty” dollar drives the bus.  Our torturing approaches to air, water and land pollution, fossil fuel retrieval, fossil fuel dependence, and to the overuse of ores and metals offered up by the Earth…….these are among our greatest blind spots as socially responsible species.  Politicians and other “leaders” who lie about our climates and their illnesses should be jailed for life.  Everyone’s lives are being put at risk by their immoral and inane disregard for truth and consequences.

I am getting a little closer to the time when I can do my tour of the neighbourhood to pick up errantly dropped trash bits.  It won’t make a big difference, but on days like today, it will make me feel better while I walk and hum and breathe.

 

 

Being in Portland for the second consecutive year to watch the LPGA Cambia Classic and Brooke Henderson has been so much fun.  It is Saturday morning, “moving day”, and Brooke is tied to the lead at 10 under par.  She had an amazing back nine yesterday afternoon, with good par saves, many birdies and an eagle from 82 yards away. The systematic way that she and her sister Brittany, capable caddie, go about their business on the course is to be emulated. Polite, friendly, focused – all of these characteristics in full view.

The healthy approach that the Henderson’s take to professional golf  very much fits with nice efforts by the Cambia Classic organizers to foster good spirits and good health at the tournament.  They provide lots of fruit for spectators, as well as water, lip balm and sun block.  Washrooms are plentiful, and a variety of food vendors are available for the hunger and thirst that builds while walking the course. A lot is written about the healthiness of golf spectating, especially if one walks with a particular golf group.  In essence one gets about 15,000 steps of walking up and down hills, in the greenery of the beautiful Edgewater course with fresh air and little but good vibes coming from the players, the “quiet” sign people, the “ropes” people and those busily recording for the Golf Channel. The weather has been warm and sunny, but not brutally humid.  Yet, staying hydrated is an absolute must in the afternoon when temperatures are reaching the mid 30’s Centigrade the upcoming two days.

In this bubble of comfort and enjoyment, it is still not possible, nor should it be, to forget about peoples around the world who are not in a peaceful, healthful environment.  There are so many on this planet that are stretched and stressed severely every day. Among those most prominent lately are the millions affected by the hurricane, rains and flooding of southern Texas.  Lives lost, livelihoods and neighbourhoods broken, cities devastated, tears shed. Heroism and humanity have surfaced in all of this mess, as the human spirit finds a deeper courage and critical selfless motivations that calm, salvage and heal. It is beautiful to know that Stacey Lewis will donate her winnings, whatever they are, to the Houston relief effort. While it is her home, it is more important that she is symbolizing the needs we must meet in Houston.  Perhaps others will also give a little more in following this visible lead of kindness.

Health, safety, security and fulfillment are what we wish everyone on the planet. Taking our healthy fortunate in Portland this weekend, and helping those desperately struggling is more than the right thing to do.

 

I have written before in this blog and elsewhere about civility and the importance of working together to make Vancouver a more liveable community,  yet I still have many observations and impressions bottled up.  I need to share them with you. They are not in a particular order of importance or significance, rather they are just issues and opportunities for us to do better.

Scattered trash on streets and sideways and private property is a product of thoughtless people.  It is hard to imagine that such individuals can be so careless and in disregard for our community’s cleanliness that they would leave empty cardboard pop containers, coffee cups, pieces of paper from notebooks, receipts, plastic lids, etc., strewn around any neighbourhood in which one looks. There are tax-payer supported trash cans on the corner of nearly all street corners in the city. There are trash receptacles in many convenience stores and other establishments.  We have many, many different vendors coming around every street and alley to collect the recycling, be it paper, plastic or cardboard, and the organic materials.  We are a true wellspring of garbage.  We need to do our part to keep this effluent in its place.  It is not just an eyesore, it is the likely attraction of rodents and other creatures that are looking for a small meal or smell the aromas of admixed tidbits.

The noise of vehicles is unavoidable in a big city.  Engines, typically internal combustion engines, make noise, the way they are built into cars, trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, and others. Not many electric cars are out there yet…….they are coming, but not fast. The tires have their own noises, from low tone murmurs to rough rumbles, depending on the size of these rubber belts. The screeching of tires, the squeaking of brakes, the honking of horns – these are largely unnecessary.  Drivers are impatient, in too big a hurry, too inconsiderate and rude.  Far too many drivers are running full-on orange and red lights…….deaths arise from this behaviour. This does not include the naive and poor drivers who wander around the streets without signaling lane changes or turns, who are unaware of people ahead, beside or behind them.  They are a ever-present danger.  They would be much better riding the bus or walking more of the time.  Or taking additional lessons.

There is much written about cell phones and driving.  There is not enough written about people walking or riding bikes on streets, sideways and byways while texting or talking on their phones. Many people are so absorbed that if they were run over in a crosswalk, they would not know what hit them……heads are down, in the phone, completely oblivious.  It is such a feature of self-absorption, it is so in keeping with a few observations I want to make about sidewalk sharing.

The sidewalk, a place of relative peace where all sorts of humans and pets meander and scurry to reach a range of destinations. The sidewalks of the city are extraordinarily varied in width and surfaces. There are the old neighbourhood sidewalks and the more recent broad sidewalks in redone or brand new areas of the city.  There are many sidewalk blocks that are raised or have been cut out to allow for tree roots to own the ground as they seek water and nutrients. This is all fine. But what is not fine is the relentless droves of spatially unaware that there are many other people or pets on the same sidewalk trying to get somewhere equally important. I call these people sidewalk hogs.  They are hogs whether they are couples holding hands, mothers with their strollers, or gaggles of fun-seekers heading towards the beach. Please make room for everyone that needs to use our tax-supported sidewalks.  Look up, give way, be polite.  Have more fun being a civil human being.

Am I perfect…..no.  These issues are not about perfection.  They are about civility in tight places and spaces. Give a little more and get a lot back in terms of comfort and respect!

 

 

Lately, for rather inexplicable reasons, I have been thinking a lot about a few of my close colleagues and friends who we have lost over the years. While there are many who have passed who had a big impact on our lives, I would like to delve into three people just a little.

Reinhard Kandolf, an exquisite research virologist, with whom I spent sabbatical time in 1989-1990, passed on several months ago. Reinhard and I developed a wonderful collaboration after our first time together in Martinsried, and had many opportunities for social and scientific exchange. Reinhard was a quiet man.  He was  a stalwart friend.  He had a sense of humour that was subtle but hilarious.  He was kind and considerate.  He was especially kind to my mother when she ventured to Germany with us for one the the great myocarditis conferences those folks hosted. But perhaps the one activity with Reinhard that I remember as so enjoyable was walking in the forest near the Max Planck where we worked. Those many walks brought good conversation about our science, but especially relaxation and fresh air.  The forests were filled with tall pines but with wide walking trails. Those walks will always be among the highlights of our first winter working together.  Thanks Reinhard.

A few years before I met Reinhard at an inflammatory heart disease meeting in southern Germany, I met David Purtilo in Omaha, Nebraska. Indeed, David was trying to recruit me there into a faculty position. David and I had been ships passing in the night in Boston, but had never met.  When I arrived in Omaha for my first visit, I learned of one of the various trademarks of David’s generosity. He always had his guests stay at their lovely home in the oak forest by the Missouri River just north of Omaha.  It was a spacious, airy home where one immediately felt at home. But the signature activity there in the forest was running several miles with David before we went to work.  David relished the challenge of a good run and he seemed to view it as a stress test for his visitors.  If one could run in the forest, then the intensity of the day ahead melted away.  Thanks David for those moments running.  I always have liked to run, but running with you was in a class of its own. Your early departure from this part of the journey left us many more miles to run in a time and place to be determined. Rest in peace!

Over the past dozen years, I have had the pleasure of really coming to know Daniel Salomon.  Dan was an extraordinarily versatile and creative clinician scientist. His spirit drove a team of scientists, clinicians, entrepreneurs and trainees to higher levels of knowledge and solution-seeking for patients with solid organ transplants.  Dan helped to build a great collaboration with our team in Vancouver.  We spent many great meetings and evenings together, never forgetting to make time for laughter, great cuisine and even better wine. But, the most stellar memory for me was the day that Dan took to me one of his scared and precious places, the waves off the coast of La Jolla, to surf.  Yes, Dan took me surfing, a pastime that he pursued with friends and his son in the USA and Mexico.  On the waves, Dan was very nimble and agile.  He put up with my novice state as I did my best to gain footing on the board in those strong waves.  If Dan were still with us, I am certain that we would hit the surf again and again.  Having been a person who learned to ski late, to scuba late, and to golf late, learning to surf late made entire sense, particularly with such a fine teacher and friend like Dan.  Dan, I miss the waves with you.

I think these reflections on walking and running in the forest and catching a wave are a mirror to my soul.  Friends like Reinhard, David and Dan are with me forever.

In a Trumpistic era, where people are allowing scrotal hemispheres toovershadow cerebral hemispheres, it is very important that we do not allow ourselves to be dragged into the mud of ideological stupidity.  The presence of polarized hate groups is worldwide and not new.  The characters who serve hate, harbour hate, and express hate are of low civil content.  They are desperate for attention, visibility, and notoriety.  They can arise from segments of society that are deprived of social, educational and family supports, but they also arise from those with undue privilege, and slanted bias against the poor, weak, or different.

Various demonstrations and counter-demonstrations are planned or occurring, not only in the USA, but through spillover into other countries including Canada. We must not succumb to the bicker, the banter, the battling, the bigotry.  We must stand for all people, stand for diversity, stand for reprimand of ignorant and vile behaviours or words.  We owe it to the privilege of being human in this modern time when we have no better purpose than to solve the world’s problems of starvation, lack of access to education and peace, and discriminative belittling of others.

Stand together for good, for progress, for peace and sensibility.  Do not waver. We need strength and conviction.

 

 

In the past days, from the corners of the world as we know it, stupid people, racist people, bigoted people, evil people have found a way to injure and slaughter innocent people.  The events in Burkina Faso, West Africa and in Charlottesville, VA, while seemingly unrelated, are actually a reflection of the same mindset among the vicious and hate-filled morons who carried out crimes against innocents.  The horrific events, like others that have preceded them, and potentially will follow, have roots in the most perverted of ideas – that there is one colour, one creed, one viewpoint, and that other colours, creeds and viewpoints should be attacked.  This uncivilized attitude and the heinous actions that go with it must be fully condemned and must be subdued through the global social conscience and forces for diversity and acceptance of all peoples as important members of the human race.  The tee-shirts worn by the coaching staffs of the BC Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders last night, emblazoned with Diversity is Strength, were a small but important statement against the moronic behaviours of the white supremacists in Virginia and the terrorist groups who prey on aid workers and visitors and locals in the various vulnerable establishments around the world, including in Burkina Faso.

It would be unfair to lay all of the stupidity at the feet of one group, one country, one faith, one person.  But there has been a political validation of hatred in the USA during the past 18 months, led by Donald Trump and a few of his most obsequious and miserable followers.  This is not about right wing or left wing, this is about crass uncivilized behaviour brought along by rhetoric that has been hateful, random and unfocused.  It has created an environment of polarization, and one which abhors diversity.  The events that arise in this atmosphere of superiority – inferiority, strong – weak, male – female, Christian – Muslim, white – black, USA – Mexican, rich – poor, educated – uneducated, open-minded – closed minded, non-immigrant – immigrant, lying – truth telling, etc., are going to be terrible.  They are going to lead to deaths.  They are going to lead to despicable acts.  They are going to reduce human beings to the lowest denominator of repulsive identity.  The atmosphere of hatred is being fostered in the USA, and spilling out in other venues, originating from malfunctioning, pitiful self-absorbed ingrates.  This must stop, for the sake of all humanity.

Another word or two…….there is something wrong with the male brain. While a few women are seduced into believing in racism, anti-diversity, and other malodorous ways, generally speaking conflict is the genre of the males.  Males like to war, males like to dominate, males like to kill, males like to bring terror, males have a thermostat for life that is off-set, not fitting of modern life.  The genetic and environmental interactions that foster and actually lead to the commitment of genocide, injury of women and children, the thievery and deceit of white and blue collar crime are not solely the province of males, but largely. Males need to take a hard look at what value they actually bring to life.  They must be re-programmed to behave in a truly civil fashion, to speak in a civil fashion and to mentor in a civil fashion.  Otherwise, Virginia and Burkina Faso will just be footnotes on a journey of hellish proportions for a human race that is under extraordinary stress to survive and to help other life on our planet and the planet itself survive.  Wake up!

 

 

Ever since humankind recognized fire, we recognized smoke. The residue of combusted materials floating upward on the draft of warmed air. This residue includes the ash and particulate of burned materials, be they wooden sticks, trees, papers, boards, plastics or other flammable materials. The exhaust fumes from internal combustion engines have long been contributors to the smoke which envelopes the world.  Whether the smoke is derived from a forest fire or a car exhaust, it creates a haze.  It creates smog. The smog hangs heavily in the air especially when the weather is humid. The smoke clings to people, buildings, vehicles, birds and other things. It obscures the sun, the moon, the mountain ranges, the natural clouds.  It makes us grey, opaque, bland, subdued. It seems to slow everything down.  Motion is visually damped.

The recent and continuing forest fire rampage throughout British Columbia is taking its toll on people in communities, animals in natural habitats, vacationers looking to relax, drivers simply trying to use the road, among many others. The economic impact is large.  Hundreds of millions of dollars spend trying to contain the fires, many more millions lost in burned out towns, homes and cars. The fires reminder us of how careless people are with built fires, matches, lighters, cigarettes, and fireworks.  The situation also reveals the mental illness that leads some people to intentionally start fires in communities, grasslands and parks.

The smoke is just a symbol.  Just an emblem of the continuing danger the forest fires pose.  We must support the communities that have been ravaged, support the firefighters out there risking their lives, and support the wildlife organizations involved in saving wild animals from this brutally free force of nature.

When something is eclipsed, it is blocked or obscured. Sometimes one’s feelings are eclipsed.  There are famous songs about the total eclipse of the heart.  A sense of desperate loss or oppressive void.

Fortunately, most of what we experience as eclipses arises beyond our personal worlds, beyond our own planet.  What is written about and witnessed relate to the partial or total eclipse of the moon or the sun.  Just yesterday, the earth partially blocked the rays from the sun, taking a little divot out of the moon’s usual reflective splendor.  This site was seen across the Asia subcontinent, the Middle East, and Europe, with many excellent photographs obtained to memorialize this natural phenomenon in our little solar system.  And, if that is not enough, in about 10 days, there will be a total eclipse of the sun, by the moon, which will best be seen in a line running from northwest to southeast across the USA.  It will only last, in fullness, for about 3 minutes.  But it reminds us of the incredible dynamics of planetary systems.  It also reminds us of how much these natural events would have scared people in the early civilizations on this planet.  How mystical and potential “witch-crafty” these sudden darkenings must have seemed. Even though we know how they happen now, they are still humbling, in that they are completely beyond our jurisdiction, except perhaps for the few heroes who set foo on the moon along time ago.

Baxter is heavy on our minds these days. While he has surpassed the typical lifespan of a beagle at 15 years of age, until recently he has been full of energy and vitality.  We knew he had a mass of some sort growing in his belly.  It now seems that it may by a cancer involving his liver. He has lost considerable weight over the past few months, along with his appetite and vigour.  We fear that his days are truly numbered.  Making it effectively into the fall months will be a major accomplishment. Thus far, he is simply more listless, less eager to eat his favourite foods or walk very far in the outdoors. He does not appear to have pain.  He still has gastrointestinal and urinary functions.  He still likes his home, his back yard, his bed and his “parents”.

Baxter illustrates rather perfectly the incredible bond that develops between pets and owners.  He is a real part of the family, with his own curious personality, his own idiosyncrasies, and his own special ways of giving love. He is a calm dog with almost non-existent anger.  He is happiest when outside, smelling and walking, smelling and walking, smelling and walking.  All beasts, including humans and dogs started their evolution outdoors and it still shows vividly.  On the grass, among the trees and bushes, by the beach, greeting new dog-friends, and being adored by onlookers and transient adult friends, these are his favourites. He will be remembered for his magnificently cute face…….a face to which it is impossible to say no!  He will be remembered for his occasional bark, more of a howl, that is reserved for getting attention if he is accidentally left out on the patio, or for urging one to provide him with another tasty morsel of human food.  Yes, he likes human food and Lucy’s cat food better than almost any of his dog food.  Baxter will be remembered for good humour, for gentleness, and adaptable, serene efforts to be a good family member.

I know it is a little early to be writing what could be construed as an obituary for Baxter.  It is not an obituary.  It is a short piece to let Baxter know how much we love him.  I always wished I could speak and write “dog” and/or that Baxter could speak or understand “human” language, beyond the love expressed in body language and tone of voice.  But I do believe that he will feel the warmth of these words to the core of his special soul, right now, while he is alive.