The Hall of BAHL

Sports is and always has played a significant role in my life. I have found that most all of life's lessons are learned between the lines. Discipline, individual responsibility, teamwork and sportsmanship are among many opportunities presented within the games that offer guidance to prosper in life.

Over the years, there have been many individuals associated with sports that I have looked up to, been a fan of, owned a jersey of or just pulled for. These are my guys, and although it has not always been a road without bumps for many, these are my guys. In an effort to recognize these folks, I have formed The Hall of BAHL.

Individuals making this list may or may not be the greatest ever players, coaches or ambassadors, but they are my favorites. Each year, I will induct five members into The Hall of BAHL. In honor of my good buddy and Sportsman Big Ole BudFeiser, who we lost in 2011 and who I grew up playing sports with, each class will annually be announced on his birthday, June 13.

The inductees for the 2017 Hall of BAHL class are listed in no particular order below:

TREV ALBERTS


Trev Alberts came to Nebraska from Cedar Rapids, IA to play football for the Cornhuskers.

Alberts became an All-American at defensive end for the 'Huskers, winning the Butkus Award for the nation's top linebacker in 1993.

In perhaps his top performance for the Big Red, Alberts, playing with an injured elbow, had three sacks of Florida State Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Charlie Ward in the Orange Bowl, a game I attended (somewhat in turmoil given my heartfelt allegiance to both Universities).

Alberts went on to be the sixth pick in the NFL Draft, selected by the Indianapolis Colts.  Although he played three season, that arm injury lingered and Alberts never quite materialized to be the NFL player many hope he would become.

No worries; Alberts was a consensus Academic All American, earning an NCAA Top Six Award.















After football, Alberts turned up working at CNN/SI as a college football analyst. In 2002, ESPN hired Alberts and he became part of top analyst team. Alberts often argued with co-host Mark May, and while the fans enjoyed it, it became too heavy for ESPN and Alberts was let go in 2005.

Now, Trev Alberts is Athletic Director at The University of Nebraska-Omaha.  The Mavericks athletic program has been making great strides under the leadership of Alberts, who just may find himself back in Lincoln performing that duty at a late date.

While Florida State was in New Orleans waiting to play Virginia Tech for the National Championship in New Orleans, we ran into Alberts, who was in town covering the game for CNN. Before being called away late in the game to do a Sugar Bowl preview, Alberts joined our group to watch Nebraska bury Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl.

We really enjoyed that experience, loved Albert as a Husker and welcome him as a 2017 inductee to the Hall of BAHL

MIKE MARTIN

Ole #11

That is how Mike Martin, who has been manager of FSU Baseball since 1978, likes to be referred to as.

Martin took over for Dick Howser, who left to manage the New York Yankees and later managed the Kansas City Royals to a World Series championship in 1985.


Florida State under Martin has had tremendous success, and leading the Seminoles to 38 consecutive regional tournament appearances and 16 trips to the College World Series, winning at least 40 games for the 38th consecutive seasons. That is some resume.

Only a championship could top of Martin's career, which includes playing in the College World Series for the Seminoles. Yes, Martin has always been a Seminole.

Beyond his coaching attributes, Martin is a complete class act.  He has warmed the hearts of fans talking baseball across the nation at Seminole Booster events, and I have had many an occasion to visit with him, as pictured above some years back.

Eleven is among the most beloved figures in Florida State history, nothing would be nicer to than for the Seminoles to win the College World Series in 2017. They are one of eight going to Omaha!

Florida State baseball's Mike Martin joins the Hall of BAHL

ERIC HOSMER

When we arrived at Tropicana Field in St. Pete to watch our Kansas City Royals take on the home Tampa Bay Rays, we had no idea what the day would hold.

While watching the Royals take batting practice, just off the dugout, rising Royal Eric Hosmer tossed a ball to my daughter, and life has not been quite the same. From that moment, our family have been huge Eric Hosmer fans.

Whether we have watched at The K in Kansas City or over at the Trop, we have always cheered on theReal305, who happens to be a fellow Floridian.  He has not disappointed either, always smiling and waving to us, and knocking some home runs along the way.

Hosmer has become one of the premier players in the league, earning All Star honors and winning a truck last year of the MVP of the game. Hosmer played an integral role helping Kansas City to back to back World Series, with the Royals winning the 2015 title.  Forever Royal!

Consideration was given to wait another year to induct Eric, as he is a free agent and may not re-sign with Kansas City. The Royals desperately want to keep him, as he is not only an All Star player and a team leader, but has gained favor in the greater Kansas City community for his charitable activities.

Hosmer was Raised Royal, and I certainly hope the Royals can find a way to keep hin Kansas City.

However, we are great fans of Eric will support him in all future endeavors as he has given us plenty of Royal Roar and smiles along the way. Here's hoping one of our all time favorites, Eric Hosmer, stays Forever Royal as he is welcomed as a 2017 inductee into the Hall of BAHL


JEFF GORDON

Jeff Gordon, The Wonder Boy, was a California kid who entered NASCAR just as Richard Petty retired and took the sport by storm, becoming a four time champion driving for the famed Rick Hendrick stable of Chevrolet's.

Jeff Gordon's Hendrick Racing Chevy SS

Gordon, who was hated by the fans of rival Dale Earnhardt, earned the respect of the garage area and his fellow drivers, by not only winning races, but by carrying himself in sportsmanship and humility.

If fact, him and Earnhardt became quite good friends, even engaging in some avenues of business together.

Jeff Gordon is third all time in wins, with 93, trailing only David Pearson and the King, Richard Petty.

While Gordon was not my favorite out there, it always seemed he was my second favorite.  My wife and I got the experience of a lifetime watching live in person Gordon winning the 2005 Daytona 500.

Gordon retired, only to be called back to substitute for an injured Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2016. But Gordon seems officially out now, having settled in to a new career, doing an outstanding job as an analyst joining Mike Joy and famed drive Darrell Waltrip in the booth for NASCAR coverage for FOX Sports.

Jeff Gordon becomes the fourth NASCAR drive to become a member of the Hall of BAHL.

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

As a young boy, when I first became aware of NBA basketball, I became a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks. Maybe it was the red and green uniforms, but more likely, it was the players on the team. There was the famed Big O, Oscar Robertson, and Bobby Dandridge along with two UCLA guys, guard Lucious Allen and center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.













Almost immediately after I became a fan, Allen and Jabbar went to join the Los Angeles Lakers. I went along with them.

Abdul-Jabbar, formerly Lew Alcindor, was a towering figure, both figuratively and literally, within the game. Kareem, known as The Captain for the Lakers, had developed his own unstoppable shot; the sky hook. Jabbar could probably make a living in the league to this day with that shot!

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will without question always be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, a mellow individual who was a fierce competitor who embraced discipline and commitment.

Abdul-Jabbar is also a noted author and an outspoken individual off the court, who more often than not seems to approach topics with thoughtfulness and respect.  I am rarely in agreement with Kareem on the issues of the day, but I do respect him as an individual and appreciate the greatness he exhibited on the hardwood.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Captain, is now a member of the Hall of BAHL.

GM Death Star

The very first Holden made Pontiac G8 GXP will be auctioned off next weekend at the Barrett-Jackson event in Palm Beach.

Burt Reynolds, who is perhaps most well known as "The Bandit" running his black Pontiac Trans-Am leading a run to get beer in the outstanding cult movie "Smokey and The Bandit," will be in attendance.

Unfortunately, the final bid for this Pontiac G8 GXP will be outside the parameters of my disposable income.



First Production Pontiac G8 To Be Auctioned Off At Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach

GM appears in effort to destroy itself.

It began with the company listening to idiotic Obama staffers who thought it best to jettison the Pontiac Motor Division in a restructuring in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse.

GM kept Buick instead, and sales have been much less than hoped.

The Pontiac G8 gained high acclaim from the industry. This Holden based V8 RWD four door performance sedan represented the muscle car Pontiac's of the past.  The GXP model turned out 415 HP.

With Buick not offering a V8 sedan, GM made a good decision and essentially modernized the Pontiac G8, re-badging the Pontiac G8 as the Chevrolet SS in 2013.  Both cars are essentially Holden Commodores, both rear wheel drive V8's turning 415HP.

Chevrolet is the only GM product run on the NASCAR circuit, an the car is the Chevrolet SS.

The Chevy SS, the only direct lineage to Pontiac remaining, produced essentially 3000 cars annually for America from 2013-2017.

In yet another boneheaded decision, GM and Holden ended production of the Chevy SS.  2017 is the final year you can buy one new, and if you hope to do so, you had better hurry up. The non-advertised car is already a collectors item.

Like the Pontiac G8, the Chevy SS is a phenomenal vehicle, with those who care offering countless acclaim.
Motor Trend called the SS the "benchmark sports sedan."

Sadly, an affordable four sedan with V8 power will no longer be available from General Motors. The only V8 options will be the expensive Cadillac, the Camaro and the Corvette.

Meanwhile, an oversupply of unsold Buick vehicles sit in inventory.

With Chevrolet SS, Pontiac GXP Lives

Two years ago, miffed at GM joining up with President Obama and his destructive policies, after being firmly in the GM camp my entire life, I felt compelled to issue GM a punitive penalty for their actions, which most notably included the ending of the iconic Pontiac Motor Division. Penalty Served

Now, two years later, with our Pontiac Grand Prix GXP gaining in years and miles, it was time to make a move. A recent 20% sale was deemed to significant to take a pass on, so we made the move and we are now the proud owners of a new 2016 Chevrolet SS.

The Chevrolet SS, currently Chevrolet's entry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with the street edition often serving as the pace car, is actually a Holden, produced in Australia for General Motors.

Housing a 415HP V8, and with a suspension that would make the wide track Pontiac's proud, this is quite an impressive ride, very fast with superior handling.

In actual fact, the car could be considered a Pontiac.

Originally, the car was the Pontiac G8, widely considered a top notch four door sedan. The G8 took the place of the Pontiac Grand Prix. Unlike the front wheel drive 2007 303HP V8 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP, the 2008-09 G8 GXP came rear wheel drive 415HP V8.

When Pontiac went away in 2009, GM felt so strongly about the Pontiac G8, they simply shifted the vehicle, along with making improvements, over to Chevrolet, re-badged as the Chevrolet SS.

Pontiac no longer builds excitement, but the hot-rod G8 GXP is back as the Chevrolet SS.

The Chevrolet SS kicks ass, and is really fun to drive. And in our minds, with it, Pontiac lives.

Lead, follow or get out the way!

Coming Soon

Going Pink

All over the fruited plain, everyone is going pink! All for a great cause, a collaborative effort to raise money to fight breast cancer.  This effort, based by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, is without question one of the most successful charitable fundraising this nation has ever seen.  After all, who does not want to join the fight against breast cancer?

Everyone is in!

The Chevrolet SS pace car this past weekend for the running of NASCAR's GEICO 500 at Talladega Super Speedway was looking sharp, painted pink and making strides against breast cancer.

The Florida State University Golden Girls Dance Team, posing with the 2014 College Football Playoff Trophy, were looking lovely in Tallahassee this past weekend prior to the the most watched regular season college football game in over two seasons as visiting Notre Dame fell at the last second to Florida State.

When thinking pink and college football, who can not include the Oregon Ducks, who under the inspiration of NIKE founder and alumnus Phil Knight have over a 100 uniform combinations, sporting pink over the green and yellow combos we customarily see the Ducks wearing.

At my place of employment, and most likely yours, the company has presented numerous opportunities to have fun and raise money for this wonderful cause.Man, this is a great story.

Or is it.

Once upon I time, I was eager to contribute to this seemingly worthy cause. Like many other families, cancer has affected many of my relatives, taking the life of my Uncle in his thirties with other family members counted among the survivors.

However, I no longer participate in fundraising with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, as I have learned that a significant portion of the moneys raised end up in the hands of Planned Parenthood.  Once this became public, there was a significant backlash against the now named Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.

Appropriately, in my view, part of that backlash included a decrease in the donation level. But not necessarily for the reasons you may think.  Let us take a step back and review.

Susan G. Komen had annually made significant donations to Planned Parenthood, which is essentially an abortion mill disguised as a womens health organization.  Abortion is legal, but many see the act as much more than birth control, but rather murder.  Although I am against abortion, we won't debate that now.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of what has later become Planned Parenthood and a hero to Hillary Clinton, was really an evil woman. Thought to be advancing the rights of women, and perhaps there was some thinking in that regard, the central force in her social activism was eugenics.  Included in her thoughts was that it was a worthy enterprise to "assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit."

Masked under the premise of womens health, abortion was considered a vehicle to rid the nation of those who were unfit in the eyes of Sanger and her fellow progressive elitists. You see, Sanger and her crowd knew better than you, including who was fit enough to live and die.  Imagine the arrogance.

In the world today, where an ill mouthed statement can forever label you a racists, it was indeed Sanger and is indeed Planned Parenthood that are seemingly assisting in the demise of the African-America population, as an article in The Washington Times notes the following:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Abortion Surveillance report revealed that between 2007 and 2010, nearly 36 percent of all abortions in the United States were performed on black children, even though black Americans make up only 13 percent of our population. A further 21 percent of abortions were performed on Hispanics, and 7 percent more on other minority groups, for a total of 64 percent of U.S. abortions tragically performed on minority groups. Margaret Sanger would have been proud of the effects of her legacy.

Due to this, many potential donors hoping to defeat breast cancer have taken donations elsewhere, which led the organization to cease funding to Planned Parenthood.  However, this action was seen as taking a stand for abortion and against womens rights, creating a bunch of anger among other supporters, which included resignations from high level executive within the organization.  The Foundation, caught in a squeeze, acquiesced and once again began donations to Planned Parenthood.

As The New York Times reported, "The people at Komen, it seems, are pilloried no matter what they do". 

Personal views are indeed the final straw here.  I will no donate any of my hard earned dollars to an organization that openly funds an organization whose mission statement is to invest in "groundbreaking research, community outreach, advocacy and programs in over 30 countries".  While I strongly support the effort to defeat all cancer, it is those donations to community health outreach, likely comprised of donations to Planned Parenthood, that I will not support. 

Therefore, with the Susan G. Komen Foundation in bed financially with Planned Parenthood, they will venture on without a dime of my money.   My money is much better allocated to supporting other worthwhile charitable endeavors. 

Super Sport G8

General Motors is really in a world of hurt these days.

Troubles for the company became highly visible during the financial crisis of 2008, where obligations the company had, most notably poor union contracts not remotely associated with reality, were "discovered" as unsustainable.

Both George W. Bush and then candidate Barack Obama thought it prudent to offer the company bailout money, which GM gladly took.  Once Obama took office, after evaluation, his team orchestrated the making of a new GM and made "recommendations" for the company, which most notably included the elimination of the proud Pontiac Motor Division. 

In addition, bailout monies failed to make their way to the appropriated parties as outlined in 200 year contract law, with union partners and political partners reaping cash benefits.

GM, under the "direction" of the administration and viewed by most as "Government Motors" embarked on effort to produce high mileage low powered cars which were beneficial to environmental concerns.

In recent months sales are reported to have been slightly increasing.  However, as reported by ZeroHedge, reported actual sales "were largely irrelevant" due to channel stuffing of inventories with 805,769 units in inventory at months end in February of 2014.

Issues surrounding a faulty ignition switch has resulted in massive recalls and has company executives testifying before Congress. While the issue not restrictive to just one model, the Chevrolet Cruze appears to have, by far, the most noted cases, with tens of deaths having been reported.

In anticipation of a barrage of lawsuits as a result of the ignition defects, because the sales of most of the affected models took place before GM's 2009 bankruptcy, the company has filed a motion in US Court to bar lawsuits on pre-bankruptcy sales.

Shares of General Motors, GM:NYSE, closed at $34.48 per share, down almost 20% from its 52 week high achieved in mid December.

I have owned GM products all my life, and have been very pleased with the products, which were generally Pontiac cars and Chevrolet trucks.  However, due primarily to the government takeover of GM, using bailout money and terminating the Pontiac Motor Division, I have opened up my candidates for a new vehicle outside of GM.

From an SUV perspective, I am looking at the Ford Explorer Limited.  With respect to a four door sedan, without Pontiac, the door has been kicked wide open.  Previously, the Pontiac G8 GXP would have been the choice. 

However, it looks like Pontiac G8 lives on in the form of the Chevrolet SS.  The SS debuted in 2014 to much fanfare, filling a need for a four door performance sedan Chevrolet has been missing for decades.  Lets check a review to see how they did:



It is not a Pontiac, but the reviews for the Super Sport Chevrolet cousin to the Pontiac G8 have been outstanding.  Not as flashy as its Pontiac predecessor, the performance and handling, a longtime Pontiac wide track feature, exceed expectations.  In addition, the interior in really impressive.

The SS does seem pricey, but vehicle inflation is in full swing, and when a comparable analysis is performed, it actually is a heck of a vehicle for the price, which is about $45K.

The price includes a gas guzzler tax, implemented by the Obama administration.  Eat my exhaust!

A few reviewers wondered why Chevrolet left the acclaimed Magnetic Ride Control system off the 2014 SS, but indications are it will on the 2015 models.

In keeping in the Pontiac family, it looks like an SS will be in my very near future.