Monday, July 25th<\/sup>: it\u2019s \u201cChristmas in July\u201d day \u2013 if that\u2019s a thing for you. Here\u2019s the daily gas report. For all those worried about inflation: the cheapest gas within ten miles is $3.70, down over a dollar from two months ago (Sam\u2019s Club). And if you want to know a more \u201caverage\u201d price, look here in Pataskala, the home of all those little Amazon vans driving the fuel demand up. It\u2019s $4.29 just down the street, almost sixty cents more than Sam\u2019s, but still down from the $5.00 mark – Merry Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Forty percent of the current inflationary pressure is from fuel costs. So fuel going down is a good thing, even if you don\u2019t drive. It\u2019s likely to mean that other prices will start to come down a bit as well. But prices are \u201csticky\u201d, they go up easier than they come down. Everyone along the chain is happy to take a little bit more profit for a bit. So don\u2019t expect the price on sliced cheese or bread to drop right away, but it\u2019ll happen eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cable news feels like all-Trump, all-the-time again. The powerful information coming from the January 6th<\/sup>Committee is driving a lot of that, but in the back of my head I still hear the warnings of 2015. Donald Trump said it; \u201c(I)t\u2019s better to be bad news than no news\u201d. His goal was to keep his name \u201cup front\u201d, that was his definition of \u201cwinning\u201d. On that basis, he\u2019s definitely winning right now. I had the forlorn hope that after the Biden inauguration somehow Trump would be like that \u201cold soldier\u201d and fade away. But that won\u2019t happen. Instead, the United States must have a \u201ctruth and reconciliation\u201d moment with the reality of not only Trump, but all of the ugliness he dredged up in American life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not that he created anything, but he altered the \u201cenvironment\u201d to allow so much of that ugliness to the surface. What was unacceptable behavior just a decade ago, now seems to be just fine. Drive down Main Street in my Pataskala \u2013 and see the \u201cF**K BIDEN\u201d flags hanging on the porches. People may have thought that about Bush or Obama, but they didn\u2019t put it on the front porch for every eight-year-old to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I heard a bit of Pete Buttigieg\u2019s interview from the Sunday news shows. When asked how he felt about the Republican Congressmen who voted against putting gay marriage into actual law (instead of depending on the Supreme Court), he had an interesting answer. Pete is gay, married to Chasten, and they have two young children. The Secretary of Transportation described how on Sunday morning he gave Chasten a break, and took care of the children\u2019s breakfast. It was a typical young parent scene: the high chair tray wasn\u2019t sitting just right, and Pete was trying to keep the cereal in the tray, as he sliced bananas and got milk ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He testified to Congress on Friday about highway funds and other transportation issues. It was a bipartisan discussion: Republicans and Democrats alike want the roads in their districts fixed. Everyone was working together. Then the Republicans he was working with, left that meeting and went to the floor of the House to vote against Pete\u2019s marriage, against his family and against his life choices. For him, and for many, it\u2019s not just politics; it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also got to see snippets of Liz Cheney\u2019s Sunday interview on Fox News. <\/em> There are few substantive political issues where I could say we agree, but she is absolutely a woman of courage. The Fox <\/em>commentator claimed that the Committee was unfair, without \u201creal\u201d Republican representation. Point by point, Cheney laid out why \u201cthose\u201d Republicans chose not to be a part of that process, and how the committee today was a result of that abrogation of duty. And she made a telling point: did anyone really think that former Attorney General Bill Barr or the other witnesses would somehow \u201cwilt\u201d under a Jim Jordan or Matt Gaetz \u201ccross examination\u201d? That didn\u2019t seem likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So Sunday was not necessarily and \u201cuplifting\u201d day for me. That is, until Sunday night. It was the final night of the World Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Hayward Field has been the center of American track since the 1970\u2019s, and Oregon alumni Phil Knight, Chairman of Nike, has made sure that the new facilities there are the best in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a head track coach, and like a father of a family, I had to love every event \u201cequally\u201d. No kid on my team could feel that I didn\u2019t care about their efforts and struggles. But I have to admit, there were two events that always had my focus: the pole vault, and the 4×400 relays. And last night, for the final night of competition, was the finals in both of those events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States Track team has been disappointing for a number of years. Part of that is the world \u201ccatching up\u201d with American track and field. Eight athletes from eight different countries may line up for a race, but they all went to college here in the USA; UCLA, or Florida, or Arkansas (and of course, two of this year\u2019s World medalists went to \u201clittle\u201d Ashland University, just an hour up the road). So American coaches and advantages are shared worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Tokyo Olympics were truly disappointing for the US team. Only seven gold medal winners, and 26 total medals in the games just felt like a huge letdown, matching the silence of the pandemic Tokyo stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayward Field was the exact opposite these last two weeks. The stands were packed, with seating strategically placed to support individual events venues within the stadium. And the crowd was \u201cstoked\u201d and knowledgeable. They (including some of my good friends \u2013 just a little jealous) knew when it was time to listen, and when it was time to cheer as hard as they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the US team came through, thirteen golds and a record thirty-three total world medals. Last night, was a perfect ending. The American men literally ran away with the 4×400, the team coaches perfectly putting the right athlete in the right position. A collegian ran the anchor leg, far out ahead of the rest of the field, to bring the baton home. The best runner, 400 world champion Michael Norman, ran second, hammering out a lead that the rest of the field could never overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And on the women\u2019s side, they US made a last minute change as they came to the starting line. Former 400 hurdle world record holder Dalilah Muhammad was injured during warmup. Dublin, Ohio native Abby Steiner stepped in at the last minute to run the second leg of the race. The US had the lead from the start, and Abby ran one of her best splits to hold up her end. And on the final leg was perhaps the fastest woman in the world, current 400 hurdle record holder Sydney McLaughlin. She literally ran seconds faster than any other woman in the field to bring the baton home for gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what about the pole vault? The American, Chris Nielsen, cleared 19\u20195\u201d to earn the silver medal. But it was twenty-two year old Mondo Duplantis, the pole vaulting prodigy raised in Louisiana and vaulting for Sweden, who took the gold. He ended the night, and the championships, by clearing a height higher than any man had cleared before, 20\u20194 \u00bd\u201d. That vault broke his own world record, and while it\u2019s hard to see him wrapped in a Swedish flag instead of the Stars and Stripes, the Hayward Field crowd cheered just as loudly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For just a moment, politics weren\u2019t front and center. Sometimes we need some moments of joy, to interrupt our world. The track championships had all that and more, a Christmas in July for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the News<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It’s Personal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Courage under Fire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sunday on the Track<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tracktown, USA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Final High<\/h3>\n\n\n\n