Three strikes and he's out

Cross-posted from 50BookChallenge

As I look through the seven or eight books I have read already this year, every one of them has a library bar code except the topic for right now, No. 5, "My Prison Without Bars," by Pete Rose. I found it at a Super Stop & Shop for $15, so I snagged it.

Background: Going into the book, I felt that Pete Rose should get into the Hall of Fame, based on his playing ability. Now don't forget, getting "into" the hall means getting one of the plaques in the gallery. Rose is in various other places in the Hall, but he's not in the true shrine of baseball. Prior to reading the book, I had never thought about him being allowed to become a manager again. I thought everything was focused on the Hall of Fame. Well, he wants that, too.

As far as I am concerned now, he should get neither.

Yes, Pete Rose struck out with this book as far as I am concerned. He tried to explain himself, including pointing to ADHD and trying to justify his actions by comparing them to others, ("Elvis and John Belushi made mistakes, and they're dead.").

There were times I had to force myself to read chapter-by-chapter, but I am glad I read the book. This is his second autobiography. He published "Pete Rose: My Story," co-written by Roger Kahn, one of America's premier baseball writers. I had not read it, but I picked it up for comparison. It was written at a time when he did not realize just how serious things had become.

The best stuff in the new book is the post-1989 material, including my favorite chapter, "My Prison With Bars," which details his life in prison. The other new material is very interesting (and whiny at times). It ends with his daughter signing "Amazing Grace."

If you're interested in the topic read it, but get it from the library.

( A lot more about the book )

Happy Saturday!

Post No. 2 in my Teaching Diary

Crosspost from Teaching

Kind of funny to write a teaching post in the middle of the four-day weekend, but here we go.

No school yesterday because of the cold, so I spent part of the morning doing some schoolwork (I think) and playing on the computer. Then I headed out, went to the library, went to a really good baseball card shop in Everett and another place I had wanted to go, then headed to Boston and did my usual walking tour of bookstores and gamestores in Somerville and Cambridge.

Had a lot of time to think about how I want to focus on second semester. Tuesday will be a whirlwind of getting them calmed down because they are going into the exam with little prep. Then exams, get through grading and start third quarter.

I want to bring more primary sources, including music, into the classroom, and I really want the textbook to become background reading. I want to tighten up on them, and I need to keep them more aware of their grades. There's going to be a lot of the other day-to-day stuff, so it's going to be a challenge, but I feel a certain focus I had not felt before.

Liam