ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Add Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) to the list of governors who have fallen from grace as a result of ethical or legal troubles. First, the self-styled patron saint of ethics in government Elliot Spitzer (D-NY) and now our own governor.

It has reached the point where this type of behavior almost doesn't qualify as news anymore. You remember the old standard for what constitutes news don't you?

According to a quote attributed to New York Sun editor John B. Bogart: "When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news."

Two governors out of fifty. Four percent. That we know about. Makes you wonder about what is going on with our tax dollars at the national level.

Of course this comes as no surprise to those remotely familiar with how politics works in Chicago, New York, Washington, you name it.

Maybe its just me, but I would like to know when we reach a point where we DEMAND better behavior from these miscreants.




REACTION FROM THE CATO INSTITUTE:

----------
From the Fiscal Policy Report Card:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9709

Rod Blagojevich . . . has been relentless in his advocacy of large tax increases on businesses. In 2007, he pushed for a massive $7.1 billion annual tax increase in the form of a business gross receipts tax and increased payroll taxes, the largest proposed or enacted hike of any governor in this study. Blagojevich has proposed schemes to wallop businesses nearly every year, including plans to raise taxes on refineries, gaming businesses, software companies, and businesses in general through “loophole” closing initiatives. His approach ignores that Illinois is competing against other states and nations for investment in the global economy.
---------------------

After looking back at Blagojevich’s record, Michael F. Cannon isn’t surprised:

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/12/11/blagojevich-2/

It hardly stretches credulity to believe that a man who fancies himself a monarch might also be guilty of lesser acts of corruption like using his office to enrich himself, which is pretty much what all politicians do.
-------------------

Jim Harper isn’t too shocked either, calling the scandal business as usual:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/12/09/blagojevich-business-as-usual/

Reading over the complaint against Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) ― which is highly entertaining, by the way ― I’m struck not by the brazenness of his attempt to “sell” the Senate seat, but by how typical it is of the horse-trading done in politics.

Fawned over by lobbyists and staff, politicians tend to collapse together the public interest and their personal interests. It is the norm ― not some outrageous deviation ― to exchange political favors for help with attaining higher office, including campaign contributions. It’s only a small step from there to private emoluments.

GIANTS X-MAS SHOPPING CONTINUES, NETS RENTERIA

Another decent signing for the G-men. A playoff caliber SS, decent bat, great glove. He's locked up for only two years, so this gives some of the younger guys, like Manny Burriss, a chance to develop further.

It's still an offense that will struggle, but we have some time before spring training to add another bat or two, if the C.C. Sweepstakes doesn't turn out the way the Giants envision it will.

GIANTS ADD HOWRY, PURSUING RENTERIA & C.C.???

According to ESPN:

The Giants added further depth to the bullpen, signing former Cub RHP Bobby Howry.

Rumors have them also pursuing Edgar Renteria to fill the hole at SS over free-agent Rafael Furcal.

Howry will feel reborn in a pitcher friendly park after years of duty at Wrigley Field. I'm not sure if he's any closer to a World Series berth at this point. He's only locked up for a year it seems, so maybe he bounces to better digs in 2011.

Also, Jayson Stark is blabbing that the G-men are still in the running for one C.C. Sabathia. It would make for some tough payroll choices down the road when Lincecum has to cash in. But Cain is locked up for a bit and Sanchez still has to show some consistency before they show him any money. Zito would be an expensive fourth starter in this scenario.

But Lincecum, Sabathia, Cain and pray for two days of rain sounds pretty cool to me.

CHARACTER COUNTS

A couple of tidbits from one of my favorite site that promotes the positive values that sports can help deliver to the nations youth. And it wouldn't hurt for some of the adults to re-visit some of the core values as well.
-----------
FROM THE CHARACTER COUNTS WEBSITE:
http://charactercounts.org/
Vol. 8, No. 12 - December 2008

CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports, a project of the nonprofit Josephson Institute, leads the Pursuing Victory With Honor sports campaign, which is endorsed by the country’s leading amateur athletic organizations.

The campaign’s purpose is to help administrators, athletes, coaches, legislators, officials, and parents improve personal and organizational decision-making and behavior in sports.
------------------------
The Three Ethical C’s

In seeking to develop character in your student-athletes, focus on the three ethical C’s: commitment, consciousness, and competency.

Commitment. Encourage their desire to do the right thing. Stress the long-term personal advantages of being a person of character (trusting relationships, self-esteem, and peace of mind) and advocate that virtue is its own reward and that a person of good character is an objective that is worthy of attainment regardless of whether or not it produces practical benefits.

Consciousness. Enhance their ability to perceive and understand the moral dimensions of their choices and the applicability of ethical principles to concrete sports situations and to think about how their decisions will affect others.

Competency. Improve their moral reasoning in the way they evaluate facts; distinguish informed opinions from conjecture, speculation, and assumption; predict and consider unintended consequences; and implement decisions with tact and good sense.
--------------------
Our Real Character Is Revealed
When No One’s Looking

Although 43-year-old golfer J.P. Hayes has earned $7 million during his career, he struggled last year on the PGA Tour and plummeted to 176th on the money list, knocking him off the exempt list for 2009.

To earn his way back, he had to finish nationally in the top 25 of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, which takes place in three stages. He had made it through the first stage, and last month was competing in the second stage at Deerwood Country Club in McKinney, Texas.

As he was readying for his second shot on the 12th hole of the first round, his caddie accidentally tossed him a different ball than the one he’d started his round with. Hayes didn’t notice and hit it onto the green. When he marked his ball, he saw it was different. If he reported the error, it would cost him two shots, which could throw his 2009 season into jeopardy.

He didn’t hesitate to call an official over. He finished with a so-so 74. He came back the next day, however, with a 71, which would have been enough to advance him to the third stage at La Quinta, California, in December.

But that wrong ball he’d used wasn’t done with him.

That night he realized that the ball was a prototype ball that Titleist had given him to test a month before. He thought he had removed all of them from his bag. Using a non-conforming ball is an automatic disqualification. If he called an official this time, he would be ineligible to play full-time on the tour next year.

He called an official in Houston that night. “I had no choice but to take my medicine,” he told ESPN Radio. “I have some people looking down on me who would have known.”

He hopes sponsors’ exemptions and his past champions/veteran members status will get him into some lesser tournaments next year. And a lighter year will allow him to spend more time with his family. “It’s not the end of the world. It will be fine. It is fine.”

[Journal Sentinel, 11/18/08; abcnews.go.com, 11/20/08]
----------------------
Media Scrutiny Can
Magnify Misbehavior

Is poor sportsmanship worse than ever? Two authorities say no. It’s just more visible.

“Athletes today cannot afford the same misconduct on (and off) the field as they once could,” wrote Nate Barnett, owner of Your Sport Guru, a sports information website. “That is why positive sportsmanship is so much more important in today’s technological society.”

He cites three reasons:
1.
Fifteen years ago, there were no cellphone cameras or YouTube. The capability to capture, upload, attach, and send video clips did not exist then. Today, someone is always is watching – and filming.

2.
Sports such as baseball are more popular today, and college and pro teams are pickier about which players to select. Result: If any phenom with baggage does something dumb, hundreds of kids are poised to take his or her place.

3.
Bad sportsmanship equates to mental immaturity. As kids progress, the sports they play get tougher and the pressures mount. The more mentally mature a player is, the better his or her chances to stand out and advance.

Hall of Fame quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Don McPherson believes that increased media exposure has actually made college and pro athletes better behaved than in years past. “The athletes in my day would not be able to handle the media scrutiny,” he told the Oregonian.

Where misconduct has gotten worse, he says, is among youths. “If we don’t proactively teach what we expect out of sports, then the message of the larger sports culture is going to teach them something more dangerous.”

[ezinearticles.com, 6/3/08; blog.oregonlive.com, 10/20/08]

SPEAKING WORDS OF WISDOM: NOT YOURS TO GIVE

Although this is a story from an era long ago and seemingly far away, it has modern day implications for all those who feel like the Constitution of the United States of America actually means something.

The authors notes at the end of the story provide provide a reasonable action plan to get this country back on track and heading in the right direction.

It is a track that we never should have left in the first place.
-----------------
FROM THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC FREEDOM LIBRARY:
http://www.fee.org/library/default.asp?c=books

Not Yours to Give
By Colonel David Crockett
The famous American hero Davy Crockett, who died at the Alamo, colorfully articulates why government has neither the right nor the wisdom to take what others have produced and redistribute it to a politically privileged few in the name of charity.

http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Not%20Yours%20to%20Give.pdf

Holders of political office are but reflections of the dominant leadership--good or bad--among the electorate.

Horatio Bunce is a striking example of responsible citizenship. Were his kind to multiply, we would see many new faces in public office; or, as in the case of Davy Crockett, a new Crockett.

For either the new faces or the new Crocketts, we must look to the Horatio in ourselves!

—Leonard E. Read
---------------------
All we have to do is look to this article to see how far adrift we are from the values our nation was founded upon. Congress builds a monument to its lack of understanding of the very document they are sworn to defend. UNBELIEVABLE.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/02/scholar-congressional-exhibits-too-liberal/

Scholar: Visitor center edits Constitution
Exhibit mangles, redefines the power, role of Congress
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Plenty of critics have accused Congress of forgetting the Constitution from time to time.

The 580,000-square-foot underground center provides a dignified, comfortable place to assemble before tours of the Capitol. One of its exhibit areas is seen here. (Joseph Silverman/The Washington Times)

But a constitutional scholar who has toured the new Capitol Visitor Center, a monument Congress built to itself that is to be dedicated Tuesday, goes even further, saying exhibits mangle the founding document by claiming constitutional backing for powers that are still very much in dispute.

Matthew Spalding, director of the Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation, says the visitor center selectively cuts passages from the Constitution, weighing in on a long-running debate about the scope and limits of federal power by taking the liberal side of that debate, envisioning broad congressional powers that the Founding Fathers never intended.

"I started looking at this stuff, and it's just patently absurd," he said. "The dominant message when you walk though the doors in this exhibit you're hit with is the role of Congress is to fulfill our greatest aspirations. So the message you're teaching these millions of visitors each year is the Constitution really isn't what we thought it was; it's the open-ended thing that's up to Congress to decide what it means."

--------------------
MORE WISDOM FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON:

"The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers [or the controlled Media in general]... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers. This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper." --Thomas Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp, Oct. 13, 1785. (*) ME 5:181, Papers 8:632

"I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretense of governing, they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate... Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor." - Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:58

HAPPY THANKSGIVING - COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

What an awesome message delivered by this song. In this season where we are giving thanks for all the blessings that we have, it is important to understand and be grateful for the opportunity to deliver similar blessings to others.

God’s purpose is that his people should be the means of bringing blessing to the
world. As we receive his blessings into our lives, those blessings should also touch others.

When those that freely receive life's gifts also give freely and generously, then all mankind benefits and you are truly living life to its fullest.

Today, I am especially thankful for those special people who have blessed my life and motivate me to be a better person simply as a result of knowing them and having them as a part of my life:
My mom, Ledra and Erik. Thank you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
---------------
THE BLESSING - John Waller
Let it be said of us
while we walked among the living
let it be said of us
by the ones we leave behind
let it be said of us
that we lived to be a blessing for life
let it be said of us
that we gave to reach the dying
let it be said of us
by the fruit we leave behind
let it be said of us that our legacy is blessing for life
this day
you set life, you set death right before us, this day
every blessing and curse is a choice now
and we will
choose to be a blessing for life
let it be said of us
that our hearts belonged to Jesus
let it be said of us
that we spoke the words of life
let it be said of us
that our heritage is blessing for life
(chorus)
for your Kingdom
for our Children
for the sake of every nation
---------------------------
FURTHER FOOD FOR THOUGHT THIS THANKSGIVING:

Thanksgiving and Marginal Utility by Gary North from the website LewRockwell.com

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north22.html

The first official Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on June 29, 1676 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Boston. But Gov. Jonathan Belcher had issued similar proclamations in Massachusetts in 1730 and in New Jersey in 1749. George Washington proclaimed a day of thanksgiving on October 23, 1789, to be celebrated on Thursday, November 27. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln officially restored it as a wartime measure. The holiday then became an American tradition. It became law in 1941.

Lincoln was a strange contradiction religiously. He was a religious skeptic, yet he invoked the rhetoric of the King James Bible – accurately – on many occasions. His political rhetoric, which had been deeply influenced by his reading of the King James, was often masterful. For example, when he spoke of the cemetery of the Gettysburg battlefield as "this hallowed ground," using the King James word for holy, as in "hallowed be thy name," he was seeking to infuse the battle of Gettysburg with sacred meaning – a use of religious terminology that was as morally abhorrent as it was rhetorically successful. It is the sacraments that are sacred, not monuments to man’s bloody destructiveness. In that same year, 1863, he used biblical themes in his October 3 Thanksgiving Day proclamation.

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord."

He went on, in the tradition of a Puritan Jeremiad sermon, to attribute the calamity of the Civil War to the nation’s sins, conveniently ignoring the biggest contributing sin of all in the coming of that war: his own steadfast determination to collect the national tariff in Southern ports.

In his proclamation, he made an important and accurate theological point.

"We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown."

"But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

This observation leads to the same question that Moses raised long before Lincoln’s proclamation: Why is it that men become less thankful as their blessings increase?

PENALIZE SUCCESS & REWARD FAILURE - A GOOD ECONOMIC SYSTEM??

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis

Unfortunately, post inauguration, I fear this is the direction we may be heading. Although, to be fair, the Bush administration is clearly reading from the same playbook. They talk the conservative talk at times, but more often walk the big government walk.

A pro-European economic way of thought, more socialistic less capitalistic. More government intervention and tinkering rather than less. One of the most dreaded phrases in the English language--"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"--becomes reality rather than a casual joke.

Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem is an economics professor at the University of Michigan, Flint. Among other issues, he covers the auto industry with a rightful dose of skepticism....Why is GM (and Ford and Chrysler) seeking taxpayer subsidies when Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, BMW, Daimler, Hyundai and other foreign nameplate producers, who are facing the same contracting demand and credit crunch quietly weathering the storm, are not? Because the latter have costs structures that haven’t been made obsolete and uneconomic by ludicrous union demands. And, of course, they make cars that Americans want to buy.

Can't argue against that logic. But many in Washington will.

The current failures in our economy were not failures of the free-market system itself. They were failures in industries that were the more highly regulated industries. The hedge funds (lightly regulated) were the canary in the coal mine to some degree in that they focused attention on the crisis long before our elected leaders and officials did. If these officials had taken preventative measures when these early-birds were sounding the warning bells, instead of focusing their attention on other, less pressing matters, we would not be in the situation we are in.

If we continue to reward failure rather than success, this thing could get really ugly.

You can file this under "Even a broken watch is right twice a day" or "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile" but many of Bushies comments (made at the Manhattan Institute) were right on the mark. Too bad his administration did not live by these values instead of simply parroting them in a speech once in awhile. The results on Election Day might have been very different.

JAPANESE GIRL DRAFTED TO PRO MENS LEAGUE

THE JAPANESE ARE NOT AFRAID TO BREAK THE MOLD TO FIND NEW PITCHING TALENT

Note: The young lady pictured above is not the girl referenced in the story.

--------------
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/postedsports/archive/2008/11/17/baseball-japanese-girl-selected-to-play-in-professional-men-s-league.aspx

A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

"I never dreamed of getting drafted," Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

"I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything," she said. "I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league."

Yoshida, 5-foot-0 tall and weighing 114 pounds, says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan's first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.
--------------
I have always thought that this would likely be the fastest route for the first woman to play professionally in the "major" American sports at the highest level.

In football, other than as a kicker who was very accurate from 40 and under, I don't see a woman who could crack an NFL roster in my lifetime.

In basketball, maybe a crack three-point shooter--a la Steve Kerr--could be a possibility as the first woman NBA player.

In baseball, a woman pitcher with a killer knuckle ball or a splitter could pitch effectively at any level. I don't see any major league caliber hitters on the horizon anytime soon. Which is fair, because I don't see any major league hitters capable of hitting Jennie Finch.


絵里の3つの歓声!!!!!
which means, three cheers for Eri, according to Google translation.


ERI YOSHIDA - DRAFTED BY JAPANESE MENS LEAGUE

SOMALI PIRATES BELIEVE IN FAIRNESS TOO

"I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of taking care of them."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
US Founding Father
Drafted the Declaration of Independence
3rd US President

At least if we are to believe the quotes from the article cited below regarding the most recent act of piracy. If we look at the illustration above, this has been going on for some time.

Maybe these guys should be on the new administrations economic team since they appear to share the same philosophy of robbing from the rich, the successful, the hard-working and giving to the poor, less successful, less-industrious among us and justifying it in the name of "fairness".

Read the quotes below from the "recipients" of the ill-gotten gains and they sound eerily similar to the quotes used to justify the Obama tax-policy proposals. Modern day Robin Hoods of a feather......I guess.

For me, I think Thomas Jefferson had it right.
---------------
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081119/ap_on_re_af/af_pirate_boomtown

Somali pirates transform villages into boomtowns

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and ELIZABETH KENNEDY, Associated Press Writers Mohamed Olad Hassan And Elizabeth Kennedy, Associated Press Writers – Wed Nov 19, 3:03 pm ET

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.

And in an impoverished country where every public institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in the steamy coastal dens they operate from because they are the only real business in town.

"The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Haradhere, the nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying $100 million in crude was anchored Wednesday.

These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.

Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5.

But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.

"There are more shops and business is booming because of the piracy," said Sugule Dahir, who runs a clothing shop in Eyl. "Internet cafes and telephone shops have opened, and people are just happier than before."

In Haradhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country's lawless coast.

Businessmen gathered cigarettes, food and cold bottles of orange soda, setting up kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to resupply almost daily.

Dahir said she even started a layaway plan for them.

"They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot."

Residents make sure the pirates are well-stocked in khat, a popular narcotic leaf, and aren't afraid to gouge a bit when it comes to the pirates' deep pockets.

"I can buy a packet of cigarettes for about $1 but I will charge the pirate $1.30," said Abdulqadir Omar, an Eyl resident.

While pirate villages used to have houses made of corrugated iron sheets, now, there are stately looking homes made of sturdy, white stones.

"Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town," said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Haradhere.

"Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy."

Meanwhile, towns that once were eroded by years of poverty and chaos are now bustling with restaurants, Land Cruisers and Internet cafes. Residents also use their gains to buy generators — allowing full days of electricity, once an unimaginable luxury in Somalia.

There are no reliable estimates of the number of pirates operating in Somalia, but they number in the thousands. And though the bandits do sometimes get nabbed, piracy is generally considered a sure bet to a better life.

PEDROIA WINS A.L. MVP

PICTURE FROM:
http://djclanc4shizl.blogspot.com/2008_08_24_archive.html

Maybe it was just me, but this is what Pedroia looked like while he was clubbing pitch after pitch into and over the outfield walla during the Sox-Rays series. Personally, it was incredible that they continued to pitch to him. He was killing it.

I meant to cite Pedroia's story at that time, as well as that of Cubs farmhand Matthew Cerda. Both are great stories of the "little" guy succeeding in the land of the "giants" and doing it the right way in spite of the obstacles.

Pedroia wins the AL MVP and Cerda ends up realizing his dream of playing professionally.

MATTHEW CERDA'S STORY HIGHLIGHTED BY ESPN:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=cerda&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

Guys of average size, with above average heart who succeed by doing things the right way. They should be the examples to kids and parents when the discussion turns to how to succeed against opponents who may not be doing things the right way.

Cerda competed against the Little League team from the Bronx led by Danny Almonte. The ESPN story highlights that while Cerda may have been "cheated", he persevered and continued to work and compete the right way. In the end, he was the one who came out on top. Kudos to both Dustin Pedroia and Matthew Cerda for the examples they have set for kids.

MATTHEW CERDA: FROM LITTLE LEAGUE TO HIGH SCHOOL - DRAFTED BY CUBS 2008