The View from the Center

The Grandstand

by Ed Wenck — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:32:00 GMT

We all distill events like the one that transpired at the State Fairgrounds differently. Those in attendance last Saturday night who witnessed the collapse of an aluminum stage rig into a crowd of people seemed to have three different reactions: dumbfounded bewilderment, hysteria, or a focused attempt to pitch in. None of these reactions are wrong or right - we can’t judge a single person for the way they processed what they were seeing.

Those citizens whose psychological makeup did allow them to run toward the wreckage and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the first responders who are trained how to process disaster can rightfully be referred to as ‘heroes’. The enduring image I will take away from the event is a photograph that was shot by my friend and colleague Ernie Mills. Ernie’s lens captured a man climbing over the fence that separates the grandstand from the track. It’s high, and the man in the photo doesn’t look like much of a fitness nut, but he’s risking life and limb just to get over the barrier and run toward the scene of the disaster. He’s a man on a mission; he’s going to arrive to help as quickly as his legs will let him.

This gent and countless nameless others may never be properly and publicly recognized as individuals for what they did Saturday night. They should be, but their heroism is only one kind of many. I’d like to mention those other heroes whose acts should probably also be recognized.

There are countless ER doctors, nurses, and personnel who had to treat a sudden influx of emergency patients.

There are cops and firefighters who reunited families and made sure those who could left the fairgrounds without further injury.

There are probably dozens, maybe hundreds of people who comforted those who’d just seen a loved one grievously injured or reassured a child who’d seen the unthinkable.

There are doctors and psychologists and therapists who will be treating those who were either mentally or psychologically wounded by the disaster for a very long time.

And there are those who will have to carry on – those who will have to care for someone injured for life, those who will have to carry on without a loved one or a friend. All of these actions are heroic. Sometimes just getting out of bed after seeing an event such as this could be considered an act of extraordinary courage. The least that the rest of us can do is to keep all of those heroes in our thoughts.

The Best Father's Day Gift I Could Possibly Receive

by Ed Wenck — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:03:00 GMT

On June 2, 2011, I had the incredible honor of induction into the Dads, Inc. Fatherhood Hall of Fame - along with Mickey Maurer, Willis Bright, Marco Dominguez, and Father of the Year Stan Howard (Matt's dad - go Dawgs!) Past inductees include Tony Dungy and Gov. Mitch Daniels. I was utterly shocked at the accolade, but what really moved me was the induction speech delivered by my son, Oliver. The text of that speech follows.

When I was nine my father and I took a 2 hour road trip for hockey that was unlike any other, this one was just me and my old man. This was the first real bonding time I can remember with my father. I slept the first half of the trip, I woke up for a fast food breakfast and then we were back on the road. For this half, I asked if we could listen to a favorite of both mine and my father’s: The Ramones. The remainder of the drive we shouted the lyrics to their greatest hits, pausing regularly for brief punk-rock history lessons. On the way home it dawned on me that my father could have been doing anything that Saturday. He was hosting his morning show back then, so every morning he was up around 3am, but instead of catching up on sleep he was with me. This was nowhere near the first time he had put me before everything else, but it was the first time I had noticed. I cracked a joke, and for the first time, I made my father laugh. It wasn’t the way you laugh at little kids for doing something cute, it was a genuine laugh, the kind two old friends would share. This was the first day I saw my father as “Ed.” Not just as my dad, but as my friend.

Eight years later, our family went to Italy to celebrate New Years together. One night, my father and I sat together in a café in Rome, we talked the exact same way we had during that drive. Our conversation was much more mature, but our openness and our friendship was there, strong as it had ever been.

A few weeks ago, I had some personal complications, I tried taking advice from other young adults who had just as little life experience, I then turned to my Dad. He helped me through everything; it was getting late so we wrapped things up. But after a few hours there was still more left unresolved. I asked if we could talk for a little while longer. Without hesitation he got out of bed to talk with me in the hallway. I felt bad, it was the middle of the week and I interrupted his sleep. I tried apologizing for dragging him from bed when he was on the brink of falling asleep, but he had none of it. He just grinned and said “that’s what I’m here for.”

I have had many successes in hockey and in school, but the truth is that I would have had none of it without my father. He never yelled from the stands to hit or skate harder, he left the coaching to the coaches. He didn’t sign me up for a hundred camps or make me play and work out when I didn’t want to. He, instead, showed me how to work. He demonstrated the meaning and payoff of a great work ethic.

I am not naturally gifted with athleticism or a great deal of intellect, but I have an almost unmatched work ethic, this I learned from example. He never gave me a speech about the importance of working hard, he showed me. I’ve seen him pour his heart out, working to exhaustion to perfect his show, his writing, and his art work. By his actions I learned what I need to do in order to pursue my dreams. No coach or teacher has ever asked me to work harder, because of what my father taught me.

I realize how fortunate I am to have a strong father figure in my life. I have a father who will sacrifice anything for me. A father who I know I will always have to support me and my dreams and the things I am passionate about. I know when it comes time for me to settle down and raise my own kids, I can only hope that I’ll show them the constant support and love that my father showed me.

On Friday the 13th

by Ed Wenck — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:57:00 GMT

Okay, triskaidekaphobes – it’s Friday the 13th. Why is today unlucky? According to author Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, who wrote a book about the superstition simply titled 13, it’s a reference to the crucifixion of Christ. Good Friday was preceded by the Last Supper, a table that sat thirteen – Jesus and his 12 apostles. The taboo against seating thirteen people at a single table was prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries, then in the 19th Century, Friday – also known as ‘Hangman’s Day’ - became intertwined with the number. Some biblical scholars believe that Eve tempted Adam on a Friday, and Cain slew Abel on the 13th.

Donald Dossey, author of Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun, traces the notion back to a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, when in walked guest number 13, the troublemaker god Loki. Loki convinced another member of the group to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. "Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day," says Dossey. In ancient Rome, witches gathered in covens of 12 – the thirteenth member was the devil himself.

King Phillip the Fourth of France also had a hand in making Friday the 13th lousy – on October 13th, 1307 – a Friday – Phillip executed a plan to wipe out the Knights Templar through a series of mass arrests. With the backing of the Pope, members of the order were then tortured and killed so that Phillip could erase the debts he owed the Knights for protecting crusading pilgrims on the route to Jerusalem.

According to the National Geographic, “more than 80 percent of high-rise buildings in the US lack a 13th floor. Many airports skip the 13th gate. Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13. On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 1/2. In France socialites known as the quatorziens ("fourteeners") once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.” In modern times, of course, Apollo 13 was a space mission fraught with problems.

Author Dossey adds that between 800 and 900 million dollars in lost revenue can be attributed to the fear of Friday the 13th in the United States. Some folks don’t fly, some won’t buy a house on this date, and some folks are so terrified they simply call in sick - unless you're wearing a hockey mask and wielding a really big knife.

On bin Laden - and the celebration

by Ed Wenck — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:45:00 GMT

A day after we got word that a team of Navy SEALS had killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the WIBC news department received the following email:

“As a US citizen and Marine I felt today was a dark day for America. As we received the information on the death of Usama we reacted the same way the middle east acted on 9/11. This means we are no better than them in our actions. We just gave them the incentive to do more harm by celebrating the death of one of their leaders. Grow up America and be better than your enemy not the same!”

To the gent who sent the missive – thank you for your service.

I’ve seen similar sentiments on facebook and twitter; some bemoaning the fact that American citizens danced in the streets in a celebration of death. I understand those sentiments. I understand them completely.

And I couldn’t disagree more.

Those who celebrated on 9/11 were a small minority of zealots who were overjoyed at the deaths of over 3,000 innocent men, women and children; among the dead: firefighters, police officers, EMTs, secretaries, stockbrokers, flight attendants, and other workers; fathers, mothers, and their kids; black, white, Asian and Semitic; Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim and more. Those who reacted with exuberance over the death of bin Laden were marking the demise of an evil theocrat whose murderous aims were nothing short of Hitlerian. The folks who celebrated the killing of bin Laden did so primarily in the two urban centers that were directly affected by the horrors of September 11 – New York City and Washington, DC. Those populations saw 9/11 not just as a terrible image on a TV screen, rather, they were immersed in terror as panic and death unfolded in the streets before them. After ten years of grieving and uncertainty, justice had been served and a sense of closure had been delivered. Their outpouring of emotion was just as natural as the jubilation expressed by countless Americans at the end of World War 2.

We’re all connected to 9/11 in ways small and large. My family’s attachments are tangential – my wife’s high school chum left a job in the World Trade Center mere months before she would’ve been killed, an old pal lost her firefighter boyfriend in the rubble of collapsing buildings, and I was born five miles from the crater left by United 93 in Shanksville. Our joy over the destruction of the mastermind of destruction was therefore muted, but it was joy nonetheless. And I’ll never feel an iota of guilt or shame about that emotion. There is such a thing as a ‘just war’, and a small number of highly trained personnel and commanders have thankfully, blessedly, closed a chapter in that war.

(Immediately after I read the above on-air, I received the following excellent e-mail.)

Dear Ed,

I just heard you disagree with the Marine that said we're no better than them now, for dancing as well. Let me give you a view from someone who is NOT *tangentiallly* involved with those events, but intimately involved. I'm a firefighter here in Indy & knew some of the firefighters killed. That alone puts me a bit closer to it than you, but I also lost family that day, which puts me in a position you'll never understand. My brother in law was killed at the Pentagon. My sister- "the widow"- and I had this exact conversation upon hearing the news. We both agree with the Marine, and disagree with you. We are both saddened that we have been brought to the point of treating a death as a celebration and feel that it is indeed a lowering of who we are as a country. You don't dance over the death of another human being, unless it is in celebration of a life well lived. We view this more with the sadness that you'd feel having to put down a rabid dog. You are free to disagree with us, as is your right, but you can bet there are no celebrations here- and for danged sure- no sense of closure over this. Thanks!

The Butler Way

by Ed Wenck — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:51:00 GMT

First, let’s address the obvious – was it defense? Nerves? Just a bad night? All of the above? Butler shot a woeful 18.8 percent from the floor in the championship game against the UConn Huskies. The Dawgs threw bricks and bagels, cinderblocks and cement that had fallen off the Astrodome, and Cinderella’s carriage turned back into a pumpkin, a pumpkin that wouldn’t drop through the hoop. Final score: Connecticut 53, Butler 41.

Before we wallow in despair, let’s remember a few things. First and foremost, nothing is pre-ordained. We’ve been raised on a diet of Hoosiers and Rudys and Miracles on Ice – we expect the fictional Hickory High team to show up every time the underdogs meet the bad guys. The cold reality is this: it’s a rarity. The Soviet Hockey Team rolled over the globe’s best both before and after the US Men’s Hockey Team beat ‘em in the 1980 Olympics. Nobody makes movies about the years Milan didn’t win it all. And I’m pretty sure that this year won’t be the Cubs year - again.

More importantly, there’s no such thing as ‘The UConn Way’. I haven’t heard a single mention of Kemba Walker’s grade point average. And I’m pretty sure Jim Calhoun has been wriggling around NCAA recruiting rules ever since James Naismith hung the first peach basket in a gym. Calhoun and his resume will serve a three game suspension next season for violating those rules. I know – Calhoun’s a force of nature: he’s beaten cancer, and at 68, become the oldest coach to win it all.

Still, I’ll take Brad Stevens and his two near misses any day over Cranky Jim and his chowdah accent and ongoing investigations. The nation now knows what ‘the Butler Way’ means, and they’ve been made well aware that B.U. truly believes that the words ‘student athlete’ should be prioritized in just that order. I don’t know where, say, Matt Howard’s career will take him, but I’m pretty sure the kid will have a long, productive and successful life after basketball. I’m not sure if that kind of life lesson is part of the curriculum for the Husky hoops team. And while you might criticize me for the kind of romanticism I just derided, I have an image of a guy like Mr. Howard – whether he’s on an NBA squad or a titan of industry, I see Howard parking his pickup in a lot full of Land Rovers and Porsches, grabbing his lunchbox and heading into work. That – to me, anyhow – that’s the Butler Way.

Madden 2012!

by Ed Wenck — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:04:00 GMT

The blogosphere has been a-twitter – pun very much intended, thanks – with the impending changes, upgrades, and attendant hype planned for the next incarnation of The Second Most Popular Video Game Ever, Madden Football. Surprise onside kicks will become part of the game (nice hands, Hank Baskett!) and finally, after all these years, the Bears will play at Soldier Field. Prior to this edition, believe it or not, EA Sports didn’t have permission to call Soldier Field by its rightful moniker. George Halas can rest easy now.

The thing that Madden 2012 doesn’t appear to address is the lineman in the room: we’re in the middle of a spitting match between millionaires and billionaires (and in this particular squabble, I’m on the side of the guys who are slightly less disgustingly wealthy. They, after all, are the ones suffering the side effects from repeated blows to the noodle later in life.) While MADDEN: LOCKOUT! wouldn’t be much of a seller, EA Sports could at least give a nod to some of the, er, more peculiar aspects of the game and the business around it.

Let’s start with the cover.

Generally, the front of any Madden game depicts someone who impacts the game in a profound manner. Someone whose very visage conjures up the NFL in its current state. For 2012, may I humbly suggest:

Jerry Jones clutching a fistful of Benjamins.

Picture the leering, arrogant owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and you’ve summed up the current League. A greedmonger who’s perfectly willing to lock out both players and Super-Bowl-ticket-holders alike – that’s what the NFL means to me! Additionally, the man who makes the cover is always cursed; cursed by injury or horrific stats or a Federal investigation into a dog-fighting ring. Three little words like ‘Jerry Jones Bankruptcy’ are as appealing to me as phrases such as ‘Filet Medium Rare’ or ‘Scarlett Johansson Naked’.

As for the game itself?

The 2012 season should begin with a cage match: DeMaurice Smith and Roger Goddell, circling a conference table, armed with medieval clubs, maces, and subpoenas. The winner gets to lecture the other player on either the difficulty of the modern athlete’s recovery from injury or how to keep the help out of the 50-year-old Scotch.

Need more?

The Vikings may experience a roof collapse at any time during a home game. Lucas Oil Stadium springs a leak. Peyton Manning will begin codifying plays with legal mumbo-jumbo: “Tort left! Writ of habeas corpus right!” Rex Ryan may be spotted on the Jets’ sideline, sensuously rubbing his wife’s feet. And at the end of every contest, Jim Irsay will gently read a poem of his own choosing.

Charlie Goes Global

by Ed Wenck — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:48:00 GMT

We’ve been inundated with news regarding the drug we’ve come to ingest collectively – the drug called ‘Charlie Sheen’. Our modern media culture doesn’t end at America’s coastlines, however – and the worldwide press has noticed Charlie, too. What do they think? Here’s the Chinese take, from the English-language site Global Times:

Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms… How many young people have been led astray by Sheen's boasts about his substance abuse and freewheeling sex life? …Chinese family, coworkers, or the authorities would have taken firm steps to make sure someone like Sheen did not make a public spectacle of himself. The fact that Sheen continues to embarrass himself unabated, becoming even a hero to many, points to the vast differences in cultures.

Sounds like state-sponsored media, right? Declan Lynch, an Irish columnist, had a different take – he seems almost proud that Charlie’s got some Emerald in his Tiger Blood:

Certainly the phenomenal response to Sheen's performance can partly be explained by our natural curiosity when we feel we are in the presence of one of the great madmen. But there was also a tremendous amount of admiration out there for his refusal to kowtow to the approved celebrity narrative and come out with his hands up... It is also not entirely immaterial that, as the son of Martin Sheen, there is a touch of Paddy in Charlie Sheen. Enough, surely, to put him ultimately beyond the reach of the most determined professionals in the addiction industry

The Australians are busy covering their own scandal – the Australian National Rugby League has been beset by drugs, infighting, assaults and match fixing. This hasn’t kept the Aussies from comparing their entire league to the Vatican-assassin. The Sydney Daily telegraph called the NRL “a survivor. Just like Charlie Sheen.”

Back here in Indiana, we don’t get visits from Charlie Sheen – we get visits from his goddesses. Bree Olsen, also known as Rachel Oberlin, also known as one of Sheen’s live-in girlfriends, was in her hometown of Fort Wayne on March 8th to answer to drunk driving charges.

Dan McGowan contributed to this article.

Stadium Rock

by Ed Wenck — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:42:00 GMT

When I found out that BMI (they’re a music licensing group) had released its annual list of the most played songs at sporting events, my first thought was ‘Wow. We make lists of everything now.’ My second thought was ‘Ozzy’.

Had to be #1, right? Ozzy doing his demented sailor impression precedes darn near every kickoff in the NFL. Even when it’s sampled in a rap song, the distinctive opening riffs and vocals from ‘Crazy Train’ surely topped this chart, yes? Nope. Not even close. The NFL as a whole favored the song that was played the most at every event in the season that spanned 2009 through 2010. We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s work from the bottom up. Number 10 on the list is ‘Machinehead’ by Bush, a band so – um, reminiscent of Nirvana that former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl occasionally wears a T-Shirt in which the ‘S’ in Bush is a dollar sign.

Number 9 is Jay-Z’s ‘Run This Town’, number 8 is ‘Turn My Swag On’ by Soulja Boy and number 7 is the 2-minute Blur epic called ‘Song 2’. Sean Kingston’s ‘Fire Burning’ is next, followed by the remake of ‘Car Wash’ at 5.

Believe it or not, the Christina Aguilera/Missy Elliot version of ‘Car Wash’ – which, for my money, is not an improvement over the original - was the most played song at major league baseball stadiums last season. Maybe it’s used as a subtle dig for a pitcher headed to the showers. Or maybe MLB DJ’s just have awful taste. In fourth, the Black Eyed Peas offer ‘Boom Boom Pow’, at number three, Nickelback checks in with ‘Burn it to the Ground’ and number two is Kevin Rudolf and Lil Wayne with ‘Let It Rock’.

So what was number 1? Maybe ‘Welcome to the Jungle’? How about Gary Glitter’s ‘Rock and Roll Part 2’? Nope – the top song played at major league sporting events was, naturally, ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen.

We mentioned that the number one tune across the board was also the favorite in NFL stadiums. For their part, the National Hockey League’s big winner is the tune ‘Twilight Zone’, a song which, fittingly enough, was also big when the mullet was a popular hairstyle.

The Price of Everything

by Ed Wenck — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:59:00 GMT

A lot of the economic news of late has focused on two things: America’s slow emergence from a terrible recession and the rising cost of everything. For a broader historical perspective, let’s take a look at the increase in consumer prices over the last 30, 40, even 50 years. Let’s start with the big ticket items – although the value of your home sweet home has likely dropped lately, the median cost of a home 50 years ago was 17,200 bucks. In 1971, that number bumped up to 28, 300 dollars, in 81 it jumped to 83 grand. The median price of a home in Indianapolis is currently right around 104,000 clams.

What about your ride? We looked up the price for one of the few models that’s been around for more than 50 years, the Chevy Impala. In 1961, you could get a bare-bones 4-door six-cylinder for 2,590 dollars. That price was up to 3,460 bucks 30 years ago, and now the cheapest 2011 Impala on cars.com will set you back $21,795.

How much did it run you to fuel that Impala? A gallon of regular set you back 31 cents in 1961 – and a guy would pump it for you and clean your windshield when you went to the station. That gallon hit 36 cents in 1971, but had skyrocketed to a dollar 38 ten years down the road. Right now in Indy, the average is 2.97.

In 1961, a gallon of milk was 49 cents. By 1971, it had jumped to a buck 18. Ten years later, that price had risen to 2.22. Here’s the shocker - if you have a Kroger card you can buy that gallon for only seven cents more than you would’ve paid in 1981. That card also gets you a dozen eggs for about a buck, only a ten-cent price increase from 30 years ago.

First class stamps have gone up by 1,100 percent in the last fifty years. In 1961, a stamp was a mere 4 cents. It went from 6 to 8 cents in May of 71, then saw two price jumps in 1981 – from 15 to 18 to 20 cents that year.

A Big Mac cost anywhere between 95 cents and a buck and a quarter in 1981. These days? A call to the Arches nearest the Wenck domicile gave us a price of 2.99.

And finally, how about your pants? Today a pair of Levis will run you anywhere from 35 to fifty bucks. In 1981, jeans that ran more than 20 dollars were considered pricey, while denims priced more than 30 bucks were in the ‘designer’ category. The average that year for a pair of Levi Strauss jeans? Between 11 and 15 dollars.

A History of Harlotry

by Ed Wenck — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:31:00 GMT

SO… Lady Gaga was carried into the Grammies on a litter – inside some kind of womb or egg and popped out to sing a song about acceptance called ‘Born This Way.’ Albeit milder than some of Gaga’s wilder stunts, perfomances and pronouncements, the number’s charged lyrics and bizarre costuming made for a bit of water-cooler chatter Monday morn.

We love this stuff. While the pro- and anti-Gaga camps debate the societal effects of this self-promotional genius, Gaga is only the latest in a long line of ladies who have made truckloads of cash by shocking the American public. In the early days of talking cinema, the lady with the greatest ability to generate outrage was arguably Mae West. She shimmied on stage in burlesque reviews until she landed her first film role in the movie Night After Night in 1932. West re-wrote all of her scenes, including the exchange: “My Goodness! What diamonds! WEST: My goodness had nothing to do with it.” Mae’s double-entendres made her an instant star - her co-star George Raft said ‘She stole everything but the cameras’. She was eventually forced to submit her lines to the studio so they could censor the bawdier stuff.

Pin-up girls ruled the war years, from Rita Hayworth to Betty Grable, Gypsy Rose Lee made pasties famous, then in 1953 Marilyn Monroe was featured on the cover of Playboy Issue #1 after a nude photo of her surfaced and was included as the magazine’s first centerfold. Although her studio bosses were aghast, Monroe admitted to posing for the shot, telling the press she needed the cash to pay the rent. The gambit worked: the public seemed to have nothing but sympathy for Norman Jean. Monroe had a series of high-profile gentlemen callers, and she sang Happy Birthday to one of ‘em before she passed away.

In the sixties and seventies, Cher was the shocker of her day – although she suffered from terrible stage fright, she covered with a deadpan delivery of barbs directed at her then-husband Sonny Bono, a bit that became the centerpiece of their hit variety program. After her divorce from both Sonny and network TV, she continued to make headlines with her celebrity marriage to Gregg Allman and the fact that her outfit for the video ‘If I could Turn Back Time’ caused the clip to be banned on MTV.

Along came Madonna, whose very name seemed to be making light of religious tenets. She had the outfits to go along with the material she sang about – and then took off all her clothes for a 1992 book of explicit photos and text called ‘SEX’. A few quotes from Entertainment Weekly on the book: ''There's always that invisible shadow line beyond which hype self-destructs,'' said Variety editor Peter Bart. ''People in the business say she's approaching that line.'' Camille Paglia weighed in: ''Short of going into a convent, I don't know how she can top herself after this.''

In the years after Britney Spears smooched Miss Madonna on stage, Christina Aguilera and Katie Perry have had a crack at self-generated shock and scandal, but Gaga is currently the reigning queen of crazy.

Just check TMZ.