This economic downturn has affected a wide range of people in this country.  In the last 12 months, both of my parents as well as my brother and sister lost their full time jobs.  Everyone does their best to remain positive, says things such as “hey, we are all healthy, we will be fine”, but there is no doubt it is an unprecidented difficult time upon us.

I’ve done my best to remain upbeat, using that “healthy” mantra, watching family and friends go through a tough stretch, and have constantly fallen back on the fact that I have a wonderful wife and two healthy kids.  However, over the past two months, that positive outlook took a rough turn for the worse, and a strange long distance encounter, was what I needed to snap out of it.

Our second son Carter was born just before Christmas.  As I wrote in a previous post, I am deathly afraid of child birth.  Nicole had a horrible pregnancy with the our oldest son, and the birth was just as bad.  For some crazy reason, the pregnancy was completely uneventful with Carter.  I kept joking that it was like she wasn’t even pregnant.  The birth was a little rough, but hey, he and his mom were healthy, and it was a great Christmas.

Around May 15, I went to Columbus on a weekend golf trip with some friends.  We do it every year, and it never fails to be a relaxing good time with the boys.  This year, right before we were going to start playing our first round, my wife called to tell me that our four month old baby Carter needed a CAT-scan right away and that his head was not growing correctly, and the doctors were ‘alarmed’.  This of course floored me, like it would any parent.  We were able to get the scan 36 hours later, and to sit there to watch your little guy get tied to a table for one of these is not exactly something I would recommend.  Thankfully, it turned out that the his brain was fine, but that he just needed to get fit with a corrective helmet to wear for two to three months.  The helmet isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it sure doesn’t make me feel good to strap it on his head and watch him start cursing at me in baby talk.

Our older son Charlie was born with a club foot.  He had to wear numerous casts for a few months and then wore corrective shoes until he was almost two years old.  At that time, it looked as if everything was healed.  He now has to go in once a year to see how things are coming along.

We just returned from a trip to Walt Disney World for his 4th birthday.  He had the time of his life, going on every single ride possible, as well as going down the hotel water slide 57 times in one day.  He did have a bit too much fun the night of his birthday,as evidence with this picture of him throwing up after eating a sundae and sprinting to the monorail to get back to the hotel before the water slide closed.  I mention it because he is a normal, hyper, crazy young boy, running around everywhere.  After his third birthday, he had his annual checkup on his foot and they said everything looked great.  He went for his last check up just Monday, and not so great.  We were told that the foot is growing incorrectly, and that he needs to have surgery to correct it.  He will be put under, have to stay the night in the hospital and be in a non weight bearing cast for six weeks.  This one was like a punch in the face to me.  It is one thing to have to put a helmet on a baby, but to put a crazy four year old in a cast and not be able to walk for at least six weeks…I still can’t imagine what it is going to be like.  I just feel so bad for the guy, and I was getting to a point where I was maybe feeling a little bit sorry for myself.

Sometimes it takes strange things to make you change your perspective, or maybe a random occurrence that makes you take a step back and assess the situation at hand.  Tuesday night, Nicole and I went to see The Dave Matthews Band at Riverbend here in Cincinnati.  I think I’ve probably been to 20 of his concerts over the past 15 years, and its a summer tradition.  Thanks to my buddy and co-worker, Brock Boser being in the Dave Matthews Band fan club all these years, we are able to get excellent seats.  This year was no exception as we were on the right side of the stage in the fifth row.  As we were hanging out listening to the music, due our seat locations, I was able to see some people somewhat back stage, but actually on the side of the stage opposite from us.  For some reason, my eye stopped on what appeared to be a family.  It was a mother, father, and what looked to be a college aged girl in a wheelchair, looking very ill.  For some reason I kept looking over there, and noticed the joy on the parents’ faces as they constantly looked at their daughter who was 25 feet away from the band watching them play.  It was kind of neat to see a group of people sharing a really poignant and somewhat private moment together, knowing their daughter was having a great time.  I pointed out the family to Nicole with the realization that in the big picture, our minor health problems with our children were not that bad.

About 45 minutes later in the show, in between songs, Dave Matthews says, “This one goes out to our new friend Natalie, who came to see us tonight.  I know it was difficult for you to get here, but we appreciate it.”  It was the coolest thing, because I’m pretty sure, absolutely nobody else in that 15,000 seat ampitheater besides the band and the crew knew who or what he was talking about.  I look over and both the mom and dad are hugging Natalie and both wiping tears from their faces.  I just thought it was so neat to do that in a way to not make a spectacle of the situation, or himself, but just that little message had to have meant the world to that family and sick girl.  The band then played the song ‘Grey Street’, which the lyrics do seem quite relevant, and a Dave Matthews geek next to me said to his friend that they have never played that song the whole tour.

It is not the best practice to have to see someone in a worse situation, to understand that what you have is not that bad, but that is exactly what happened to me that night. To witness the look on the parents face towards their child, I think it is something you only begin to understand as you become a parent.  Regardless, it was a really neat moment, and I earned some new respect for Dave Matthews for gesture he made, and from this day on, if I hear Grey Street, I will think of she and her parents.

Get well soon Natalie!!

The actual anniversary of the Columbine massacare was April 20, but I just finished a riveting book by Dave Cullen, on the events of that day and the aftermath of the tragedy. 

Every person has their own unique interests, and I’ve noticed that I am fascinated to read and learn about how people and media react in times of ‘unpresidented tragedy’, so to speak.  One example I can think of took place after President Kennedy was assinated in 1963.  It was immediately decided to swear in Lydon Johnson as the 36th president of the United States on board of Air Force I with the poor widowed Jackie Kennedy standing next to him in a outfit still covered in her husband’s blood.  There was no need for that symbolic act to take place so quickly in the midst of a tragedy, but they felt it was needed to show the country and the world, that America would continue to function undeterred, and I think they made the correct decision.

There are countless other instances, that I find intriguing, as how resillient Mayor Guilliani was essentially during the attacks of 9/11, saying ‘we will rebuild’ (even though nothing is even close to rebuilt almost eight years later).  It was reassuring the the country during a time of complete pandemonium.  Upon reading Cullen’s book Columbine, there were numerous decisions made by law enforcement and media that were both hastily and incorrectly made, and most of the public still is not aware of these mistakes.

It was widely reported that these kids, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were out to “kill the jocks” and exact revenge on people who picked on them.  The truth was that they had no premedited victims.  They simply wanted to kill everyone in the school and out do their idol, Timothy McVeigh, who orchestrated the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995, killing 168 people.  They plotted out in every way how they could kill the most possible students and teachers.  Harris and Klebold planted two giant propane tanks in the cafeteria of the school, and set a timer for the bombs to detonate at exactly 11:13, which they studied to be the highest traffic point in the cafeteria.  They also loaded their cars with homemade napalm bombs to go off one hour after the bombs in the cafeteria with the hopes of many more casualties from rescue workers and students who managed to escape the carnage inside.  This information was given to the media within days of the attack, but it was as if media’s story was already written.  Two shy goth boys who wanted to get back at the jocks that picked on them.  That story might have been convenient, and make other schools around the country take a hard look at hazing, but it was far from the truth. These boys were simply sociopaths.

The media also botched the story of Cassie Bernall, who lost her life that day.  A student who was in a state of shock immediately after the attack told a story that one of the killers asked her if she believed in God, and she answered ‘yes’, the killer laughed asked why, and then killed her with his sawed off shotgun.  The media ran with this story, and it was on every major news channel and newspaper.  The problem was that conversation never took place.  There are numerous studies that people at the scene of a crime tend to not be the best eye witnesses, due to the trama but at least five other students in the Columbine library at that time refuted that story, but no media outlets seemed to want to recant that story, and Cassie’s parents have dealt with not only the loss of their daughter, but her immediate rise to what some called sainthood, to then accused of trying to capitalize off of an untrue story by writing a book about her life.

You also have to take a look at the police.  They had detective John Stone, a man who had been Sheriff in Jefferson County for less than two years, and was more of a politician than a tactical sherriff.  it took them over four hours to storm the building at 3:20, incorrectly thinking it was a hostage standoff, when the shooters committed suicide three hours earlier at 12:08, allowing more than one student and faculty member to pass away due to the delay in sending in the SWAT team.  The only good to come out of that bad decision, was a change in all future similar situations, putting in place the Immediate Action Rapid Deployment tatic and may help saved some lives in the future.

When the attack was in progress, students fleed the building as quickly as possible.  The police and rescue teams had the students run into a large field behind the school.  Of course parents were all mortified, but couldn’t get to the school as a huge area had been roped off by police.  The parents were told to go to Leawood Elementary where the kids would be bussed over from the field.  Bus after bus arrived with families reuniting, and others wondering if their kids were still inside the school.  The police knew that 12 children were killed, but were not ready to tell the parents, so they instead gave them the false hope that one more bus was on the way.  As two hours went by, the parents rightfully wanted answers, doubting there was any additional busses, and it was only then that they were told their kids had been senselessly killed that day.

A decision was also made to leave the bodies of two deceased students in the parking lot of Columbine High School for over 48 hours, without even any covering.  The police stated fear that some of the bodies could have been staged with explosives when moved, but it stole the dignity of these two teenagers.  I can’t even wrap my head around how difficult it must have been for the parents of those two students, knowing their child’s deceased body lay in a parking lot covered in snow.

Overall, it was a horrible day in America, ruined the lives of many families, and made everyone feel a little less safe about going to school or sending their children to school.  The only positive you can possibly take out of it, is that we learn from the mistakes made by both the Sherriff’s Department and the media, and don’t repeat those same mistakes in another moment of tragedy.

I have been resisting Twitter for a good year now, but finally had to give in.  When Oprah speaks, people listen.  Last year when she had Jeff Bezos from Amazon to talk about the Kindle, sales for the Kindle skyrocketed, and it was out of stock for months.  So when I walked in the room and saw my wife watching an Oprah episode with Evan Williams,the CEO of Twitter, it was obvious that it was about to blow up even more, if that is even possible.  Well, it sure was possible, as some are suggesting that maybe over 1,000,000 people have signed up for Twitter within days of the Oprah episode. and as much as 37% of visits to the home page in days following episode were new users.

I guess in my mind, I didn’t care too much to hear what Ashton Kutcher was eating for dinner, or that one of my random friends were ‘going to the gym’.  However, in this period of over informing everyone, I decided to jump in.  You can follow me on Twitter right here.  I plan on using it as a vehicle for random thoughts, really the same as this blog but on a much more condensed level.  I’ll be posting snippets on business, the economy, sports, and breakfast customs.  I will say, that in my life I have never seen just hype for a product or service that Twitter has had over the last two months.  The buzz has been incredible, especially for something that is not hot off the shelves, but there is no doubt that the “Oprah Effect” helps.

Yes, I am a Chicago Bears fan, so it was instilled in me at an early age to hate anything and everything that has to do with the Green Bay Packers, but I secretly have always had some admiration for the “gunslinger”.  He was what football should be all about, being tough, commradderie, and having fun.  His yearly charade of retirement has turned from comedy, to sheer disgust.  I am pretty sure he started hinting at retirement each year starting in 2002.  He then finally made up his mind and sat up at a press conference with the Packers in 2007 and cried about how is body just couldn’t do it anymore, and he was ready to walk away to spend more time with his family.  Of course that lasted a few months until his ego decided that he couldn’t handle people not talking about him day after day.  So he starts this big saga of putting the Packers in a horrible situation asking to release him so he could play somewhere else, all of this during training camp for the 2008, after the Packers have already invested in Aaron Rodgers to take over.

After weeks of endless media speculation, the Packers finally released him and he jumped ship to the New York Jets, where he started off hot and faded down the stretch.  After the 2008 season he retired again.  He even made fun of himself in an interview about all of his retirements.  Here we are today, May 7, and the lead story on ESPN is that the Vikings are flying to to Mississippi to meet with Brett about joining them for next season.  Are you kidding me?

Rodger Clemens did the exact same thing numerous times.  In 2003, the Yankees played the Florida Marlins in the World Series.  Before the playoffs Clemens had said that the 2003 season would be his last.  He started game four of the series in Miami.  When he came out of the game in the bottom of the 8th, the Marlin fans rose in unison to give him a standing ovation.  I thought that was rather impressive when a visiting player gets a standing ovation from the home crowd, especially during the World Series.

It quickly became much stranger as the entire Marlins team came out of the dugout to give Clemens a standing ovation.  I have never seen anything like that in my life, an unbelievable sign of respect for a player deemed as one of the best pitchers ever, leaving the field for the last time.  It was one of those moments when you are watching a sporting event, and you know you will remember it for the rest of your life.  The only problem with it, was that Clemens completely contradicted himself and was back with the Yankees in 2004, and probably would still be pitching today if he wasn’t in the middle of the biggest steroid case in the history of sports.  Now, I vividly remember that moment, but more so as the moment when I stopped caring if an athlete spoke of retirement.

Jeff Pearlman wrote fascinating book on Clemens and spoke extensively about his ego.  In the end, to be a professional athlete, you have to have some sort of an ego.  In order to be in the top .1% of society in a specific skill, you have to believe you are that talented, so having an ego is a good thing to a certain extent.  Unfortunately, when your playing days are over, that ever growing ego still needs to be fed, and these two men are perfect examples who can’t bear to live outside of that spotlight.  It could be a byproduct of our society and semi worship of athletes that has created people like these two men, but to me, if you say you are hanging it up, accept praise and adulation from everyone, then go the exact opposite direction, you are a hippocrite and you have lost the respect of a lot of people, myself included.

We are in the middle of the second ‘Great Depression’. 

The world is collapsing as we know it.

Capitalism is dead!

I think we have seen an interesting change of sentiment over the last six weeks or so.  It seems that the United States as a whole is sick and tired, of being sick and tired.  The economic quagmire we are currently in is going on its 18th month.  In our fast paced society, that is an extremely long time.  Since March 6, the Dow has been up over 20%, and is currently in the middle of a six week up streak.  Is everything great?  Of course not, but we are seeing plenty of signs that things are beginning to level off.  Not to mention, I was extremely excited to find a picture of what appears to be a happy stock broker.  It sure beats the pictures in this FaceBook Group.

Of course you could look at standard economic measures, such as mortgage applications coming back to life, the banks are actually showing profits, we had the first successful IPO in over a year last week, and there have been ten M&A deals in the last two weeks alone.

You could also look at it from more of a high level perspective.  I spent all of last week in Florida, at our home on Anna Maria Island.  I have been visiting there for six years now, and I have NEVER seen it as crowded as it was last week.  I spoke to people at restaurants and they indicated that it was the busiest they have been in five years.  I saw a line of 30 people waiting outside of an ice cream shop just to get in.  I guess you could be cynical and say that many of these people were driving to Florida for Spring Break in lieu of a more extravagant trip, or “going to visit the grandparents”, but in the end, people were out vacationing and spending money.  The government has infused hundreds of billions of dollars into the banks, and companies like AIG, but there is no question that consumer spending, which accounts for two thirds of our overall economy, is what is going to get our economy back going in the right direction.

Yes, millions of people have lost their jobs in this downturn , and millions more will in the remainder of this year, but signs of recovery are beginning to pop up in many places.  We as Americans are quite resilient and it will be exciting to watch us crawl out of this and get people working again.

Each year when Spring rolls around and the Masters tournament looms, it makes me remeniss about what to this day was the single best moment of my life.  Of course I have the day each of our two children were born, and my wedding, but as far as a ‘moment’, what took place in 1997 could never be topped.  It feels kind of strange to put the details together of a personal story, but in these trying times, with millions of people losing their jobs, and 401Ks, I think it serves as a good message for overcoming a difficult time, and how sometimes it just takes a little luck, and your life can change for the better.

I played baseball at Xavier University here in Cincinnati, and came in as a freshman from a small highschool in Indiana in the fall of 1995.  I of course had no idea if I would play, or how I would do, but as an 18 year old, baseball was the most important part of my life by far.  I was lucky enough to start about half of the games my freshman year in the outfield.  I didn’t do anything special, but it was productive.  I vividly remember driving back home for the summer and knowing that two ouf our starting outfielders were graduating that I would be a full time starter going forward.  I couldn’t wait to get back to school and start fall practice my sophomore year.

Things changed after only one practice.  Yes, the two seniors graduated, but two freshman came in.  One ended up playing in the Major Leagues for two different teams, and the other was a 6′ 4″ switch hitter with an unreal throwing arm.  I quickly realized that me being in the starting lineup wasn’t going to be a given.  There was no doubt in my mind that these two guys had better skills than I did. 

When I came back after Christmas break and we started getting ready for the season, I was absolutely horrible.  It was laffable how poorly I was hitting the ball, people go through slumps, but WOW was I bad.  We made our annual spring trip to Jacksonville to play 15 games and I played sparingly.  It was very difficult to swallow, but its not like I thought I wasn’t getting a fair shake by the coach, there were simply better players than me.

Around mid March, my parents came down to watch a weekend series at Xavier.  In a double header on Saturday, I didn’t even get off the bench.  That night at dinner, I told my parents that I wanted to transfer.  I still loved baseball, and enjoyed Xavier, but was competitive, and wanted to go somewhere where I would play.  My parents were a bit shell shocked as they had no idea I was feeling that way.   It was a horrible feeling to try to come to grips that I wasn’t good enough to play at Xavier.

The next Tuesday came along, and we played Kentucky at home.  In the first inning, our left fielder, Matt Watson, who has played with both the Mets and Athletics, had a line drive hit to him.  He dove and jammed his finger and he ended up breaking it.  I came in for him, and happened to go 3-4.  The next day was another 3-4 with a home run.

That weekend, we had our biggest conference rival, Virginia Tech coming into town, for a three game series on Saturday and Sunday.  After practice on Friday, Coach Morrey said to us that these three games would be the most important games ever played on our home field.  Obviously I was excited, as I was going to the on the field and part of it.  Once again, my parents made the drive down to Cincinnati.  We split the games on Saturday, and I had another good day hitting with a couple home runs.  The winner of the Sunday game would put that team on top of the Atlantic 10.

We had a back and forth game on Sunday, and were down by three in the bottom of the 9th.  We mounted a comeback, and I came up with runners on first and second with two outs, with us down by two runs.  I was down to my last strike and things weren’t looking good.  I got a high fastball, and hit it to left center field.  I was caught up in the moment, but as I was rounding first base I saw it clear the fence for a home run and we won the game.  I have never, and will never, experience the kind of euphoria felt at that moment.  The team came out of the dugout, we had a huge pile on the field, it was incredible.  When I saw my parents afterward, my Mom was sobbing, and I think its the only time in my life that I saw my Dad shed a tear.  It was as if I was having an out of body experience.

That afternoon we went to a restaurant and watched Tiger Woods win his first Masters, which has turned out to be a watershed moment in the sports world.

In the end, the people who cared about Xavier Baseball at that time, were probably limited to the guys on our team and our families, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal.  However, for me, it was the watershed moment of my life.  I went on to start every game the rest of my career, and was named captain of the team.  If I would have left Xavier, its doubtful I would have met my wife, or remained good friends with the teammates I spent four years with at Xavier.  I certainly would not be living in Cincinnati today. That one single moment, taught me that you can come out of tough times on top.  I actually think about that day probably more than I should 12 years later, but for me it is less about the fact that I hit a ball over a fence, and more about the pure unadulturated joy that I had at that moment, and sharing it with my family.

I thought when Federal investigators spent millions of dollars and years going after Barry Bonds, that Bonds would be the “poster boy” for the late 90s steroid era in baseball.  Now, with the Sports Illustrated report that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003,  Alex has been thrown through the ringer the last two weeks, and seems to have done a pretty miserable job of trying to explain himself.  Here you have a guy who had already signed a
ten year contract in excess of $252,000,000.00, but he is going to play
‘amature hour’ and inject himself with a strange steroid that he
doesn’t even know how to use?  When your body is worth a quarter of a
billion dollars, I am pretty damn sure you are going to research what
you are putting into it. 

He now tries to act contrite and say how sorry he
is to everyone he let down, to me, that couldn’t be further from the
truth.  He is sorry that this story has come to light.  He is sorry about the reaction, but what he should be, is enraged at Gene Orza and Donald Fehr and the baseball players union for the fact that Sports Illustrated got their hands on these test results.

The entire reason the drug test in question was institued was to get an anonymous look at baseball to see if there actually was a steroid problem, no punishments would be handed down, it was more of a census.  There were 1,200 players to be tested and if the tests results came back to show that more than 5% of Major League Baseball tested positive for steroids, they would implement a random drug testing program.  The results were coded so that two documents would be needed to determine the names.  The players seemed to know that the tests were coming and if so desired, had plenty of time to get the drugs out of their system.  Much to baseball’s chagrin, 104 players tested positive.  The Players Union is said to have notified all of those players, which included Rodriguez.  However, instead of then destroying these documents and protecting these players’ privacy, as promised, the records were kept, and were seized when a Federal investigation began into San Francisco’s BALCO labs.

So here we are, six years later and Alex Rodriguez has been thrown under the bus in front of the entire country.  Alex was one one of the 104 who tested positive, but the only one to be tarred and feathered in the court of public opinion.  Sure, his name probably carries the most cache’, but would it be right to throw out the other 103 names?  In my opinion, absolutely not.  Maybe this is happening behind the scenes, but Donald Fehr should be in full damage control mode to the members of the players union.  How they could trust anything coming out of his mouth going forward is beyond me. 

Make no mistake about it, A-Rod cheated, and taking performancing drugs is wrong, but we are talking about an era where it is possible and probable that 50% of baseball were taking some sort of banned substances.  Major League Baseball cleaned up their act in 2005 when they started dolling out suspensions for positive tests, so for the most part the problem is in the past.  I am confident that most baseball fans are sick of hearing about the past, and would like to talk about what happens on the field, instead of this horrible act with completely false stories and excuses. 

It is highly doutful that Rodriguez will take any legal action against the union, due to the negative publicity that would come with it, but the union is getting off much to easy in this situation.  They betrayed a tremendous amount of people and violated their privacy and should be repremanded for it.

Watching the footage yesterday of the US Airways crash into the Hudson river was simply amazing.  New York is going through a terrible time as of late.  The financial markets are a mess, Broadway shows are shutting down left and right, and overall the city seems to be in a dark malaise.  A plane crash you would think would just be one more horrible thing to add to the list, but I take it as the exact opposite.

How you could land a plane filled with 155 people in a river and come away with no serious injuries is nothing short of a miracle.  The response team of the Coast Guard and NYC water taxis was incredible.  The knowledge and skill of the pilot, Mr. Sullenberger, in such a crisis situation is beyond commendable.  I just can’t get enough of reading about this unbelievable event. 

I was trying to come up with a better possible place to put a plane down in water on short notice and I’m convinced this was the best place on the globe.  I can’t imagine the response time if that were to happen on the Ohio river here in Cincinnati, it would take well over an hour to evacuate everyone, that is if the plane was still above water.

New York is an exciting, vibrant and tough city.  What took place yesterday is further indication of that.  The Big Apple deserves a pat on the back for yesterday’s heroics, it could have been a horrific tragedy at a time where the city and country as a whole is already reeling.  Instead, I believe it shows our resolve in tough situations, and maybe wishfully thinking, can be a spring board to our recovery.

My wife Nicole is due to have our second child this weekend, so it will be a great Christmas for us.  Obviously I am excited to see the baby, but as much as I hate to admit it, I wish we could just flip a switch and the little guy would be in our arms, as the whole process of child birth is a bit much for me.

Six months ago, one of my good friends and co-workers, Steve Spiegla and his wife had a baby.  He was born at the same hospital as our 1st son, Charlie.  When Nicole and I visited them and walked into the maternity ward, I noticed that I was sweating and felt like I was going to pass out. It was like I returned to the scene of a crime.

That is a slight exaggeration, but I’ll go on record as saying I have NEVER felt more useless or worthless than watching my wife go through 20 hours of labor.  Sure, men have egos, some more than others, but during childbirth, they seem to disappear.  Telling Nicole to “breathe” isn’t exactly doing much, other than making her want to punch me in the face.  What a woman’s body goes through over the course of nine months and childbirth is astonishing, and almost unbelievable.  Charlie was born healthy and everything turned out and Nicole was fine, but its a scary process.  Without a doubt I earned a new respect for women after going through that three years ago.

My poor wife has been close to miserable for a month.  I came into our bedroom last week, and noticed her sleeping in what I considered to be a ‘coffin’.  She laid in bed and put pillows around the entire perimeter of her body.  According to her, that is the only way she can be comfortable.  She says that she now feels about 11 months pregnant.  I have to help her off the couch, and I notice she has taken over my wardrobe of sweats and t-shirts.

I’ve heard some men say they feel useless on their wedding day, as really the day is built for the bride.  That may be true, but the bride isn’t going through excruciating pain, like with childbirth, so childbirth gets my vote

So, I guess this is a thanks for the last nine months and a good luck to Nicole.  I’ll be there rooting you on, regarless of my worth.

The web has, without question, changed the lives of probably billions of people.  I came out of college at a perfect time to try to capitalize on this new marketplace, and it has been a blessing for myself and my family.  Anyone can start an online business, and unfortunately, thats where it seems all the small business is heading right now.

As the years go by, besides the web, it seems the ‘real world’ is becoming more and more full of corporations, and its rather disturbing.  For an example, just take a look at the way restaurants are going.  This May, we drove from Sarasota all the way up to Cincinnati.  Without fail, every single exit has the exact same chain restaurants for that stretch of 1,000 miles.  I remember thinking to myself while driving, ‘what kind of food is Georgia known for?’  After driving through the entire state, it appers that McDonalds and Subway are their speciality.

It isn’t just restaurants, two privately owned hardware stores here in Cincinnati that I used to go to have closed down within the last year.  They just cannot compete with the giant corporations of Lowe’s and Home Depot.  Before, you could walk into your local hardware store, and someone would be right there to help you find what you are looking for.  Now you have to go to this humongous warehouse and do a few laps around the place to find someone who can answer a question for you.

Sporting good stores are the same thing.  When I was ten years old, I vividly remember my dad getting me a specific Wilson A2000 baseball glove that he had to drive 30 miles to a small place in East Chicago, Indiana, AP Davis, to pick it up.  That place has since closed down as there is now a Dick’s Sporting Goods in every town.

Disney confronted this same subject with their movie Wall-e this summer, saying in the future, there will be only one store at which to shop, Buy & Large.  I’m not saying we are to that point, but the direction we are heading in is alarming.

On the flip side, the conglomerates have yet to push out the ‘little guy’ on the web.  In a sense, that is what we built our Text Link Ads business on.  Our goal was (is) to provide a service to web based businesses that gives them the opportunity to drive relevant traffic to theie website as well as rank well in the major search engines when someone is searching for their respective products or services.  When you break it down, it seems rather simple.

Using the example of the Wilson A200 baseball glove, just look at the search results.  The first page is loaded with small web based business who have worked hard to market their sites, and are put on an equal playing field with the big guys and are able to compete.  We have friends who have made great livings for themselves by jumping on an idea and starting an ecommerce store, so the opportunities are there fore everyone.

Selfishly, I hope the trend reverses with the brick and mortar businesses.  Small business, and entrepeneurship is what this country is all about.  You can be in Manhattan and eat at a different privately owned restaurant every day for something like 10 years.  My wife and I have a place on Anna Maria Island in Florida.  It has beautiful beaches and weather.  However, if someone asks about the place, the first thing I always point to is the fact that an ordinance prevents anyone from building anything higher than the tallest palm trees, and there is not a single chain restaurant on the entire island.  Which means it is not infested with one high rise condo after another or a Starbucks on every corner.  Everyone to a person, thinks that is a crazy thing in this day and age.

Walking into a small restaurant or shop where the you feel like you know the owners are the types of things that help to bring together a community.  The way things have gone in the last 15 years, it is pulling in the opposite direction.  Hopefully the current financial downturn will cause a shift in this direction, as its obvious that big business didn’t have all the answers.

At the end of the day, when my kids have grown, I hope they can grab a burger at the the neighborhood hangout that isn’t a Red Robin, and small business is still alive on main street, and not just on the internet.

Update:  I think USA Today read this entry :

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-12-11-anna-maria-island_N.htm

Unlike similar sunset celebrations in Florida tourist meccas such as Key West, there are no rowdy crowds, wall-to-wall bars or panhandlers. Also absent on Anna Maria are high-rise condos and chain hotels. You’ll have to drive off-island for a McDonald’s or Starbucks fix.