Mark Knows It All

It was with great regret peppered with some anger that I watched the news from Columbus. Jim Tressel resigned as Ohio State’s football coach. What a pity. What a shame. But he is another in a long line of Mahoning Valley favorite sons to bite the dust. I wrote several weeks ago that the NCAA crossed the Rubicon in using “amateur” players to enrich itself and its member schools years ago. It is a crime that the NCAA and its members have built a billion dollar business on the backs of often times broke students who are willing to indenture themselves for a 1 in 500 chance of playing in the NFL. Although I am an Ohio State fan, I much less so now than I was when I was younger. Big time football has always been a business, but lately it has turned into something much more ugly with luxury boxes and tickets that are out of reach of many of the fans. This is especially true in the state schools. This isn’t pro football. At the end of the day schools like Ohio State are t...

These past few months I have had the privilege of doing some supplemental singing with the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church choir. The director of Seraphim, my community chorus, is Director of Music at St. Patrick’s, and arranged for some of us individually and for the whole chorus to do some singing in this magnificent church. This year St. Patrick’s celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. It is a big gothic old style Catholic Church located in Youngstown’s south side. In a city built on steel, the neighborhood was ethnic, blue collar and middle class. They even considered making it the Cathedral for the newly formed Diocese of Youngstown (a function it temporarily served when St. Columba’s Cathedral burned down in the early 1950’s). But the neighborhood has been in decline for years and years, and has been long considered classic inner-city surrounded by urban blight. But like several other old neighborhood Catholic churches in the area, the faithful who moved to the sub...

These past few months have seen an unprecedented attack on public employees. Never in my life have I seen anything quite like it. Salaries are being posted. Implied derogatory descriptions about benefits are in newspaper articles, blogs. I have even experienced some “critical” questions from acquaintances relating to my wife’s benefits, a teacher who has just completed her 33rd year of teaching. My son is also a public employee. He is the financial officer at the Board of Elections. When he took the job, I got many raised eyebrows from some folks along with some surprisingly smart ass comments that verged on insulting. His credentials were actually pulled by the local press. He has a Masters Degree in Accounting from the Ohio State Fisher School of Business after graduating from YSU with a degree in accounting and a 3.9 GPA. That’s the last we heard of that. Of course, nothing is said about the benefits and pay guaranteed by the government for the auto workers whos...

Last night we went to see the Easy Street Production of Forever Plaid. It was an encore performance from a few years ago. I saw it then and it worth going to see again.  Unfortunately, with Tim McGraw at the Covelli Center, Canfield High School's Senior Class Play, and the Boardman High School's  spectacular fundraiser featuring scenes from past Senior plays with the people who originally played the roles in high school….the Ford Recital Hall was only ½ full.  If you haven’t seen Forever Plaid, it runs for one more weekend .  GO AND SEE IT.  As always, you will see no better version anywhere as you will with Todd Hancock and company. The story deals with a vocal quartet called the Plaids killed on the way to a gig at the airport lounge by a school bus filled with parochial virgins in the early 1960’s. But the Plaids are given one more chance to give the performance of a lifetime before gaining permanent entrance to the afterlife, reali...

I have a friend who is currently recuperating from some back issues in a rehab center. He is close to 80 years old, but you would never know it to talk to him. I have known him for over 40 years, and he sounds and looks the same. He always has a smile; always has a good word: always ready for a laugh. Several months ago I was having some personal issues. He must have seen it in my face when out for dinner with some mutual friends, and on his own he asked me to pay him a visit just to sit and chat. We talked awhile. He was just what the doctor ordered. He told me all you have to know in life are God’s two great commandments. Love God. Love your neighbor. If you can do those two things, you will have lived a good life. How simple and to the point. Two simple rules that can make a difference! I am no great theologian. Being raised Catholic I thought there were many more rules than that; meatless Fridays, fast for three hours before communion, go to Catholic School or go to hell, don’t t...