Testing the Water

Hello All! My name is Nick Paredes. This is my first successful Blog post. How Exciting. I was introduced to Blogs by my old college buddy, Robert Scoble. I started reading his Blog a couple months ago and figured, if he can do it...so can I. In fact, he got a write up about his Blogging the the Seattle PI.

My Blog will be nothing like his. While a lot of blogs tend to be more techy and "industry significant," I plan to write more of a personal blog about sports, life and how the two meet & intertwine.

For instance: There is currently an uproar about Dusty Baker's (Chicago Cubs Manager) comments that Blacks and Latino's can handle the hot weather better than white skinned people because, after all, that is why they were brought to America to begin with.

While most in the paper, radio and news are condemning him and saying he should be penalized in some way for his comments....comparing him to others who have been fired or in some other way sanctioned for their racial comments in the past...I happen to agree with his right to speak his mind. His comments are not coming from stupidity or lack of education. They are coming from someone who has taken the time to learn his cultures history and doesn't mind speaking his piece. If you want to argue the validity of his statements, come forward with proof he is wrong. It is easy to sit back in your chair and say he shouldn't have made those comments, but I feel these types of comments are helpful to the education of people who otherwise would not have known. Could he have chose a different setting to make these comments? Maybe. The fact is he believes he is right and is standing by his comments...which is more than we can say for most who are in the spotlight who backtrack faster than Carl Lewis runs the 100 yard dash.

Well, now you have an idea on the types of things I will be including in this Blog. I hope to get lots of feedback from people who actually sign their names (I hate "anonymous users").