Susan Keeler Smith

This morning I lost the most inspirational and courageous woman I have known.

Many of you are aware that my dear sister-in-law Susan Keeler Smith had suffered from metastatic breast cancer for the past 15 years. I am saddened greatly to report that early this morning (Dec. 1, 2011) Susan passed peacefully in her sleep with my brother by her bedside at Prentice Women’s Hospital.

When someone deals with metastatic breast cancer the long-term outlook isn’t good, and Susan continued to defy these odds even until the end. It was over a month ago that her doctor told us on a Thursday (Oct. 27) that she wouldn’t make it through the next Monday (Oct. 31).

You can imagine that none of us were really surprised when not only she made it through the weekend but was more alert and awake in the follow days and weeks than she had been in the few months prior. We weren’t shocked because a) it is no secret that Thanksgiving was Susan’s favorite holiday and b) she was hopeful to make it to another Thanksgiving.

You see, for all the great things I can say about Susan, and trust me there are many as she was the “older sister” that I never had (and I was always quick to remind her how much of an “older” sister she was to me), her will, desire, courageousness, and class are what I will forever remember her by.

It was never that Susan tried to “defy the odds” or even think that she would be able to “beat cancer.” She knew her long-term fate was going to be the shame, but she also knew that no matter how much medicine, how many treatments, how many new drugs they tried on her, or anything else that life threw at her, the one thing she could control was how she dealt with it. By her attitude and determination to live her life as best she could she would be in control. 

She had two options 15 years ago when her cancer returned; she could sit back, take the hand dealt to her and ultimately wait to die, or she could look it square in the eye, realize her life would be different now but that wasn’t going to stop her from living it to its fullest potential.

The Thanksgiving Day example I gave earlier is just one of hundreds of examples of how Susan’s determination over the last 15 years is what guided her life, and not cancer. It wasn’t until the last few years that Susan rarely missed a trip to see family, witness a marriage of friends, or enjoy a much-needed vacation with her husband and daughter. If she had made it up in her mind that she was going to be somewhere, she was going to be there.

Of course her ability to be called “mom” over the last 9 years was her most recent driving force. The example she showed to Grace of how to respect others, have compassion, courage, and an appreciation for the arts will be a beacon of light forever.

When someone has a terminal illness I think it is natural for the loved ones around them to contemplate their relationship with the person suffering and the impact they had on them. I will consider it a blessing that I have had so much time to dwell on this subject as Susan continued to deal with her disease with such ferociousness.

I realized I was able to love her deeply and this is the same woman that while having this terrible and dreaded disease was able to:

-- Become a loving, caring and strong mother.

-- Be my biggest sounding board as I went through my divorce (a situation sadly she could relate to).

-- Not know who Ozzie Smith was.

-- Let us take over her condo on our regular visits to Chicago

-- With a few bottles of wine could solve all the world’s problems and remind Steve how wrong he was about many of his political views.

-- Stay up and watched a World Cup game with me in 2002 that kicked off at 3 a.m. local time and then watched as me and my “other brother” shot-gunned a beer on her condo balcony to great the rising sun! 

-- Be the first person I called and told I thought I found someone I wanted to marry again (after of course swearing off the idea to her just a year or so earlier).

-- Be a spokesperson/”poster child” for Gilda’s Club in Chicago and try to tell her story to as many people as she could in hopes of giving them a ray of hope.

-- Be such an inspiration that she was invited to attend a star-studded event in Austin put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (the LiveStrong folks).

-- While even dealing with treatments and drugs, was a regular caller to check in on Kelly and I after the sudden and premature loss of our twin boys.

-- Be in St. Louis shortly after Kennedy was born to see her new niece.

-- Not even 6 months ago, mustered up all the strength she had to be with Steve, Grace and all of us in St. Louis as we laid “Opa” to rest.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

There are a lot of mysteries to life and this world, but I can’t help but think of the discussion we all had with Susan just this summer as we dealt with the sudden passing of my father. She considered it a blessing that just this spring the two of them were able to go over Bible readings and other elements she would want in her memorial service. It was really the first time she talked to anyone with such openness on the matter.

I also can’t help but think that Susan’s own father Owen, my father, and a host of other loved ones and friends are welcoming her with open arms right now in heaven. She is giving our boys the hugs she promised she would when we I was able to say my final “good-bye” to her last month.

Her cancer is finally gone, but she will be with us forever. 

If you haven't seen it yet, or are interested, you can see Susan's CaringBridge page by going here. 

U.S. Government Still Chasing Its Tail

So a huge crackdown has once again sent shock waves through the online gambling industry. The FBI sent this release out yesterday and it is apparent the US government continues to chase its tail when it comes to the issue of online gambling.

In 2006 the crackdown was one that I unfortunately had a front-row seat for. The Department of Justice got the blood it wanted out of that proceeding but other online sports books still operated and only slight changes were felt with online casino and poker sites (a few of the major players in those sectors stopped taking "action" from US-based consumers). There were plenty of other options for US consumers to still get action online.

Behind the scenes it did force most executives from these companies from traveling to the US and most of their vendors (if they were smart) were also outside of America. The once exception was Full Tilt Poker who brazenly had offices in California for the last several years.

Fast forward to April 15, 2011 and once again charges have been filed and arrest have been made. The three largest poker sites that accept play from US consumers have been forced to stop doing so, but once again others still remain (BoDog just to name one).

Reports project that US consumers spend $6 BILLION a year gambling online. In a "free market" system if there is a demand of that size, there will always be someone, somewhere, who will take the risk to ensure that the demand is met.

The government can decide if they want to get serious about dealing with this growing industry and license and regulate it (i.e. tax the hell out of it), or continue to make headlines every couple of years by indicting and charging executives and getting million dollar judgments from the companies.

As long as there is $6 billion in play, operators, banks, software companies, and others will ensure they get Americans to hand over their money to them so they can gamble online. Does the government want that money going into the hands of thugs and mobsters as they will no doubt get more and more of the pie now? Or do they want to have it go to legitimate businesses with well-schooled executives leading them who are more than willing to pay heavy taxes and give the government a huge influx of needed revenue?

So far the answer is clear, they are perfectly content to keep chasing their tale.

People Watching in NASCAR

So one of my favorite endeavors is going to NASCAR races.

Between my professional work and just being a die-hard racing fan, I have had the pleasure of seeing NASCAR races at some of the finest tracks in the country (Talladega, Bristol, Atlanta, Miami, Indy, just to name a few).

One of the best things about going to the races is the people watching. The Fox station in Dallas did a great job of capturing some of the people watching. Do your self a favor and watch the video here:

Kenseth wins Texas Sprint Cup Race: MyFoxDFW.com

Another Great Cardinals Headline

So we have had Cardinals headlines talking about two-shit shutouts, we had another one that said the Cards were "done in by wet balls," but today's Cardinals headline mine take the cake and be the best of them all.

Funny thing is that I had tweeted a few weeks ago, while listening to the radio broadcast of a spring training Cardinals game, that Zack Cox was my new favorite player on the team. Of course those that know me well know I enjoy juvenile humor and mainstream references to genitalia. But of course my main reason for saying that Cox was my new favorite player was because of seeing headlines like this.

Now I just can't wait to hear Mike Shannon say things like "Cox hit that hard," or "Cox goes deep," and of course the inevitable "Now Cox steps in and COME ON BABY, GET UP, GET UP, GET UP, OH YEAH."

Post Dispatch FoD 3.8.11

This one doesn't need much commentary, I will let the screen shot and comments on it speak for themselves.

This does beg the question though, do they have a single person in the Lee operation that is even looking at the content that is put out on the pages?

Bursting Bubbles

Well here we go again.

If there is an award for the biggest snubs in the NCAA men's basketball tournament not only would Missouri State have won it far to many times, they might just have to re-name it in the programs honor.

This is the same program I covered in a variety of different journalism roles from 1994-2004 and one in which I still hold near and ear to my heart.

To this day Missouri State's 2006 campaign remains the biggest "snub" in tourney history, and the proof is in the numbers not just a impartial opinion.

It was in 2006 that then head-coach Barry Hinson's squad was left without an invite to the big dance after having an RPI of 21. In 1997 I had a front-row view on selection Sunday as coach Steve Alford's team was standing without a dance partner after finishing with 24 wins, back then a near record high number of wins without getting an invite. Hinson also had snubs in 2000 and 2007 when his teams reached RPIs of 34 and 37. This long list of snubs means Missouri State holds the honor of having 3 of the top 5 rated RPI teams to not make the NCAA tourney, enough to make a Bears fan sick.

Each one of these teams though had valid strikes against them as reasons for being snubbed. The degree to which those strikes should have mattered is another point. In 1997 the general consensus from selection committee members (of which I had interviewed one) and the bracket "experts" back then was that the team's strength of schedule was weak and the number of wins was somewhat watered down.

Mo State started scheduling better, didn't get as many wins in 2000 but had that killer RPI in which everyone knew they were going to get in only to be told, "no sorry, you didn't win enough." Some of the experts also said that year that Mo State's inability to win the conference title hurt their at-large chances.

So now here we sit, less than a week before selection Sunday. The 2011 version of Missouri State has won the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title, amassed a record of 25-8 and currently sits 42 in the RPI.

If the Bears are left again without a ticket to March Madness it might be the most drastic snub in the long-history of snubs for the program, and a low water mark for the Missouri Valley. It would mark the first time since 1992 that the conference regular season champ isn't in the tournament and the 4th year in a row and a far cry from the four that made it in 2006.

This isn't about who should be in or out (Big East gets 11 teams?), but the NCAA would do well to at least give consistent guidance to programs and coaches so they know what they have to do to get in. Let Cuonzo Martin know what he can do better next year (outside of course from winning the conference tournament and getting the automatic bid) to ensure his program isn't snubbed once again.

And if that answer is "win more games," then he knows. If it is "get a better schedule," then he knows. But you can't move the goalposts next year after you use one set of guidelines to pick your tournament field this year using a completely different set of standards.

Unless of course, your corrupt as all hell and just want to ensure the "right" kind of teams are "invited" to your dance. Can anyone else say "BCS."

Has "Its Time" Finally Come?

In the late summer of 2000 I walked into an office among the quaint and busy historical district of Historic Main Street in St. Charles Missouri that would forever change my life.

I walked into the world headquarters of River City Group for an initial job interview, one that was followed up with an offer and subsequent 5 years of work at the company. It changed my life because while I was hired as a staff writer for an online trade publication (www.IGamingNews.com) it was a clear step away from the print newspaper world I had gone to school and trained for.

Not only was the shift away from traditional media a big one, it was a larger shift into the specific world of online gambling and the general sector of web operations that would set the course for the rest of my professional career.

I only give you that brief background of my professional journey during the first half of the last decade to point out the fact that I have been around the block for a little while when it comes to online gambling (the "it" referenced in the headline above) specifically and the web in general.

I won't bore you with a lengthy history lesson on the industry or its lobbying efforts for the last 15 years, some of which I played a small but direct role in and had a front row seat as they played themselves out. But anyone who has had any discussion with me about how the industry is regulated/prohibited in the United States knows my mantra has always been that "it" will happen some day.

As states and jurisdictions deal with tightening budgets and massive cutbacks the online gambling industry offers a revenue producer that could be taxed at over 20%. The industry has always offered to pay hefty taxes as the benefit of being able to operate freely within the United States far outweighs the risk of having to operate covertly from a foreign jurisdiction.

New Jersey took a major step today when its governor approved a bill allowing for the state's 11 current casino operators in Atlantic City to create an intrastate system that would make it possible for Garden State citizens to log on and play black jack, roulette and other table games. The bill was approved after passing both the State Senate and the House.

Even though the system is "intrastate" only it is projected to inject the state with $100 million in tax revenue (the casinos agreed to be taxed at 23%) and create 500 jobs, something every state I am sure would embrace right now.

This bill no doubt will be the proverbial breaking of the dam and you can expect other states to follow suit in order to a) stay competitive and b) keep jobs and money in their state. Similar bills have been introduced or reached various stages in states like California, Nevada, and North Dakota and looked for these to pick up steam again or be revisited and for many of the other states (28 in all) who have casinos already to study this issue.

It may not seem like much right now, but the steps taken today in New Jersey were of the Neal Armstrong variety, one small step for a state but one massive leap for an industry.

Respecting our Veterans, in life and death

So I posted the above video a few days ago on my FaceBook page but felt that it was worth posting here again too.

This video is about a 30 minute interview of a friend's father about 9 months before he died of cancer last week.

Our country has been thrust into wars and battles we don't all always agree with. In the Vietnam era this had a direct effect as to how our soldiers were treated upon them returning home, regardless of how they actually felt about the war from a political prospective as well.

Certain sects of our society have brought vile hate towards troops have have died in battle while in Iraq or Afghanistan. Luckily there "protests" are started to be thwarted as groups around the country are answering these pickets by peacefully blocking them from the view of mourners and the families of the troops.

I was thinking about all of this yesterday as I watched current members of the United States Navy fold the American flag with the utmost precision and hand the perfectly folded stars and stripes to my friend as his father was laid to rest.

This video is part of a project to get the voices heard of World War II veterans before they are all gone (we lose more than 1,000 of them a day). If you are a fan of history you will love the clarity and vividness that Paul Rothermich shares in this video.

And if you're like me you will be happy that our society, for the most part, has made huge strides in how we deal with our veterans and ensuring they are given the proper respect upon returning home after battle and eventually when they leave the Earth for good.

The Awesomeness of Pop-Up Ads -- STL Today FoD 2.18.11

Well today's STL Today's Fail of the Day (FoD) isn't so much content or layout related as it is that they seem to be the only site I visit on a regular basis that still can't seem to figure out how to do away with pop-up ads.

No only is it annoying as hell but the ads themselves are irrelevant to anything I would remotely have interest in and are of the "spammy" variety. The best part about this whole deal is that we are always hearing about how traditional media companies, especially newspapers are dying on the vine largely due to the fact that there advertising revenue is drying up. God for bid these people figure out how to make money on rev-share/affiliate advertising or any of the myriad of ways that moder-day web properties do when they do try to have an online presence like STLToday.

Instead they can't get out of their own way when they allow crap like this to happen.

STL Today Fail of the Day -- 2.16.11

I don't know how long it has been since the St. Louis Post Dispatch redesigned their home page (I am going to guess 6-8 months ago). As an avid consumer of news I have always had the home page to my city's daily paper bookmarked. I used to even follow many of the paper's RSS feeds until I realized they were populating many of the same feeds with the exact same story.

So ever since they have come out with the new home page I realized they have a problem when they initial publish a story and then hours, or days, later they publish an updated or revised version of the story. I used to find it quirky that two prominent headlines either on the actual home page or a section page would link to a story on the same subject matter even though they had different headlines.

I know stories can often develop over hours or days, after all I used to work in this space. Not knowing what back-end system they were using to upload stories to the web I figured they were working on it.

A few months ago what I had attributed to a quirky system was starting to frankly piss me off and affecting how regular I visited the paper's web site. I have no idea of anyone at the Post-Dispatch will see this or read this but for my own sanity starting today I am going to post a daily example of this (or other #Fails) that I find on STLToday.com (the Post's online site).

I will post a screen shot along with a link to what I found, realizing that the content on the link could change the screen shot will at least show you how inept they are at updating content or at least not having the same story matter right next to each other.

So without further ado, here is the first installment of the STLToday FoD

(Fail of the Day).

At some point the paper published a story with the headline of "Person is Ejected from Vehicle in St. Charles." The story actually referenced workers "on the scene."

The very next story to be updated (or at least put on the feature spot for the "St. Charles" section of the site), had a headline of "Wentzville Man Killed in Car Crash."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/

Yep, you guessed it, the exact same subject matter in both stories.

Old Blogs

Wow, knowing it has been a long while since I posted on here I was having troubling remembering my log-in credentials.

Low and behold I accessed an old blog of mine that I started in 2005 when I was doing a lot of international travel and was away from friends and family for extended periods of time. It was a way for them to easily keep in touch with me before the days of Facebook and other social media sites.

You may or may not find it interesting, you can go here:

http://celticcommunications.blogspot.com/