Roy Exum: This June In My Garden

As we stroll through my garden on this, the first day of June, it should be remembered the birth flower for this month is the rose. So before we celebrate that on this very day in 1796 Tennessee became the 16th state of these United States, let’s see if we can distinguish between the rose and the thorns:

A ROSE for Major League Baseball’s Giancarlo Stanton who, on May 12, became the fourth player in the history of Dodger Stadium (opened in 1962) to actually hit a ball so far it landed outside the stadium.  Stanton’s Marlins lost the game so Giancarlo’s shot was almost overlooked in the Dodgers’ 11-1 win but, upon review, Stanton’s mammoth blast traveled 478-feet over the left-field pavilion before it hit the ground. The others who have airmailed a ball all the way out? Willie Stargell, Mark McGuire and Mike Piazza, who did it twice.

A THORN for the fact union membership in the United Auto Workers has declined by 1.1 million members between 2000 and 2014 but the number in “management occupations” rose from 438,000 to 562,000 in the same period of time. So much for the rank-and-file, huh?

A ROSE for Vanderbilt, which just won the NCAA women’s tennis championship for the first time, but also for the fact a study of 10-year graduation rates among the SEC football teams looks like this: The Top Half -- Vanderbilt 88 percent, Florida 75 percent, Missouri 64 percent, Texas A&M 63 percent, LSU 63 percent, South Carolina 63 percent, and Auburn 63 percent. The Bottom Half – Alabama 62 percent, Miss. State 61 percent, Kentucky 60 percent, Georgia 59 percent, Ole Miss 58 percent, Tennessee 56 percent and Arkansas 54 percent.

A THORN to Virginia’s Fairfax County School Board for the decision to include gender identity in the high schools’ curriculum, “including lessons on sexual fluidity and spectrum – the idea there’s no such a thing as 100-percent boys and 100-percent girls.” My goodness, can you imagine having a child who has to sit and listen to such garbage?

A ROSE for the non-profit group, 4 Paws for Ability. The dogs are trained to detect when a child is going to have a seizure and, in some cases, parents can now sleep through the night instead of the constant worry when the next seizure will occur. Properly trained dogs have a heckuva batting average, too.

A THORN to the startling fact a preschooler in America gets an average of 48 minutes a day of exercise. When I was at preschool age our neighborhood crowd went from dawn to sundown. Shut the iPads, the video games, and the TVs off during daylight hours so kids will be outside and play with each other.

A ROSE to the medical news that a handgrip may be the best indicator. Hand surgeons and orthopedists use a gadget called a Jamar dynamometer to measure muscle strength in a person’s hand. The British medical journal Lancet just reported a study that included 140,000 people between the ages of 35 and 70 in 17 countries and, by Jove, it is proven to be a simple, inexpensive way to test for cardiovascular disease and other maladies.

A THORN for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who, in March, gave one of the greatest answers ever in a news conference: “My accomplishments as Secretary of State? Well, I'm glad you asked! My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know… the remnants of prior situations and mindsets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture and we didn’t do that and I’m proud of that. Very proud. I would say that’s a major accomplishment.” (If there is anybody west of Nairobi who can translate that, please feel free to share.)

A ROSE for perhaps the greatest commencement speech ever. Lou Holtz, the fabled college football coach and former TV commentator, just spoke to the Catholic college, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and if you’ve got 17 minutes to find out what really matters, gather your children in real close, turn up the volume and click here.

A THORN for the sorrow that never ends when a teenager takes their life because of bullying. If you know someone who struggles, direct them to Lou Holtz’ graduation speech, which I just mentioned. And then tell a hurting child, co-worker, battered wife or hen-pecked husband to go to YouTube and call up “The Bullying Experiment,” which thus far has had 15.5 million views. My favorite is the tape by poet Shane Koycsan entitled “To This Day.” It has been seen about 1.5 million times and I wish every school and church in America would show it.

A ROSE for the life of Betty Flo Worsham, who died on Friday at age 91 after being “another mother” to countless Baylor students while she and her husband, Major Worsham, shaped thousands of winners in a span of over 50 years. Betty Flo, of course, was married to the great coach and motivator Luke Worsham, and she was his perfect companion.

royexum@aol.com