I went to the American Express web site to see how to stop getting all of that American Express propoganda in the mail.  They seem to send alot of it.  I had to send an request through the “Contact Us” button but it appears to have done the trick.  After a few days I received an email from Customer service saying they had taken my name off all of the prmotional materials list but it might take a few weeks.  So I will wait and see…. 

Well, this is certainly interesting … I when to lsmagonline.com to try and stop the company from mailing me their magazine.  While the conten might be intresting I can look at their stuff online so I’d like to stop a few trees from being cut down.  Well, they have a contac us button which had on online web form.  When I filled it out it said I did not have permission to use their “formail.php” — what a crock this is.  I will update this post if I get anywhere with them. 

I am sick and tired of getting all of this junk mail.  Every day I get piles of useless requests to buy products or sign up for some services or another.  From my understanding, you can go the Post Office and request that you do not receive junk mail (or any third class mail).  However, once you do that you are cut of from receiving any of this mail at all — grocery fliers, community news, et al.

Every week I get about one grocery bag full of mail that I don’t want.  Now, lets just say that one bag is 10 lbs.  ==> that’s 520 lbs per year of worthless paper that I just recycle.  I wonder how many trees that is? … hmm  

This past season Little League Baseball allowed managers to issue an intentional walk and send the batter to first base without the pitcher throwing at all.  Now, while the intentional walk might be a good game tactic, it does nothing for the development of either the pitcher nor the hitter.

In order to develop mental toughness as either a pitcher or a hitter, both must learn to deal with the stress that is associated with a batter coming to the plate in a key situation.  If an intentional walk is issued, then neither get to “live the moment” when everything is on the line.   In effect, by focusing on winning the game, the manager has denied that unique opportunity to both players.   If you don’t let them work through those situations now while they are young, how will they deal with those issues as they get older.

I’m on your side when it comes to banning metal bats – what a waste of goverment time and money.  Now there is a grass roots effort to eliminate this ridiculous pending legislation.  You need to visit http://dtmba.com (Don’t Take My Bat Away) and add yourself to the growing coalition.  Its about time we started stopping people from letting kids have fun. 

Congreesmen in New Jersey and a few other states have decided that metal bats should be banned in baseball at all levels of play. This is prmiarily a response after 12-year-old Steven Domalewski of Wayne was struck in the chest by a line drive on June 6, 2006 while pitching. Leave it to legislators to waste time trying to prevent kids from enjoying sports while they could be doing something more important – Banning Hand Guns!

PERCEPTION: Aluminum bats are more dangerous than wood bats.

The National Consumer Product Safety Commission studied this issue and concluded in 2002 that there is no evidence to suggest that aluminum bats pose any greater risk than wood bats. Multiple amateur baseball governing bodies, including the NCAA, National High School Federation, Little League International, PONY, et al, all track safety statistics and have concluded that aluminum bats do not pose a safety risk.

PERCEPTION: Balls come off aluminum bats faster than wood.

Since 2003, all bats are required to meet the .Bat Exit Speed Ratio. (BESR) performance limitation, which ensures that aluminum bats do not hit the ball any harder than the best wood bats.

PERCEPTION: Injuries from aluminum bats are more severe than with wood bats.

Two out of the three deaths from a batted ball in the last decade came from wood bats. Dr. Frederick Mueller, Director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, has indicated from his studies that catastrophic injuries from wood bats may be more frequent than aluminum bats.

PERCEPTION: The Brown University study proves that aluminum bats hit the ball harder than wood bats.

This study is irrelevant by today.s standards. All of the bats used in the Brown study would not be allowed to be used today, because they do not meet the BESR standard.

PERCEPTION: The use of aluminum bats places children at an unacceptable risk of injury.

A study from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research shows that there have been only 15 catastrophic batted ball injuries to pitchers out of more than 9,500,000 high school and college participants since 1982.

During the last five years a number of states, individual organizations, city councils, and others have proposed the banning of metal baseball bats on a number of different levels. These actions have typically been in reaction to a catastrophic injury as opposed to being based on creditable injury data or research. In May of 2002 the Consumer Product Safety Commission stated, .The Commission is not aware of any information that injuries produced by balls batted with non-wood bats are more severe than those involving wood bats.. This statement was true in 2002 and it is true in 2007.

The Medical/Safety Advisory Committee of USA Baseball was initiated due to the lack of injury data needed to make decisions affecting the safety of baseball participants. Prior to 2005 there has not been significant research comparing injuries to baseball pitchers from metal bats versus wood bats. In 2005 the USA Baseball Medical/Safety Committee initiated a three year research project comparing line drive baseball injuries to pitchers from metal bats and wood bats. Metal bat injury data were taken from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance System and wood bat injury data collected from college summer leagues (NCAA recognized college summer league teams all use wood bats).

After two years (2005 and 2006) of collecting batted ball injury data to the pitcher from 93 NCAA college baseball teams and 246 college summer league teams there have only been 17 injuries to NCAA college pitchers and 15 injuries to college summer league pitchers. Only 32 injuries after 331,821 balls were hit into play (Balls hit into play are calculated by taking the number of at bats and subtracting strike outs and bases on balls). The injuries in the summer leagues were more severe than the NCAA injuries. One-third of the summer league injuries involved the head and face as opposed to none in the NCAA. The third year of the study will be completed in 2007.

What this data does indicate is that injuries to the pitcher from batted balls are very rare and can happen while using metal or wood bats. There is no data to indicate that the few catastrophic injuries to baseball pitchers from metal bats would not have happened if the batter was using a wood bat. Before any sport makes rule changes, equipment changes, or other changes related to the safety of the participants, it is imperative that these changes are based on reliable injury data and not anecdotal information.

Now check these stats