The Pledge was let by President Ludi-Chris and no one had a thought for the day. Luckily, T. Jack Foster and Kristin Jensen made up for it by leading us in Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
SUNSHINE REPORT
Bo Whitehill, who is trying to recover from a major injury himself, announced that Juan Raigoza’s wife has broken her leg.
Cheryl Angeles introduced a visiting Rotarian named Kristin from the Los Altos Club. Kristin works for Caminar.
Margaret Taylor re-introduced past Rotarian Dana Stoehr, CEO of the SM County Event Center. She’s back in the area and undertaking all kinds of projects for the SMCEC. Upon completing her introduction, Prez Ludi-Chris extracted $100 from Margaret (with a promise of more money later) to retrieve an envelope with her name found floating around the room. It was “turned in” by Susan Manheimer.
GUESTS FLOCK TO THE CLUB—OUR SPEAKER WAS A BIG DRAW!
Jackson Marshall, darling grandson of Susan Winks; Heather Cleary, new Executive Director of Peninsula Family Service Agency, a guest of John deRussy’s; Russ Moreland, new District Director for California Water company and a guest of Larry Patterson (four visits plus the BBQ), Nicole Cherok, chiropractor, guest of Rosemary Azem (3rd visit), Kathleen of Caminar, guest of Chip Huggins, John Frisola, guest of Dick Bennett and a big tennis fan, and Jerry McCann, an account manager and guest of Tony Villanueva (2nd visit). Apologies for any misspellings of names—the guest intros were fast and furious and I was busier than a one-armed paper hanger!
Jeff Lowenstein asked all to pay the club dues either online, as instructed in Jeff’s email, or at the check in desk at a meeting.
El Presidente announced an anonymous $1000 donation to the club, saying the donor said to use it wherever it’s needed. Many put their hands up to express need.
Brian Sullivan asked members to vote for a Stanford game we might attend as a group. Ballots were issued.
Peter Sortwell, our photographer for the day, donated two great seats behind home plate and just below the KNBR booth. Susan Winks’ grandson couldn’t put his hand up fast enough. They’re in for a treat.
Although the birthday table will be next week, Prez Ludi-Chris announced that today (7/20) is Al Norcross’s birthday. He then said that T. Jack Foster’s birthday is tomorrow (July 21), noting that T. Jack is “a lot younger” than Al. Al said T. Jack is “44 hours younger”. All sang happy birthday to our two longest standing members of Rotary. At that, Al announced that this is his 55th anniversary in the club.
MORE CHRIS-CANERY ENSUED:
Our prez then proceeded to extract money from other Rotarians. Tom Huening and his wife Carol were pictured in a Summer of Love cutout and Tom “volunteered” a donation. Steve Parker’s cute son was then shown. Steve joined the President’s Club because his son is headed to the 19th Boy Scout Jamboree. Held in West Virginia, the Jamboree attracts 30,000 scouts. Steve pointed out that “a relative” of Dick DeLuna’s is actually leading a group of scouts to the Jamboree.
Dick Nelson was then called upon and shown a pic of Dick with his wife Suzie. Unfortunately, Dick couldn’t tell if it was Budapest or Italy, but agreed to join the President’s club anyway. (At least he recognized Suzie. Points for that, Dick.) Oscar Lopez-Guerra protested, noting that Oscar and Donna were supposed to have been picked up at the dock by Dick Nelson in Budapest, but “Dick never showed”. Oscar agreed to pay $25, noting that it cost him $120 Euros to get from the dock to their hotel.
Matt Lau was hit next for what appeared to be a pic of Matt gobbling up a bowl of pasta. Matt demurred, noting that it was ramen with a few mushrooms added, because he has no money. When Prez Ludi-Chris tried fining him, Matt said, “If I’m eating Top Ramen, I can’t afford the President’s Club.” However, Matt graciously agreed to join the President’s Club after all, saying “I guess I’ll keep eating packaged ramen so I can join.”
AND NOW OUR SPEAKER…
With that, Brian Sullivan introduced Ted Robinson of sports casting fame. Ted broadcasts for the 49ers, and does tennis broadcasts. Among the points he made:
- He’s concerned that with the increased prices, 25 minute half times and unpredictable, last minute scheduling of college football games, college football will take a hit. (No pun intended by your editor.);
- He feels the best about the 49ers that he has felt since 2011;
- Shanahan and Lynch can do a good job, because they understand leadership;
- Leadership was lacking in the locker room the last two years;
- The QB is also expected to be a leader in the locker room, commanding respect when he walks in, but the 49ers didn’t have a shred of that in the last couple of years;
- When Kaepernick “took a knee”, no one on the team knew in advance and there was some resentment. The “veteran council” of players got the team to air it all out in the locker room so it wouldn’t affect their playing;
- Kaepernick’s best option now is to wait out training camps, in case a lead QB is injured. (Andrew Luck is also just coming off shoulder surgery.);
- RGIII remains unsigned, as well, but RG has no issues;
- Robinson doesn’t believe Kaepernick would accept a backup QB position and the lower salary;
- The 49ers have a “place holder” QB this year who can finish out a season. If the season goes south this year, they could have a good draft position for next year. (Three QBs in the PAC-12 are excellent.);
- Re: college football, the nearly unanimous feeling among fans and coaches is that they hate the 7 PM kickoff times;
- Twenty-five years ago, Notre Dame signed its own TV deal to avoid another 9 PM kickoff. (They were given a 9 PM kickoff against Michigan, the fans had started partying at 8 AM and the crowd was out of control.);
- Re: tennis: Roger Federer (turning 36) and Venus Williams (37) are amazing. She has made it to two finals while fighting an auto immune disease.
- It was Venus who took the stand that winning women in tennis should make the same prize money as men. Wimbledon was the last venue to capitulate and pay them equal amounts.
- He knows John McEnroe (of 80s tennis fame) well and said he is “the most hidden person” in sports. Once he trusts you, he is incredibly generous. (He is, at 58, in the best shape ever.)
- Harbaugh is, in his view, “the most complicated” person in sports.
Great talk—we could have stayed another hour.
AL
