Thursday, August 19, 2021

The Brown and White in Crystal Lake Illinois Public Library


I wanted to announce that my book, The Brown and White, is now in the Crystal Lake Public Library. 

Forty plus years in the making, The Brown and White is a fictionalized memoir that tells the story of Collin Callaghan's freshman year at a Chicago Catholic High School. Collin is a white boy who is living in turbulent times in a changing city. He clings to his neighborhood and his family as he heads out each day with his classmates on the Brown and White, the ancient school bus driven by free-spirited Willie. Memorable characters abound as this story unfolds. Collin's loveable family, especially his Irish Catholic policeman father and his Irish immigrant mother face life together. Collin and classmates blaze their own humorous and passionate trail through the late 1960s. A unique cast of terrific teachers are there to see the boys through. Laughs and life meet readers head on as they travel on the Brown and White.

Thursday, June 10, 2021

Jesus Christ Taught the Fullness of the Law II

 Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears, Chair of Sports Faith International, and Chair of WSFI Catholic Radio 88.5, as well as poet and the author of our Sports and Faith Series. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas. Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, Patrick McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel is a book for all seasons where readers can find a few words of encouragement in every poem. Poems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance PressAmazon and select bookstores like the Little Way in Crystal Lake. Faith poems for you!

 

Writing Poems About Jesus

Jesus Christ Taught the Fullness of the Law II

Matthew 5:20-26

 

Christ wants us to be more than compliant.

You cannot be angry at your brother.

You can’t utter insults at your brother.

You cannot complain about your brother.

 

I have seven brothers: Mike, Tim, Ned, George,

Rich, Brian, and Joe.  Jesus Christ had none.

 

This passage says no thanks to resentment,

Hatred, gossip, backbiting, and slander.

 

The Navarre Bible notes are instructive.

Saint Augustine noted there is a

Gradation in sin and in punishment.

 

If my brothers have something against me,

I have to get reconciliation.

Then I’m eligible to give money.

 

Patrick McCaskey

 

Copyright 2020, Sporting Chance Press

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Carnegie Washington, DC, Library

Carnegie Library in Washington, DC

Andrew Carnegie began providing funds for the construction of Public Libraries at the turn of the 20th century. The Carnegie Libraries were built from 1889 to 1929. A few years into the program, Carnegie ( or his Carnegie Foundation) would fund libraries if they met certain requirements.  Two requirements were especially important. The requesting organization had to own real estate on which the library could be built and they had to demonstrate a means of support for the continuing operation. Plans were submitted as well to Carnegie personnel for approval. Generally the Carnegie Libraries were built of brick and stone. This insured the long term survival of the libraries. 

After a number of years, some libraries needed updating and expansion. All told, some Carnegie Libraries survived with little change, some were creatively expanded, and others were torn down or repurposed for other uses. For many communities, Carnegie Libraries are a source of local pride and they are often demonstrative over changes. 

The Main Library in Washington DC was an impressive Carnegie example. This Beaux-Arts building was built in Mount Vernon Square, 8th and K Streets, NW. The Central Public Library, now known as the Apple Carnegie Library, was originally designed by the New York firm Ackerman and Ross. When it was dedicated on January 7, 1903, Andrew Carnegie and President Theodore Roosevelt were present. The building ceased to serve as the central branch of the DC Public Library in 1970. 

Only in America

The former Washington DC Main Library is now the location of an Apple Store! And it also houses the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. An Apple News Release describes the site as “Apple’s most extensive historic restoration project to date, restoring and revitalizing the Beaux-Arts style building once home to Washington, D.C.’s Central Public Library.” According to Apple, "the library will once again be a center for learning, discovery and creativity for the community, keeping with Carnegie’s vision of a public and free space for all.” 


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Sporting Chance Press's most recent publications include Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears' Winning Ways, Baseball's Winning Ways, and Poems About the GospelIn the Winning Ways books, highlights of history go along with sports history and are presented with vintage photographs. Important  winning ways are also explored and are tied into Ben Franklin’s self-help methods for developing habits of virtue for young people. 


Monday, May 10, 2021

Reading a Book

Carol Highsmith Photo

My interest in books comes from my Irish mother whose family settled in Clydebank for jobs. She came over on the boat when you mother and father had died. She was raised by an older brother who was well-read and he insisted that she grew up with a well-word library card. 

I got into books as well, but it took me longer. I was thinking recently about how we can read books differently to suit our tastes and needs. 

When it comes to a novel, I feel compelled to read the whole book, unless I decide early on that it just is not for me. I think it's just natural to finish and understand the message that the author is trying to get across. Often that comes at the end.

But non-fiction, is a lot different. I think it often works to read a non-fiction book cover to cover, but it isn't always necessary. I'm not suggesting that each book we pick up we ought to judge from page one and bail at any  moment, but I am saying that there are books that have sections, chapters, or even paragraphs that are quite helpful, but the rest of the book may not be helpful or in some cases not why we we picked up the book in the first place.

I mentioned in other posts that I had worked in professional publishing and readers in that genre often have very specific needs that they focus on. The books we published were often about new complicated areas of professional practice. The author might have been the number one expert in the area and the number of people practicing in the area might be only a few thousand. An interested practitioner might only want to understand the rudiments of the area or they might be fairly expert at most everything and only want to see what the author says about one concept.  We  liked to promote a beginning chapter that provided an overview of the book's content so almost all readers could read that single chapter and get something out of it. It would give readers an executive summary of the material. A partner at a firm might get a nice overview of a new practice area that would serve his or her duties and the details in later chapters might serve those who want to focus their efforts on the new practice. Two people at the same firm might have very different needs.

If you have ever written a thesis, you probably found yourself reading many portions of books with a purpose. You jump into a book and look for guidance on certain subjects and walk away with references, quotes, etc. that help you layout you thesis arguments. Often you read many books when you are crafting a thesis. 

A few years ago I spent an hour or so each week at a community college library. I headed right for their new books on current thoughts and affairs. I sat there with notebook in hand and read portions of one book in each session getting the basics on the writers presentation.  What was this New York Times columnist basic message on changes to a particular country? How did this technology guru see the future in a particular international business market? How did this faith leader see the direction his church was heading towards in our modern society?  It was a lot of fun and it was all done without much risk. But if I had decided to read each book cover to cover,  I don't think I would have gotten as much value out of the exercise.  The basic point was that I did not have to be sold on the book to open the cover up. I made  up my mind to spend an hour on each book so I picked  up books that I otherwise would never have touched.

For many years, I was a captive audience commuting in my car for three or more hours a day. I got hooked on books on tape from my library and some that I bought.  The library supply in those days was fairly limited. New titles would come in dribs and drabs--so you couldn't be too fussy about matching your own taste in books. Often, I ended up grabbing something a bit more involved or complicated than I would normally chose because for that week there wasn't much else. This was another wonderful experience.  I found myself listening to some classic literature that I should have read back in my school days. Sometimes I listened to an author who was more popular with women and got hooked on a whole series of books. Sometimes I listened to something that I thought was going to be mind-numbing technical and learned differently.

I'm sure most everyone who reads a lot has had similar circumstances. I think the idea is that "you can't judge a book by its cover" sometimes has more to do with ourselves than the books. We are complicated human beings and we can find value in our reading experiences even when unplanned. We shouldn't sell ourselves short or the experience we might find in a book.

As a publisher at Sporting Chance Press, we may want to give every reader something exceptional on every page. But sometimes that can lead to diminishing returns. You can cut the heart and soul out of a book. Some of the author's background might sound a little provincial or amateurish. But other times you might want to leave it in and let the reader decide.

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Sporting Chance Press's most recent publications include Papa Bear and the Chicago Bears' Winning Ways, Baseball's Winning Ways, and Poems About the Gospel.

[Decorative Image from Library of Congress Reading Room photographed by Carol Highsmith]

Friday, March 12, 2021

After Coronavirus Strategy for Business

 My LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/work-lost-during-coronavirus-key-problem-opportunity-larry-norris


Greatest Commandment of All from Christ

 

sportingchancepress.com

Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, Patrick McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel is a perfect book for all seasons--including Lent. Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears , Chairman of Sports Faith International, as well as the author of our Sports and Faith Series. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas. Poems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance Press, Amazon and select bookstores like the Little Way in Crystal Lake.

The Greatest Commandment of All from Christ

Mark 12:28-34

The scribe asked a well-intentioned question.

Jesus devoted time to teaching him.

The scribe understood the reply of Christ.

After the reply, there were no more questions,

Not even from Detective Colombo.

 

Saint Augustine said: love God is the first

Commandment; love neighbor is the ac-

tion.  If you love your neighbor, you can see God.

If you love your neighbor, your eye is cleansed

To see God.  John said, “If you do not love

Your neighbor whom you see, how will you be

Able to love God whom you don’t see?”

 

Name three Chicago first-round draft choices

With the first name Kyle: Long, Fuller, Schwarber.

Patrick McCaskey

Copyright 2020, Sporting Chance Press

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Pilgrimage Book for Lent

sportingchancepress.com

Pilgrimage

Awakened by modern fascination with places like the Way of Saint James, many athletes whose achievements are celebrated in this Sports and Faith book have made pilgrimages part of their faith journey. The Holy Land, Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Assisi, and several other places of interest and their origins are examined. Author and a Chicago Bears Vice President, Patrick McCaskey, has peppered the book with his own poems and narratives on all things McCaskey. The popular author’s own literary and papal pilgrimages are here. McCaskey shares personal episodes that readers will find simple, insightful, and touching. Pilgrimage shares stories of exemplary athletes and others who are successful in sports and life. These writings are often the product of the author’s efforts on behalf of Sports Faith International, an initiative that honors devout athletes and coaches. In Pilgrimage, some of those featured have left sports for religious vocations, a college volleyball star, an Olympic Speed-skater, and a professional (female) football player!

From Our Pilgrimage book on Saint Thomas Becket

One of England’s greatest men, Saint Thomas Becket, was born in London in 1118. Becket was well educated and worked as a clerk and accountant. Later, he studied law. Becket quarreled with King Henry II and he was murdered in the Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170. 

Thomas Becket joined the household of Theobold, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who became his patron. Becket became Archdeacon of Canterbury and then King Henry II made him chancellor. Becket was a close friend and companion of the King. Becket also enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. Thoroughly in the King’s corner, Becket enjoyed his positions and the rights and privileges that came with them. 

At the time, a movement called Gregorian Reform was gaining momentum. Gregorian Reform fostered the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. It promoted free elections to clerical posts, the sacredness of church property, freedom of appeal to Rome, and clerical immunity from civil courts. The Church wanted to control its clergy and move away from civil authorities’ control. 

When Theobold died, Henry II wanted Becket to become the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket encouraged Henry to select someone else. He was concerned and many scholars suggest that he saw his duties change as Archbishop. But Henry saw that Becket became the new Archbishop. Becket seemed predisposed to his king’s views, but with his new responsibilities he suddenly made an about-face and took the side of the Church and Rome. Moving away from worldliness, he became devout. 

The situation was complicated. Henry II was falling back on how things had been formerly arranged in England under Henry I. Henry II issued the Constitutions of Clarendon, documents that drew a line in the sand and asserted the King’s right to punish criminal clerks, forbid excommunication of royal officials and appeals to Rome, and give the King the revenues of vacant sees and the power to influence episcopal elections. At first, Becket agreed to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but then he revoked his agreement. Thereafter, Henry and Becket were in opposition. 

When Henry went to prosecute Becket, the Archbishop left for France. When Becket returned years later after a truce had been made, more conflict between his office and Henry’s returned. Henry voiced his frustrations: “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, “perhaps” taking Henry’s wish literally, famously slew the Archbishop in the Canterbury Cathedral.

Within a couple years after the death of Thomas Becket, Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) canonized him. Becket’s burial place at Canterbury became a popular place of pilgrimage. Henry II was an early pilgrim. Relics of Becket were collected and people who came into contact with them were cured of disease. The faithful making the pilgrimage to Canterbury were given a medal badge with the symbol of the Becket Shrine. Monks placed Becket’s marble coffin in the crypt of the Cathedral and built a wall with gaps in it that permitted pilgrims to kiss the Saint’s final resting place. The wall protected the coffin from theft. 

In 1220, Becket’s bones were moved behind the high altar and placed on a raised platform supported by pillars. Canterbury was already a place visited by pilgrims, but after Becket’s death pilgrimages grew rapidly. 

In the last century, Becket’s story was dramatized by T.S. Elliot in his play, Murder in the Cathedral. Elliot uses a chorus like classic Greek plays and he explores the Saint’s internal conflicts as his death approaches. Elliot’s play was written as fascism was growing before World War II. Elliot taps into the rich tapestry of the Becket story and looks at four temptations similar to those of Christ. The fourth tempter tells Becket to seek martyrdom for the glory of it. A temptation that is described as “the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

At the time of the Reformation, Henry VIII, who broke away from the Catholic Church in England, had Becket’s bones and his shrine destroyed. Henry VIII was an advocate for royal rights over the church and had battled his own Becket-like figure, Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor. More opposed Henry’s annulment of marriage to Catherine of Aragon and believed the Reformation to be heretical. Like Becket, More was killed for his views. Thomas More was canonized a saint in 1935.


Monday, March 1, 2021

Poems About the Gospel: Jesus Christ Went Fishing for Disciples by Patrick McCaskey

Sporting Chance Press

Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel is a perfect book for all seasons. Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" HalasPoems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance PressAmazon and select bookstores. 

          

Jesus Christ Went Fishing for Disciples by Patrick McCaskey

 

          Matthew 4:18-22


From the Navarre Bible commentary,

We know that Christ called “His first disciples

To follow Him and leave everything behind.”


If the Apostles had played football, they

Would have been a great team.  Jesus would have

Been the coach like George Halas.  Peter would

Have been the quarterback like Bill Wade.

Andrew was Peter’s brother.  They would have

Been used to playing catch in the yard.  Let’s

Put Andrew at tight end like Mike Ditka.


James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were

Known as the sons of thunder.  They would have

Been the running backs like Payton and Suhey.


Copyright 2021, Sporting Chance Press