St. Petersburg Homesick Blues ...

The St Petersburg Times (Fla) made a mistake this past week and it prompted me to write a blog that has been in the "to do" column listings for all too long. So, with that said, this column is coming with some advance warnings...

WARNING: If you work in the newspaper business, please think twice before you continue to read this blog.

WARNING TWO: If you work in the newspaper industry and were the editor in charge who abdicated his throne and his professional responsibility to "let" the newspaper hire some young computer science Internet guy to run the paper's online endeavor only because you were too lazy and too insecure in your own small world to dig-in, work harder, spend more time learning new skills and broaden your scope while broadening your own value, please think twice before you continue to read this blog.

WARNING THREE: If you work in the newspaper business and you ARE or WERE the editor who -- in the last year or so -- had to walk into an office and tell one of your best writers and most loyal workers that the "current state of the economy" was forcing you to cut x% of the staff and you were offering a buyout and eliminated some jobs or even worse had to lay-off some good people, please think twice before you continue to read this blog.

***

I ask all of those editors and dead, wet suits the following question?

Why did you put the final nail in the coffin for your newspaper? Why did you lay-off the guys and gals who make people buy the newspaper? Why did you even think "the in-depth, probing, thought-provoking, long take-outs" are no longer working in the online world of 2009? Why did you follow the pack mentality and its Cameron Crowe inspired, Almost Famous loser mantra "towards the long journey to the middle."

And, I can say very honestly, this blog is not targeted at the people involved in this one decision at this one paper, this one "lay-off" or "job elimination" or whatever the human resources, legal or other influencers want to call it. It is the symbol of the overall incompetence and lack of foresight in the industry. It is the written with the knowledge that so many people in the news industry literally ignored the Internet world for so long a time before it hit them over the head and literally helped push the industry, the very business, right OUT of business.

The old newsmen proceeded to walk right down the path of destruction and into the terrible world of "protect their own jobs" and "protect their own asses" against all of the other incompetent chumps who sit around the editorial board table reminiscing about the "good old days" of journalism and the hey-day, glory years of "putting the paper to bed" and going across the street to "Joe's Pub" to talk about how great an edition you just published with the knowledge that you had another 23 hours or so before the print button had to be hit again. They all would get liquored up and not worry about getting beat for another 23+ hours.

Now, instead, there's only one paper in town or you actually share content with your crosstown rivals, and you stand around the water cooler, scratching your gray hair, complaining about the Internet and the online world we live in where the deadline is always NOW.

Yes, the whole online, Internet, or whatever else you want to call it world changed the newspaper business right before our eyes as so many watched it go by at warp-speed. Yes, they all ignored it all for a long, long while. The editors and old guard hoped it would all go away, like an 8-track tape player. But, it was the ocean of doom for the newspaper biz as we knew it and the brass tried to swim against the under-tow of progress only to be sucked right into the jet stream of death by laziness, complacency and -- even worse -- death by incompetence or ignorance.

The out of work editors, speaking at the seminars preached 'We recommend you the best job you can, work like you always did, put the efforts towards the little things like budgeting, editing, diverse hiring practices, cost-cutting and all of that stuff that the APSE continues to dish out, as they thought the big bad Dot.Coms were just going to go away. They looked at it as though it was a Pink Floyd song named "us" and "them." The old news guys vs. the young, computer-savvy geeks.

Well, you use the old cost cutting lay-off plan on the award-winning writer/reporter Dave Scheiber -- your BEST guy. And now, together with an entire nation of old newspapermen and journalism gurus. you can spend each night watching the TV shows you and your readers gaze at rather than reading deep, insightful stories about the real world. Yes, go watch "Survivor, American Idiot, I mean Idol, Who Wants to Dance with and Imbecile, Deal or No Deal" and all of the other shows that have helped the entertainment industry in its efforts to "Dumb Down" the youth of this great land of ours.

Now this is important for all to know: Dave Scheiber is a friend of mine. He will be embarrassed and, possibly appalled, when he reads this today. He is such a class act that he will ask me to take it down, I know he will. But, I will not. It is very important to know that he did not have anything to do with the fact I am writing this. It was in my mind for a long while now, ever since the good folks at "The National" pulled the plug on a terrific newspaper back in 1991. Then, the Dallas Morning News, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Times, the Boston Globe and The New York Times all continued the trend and ruined the industry one slow-drip coffee cup at a time. To "Good ole St. Pete" - you are only the straw that broke TL's back and forced me to cry-out to the world via The Blog@TerryLyons.com

***

Here's a few other 'behind the scenes' notes on the recent lay-off of one man, David Scheiber:

From a current blog on the St. Pete Times site by its media and entertainment critic Eric Daggans:

Please see the good-bye by editor Jack Sheppard - who wrote a wonderful thank-you note in the newsroom to his best reporter/writer.

Eric Deggans wrote in his online blog: "So to give a little more attention to a good friend, I figured I'd share the note Dave's last editor, Jack Sheppard, posted for display in the newsroom to announce Scheiber's departure:

"How do you summarize a 31-year journalism career in a couple of pages? How do you measure the impact Dave Scheiber’s work, as a writer and an editor, has had on the readers of the St. Petersburg Times? How do you capture the respect and admiration for him shared by his colleagues, who universally consider him one of the nicest guys they know?

It’s not easy, but let me try.

Dave has established himself as one of the premier sports feature writers in the country, with more than 40 national and state writing awards to his credit. Among his most prestigious honors:
• becoming the first Times writer to win first place in the Sports category of the National Headliner Awards, in 2008 for a collection of five features and issue pieces.
• winning first place in the highly competitive 2008 national Associated Press Sports Editors feature category (as well as first place in the Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism Sports category) for a story about World War II vets from the Kids & Kubs softball team playing their Japanese counterparts in a symbolic game near Pearl Harbor.
• winning second place in the 2009 Green Eyeshade Awards for electronic medium, for a collection of the top 25 Super Bowl Greatest Moments that Dave researched and wrote, then flew to Dallas and convinced legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall to narrate (for free).

• writing revealing, in-depth pieces on a wide range of sports notables such as Nick Bollettieri, Hank Steinbrenner, B.J. Upton, Byron Leftwich, Mary Carillo, Don Zimmer and Cooper Manning – a 2004 story about the little-known older Manning brother that elicited more than 10,000 tampabay.com Web hits when Peyton reached the Super Bowl in 2007 and again with Eli in 2008.
•.writing compelling tales about unknowns, like the football dad who lost his ability to read after brain surgery but relearned with the help of his young son (a future Northeast High star). Or the St. Petersburg grandmother of No. 1 NFL pick Matthew Stafford and her excitement on draft day.
• delving into controversial issues like the international epidemic of racism in soccer, concussions in pro sports and a four-part series explaining the drought of Triple Crown winners.

• turning his two-part series about NBA referee Bob Delaney's life as an undercover agent infiltrating the New Jersey Mafia into the 2008 book Covert, which he co-authored with Delaney. The book (recently re-released as a paperback after the hardcover success) reached No. 1 on Amazon's sports biography rankings and was named by USA Today as one of the best books of 2008. The movie rights to Covert have been purchased by Appledown Films/Scott-Burns Productions in Los Angeles, and Ron Shelton (screenwriter/director for Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump and Tin Cup) has signed on to direct and has begun work on the screen adaptation.

In his first stint in Sports, where he joined the Times as prep editor in 1978 after working as a copy aide and prep writer for the Washington Post, Dave also served as the Rowdies beat writer (’79-’82), the Bucs beat writer (’83-’84), covered the NFL at large (’85-’87) and was part of a two-year, heralded investigation of violations by coach Charley Pell at the University of Florida that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In between his Sports assignments, Dave also made his mark during 17 years in the Floridian department, as an award-winning writer and as the founding editor of the Weekend section.
As a general assignment writer for Floridian, he wrote human interest features on such names as Bo Diddley and his life on the the farm in Archer, Fla.; Clarence "Big Man" Clemons helping the underprivileged in his home near Singer Island, Fla.; a two-part series on a local Holocaust survivor in "The Voyage of Hilda Stern;" his first-person romp through Fargo, N.D., tracking down the Rolling Stones at a bowling alley; "The Baby Bunch" piece about life as the dad of six kids; and "Music Lights a Fire," a look at the mysterious genetic condition of Williams Syndrome, which produces mild retardation and a deep passion for music – a condition with which his brother was born.
For his writing, Dave won three awards in the prestigious American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors contest in six years.
During his 11 years as Weekend and Entertainment Editor (1987-1999), Dave developed Weekend into a nationally respected publication. For the cover of the 10-year anniversary Weekend section, he convinced the inaugural cover subject, Jay Leno, to pose on the Tonight Show set in 1997 while holding a copy of the first issue.
Dave’s work also regularly appeared outside the Times, most notably as a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated for five years. His portfolio included profiles of athletes such as Chris Evert, Jerome Brown, Deion Sanders, Andre Agassi, Mary Pierce, Mike Veeck and Laura Davies, with cover stories on Vinny Testaverde and Jennifer Capriati.

While Dave’s journalistic accomplishments are impressive, anyone who knows Dave knows of his devotion to his large family – wife Janie, five daughters Valerie 24; Laura 22; Mollie 19; Julia 13 and Emma 11; and son Davey, 8. And they know Dave and Janie from their two decades together on the local music scene, sharing the stage in an array of groups, for the past 10 in one of Tampa Bay's busiest party bands, Ocean Road.

Please join me in congratulating Dave on his immeasurable contributions to the St. Petersburg Times, and on wishing Dave and his wonderful family the best as they embark on the road ahead. We’ll find a time and place in the coming weeks to celebrate Dave’s accomplishments, so stay tuned."

So, as I often do, I try to find a set of lyrics to back the feelings I have deep in the back of my mind. This one is tough, because there is some anger, not focused on any one person or this one personnel decision (as I have now stated more than once), it is focused on the newspaper industry: So, to them, I recommend the lyrics in this song...

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

***

So, to the good folks at the St. Pete Times and papers everywhere who have taken the newspaper industry and worked hard, ignoring the trends to navigate their livelihood right towards the "Black Hole" of destruction, irrelevance and financial disaster, I dedicate to them two great songs, one song by the band "R.E.M," which was inspired by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues:"

That's great, it starts with an earthquake,
birds and snakes, an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs,
Don't misserve your own needs.
Feed it off an aux speak, grunt no, strength no.
Latter starts to clatter with fear fight, down height.
Wire in a fire, representing seven games in a government for hire and a combat site.
Left of west, was a coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.
Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped.
Look at that low playing! Fine then.
Uh oh, overflow, population, common food, but it'll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself.
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed.
Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in Foreign towers.
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.
Lock him in uniform and book burning, blood running.
Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.
Watch a heel crush, crush.
Uh oh, this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear!
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

***

LAST THOUGHT: The St Pete newspaper's loss will be a gain for so many people when Dave takes a 20-second time-out, organizes his life and family situation and rolls back into action as one of the TOP two or three writers in this country. Dave is THAT GOOD.

Dave is not taking the high road.

He IS the HIGH ROAD.

When a Brig. General says you're a great American... you don't argue

"I told Bob, 'You are a great American' — it's so refreshing, because he relates to the soldiers so well, it's like a championship coach relating to his players," said Brig. Gen. Bob Brown, deputy commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, speaking by phone from his base in Mosul.

"He just gets it. And the soldiers were mesmerized. They listened and they learned a ton."

On Friday, August 7, I had "one of those days."

It was a busy day. I had a full schedule of work and a writing assignment with a fast approaching deadline. The day before, August 6th obviously, I had a fascinating day, working with the Harlem Globetrotters PR team on a promotion for the Basketball Hall of Fame and - at about 7pm - I landed a late-breaking ticket to see Paul McCartney at Fenway.. Pretty good August 6th, wouldn't you say?

Then, along came Friday.

Up at six, catching up on a ton of work for my blue-chip clients. Juggling some favors (booking Al Vega for a gig at the House of Blues), while juggling some family visits (the Lyons/Martin gang all doing our best to get a few days together in Boston and -- hopefully -- the Cape this coming week.

Writing, writing and more writing. Some editing.

Then, at about 1pm, we held a conference call about COVERT and its future on the silver screen. Appledown Films and Scott-Burns Productions have been shifting "four on the floor" to lay the foundation for the motion picture adaptation of COVERT and things are progressing at "warp-speed" rate. (I choose not to elaborate too much in this area as it is not my place to 'break news' nor use my personal blog to delve deeply into the inner workings of a client's business).

But, to say the least, very positive vibes continue to surround the COVERT project. Just as fate lent a hand in introducing me to the project, it continued throughout the promotional tour for the hardcover and segued into the outreach for the new paperback version of the book. Lately, I've been shaking my head alot and even pinching myself now and then to be sure that I am not dreaming. COVERT's future continues on an uphill climb in ways that we only imagined in August of 2007.

I can say this: Throughout the entire project, I enjoyed bringing energy to the group - we call the COVERT team and I like to call "CAMP COVERT" The story is SO good, that it fuels some creative juices and ideas that flow like a river of dreams. Time and resources are the only limit, of course, as so many people involved with TEAM COVERT have other priorities in terms of work and family. COVERT, after its initial launch by Sterling Publishing/Union Square Press had a great run and the publisher has to move on to promote other titles. That's life. That's publishing.

However, the launch of the paperback together with the fact COVERT was optioned for a motion picture in early June, brought new life to the project and it brought some fresh faces and SERIOUS ENERGY. Judy Goldstein and Larry Spiegel of Appledown are the equal of a lifetime portion of the 5-hour energy drink. They are simply amazing. Let me count the ways:

1. Professional

2. Smart

3. No nonsense

4. Great Drama on the screen = good; Any Drama off the screen = not good

5. Open

6. Selfless

7. Fans of the game

8. Respectful of the game and its officiating staff as a whole

9. Respectful to people and the support groups of the folks they work alongside

10. Inclusive

11. Inspiring

12. Thorough

13. Entertaining and funny

14. The kind of people that you want to be around

15. People you enjoy working with and for

16. Honest and straight-forward

I could go on.

The work day clocke in from 6am to about 7:30pm and I took a break to do a 45-minute (easy) bike ride in Newton. Upon return, I had a few dozen messages and one stood out. Bob Delaney and Dave Scheiber had worked together on a news piece that was scheduled to appear in the St. Pete Times (Fla) on Sunday. The editors liked the story so much that they decided to run it 1-A and move it to the World section. They also decided to run it as a tease on Friday night to encourage people to go out and BUY the paper on Sunday. The story was that powerful.

The link came in and it fueled a flurry of calls, emails, forwarding of messages and an all-out social networking/communication blitz to help creat some buzz behind the artcile adn to get the story and its Tampa/St. Pete Times URL to places where it could make a global impact.

Mission accomplished: Read this message which came in overnight from a person working on the other side of the globe:

"Great article. We are so proud! We've been passing around the e-mail
and hard copy so everyone can read it! I've also forwarded it to the units we visited so they can enjoy the great article and the great shots. Just awesome! Thanks again for your visit - we sent all the notes from BG Brown to the NBA folks and the publisher.

That message came from someone who is helping the United States of America try to win a war against cowardly terrorists.

Please read THIS. http://www.tampabay.com/sports/article1025531.ece

The COVERT TRAIL... The Bob Delaney Story

Check this out:

Ref Tells of Undercover Mob Bust and Life After the Feds head testimony ...

On busy Sunday mornings, I always try to read but often have to put aside the great New York Sunday papers. If I get a second or two, I might glance at the Internet and check some of my usual favorites, such as CNN.com, ESPN.com and Boston.com.

As the day slows down, there's nothing better than settling-in on the couch with a cold "Diet Coke" and a game or PGA tourney on TV, and take some quality time to read a nice pile of papers.

On Sunday January 27th, I did just that .. a real busy day, but at about 5:00pm it was clear sailing. As I was was flipping through the New York's hometown paper, often read from back to front I must admit, I made my way to the front "news" section. A full page story, complete with terrific photos from COVERT and a cover photo of the book itself met my eyes, along with a real "teaser" headline, blaring: "Ref and the Mob." The subhead told the whole story: "In new book, ex-undercover tells of blowing whistle on hoods."

As Law and Order says... Here are their stories:

Former undercover cop tells mob story

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, January 27th 2008, 4:00 AM

Thirty years ago, Bobby Covert died and an NBA referee was born.

Now the true story of Bob Delaney, the New Jersey state trooper who helped cripple the mob by going undercover as corrupt trucking firm owner Bobby Covert, is being told.

Fittingly, Delaney's memoir of risk, redemption and professional refereeing is called "Covert," a name filched from Newark's death rolls.

"It took me a while to shed the persona of Bobby Covert," said Delaney, 56. "I guess I had to live it before I could write it."

What a story it is.

Delaney recounts his basketball-filled childhood in Paterson, N.J., and how he had to shed his past to "enter the dark side" and infiltrate the Mafia.

"I was about to get a lesson in the ways of the mob," he writes.

His uncanny ability to blend in - and play the Bobby Covert role while swimming with sharks for three years - enabled him and two other wired undercovers to gather enough evidence to indict 30 members of the Genovese and Bruno crime families.

Delaney, with help from St. Petersburg Times writer Dave Scheiber, describes a world like a "Sopranos" episode.

Killers laugh about breaking the legs of a man with a baseball bat. Mob chiefs test underlings by pretending to shoot other hoods in front of them.

In this world, mob bigs get misty-eyed listening to "The Godfather" theme song but shed no tears for the businessmen they ruin by forcing them to pay protection money and give hoods no-show jobs.

Delaney admits he took a liking to some of the made men he busted and found himself feeling torn up inside when one of the handcuffed hoods turned to him and said, "How could you do this to me?"

Later, Delaney discovered he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and that the ordeal of having to live a lie - or die - sapped his hormone levels. Talking it through with a therapist helped, Delaney writes, but he found real relief on the hardwood floors.

"The game of basketball is therapy for me," he told the Daily News in a telephone interview from Chicago, just before the Bulls played the Charlotte Hornets. "I'm on an island and all I have to worry about is the game at hand."

Out there, Delaney added, the "concentration level is so high you're aware of the fans, but during the course of the game you tune them out."

One voice he couldn't tune out was that of Pat Kelly, the mob informant who helped Delaney bag the bad guys.

Kelly got Delaney's attention at a Phoenix Suns game by yelling "Alamo Trucking" - the name of a fictitious firm Delaney ran in Jersey City.

"My mind was still spinning," Delaney writes. "I mean, this guy was in the Witness Relocation program and here he was sitting courtside."

It was a happy reunion for Delaney, who had watched his back for many years.

"I have been living a 9/11 lifestyle since 1978," he said. "Realistically, these events took place 30 years ago and many of the people we put away have either been in prison or have died."

Delaney said his exploits have given him serious cred with some NBA players.

"I called a foul on Kobe Bryant," he said. "He came over to me and I thought he was going to talk about it. Instead, he said to me, 'That must have been wild to wear a wire.'"

by: csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Also, see this trailer:

Dave at his very, very best

I've made note of my admiration for the St. Pete Times and writer Dave Scheiber in two previous posts. Here is Exhibit #1-A of why I love the paper and his work so much:

Southpinellas - Old Warriors, New Friends

WAIPAHU, Hawaii -- The pitch arched through the brilliant blue Hawaiian sky just past 2:30 p.m., carrying 66 years of memories from a generation that changed history.

It was a softball game, but more than a softball game.

It was a day of hope in a place that has become a symbol of infamy.

It was a showdown between the United States and Japan with bats and balls, not bombs and bullets - only a few miles from the shimmering waters of Pearl Harbor, where Japan launched its surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

Old soldiers who long ago faded away into civilian life and retirement returned this week to the Pacific, many for the first time since their war years, for a goodwill contest of reconciliation and renewal.

The U.S. banner was carried by the Kids & Kubs softball team of St. Petersburg, a group of ballplayers age 75 and older. Eleven of the 15 served in the brutal Pacific Theater.

On the Japanese squad, nicknamed the Over the Rainbows, the number of World War II vets was 10.

Here they were, men mostly in their 80s, speaking different languages but sharing a common journey through a door to the past.

They played Wednesday on the diamond at Hans L'Orange Field, a pro park with lush green grass in this little town on the island of Oahu.

In the first at-bat, Toshio Fujioka, trained as a navy air corps pilot in 1945, hit a pitch to third baseman Pete Murphy, an Army quartermaster who guarded supplies during the occupation of Japan.

Murphy fired to first baseman Larry Willows, a torpedoman first-class on the USS Cabot in the South Pacific.

"Attaboy, Pete," Willows called out.

It didn't really matter that Fujioko was the first out.

What mattered was that he made contact.

Making contact was what this game was all about.

The Kids & Kubs take a five-run lead on a grand slam by Jose Merced, a 77-year-old Korean War vet added to help fill out the squad. After scoring, he says he can't wait to call his son, former major leaguer Orlando Merced.

Linescore:

Japan 0 0
USA 5 5


This historic game would never have happened if not for Harvey Musser.

In 1943, Musser was a 20-year-old Army combat engineer in New Guinea, preparing to build an airstrip. He smelled a foul odor and pushed aside some dense brush. A young Japanese soldier lay there dead.

Musser bent down and searched the man's pockets. He found a photo showing the man and his family on a picnic. Just like a photo he always carried.

"Even though he was dead," Musser said, "I remember kneeling there, saying to him, 'What the hell are we doing here?'"

The image haunted Musser for decades. When a New York TV producer named Sho Ishida came to film a Japanese documentary on the Kids & Kubs seven years ago, he met Musser, then the team president.

Musser had an idea, something that would help him get past that image of the dead solider.

Something involving a game.

Murphy stops an Over the Rainbow rally, fielding a grounder, stepping on third for one out, then firing to second for a big-league double play.

Japan 0 0 0
USA 5 0 5


Just 48 hours earlier, Murphy and his teammates sipped coffee inside Tampa International, awaiting an early morning flight to Atlanta, the first leg of their final Pacific mission.

But not everybody wanted to be part of it.

"I've seen what they did to people - tied our guys to the trees and burned them, decapitated them," Hal Fisher, 82, a former Navy bombardier, said last week.

Fisher fought all over the Pacific, in Borneo, Tinian, China and Iwo Jima. He flew cover there in a B-24, bombing the island before the U.S. troops invaded. He saw gruesome photos of fliers who had been captured and killed. The images are burned in his memory.

"I got no problem with the other guys going over there, and part of me would love to play," he said. "But I couldn't go on this trip in good faith. No way."

Yet for others who had served in the Pacific, the game represented a rare opportunity to revisit a painful chapter, to make a statement, perhaps to learn something.

"You know, for years and years, I never talked about my experience, never thought about it," said Irv Abelson, 82.

At 18, Abelson was a Coast Guard seaman in the Philippines. One night, his ship got stuck on a coral reef. He helped drive away Japanese gunboats, shining a spotlight on them from the bridge, then firing at them with a rifle.

"The way I see it, this is a very difficult time for our country," he said. "We've got our problems and need all the allies we can get. And Japan is a great one."

"It was a long time ago," said current team president Winchell Smith, 88, who repaired Army field artillery. "They were doing their jobs the same as we were doing ours."

In the bottom of the third, Tom Panebianco, an ex-Navy mechanic who sailed into Tokyo Bay at war's end, singles to start a five-run rally.

Japan 0 0 0 0
USA 5 0 5 10


En route to Atlanta, the pilot announced that a group of men on board was heading to Hawaii to play against Japanese World War II vets.

Loud applause and cheers rippled through the cabin.

On cue, Panebianco helped lead his teammates in a raucous cheer: "What's the matter with 75?! We're the guys still alive! Ho-ho let's go! Rah-rah-rah 75!"

At their next gate, several players noticed a young Navy seaman waiting alone for the 10-hour Honolulu flight. Team captain Andy Devine called out, "Hey, sailor!"

In moments, they were immersed in conversation.

Trevor Kencsan, a quiet 22-year-old electrician's mate from Ohio, got a rousing pep talk from Devine, a gregarious 81-year-old former Navy radioman from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Devine was thrust into battle in the Philippines aboard the USS Ommaney Bay. On Jan. 4, 1945, his ship was hit by a kamikaze plane in the Sulu Sea.

The plane ripped through the deck and caused a massive explosion and fire. Devine and his crew abandoned ship to safety.

"I thought I was a brave kid, but that was scary," said Devine, who later served in Korea and did three tours in Vietnam.

To this day, he remembers the horrible, bone-jarring sound of his ship blowing up.

Japan gets on the board. In the fourth inning, Kenichirou Okada, 75, triples in a run. Moments later, players and spectators hold their breath when second baseman Bert Clearwater, 85, takes a bad hop to the face, loses his balance and hits the back of his head hard on the dirt infield. Play is stopped, but he shakes it off.

Japan 0 0 0 1 1
USA 5 0 5 0 10

They settled back for the marathon flight, crossing time zones, talking, sleeping, wondering.

Clearwater, a World War II flight instructor from Beaver Falls, Pa., saw a woman nearby writing her name on a Christmas card with the inscription:

"Son, it seems like only yesterday you still believed in Santa and Christmas morning brought such a magical smile. ..."

Her son is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in Baghdad.

"You want my autograph?" Clearwater asked with a friendly smile, then offered to have the entire Kids & Kubs combat division sign it as well.

The woman, Pearl Ganon of Hawaii, said she would love that. So Clearwater moved about the cabin, getting signatures.

"When I tell him I was on a plane with men who fought for our country in World War II, it's going to give him such a boost in morale," Ganon said. "It's going to make his day."

In the bottom of fifth, Merced has doubly good reason to call his son. He smacks a three-run homer.

Japan 0 0 0 1 1 2
USA 5 0 5 0 4 14

The jet touched down at Honolulu International at 3:04 p.m. local time.

Smith gathered his weary teammates as pretty Hawaiian women placed leis around their necks. A bus took them to their downtown hotel.

5:30 p.m. They stepped inside the plush, packed lobby of the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani as old men and suddenly became baseball stars. Four film crews from Japan followed their every move.

"We got more cameramen than ballplayers," said John Gist, who served as seaman first-class and storekeeper in New Guinea.

6:30 p.m. Former mortal enemies shook hands at a packed reception, conversing happily with the help of translators.

"It's wonderful," said Shoji Yano, 79, through an interpreter as several Kids & Kubs listened. "Americans are so big-hearted."

7:15 p.m. Event organizer Mitsuru Okoso ushered everyone into a conference room with big round tables, each designated for four American and four Japanese players. A long banner hung on the wall proclaiming, "Super Senior Baseball Match Between U.S. and Japan."

9 p.m. Larry Willows talked at one table. He saw the damage at Pearl Harbor when his aircraft carrier docked there in 1943, two years after the attack.

"They were still taking bodies off the Arizona," he said. He later faced heavy combat in the Marshall, Gilbert and Mariana Islands, fending off kamikazes.

Now, aided by an interpreter, he was engaged in conversation with Hisashi Hisaeda. The two 81-year-olds learned something remarkable: Both fought in the same 1943 battle on Truk Island in the Philippines. Willows, from White Plains, N.Y., was shelling the island; Hisaeda was desperately trying to dodge explosions and survive behind tree stumps.

Both were 17.

"I'm glad to see you here with us, alive," said Willows, smiling.

Hisaeda listened to the interpretation, then laughed and shook Willows' hand.

9:30 p.m. They posed for a snapshot, beaming like old pals.

Japan is starting to fade in the 85 degree heat, normal conditions for the Kids & Kubs.

Japan 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
USA 5 0 5 0 4 0 14


On Tuesday, the Kids and Kubs warmed up with a convincing 11-8 victory over a younger Hawaiian club. But Wednesday was the big day.

At 8 a.m., a tour bus took both teams to a pastoral hillside and the Makiki cemetery for Japanese military. Over the Rainbow players prayed and bowed solemnly before a large gravestone, a symbol of the souls of their ancestors. Kids & Kubs members watched in silence amid boom mikes and cameras.

Next stop, the Punchbowl Crater on a spectacular Hawaian mountainside, site of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where 78,000 American war dead are buried. A massive stone staircase leads to a statue of Lady Liberty above the peaceful resting place.

In a light drizzle, Winchell Smith and Yoshimasa Iwao presented a ceremonial wreath as players mingled comfortably.

Then, an amazing moment:

As taps began, a rainbow appeared across the sky, framing the memorial. Larry Willows and Andy Devine couldn't hold back their tears. Just as it had appeared, the rainbow began to fade as the song ended.

"I was just thinking of all the friends I'd lost in the war, and then I saw this rainbow," Devine said. "Never in a million years ..."

"God just had a gift for us," Willows said, still choked up. "It was like he was saying, 'Nice going guys. Good job getting together.'"

As they walked back to the bus, many players on both teams shook hands and hugged.

"My buddy," Iwao grinned, putting his arm around 87-year-old Walt Pawley, once a first lieutenant in the 25th Infantry Division. "My buddy," Pawley smiled back.

Soon they were gazing at the USS Arizona memorial, a large white structure in Pearl Harbor, above the sunken battleship where 1,178 bodies are still entombed. They posed for a combined team picture and joked as Devine got to steer the tourist boat back to land. Next it was off to Hans L'Orange Field. A game awaited.

Here's what stood out: The Kids & Kubs belting out the national anthem as if they were at the Olympics, then belting their eager but less talented competition with help from other military oldtimers Mike Hungo, Karl Sommer, Jim Archey (five strikeouts) and Gordon Scargle (three hits).

In the end, there were more hugs and a team photo where they all yelled "cheese!" then "banzai!"

"I feel like I have 20 new friends," Devine said.

In the background, over the stadium sound system, Judy Garland sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

For two teams of old men who discovered a surprising bond, that somewhere was here.

Meet the New Boss, Different than the Old Boss ...

Easy blog entry, as I pass along an article of interest and a suggestion:

The suggestion is---

"A good rule to live by; Anytime Dave Scheiber of the St. Pete Times writes, you should read it..."
- Terry Lyons

His own boss

After years of keeping his distance from baseball, Hank Steinbrenner is making himself comfortable as the man in charge of the Yankees.

By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer
Published December 16, 2007

TAMPA - He crafted his own career and life on 800 acres of gently rolling Ocala horse country, far from the massive shadow cast by his famous father. In so doing, Hank Steinbrenner opted to live away from the glare for much of the past two decades, coming up through the family farm system as a master at matching thoroughbred bloodlines and breeding champions.

Now the oldest child and son of George Steinbrenner - aging owner of the New York Yankees who made bombast and intimidation his trademark style as the Boss - is starting to cast a distinctive shadow of his own.

He has become the face and voice of the storied baseball franchise, a man who stepped into the Yankee spotlight two months ago during the awkward departure of popular manager Joe Torre, and has owned it ever since.

Working from his office at Legends Field off Dale Mabry Highway, Son No. 1 has generated a string of splashy Big Apple headlines - shelling out megamillions to bring a contrite Alex Rodriguez back into the pinstriped fold, opening his wallet to keep veteran catcher Jorge Posada and closer Mariano Rivera from leaving town, then boldly issuing a deadline and refusing so far to deal for Minnesota left-hander Johan Santana in exchange for valuable young talent.

Introducing the New York Hanks - a team taking shape for 2008 with a mix of solid old hands and promising farm products like himself.

For the record, Hank, 50, shares the role of running the club with younger brother Hal, conferring as coequal bosses on all decisions while keeping their father informed. But at age 77, Steinbrenner clearly has stepped back, leaving his two sons in charge of different phases of the operation.

Hal, who spent his formative years running the family's hotel interests, is focusing his energy on the construction of a new Yankee Stadium, set to open in 2009. Hank, meanwhile, has followed the lead of his dad, calling all the shots for the baseball team - and calling them, it seems, with the same off-the-cuff bravado for which his father was legendary.

"Maybe at times I'll shoot from the hip too much," says Hank with a deep, deliberate voice that contrasts to his father's faster, clipped delivery. "And that's an influence from my dad. But the biggest thing I learned from him is winning."

It is something he learned on his own terms. For years, he distanced himself from baseball, where there would have been precious little room to establish his own identity while following in his father's footsteps. Other than a brief stint with the team in 1985 and 1986, learning the ropes of the organization, Hank remained immersed in the thoroughbred business some 100 miles north at Kinsman Farm in Ocala, where he would produce a steady string of graded stakes champs and 2005 Kentucky Derby favorite Bellamy Road.

He shunned opportunities to become the DH - designated heir - turning down his dad's offer to run the team temporarily when the senior Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball in 1990. He watched with no regrets as one, then another brother-in-law moved into the line of succession until they became former brothers-in-law - ultimately opening the door for Hank to be groomed for a new role.

"I preferred to stay with horse racing, at that time I was even living at the farm," he said. "At no time did I wonder, 'Well, am I going to end up taking it over?' It was a situation where it was a necessity within the last year."

Hank knew the time had come to step up to the plate. And so far, the once-reluctant hot prospect from the Steinbrenner farm team at Kinsman appears to be a natural.

The Beatles to baseball

He grew up in a household where striving to be the best was expected, and as the oldest of George and Joan Steinbrenner's four children, followed in order by Jennifer, Jessica and Hal, Hank, was first on the hot seat. But he remembers plenty of good times with his dad.

The Steinbrenners lived in Cleveland, where George helped run the family shipping business, and the two often would attend Indians and Browns games. "When I was a kid, because my dad didn't own the Yankees yet, we had a lot of time to spend together," Hank recalls. "My dad and I actually saw the '64 championship game when the Browns were 14-point underdogs but destroyed the Colts 27-0."

It wasn't only about sports, either. The Boss-to-be even contributed to his young son's rock 'n' roll education.

In 1964, Hank was 7 and owned a small, cheap guitar that he banged around on at home. News hit that the Beatles were making a return concert at Cleveland's Music Hall and Hank watched all the reports on TV.

"I didn't ask to go see them, I was just following it on the news like everybody else, with all the excitement it created in the city," he says. "My dad came home from work one day and said, 'We're gonna go see the Beatles.' He was in his early 30s and into Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra and all that and he didn't know a thing about rock 'n' roll. Even at 7, I knew what to expect. But he didn't. So he got great seats, like fifth row, center. I remember every bit of that concert because we were so close.

"But the funny part was we were sitting there and there was no announcement. I'll never forget how George Harrison backed out onto the stage and he was laughing and joking with the other guys, and all hell broke loose. I mean, girls coming screaming down the aisles and people climbing on the back of our chairs. And my dad was looking around, like, 'What the expletive have we gotten into?' His reaction was classic."

For all the tempestuousness that would characterize his father as Yankees owner, Hank saw a different man at home. "As a father, he was great," he says. "As a boss, he was very difficult."

Hank was in military prep high school at Culver Academy in Indiana - attended by four generations of Steinbrenners - by the time his father purchased the Yankees in 1973. He had absorbed the family credo of hard work and the pursuit of excellence, but didn't care much for Culver or its rigid rules at the time. "I didn't like it when I was there - very few members of my class (of '76), did, due to one particular superintendent who only lasted two years. But it made me a lot tougher."

Hank already had become heavily involved with the horse farm, which his father had purchased in 1969, and spent summers throughout his teen years working at Kinsman. In contrast to his father, who attended prestigious William & Mary, Hank enrolled at little Central Methodist in Fayette, Mo., where he played soccer but dropped out before his senior year to pursue his passion for horses. He learned the ins and outs of the business at Kinsman, working with trainers, studying breeding, and gradually earning his father's trust.

But Papa Steinbrenner coaxed his son into joining the baseball business in the mid-1980s. Hank was assigned to then-GM Clyde King in '85, followed by King's successor, Woody Woodward. He saw the inner workings of the operation, with Billy Martin managing the first year, Lou Piniella the second.

"In the years I was with the Yankees, he wasn't too involved," Piniella says. "But I've gotten to know him well since then. Hank's a smart guy. Very intelligent and hospitable. Quiet and more reserved than his father. He doesn't have the bluster his dad was known for. I don't think he probably likes the limelight as much as his dad did. He's very serious - all business."

But working for the club afforded neither him nor Hal the prospect of professional growth in a world dominated by their dad. Hank returned to Kinsman, even making time to do some youth sports coaching on the side - but not the sport that consumed his father.

In 1989 and 1990, he was the soccer coach at Ocala Vanguard High, taking the team from 0-11 to 5-7 in his first season. His dad even showed up occasionally to lend his support. The way Piniella sees it, Hank needed to get away and make a life on his own - a sentiment echoed by longtime Yankees observerNew York Daily News columnist Bill Madden.

"I don't think there's any question about that," Madden says. "He told me that's why he left the Yankees after only two years when he was supposed to be really breaking into baseball. Other people have told me the same thing, that George was just oppressive to both Hank those two years and to Hal, who did a similar indoctrination into baseball in the mid '90s, brought in to become sort of a CEO in waiting.

"Neither one of them could work for their father. Hank put it best to me when he said it's one thing to work for your father; it's another thing to work with your father. He's working with him now. And he's allowed to do his job."

'A regular guy'

He's a pack-a-day smoker, but wants to quit to be a better role model for children. As a youngster, he dreamed about becoming a U.S. senator, a goal that delighted his parents. He plays a Fender Stratocaster guitar to relax, likes U2 and he says his favorite meal is pizza.

"Hank's just a regular guy you could have a beer with," longtime friend and Kinsman Farm manager Jim Scott says.

Scott manages the stunning spread that has long served as a second home for the Steinbrenners, with simple ranch houses in close proximity for the four Steinbrenner children and their families, and a slightly bigger abode on a nearby hill for George and Joan. Scott's house is next door to Hank's. They are close in age and startedat the farm in the early 1980s. When Scott left several years ago to work elsewhere, Hank lured him back to Kinsman.

"He's an amazing person," Scott says. "He's very intelligent and a real pedigree expert, one of the best I've ever met. The father of the pedigree and breeding industry was an Italian man named Federico Tesio. We used to jokingly call Hank 'Young Tesio,' but it was really no joke. He's that good."

Scott points to Kinsman's current star thoroughbred, Majestic Warrior - expected to be a Kentucky Derby contender in May - noting that the horse is a descendent of a mare Hank purchased in 1982, then managed the breeding through four generations of graded stakes winners.

"Most farms buy horses as 2-year-olds to race," Scott says. "We raise these horses for five generations. This is almost unheard of nowadays."

Scott credits George Steinbrenner with starting that tradition, and both Hank and Jessica, who serves as the farm's general manager, for helping it flourish. He says he always had a hunch Hank would one day wind up with the Yankees.

"He was always the heir apparent, he just needed the right situation," Scott says. "He's not a media hound. He doesn't mind being in the background, which is different than his father."

Scott has a favorite story about Hank. It takes place in the '80s, when George Steinbrenner was still highly involved at Kinsman.

"Hank was here in our office and we were on a conference call, and Mr. Steinbrenner was chewing me and a couple of other guys out about something," Scott remembers. "Hank was kind of sitting back, not saying anything. But he had one of those little laugh boxes, and when you pushed the button, it would go, 'Ya-ha-ha-ha.'

"So as Mr. Steinbrenner is yelling into the phone, Hank comes up from behind, puts the box right next to the receiver and all of a sudden he hits that button. That thing starts making laughing sounds. And Mr. Steinbrenner comes apart, wanting to know who was laughing during the a---chewing. I didn't think it was funny at the time, but I did later."

Finding his own voice

Hank's life has been a blur since Oct. 19, when Torre rejected the Yankees' incentive-laced, one-year offer for $5-million, $2-million less than he made this past season. When the skipper who delivered four World Series titles told reporters he found the offer insulting, Hank didn't miss a beat, firing a salvo at the popular Torre.

"Where was Joe's career in '95 when my dad hired him?" Hank told the New York Post. "My dad was crucified for hiring him."

He took some heat himself for sounding defensive, but it signaled the official start of the Hank Era. "It was such a firestorm, I felt I had to react and defend our position," he says. "You can't hide in a corner. You have to step up at some point."

Ten days later, when A-Rod opted out of his contract, shopping for a $350-million, 10-year deal, Hank made news again, proclaiming that if Rodriguez didn't want to be a Yankee, the Yankees didn't want him around anyway. But when the third baseman agreed to apologize to Hank and Hal, according to Madden, and leave agent Scott Boras outside the negotiating room, Hank welcomed Rodriguez back, paying him a still-hefty $275-million for 10 years.

Newsday's Wallace Matthews lambasted him for reversing field and overpaying, dubbing him "Boy George." Hank defends the move.

"At the time, none of us really knew what he and Boras intended, we had no clue," he says. "We just thought he really wanted to leave, so my response was if he doesn't want to be a Yankee, we're not going to chase after him. That was always our position. But we found out in the weeks that followed that he really did want to be a Yankee and had just gotten bad advice."

Hank drew some criticism again with the Santana deadline.

"There was a reason I did that," he says. "I didn't want the winter meetings to become a bidding circus; us against the Red Sox or any other team."

"He makes it very clear that the Yankees are a special entity that demand attention," Madden says. "When he put that deadline on the Santana negotiations, that's the kind of thing his father would do. He really has taken charge. He's plunged headfirst into this thing."

Stepping up - and out

He bears a certain resemblance to his father, especially the piercing blue eyes, but wears his hair closely cropped unlike the well-sculpted Boss coif. Photos often show him with a serious expression. Madden attributes that to the strain of working so many years for his father.

"He's always worked for his father in some capacity, whether it was the horses, the Yankees, whatever, and that hasn't been easy," the columnist says.

He has also had his share of personal pain, stemming from a bitter divorce that took place in Pinellas County between 2003-06. He and his then-wife raised their four children in the Clearwater area, but he now resides in Tampa.

"I hate to discuss it for the sake of my children and my ex-wife, but it wasn't easy for me," he says. By some accounts, the divorce wore him down.

But in February, then-brother-in-law Steve Swindal - the expected successor to George Steinbrenner - was arrested and charged with DUI. Wife Jennifer filed for divorce in March and general partner Swindal was out of the running and soon gone from the Yankee ranks.

Not long after, following some gentle prodding by Piniella over lunch, Hank emerged and, with Hal, joined their aging father. He needed them, not just wanted them. The time had come to return to his side. The daughters have done the same, with Jessica expanding her Kinsman duties and Jennifer supervising the New York Yankees Foundation, taking a more visible role in overseeing philanthropic endeavors in the Tampa Bay area and New York.

"I'm happy that we've all stepped up," says Jessica, married to Yankees senior vice president Felix Lopez Jr.

"I think Hank will bring a very calm perspective," says Joe Molloy, who, before his divorce from Jessica in 1997, was a Yankees general partner and a candidate to succeed the Boss. Molloy now works as a middle school teacher in Tampa. "He's very levelheaded and thinks things through thoroughly. His interest is to win and that will carry over."

But not, Hank says, as the result of an explosive management style.

"I tend to be somewhat reactive - I take things as they come, every situation is different," he says. "But as a boss, I'm definitely easy."

And finally out of the Ocala shadows, as his own Boss.

Dave Scheiber can be reached at scheiber@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8541.

###

Gotta Have Heart ... and she does.

When Dave Scheiber of the St. Pete Times gets a hold of a story, he knocks it home. Like Mike Bossy with a 'one-timer,' like Tiger with a two-footer for birdie, like Papelbon with an 0-2 count. You get the picture, right?

Well, read this one and enjoy:

The sweetest swing

A teenager doesn't dwell on health issues. There's golf to be played.

By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 29, 2007

On the greens, 5-foot-2 MacKinzie Kline is a teen with the biggest of hearts, a fierce competitor whose desire to win and tackle the next challenge has made her one of the top junior female golfers in the United States.

Maybe that's because Kline has been surmounting obstacles throughout her 15 years, starting as an infant with life-and-death surgery on the tiniest of hearts.

She was born with heterotaxy syndrome, missing a right ventricle and without sufficient oxygen in her bloodstream. In stark terms, a cardiologist told her stunned parents, their baby was missing a pumping chamber. "He said, 'If we don't do the surgery, she's not going to make it,' " her father, John Kline, recalled recently. "She won't last long."

Kline was only 11 weeks when doctors repaired the "plumbing" in a heart the size of a walnut in a radical procedure, 18 months old when she had a second critical operation and 14 years old when doctors repaired a hole that had begun sapping her strength and threatening her health.

Yet, the native of Encinitas, Calif., has defied expectations, surpassing what anybody imagined she was capable of achieving when her parents bought her plastic golf clubs at age 51/2.

"By the time I was 8, I knew I wanted to be a professional golfer," said Kline during a media event last month at Disney World, where she will compete this week in the Children's Miracle Network Classic pro-am, pairing up with a PGA Tour member, and continue her mission to raise awareness and funds for congenital heart defect research.

"I would tell my parents, and they'd be, 'Okay, sure, whatever you want to do.' But I was sure I wanted to grow up and play on the LPGA tour."

Today, nobody's doubting the kid called Mac.

Playing Annika

She has long, blond hair, a friendly smile and the kind of photogenic look that would be right at home on the cover of a teen magazine. But what stands out most when she talks is her calm manner and upbeat outlook.

"There are certain things I can't do, like surfing or going on rollercoaster rides," Kline said. "If my friends want to go to Disney, I can go but I can't go on any of the rides with them. If they want to go for a run on the beach, I can only go for a walk. But it's not that bad. I see other people out there and go, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm so lucky.' I can do what I want to do. I can walk. I have my arms and legs. And I can play golf."

Can she ever.

In 2006, when Golfweek/Titleist Junior Amateur Rankings came out, Kline owned the No. 1 spot as the top 14-year-old girl. She also was given permission last year by the U.S. Golf Association to compete in tournaments with the aid of an oxygen equipped cart. As a result, she found herself in a memorable event May 31, the Ginn Tribute in Mount Pleasant, S.C., hosted by her idol, Annika Sorenstam. It was Kline's first LPGA tournament - courtesy of an exemption granted by the eight-time player of the year herself.

"I admire what she's done," Sorenstam said at the tournament. "She's had some challenges in her life and just kind of worked past those. I think she's very inspiring for anybody."

Sorenstam described how she played nine holes with Kline in 2005, adding, "She has matured a lot. ... She's a very good player and with her determination, I just felt like, this is a dream for her."

But before the dream came a parent's nightmare.

The diagnosis

John and Elizabeth knew something was wrong the moment their first child was born.

"They just whisked her away right after she was delivered and my wife was going, 'Where's my baby?' " recalled Kline's father. "I said I didn't know, but I left the delivery room and saw a nurse walking down the hall quickly. In a matter of seconds, it's like you're on a long journey."

Their baby had been born blue in the face and lips, with barely enough oxygen to survive. Instantly, their lives - he worked in the medical supplies field, she was a flight attendant - were turned upside down, a blur of ICUs, sleepless nights and long odds.

After her second surgery, Kline progressed like a normal, active toddler, despite a heart-arrhythmia scare one day that left her short on oxygen and blue in the face again. There was no time to wait for an ambulance, so her parents rushed her to the ER.

"At the time, we were looking at 5 years," her father said. She turned 5 in good shape, and her parents enrolled her in kindergarten. "Every day was a precious day - every day today is a precious day," he said. "We haven't changed our thought process."

Her surgeon, John Lamberti, cautioned that she shouldn't run around on the playground, do any aerobic activity and must be careful not to sustain any impact to her chest. The Klines informed the teachers, but refrained from becoming hovering parents. "She'll give you signs when she's tired," the doctor told them.

Still, they wanted to know what they could expect as she grew older. "He said, 'You know, we don't know because we just don't have very many kids who are single-ventricle who have passed the age of 25,' " said John Kline, who pictured Mac in high school, and asked if there was any activity she could safely undertake.

He remembers Lamberti's answer: "Maybe golf, she can take it at her own pace."

From the start, she set a pace that surprised everyone.

Junior achievement

Kline immediately gravitated to her set of toy clubs, hitting plastic balls in the back yard and the field at a nearby school. "She just kept hitting and hitting - it would be, 'Dad, I want one more,' " her father said. She was 6 when he took her to a golf coach, John Mason. He noticed something special in her swing and devotion.

"She was just the cutest little girl you ever saw," he said by phone from California. "And you could she see had natural talent."

Kline rapidly progressed in the junior ranks, becoming California champion at 10 and 11. But she also began having an impact off the course. At 10, Kline became national spokeswoman for the Children's Heart Foundation and recently surpassed her goal of $1-million in contributions. Her sights are set on $2-million by next year. She also hopes she's inspiring youngsters facing personal challenges.

"It feels great to show people you can do what you want to do," she said. "If you can help one kid, and another kid sees them doing what he or she wants to do, it becomes a chain reaction."

Not that Kline doesn't have her difficult moments. About 18 months ago, she began to experience dizziness and trouble focusing. Playing 18 holes became a chore and her game suffered.

"She just seemed to feel blue and didn't have any energy," Elizabeth said. A medical exam revealed that, over time, a small hole had developed in her heart, causing her oxygen saturation to plummet. It was recommended she undergo a cardiac catheterization, which would have prevented her from competing in the U.S. Women's Open, the U.S. Women's Amateur and the U.S. Girls Junior Championships.

Kline would have none of that. She insisted on competing. Her parents struggled with the decision, but in the end let their daughter make the call.

First, the USGA had to agree to let Kline compete with the aid of a cart and portable oxygen tank. Initially, the organization turned down John Kline's petition, saying the request had not been included on entry forms, But after a wave of criticism, it reversed the stance.

Kline failed to make the Amateur cut, but got a chance to play a pro-am with Sorenstam in the Nokia Champions Challenge - one of her all-time highlights. "It was awesome," she said.

On Aug. 30, 2006, she had the surgery to fix the hole in her heart. During the procedure, surgeon John Moore discovered a blood clot that sits in her heart. "He sat down with her and said, 'You know, Mac, no more roller coasters or anything that's jumpy or jerky,' " Elizabeth said. "She was down about it at first, like 'It's not fair,' but I just said, 'You'll survive, you'll survive.' "

Teen with dreams

Today, Kline is not only surviving but thriving and, according to Lamberti, resetting the bar for single-ventricle patients.

"She has a type of congenital heart defect that would have a had a less favorable outcome 20 years ago," said the heart surgeon at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. "But she's been managed by a modern algorithm. The approach we take is different from the old days. As a consequence, you can't look at the literature and say because these patients did poorly in the '70s and '80s that they're necessarily going to do poorly in the 21st century."

Lamberti says there are many "pharmacological agents and interventional things we can do to keep her going." In addition, a formal exercise and conditioning program "tailored to fit Mac's heart" is in the planning stages.

Meanwhile, Kline keeps busy as ever. She attends a charter school three times a week, where an independent-studies curriculum allows her plenty of time to hone her game. She sports gear and clothing from TaylorMade and Adidas, which support her fundraising efforts, and travels to tournaments under the tutelage of one-time Jack Nicklaus instructor Jim Flick.

"Mac has a tremendous passion for the game and is a really hard worker," said Flick, her coach the past two months. "What she's overcome with her heart has given her a lot of commitment to her goals."

At home, Kline is a typical teen who enjoys shopping with friends, watching movies and text-messaging. She cheers on her soccer-playing, 9-year-old sister, Madison. And she's thinking about college, possibly UCLA or Arizona: "I want to play the college game and hopefully win some amateur events, and I just want to have fun and be a kid."

Then she plans to take a swing at her LPGA dream, continuing to spread a simple message.

"Do what you want to do, whether you have a heart condition or not," she said, smiling. "If you want to play something, just go for it. And do the best you can at it. You only have one life, so you should live it."

Dave Scheiber can be reached at scheiber@sptimes.com or 727 893-8541.

Fast Facts:


MacKinzie Kline

Born: March 30, 1992 in San Diego

Resides: Encinitas, Calif.

Family: Parents John and Elizabeth Kline, sister Madison, 9, and a dog named Lucky.

Spokesperson: Children's Heart Foundation

Handicap: 1.

Favorite TV show: American Idol.

Favorite musicians: Carrie Underwood, Maroon 5, Akon, Avril Lavigne

Web site: www.mackline.com