Chapter 43.5: Math Fun

I’m missing a part of my brain. Those who know me would say I’ve not been all there for a long time, but I don’t mean it in that way. What I mean is I used to be able to do math problems; I originally majored in the subject in college. These days, I can’t recognize a simple trigonometry problem for what it is.

I recently wrote a book review -- my first. It was on managing and leadership in nonprofits. When I was a Math/English double major in college, the idea of comprehending business management, much less writing somewhat authoritatively on the subject would never have crossed my mind. I wanted to write books that have some mathematic or scientific authenticity to them and which still were compelling stories. I still do. In fact, my second novel will be about a group whose paterfamilias was a geologist as is one of his daughters, the main character. Yet, at its heart, it’s a love story. Another book will play with relativistic science; that too is driven by the characters rather than the science. Personally, I think that’s the only way it could succeed.

But back to my point: I miss math and science. Today, while pulling squad duty, one of our recent high school graduates (now in the second semester of his freshman year) returned from MIT. I asked him what classes he was taking. Among them was about relativistic physics. He mentioned Einstein’s twin paradox, which I’d been reminded of earlier in the day. The paradox is about a pair of twins, one who leaves earth to travel through space at speeds approaching the speed of light, and when he returns, he’s younger than his brother. An article from NASA pointed out a flaw in this hypothesis: the telomeres will have been so damaged by the radiation in space that his body will actually have aged more than his brother who never left the planet.

This kid started pointing out all sorts of other flaws in the hypotheses of time travel, and eventually showed me some elegant little equations that show the impossibilities of traveling at light speed (at least from an algebraic perspective). I asked him for some books for people like me: used to have abilities that have atrophied and wishes to exercise them back into a semblance of their old shape. I’m a mathlete who is trying to get back into shape to at least do simple geometry.

Because of the book review, I will receive a $20 gift card from Barnes & Noble. I think it’s time to read a good science book. Any suggestions?

Chapter 43.4: Your Cheating Heart

I don’t think any true baseball fan is surprised at the accusations in Sports Illustrated about Barry Bonds’ steroid use. Anyone who has watched him play since his days with the Pirates, when he was a thin whip of a batter with a fantastically quick bat. By the time 1998 came around and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa passed Babe Ruth and then Roger Maris’s single-season home run totals, Bonds was already a sure-fire Hall of Famer. No one else who’d won as many Most Valuable Player awards as he had at that point had not been elected to induction in Cooperstown.

I liked this column in the San Jose Mercury News, which amusingly describes another incident that’s been in the press recently: a conversation that reportedly occurred between Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. Basically, the tale goes, Bonds said he told Griffey he keeps having great years but no one respected what he’d accomplished, but the fans and media loved people like McGwire and Sosa, so Bonds decided if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Griffey said he has no recollection about the conversation. As the sons of well regarded ball players, they’ve been around the game all their lives. They know there are some things that aren’t supposed to be said to people outside the game, and that includes reporters.

It seems to me that someone’s trying to besmirch Griffey: guilt by association with Bonds. That’s just wrong. This is a man who’s kept consistent throughout his career, who’s won an MVP, who’s hit more than 500 home runs, and was once regarded as the best player in the game. Not only will he be inducted into the Hall of Fame five years after he eventually retires, but he’s already been named as one of the All-Century team. And as he’s gotten older, his body has deteriorated like it’s supposed to. He doesn’t hit 45-50 homers like he did during his prime. He never got pudgy. I would be amazed if he were a steroid user.

I think Griffey’s accomplishments will eventually be considered among the most impressive of this current era. While other players like Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro have all either been accused of using steroids or have admitted to it, Griffey has passed through without such accusations. Some fans may not like his sometimes aloof demeanor, but no true baseball fan can deny that Ken Griffey Jr. is a great baseball player. We need to get this season started so Griffey can get back to doing what he’s always done and these spurious, stories can fall by the wayside. Go ahead and investigate Bonds, whose surly attitude and jealousy may have finally caught up with him. He has ruined his own reputation. He’ll likely pass Babe Ruth’s career home run total by May, but who will really believe that he deserves to be considered like Ruth or Hank Aaron? It’s his own damn fault.