SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - California Governor Jerry Brown spoke at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, defending his sanctuary cities and claiming that the country’s immigration debate has become “an inflammatory football that very low-life politicians like to exploit.” He continued, “And I think it’s shocking, it’s despicable and it’s harmful to California, mostly to the people.”

Brown let it be known that he has no plans of changing his stance on the state’s immigration and sanctuary cities.

“We’re not backing off,” Brown said. “And I believe we have the legal horsepower to block the immediate legal moves by the Trump administration.”

The 80-year-old Brown, who is in the final months of his second term as California governor, proclaimed, “I’m not riding off into the sunset. You can be sure that you’ll hear from me.”

Just before Brown spoke on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted, “Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started!”

Trump took to Twitter once again on Wednesday morning, saying that many parts of sanctuary cities throughout California want out of Jerry Brown’s control.

“There is a Revolution going on in California,” Trump tweeted. “Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!”

Discusses Storied Career and the Current State of Baseball

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - “I’ve been accused of being old school; which I am,” professed legendary baseball coach Guy Anderson.

I sat down with the winner of 927 high school ballgames for a cup of coffee in Gold River on what was a perfect day for baseball. I showed up early, but Anderson was already there, sitting outside. Meeting with him for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had only heard stories.

Despite the crowded patio, I knew exactly who Anderson was. You can always tell with baseball guys. We quickly jumped into conversation, as if we’d picked right back up from our last one. The spry, 85-year-old had freshly returned from a Spring Break tournament in Anaheim. Now the assistant coach for Capital Christian High School, Anderson led the Cordova Lancers program for 45 years, winning 17 league titles, five section titles and coaching 24 players who would eventually be drafted by Major League organizations.

Earlier this year he received the American Baseball Coaches Association Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award. He attended the awards ceremony at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis to accept the award last January. Anderson told me what an honor the award was and how much it meant to him, but also how fortunate he is to have been able to coach such great players throughout the years.

“I compare coaching a little bit to being a jockey,” he explained. “You don’t win on a donkey; you’ve got to have a stallion to win the big ones. I’ve had some pretty good guys that could play the game very well.”

For a man who has dedicated much of his life to coaching and teaching others, he has enjoyed the fact that this award is not just about him, but a recognition of who he is and what he so proudly stands for. “This award was outstanding for me, I’ve been fortunate to be put in a few Hall of Fames. Like I said, you’ve got to have the stallions - it’s important to have the players - but this one here was more, to me, about who I am.”

I asked the self-proclaimed “old school” coach how the game has evolved over the many decades of ballgames that he has taken part of. “If you start at the Major League level, it’s the money. The money is a big difference now and it’s an entertainment rather than a sport.”

Anderson then addressed the collegiate level, summarizing a recent game that he and his Capital Christian team attended when they were in Southern California for their tournament. “The college level is still good baseball and I’ll give you an example. The leadoff batter gets a base hit and the next guy lays down a sacrifice bunt. Early in the game, go get that first run.”

What Anderson stressed throughout our conversation about today’s game was that sacrifice bunting, or any sort of personal sacrifice at all, is a dying art – especially at the pro level. In last year’s 2017 MLB season, a record 6,105 home runs were hit, topping the 5,963 belted in 2000 at the height of the Steroid Era. Strikeouts set a record for the 10th straight season at 40,104 and sacrifice bunts fell to their lowest level since the year 1900 at 925. To put that last number into perspective, there were only eight teams in 1900 and they played anywhere between 140 and 146 games compared to the 30 teams and 162 game schedule in today’s game.

But individual numbers can mean a lot more than team wins and the kind of contributions that won’t show up in the box score to today’s young players. The pressures to perform at a high level have trickled down to a lower age group, making the game a more individualistic sport. Whereas only seniors used to worry about playing at the college level, now underclassmen are receiving recruitment letters and are forced to think about the future rather than living in the moment.

“Play now, play the best you can and good things will happen,” said Anderson. “Don’t worry about next year or you may not get there.” From early recruitment to travel ball to personal coaches and trainers, there are new politics in the game of baseball.

But Anderson also understands that when you’re in the game as long as he has been, things are bound to take on a different shape over time. That’s part of life. “We lost one thing in basketball a few years ago, and we’re losing it in baseball now, and that’s the same color shoes,” Anderson joked. “You go back to the military. You’re a team when you all look alike. And that’s why I’ve always liked the Yankees; they never put the name on the back.”

Coach Guy Anderson is the very embodiment of America’s pastime - a true throwback in every sense of the word; rich in history and accolades, but willing to accept the evolution of the game, whether he fully agrees with it or not. And that’s what great coaches do. They lay down a stern foundation of the history and fundamentals of the game, and the rest, the improvisation, is up to you. And when it comes right down to it, Anderson and the game of baseball may have evolved, but they’ll never truly change.

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - One of the most recognized men in Carmichael, Ricardo Douglas, has been part of the community for 30 years. When a band strikes up in Carmichael Park, the public sees him out dancing. At his Post Office window, he estimates he has helped around two million customers. This month, the 6ft 2in clerk hung up his XL uniform and retired from bureaucratic life.

He and 90 postal colleagues celebrated with a 7 am potluck. “Anything social has to happen before our delivery guys start their rounds,” he explains. “I’d made my farewell speech before most Carmichael people were even out of bed.” The retiree had many to thank: “I was a Marine corporal when my Staff Sergeant, Fred Cooks, suggested I’d be good at postal work.  I had a photographic memory and I understood data. It was one of the best suggestions in my life. Two postal workers, Mark and Ken Goto, coached me for my job interview. Personnel manager Helen Schuck hired me.  Her daughter, Frances Jones, was my first supervisor.

Douglas, then 22, signed on as a distribution clerk in 1988. The Post Office was then on Palm Drive; it moved to front Carmichael Park four years later.  The clerk enjoyed short commutes. “I rode my bicycle to work from my Marconi Avenue apartment at 3:45 am,” he recalls. “We broke down big cages of mail every morning; we sorted packages, magazines and letters. Then we distributed everything to carriers before 8:30 am. I had to memorize 1150 street segments of 57 postal routes.  These days, much of this is done by machine.”

Soon Douglas joined window clerks at the front counter. “They’re called sales and service associates these days,” he says. “I had a lot to learn; the public was more challenging than I’d thought. You got used to grumpy old men, but from your window, you also encountered a huge range of human emotion. Someone might have just lost a spouse; a battered wife might be starting a new life; an immigrant might be fearful of officialdom and struggling with a new language.”

A modern phenomenon, he observes, is young people who don’t know how to mail – or even write – a letter. “All transactions in their lives have been electronic,” he explains. “The process of getting a document in the mail is a mystery to them.  Much like a bartender, you listen and try to make helpful suggestions. I could often glance at people in line and know what they wanted before they even spoke. I learned to be ready for anything that came at me.” Committed to service, Douglas learned Spanish. “I also memorized phrases like, ‘Do you want to buy stamps?’ in Arabic, Croatian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese,” he says. “It’s gratifying to see eyes light up when someone hears ‘thank you’ in their own language.”  

The clerk also put thousands of hours into mastering sign language. “Because several local agencies cater for the deaf, Carmichael has a higher than normal population with hearing impairments,” he explains.  “Many of these people heard about me. They came to my window and automatically began signing. I was proud to help.”

Aged 54, Douglas opted early retirement. “I wanted to enjoy my new home and a new life with my new wife,” he explains (he will this month wed sweetheart Marianne DeSilva, a realtor with Security Pacific in Fair Oaks).  The couple plans to travel the nation by RV and revel in outdoor living that decades of office work prevented. “Working long hours in the Post Office, I also missed out on many social and family events,” says the future bridegroom. “It will feel great to have a normal life, with Saturdays off.”

On Carmichael turf, fiancée DeSilva often feels like a celebrity’s date. “Everywhere we go, people know him,” she says. “We ran into nine of his customers recently in the Safeway store. They recognize Rich whether he’s in uniform or not. To everyone, he’s Ricardo from the Post Office.”

Douglas (christened Richard) is nevertheless as Celtic in origin as the kilt he sports for special occasions.  “My name changed when I worked part-time for a tobacco dealer in Citrus Heights,” he explains. “His Cuban patriarch translated everyone’s names to Spanish. I got so used to it, that eventually I put ‘Ricardo’ on my uniform name tag. Everyone who came to my window called me that for years.

A 20-year ballroom enthusiast, the clerk is also a strapping and familiar figure on the tiles. “When I’m out dancing, some people know me as Ricardo from the Post Office,” he says. “At the Post Office, some people knew me as Ricardo who dances in the park. So, I’m the dancing postman. I figure that’s all the fame one man could ever need.”

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - “Family: I am a Playmaker. I have been blessed with coaches who care about me, pour into me, coach me hard, and love me.  Someday I may be a Mom or Dad. I will be prepared to finish the job and pay-it-forward.  That is what a Playmaker does, and I am a Playmaker.  I will not tolerate bullying, speaking negatively about someone, or being unkind.  Team means family.”

That is the first of the four core values in the Playmakers Creed that program founder and executive director Greg “Coach Roz” Roeszler instills into his student athletes from day one. Established in 2009, The Playmakers Organization is more than just an after school program, it’s a family. Family, followed by Academics, Serving Others and Winning With Honor.

There are three components to the program: Character and Leadership, Reading and Literacy and Sports and Recreation. “The program is about integrating sports with character,” according to Skycrest Elementary 5^th grade teacher Jinne Calvi.

Skycrest Elementary in Citrus Heights is just one of four current locations that the program is currently serving, along with schools in Rancho Cordova, Folsom and Woodland with expansion to Antelope and Rocklin on the horizon.

The nonprofit program is for third, fourth and fifth graders from all different backgrounds and walks of life. They are referred by their teachers, but participate after school voluntarily. “We are old school,” said Coach Roz. “We have the toughest kids that don’t want to go to other programs.”

With Coach Roz in charge, the program is facilitated by Sacramento State student-athletes and fraternity brothers. Sac State senior and former Phi Kappa Tau president Alec Romero has been working with the Playmakers for three years and has become Coach Roz’s right hand man. He manages the rest of the coaches and has dedicated a lot of time and hard work to help make the program what it is today.

Fellow Phi Kappa Tau brother and Sac State sophomore Peter Francisco is the newest coach and had only been on the job for a couple of days but was already leading the charge on the basketball court, running layup drills and teaching the Playmakers how to both follow directions and compete.

The program starts off in the classroom after school with the Playmakers doing their homework then openly discussing anything that may be on their minds. The coaches are there for them and help guide a very structured but free speaking conversation. The class then transitions into a few warmup exercises before heading outside, in a single file line, to play whatever seasonal sport they may choose.

Coach Roz teaches the idea of what he calls the “reverse pyramid.” This is the counter sports culture idea that the veterans and leaders of the team actually go last, rather than first. “Pups, seniors, leaders,” Roz explained. “In life, you earn the right to go last.” This prepares the Playmakers for the idea that sometimes in life you must put your family first – something that Coach Roz and his team are teaching by example.

It is clear that the Playmakers are more than willing to learn and in return lead, but just need that extra guidance from the likes of Coach Roz and his team. While it’s not always easy, by the end of each new concept, both on and off the court, everyone is on the same page and working together as a team – and team means family.

To support the Playmakers, join them at their annual BBQ dinner on April 28 from 6-9pm at the Divine Savior Church located at 9079 Greenback Lane in Orangevale. There will be a number of guest speakers, a tri-tip dinner and drinks, entertainment for all and a silent auction. Tickets are $40 and available at theplaymakers.org.