Bill Scherer's Blog

Posted by Bill Scherer

On June 2, 2009 there was a city council election here in Riverside, CA and wouldn't you know it, my name was on the ballot. Not that many folks noticed, I managed only 33% of the vote. But that's the short-sighted view of things. There are sound reasons for encouragement.

I entered the race four months before the election (a mail-in ballot) with no name recognition, no campaign team, and no money. All I had was a message of simple, principled, constitutional conservatism. My campaign fliers were simple black and white leaflets with no graphics, just my message. My website didn't even have a picture of me on it, just my message:

• I will stand before the people and tell them the truth.
• Government should be as small as possible, taxes as low as possible, and individuals are capable of more than most politicians think is possible.
• Elected officials are employees of the people.
• The Constitution was written to limit government and protect your rights.
• We are gradually forfeiting those rights.

My immediate local goals?

• Stop eminent domain abuses.
• Stop big-developer welfare.
• Encourage small businesses and entrepreneurship.

The simple principles and goals listed above garnered 33% of the vote in my ward. Let's be clear, they didn't vote for me, they voted for the principles we shared.

I'm running again in 2013. This time we'll have a dedicated team to help, four years to build a campaign fund, and the same rock-solid principles to guide us. I might even put a picture of myself on the campaign website.

Posted by Bill Scherer

Once again, I'm the last guy on the block to put up Christmas lights. I'm not a Scrooge, mind you, I just don't see the point of having the house lit up like a Vegas casino a month before Christmas. Thins out the thrill, don't you think?

I cannot, nor do I wish to, out-decorate my neighbors, some of whom are very creative, while others just buy stuff and plug it in, no matter what it is. No tradition is sacred.

It's gotten to the point that my kids don't believe me when I tell them that Santa is going to deliver presents from a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. Okay, nine. But the little red-nosed one is an add-on too. Anyway, sleighs and reindeer are quickly being overtaken by other modes of transportation for old Nick.

There are lighted, inflatable Santas astride motorcycles, cruising in convertibles, and even piloting airplanes for goodness sake. My poor boys don't know if Santa is delivering toys to the sound of sleighbells, a Detroit V-8, a 45 degree V-twin, or a Pratt and Whitney radial.

I've promised my family that the Christmas stuff is coming down from the garage rafters this week, along with a year's worth of dust. We'll have our week and a half of excess then it will all get put away the day after Christmas. Like I said earlier, I'm not a Scrooge, I'm just trying to keep it special.

What about Nativity scenes and such? I'm all for them, though it's probably the wrong time of year for Jesus to have been born, but that's a topic for another time.

Merry Christmas to one and all, even those who don't understand how Santa gets around.

Posted by Bill Scherer

Last Saturday's Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga fight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA was only 40 minutes from my house, which is better than a three and one-half hour drive from Las Vegas, to be sure. Especially at midnight, after a long day.

Unfortunately, I was also stricken with bronchitis and would rather have watched the fight on TV with Vicks Vapor Rub slathered an inch thick on my chest. But I went anyway. The writers sitting around me may have wished I hadn't. I hacked phlegm from the opening bell of the first fight to the completion of the post-fight presser held next to the ring, nine fights and eight hours later.

Too sick and exhausted to sit out in the chill night of the open air tennis facility and finish my fight report, I packed up my laptop, headed home and fell fast asleep.

Rising early the next morning, I finished my article and submitted it while pouring the last drops of cold coffee down my gullet. Peering over the top of my cup, I saw a spiral bound notebook open to what looked like one of my fight notes. I picked it up and immediately recognized the writing, but it wasn't mine, it belonged to my eldest son, who is ten-years-old today.

Written just as I would have, it had the fighter's names above the top margin and the rounds numbered on the left margin with a space in between for notes. He's been watching.

Among his entries:

"Both fighters using power punches."

"Head butt!"

"Great round of boxing!"

"Mosley wins by KO at 2:59 of round twelve!"

That's lump in your throat stuff, right there. Will he grow up to become a writer? I don't know and it doesn't really matter. What matters is that all the evidence points to him growing up to be my son.

Posted by Bill Scherer

This is the slow season for boxing, for the casual fan, at least. No Showtime or HBO fights until September. This Friday on ESPN2 we get Julio Gonzalez vs. Tavoris Cloud. For entertainment value it should be worth watching since Gonzalez never saw a tough fight he didn't want to be in.

About ten years ago when my wife and I still lived in La Habra, CA, I watched Julio spar at the La Habra Boxing Club and couldn't help but be puzzled about a 6'2" boxer who rarely threw a jab. Even his sparring sessions were wars because he didn't use the stick. Besides that, his punches always seemed a little slow to me.

By this time he was 22-years-old and had built a local fan base by virtue of regular fights at the Anaheim Pond and the Forum in LA. I was convinced that that's about as far as fame and fortune would take him.

He ended up winning the WBO light heavyweight belt.

It's natural to try and predict the future of young fighters in the gym, but it's an inexact science at best.

There are some kids who are smothered in talent, but never make it out of the gym, and others who will frustrate their trainers into using a whip and a chair to tighten up their technique, but eventually win a title.

Maybe it's as simple as this: The ones who cannot be discouraged succeed.

At the Bryant Ranch Gym over 50 kids signed up for the new boxing program we have there. Of those, only two or three will pursue boxing long enough to have an amateur fight or two, and a professional career of any length is a long shot. I think I know who they are, but I'm probably wrong.

Posted by Bill Scherer

No doubt about it, welterweight is the hottest division in boxing right now.

With Antonio "The Tijuana Tornado" Margarito's massacre of Miguel "Jim Lampley Loves Me" Cotto this past Saturday, Zab Judah and Joshua Clottey duking it out this coming Saturday, Andre Berto and Paul Williams with talent and titles of their own, and Shane Mosley, Kermit Cintron, Luis Collazo and others milling around among the division's elite, we should be entertained for the foreseeable future.

I don't see anyone beating Margarito at 147 any time soon. He's too big and he can't be hurt. He did swell quite a bit from all the leather Cotto landed, so maybe a fighter's best hope is to swell him up, bust him open, and stop him on cuts. To do that, you would have to, literally, look the Tornado in the eye to deliver that much punishment. I'll pass, thank you.

Poor Kelly Pavlik. He is the dominant player in a division rich in history and prestige, yet he has to settle for a fight with Bernard Hopkins at 170. Maybe he can close out the old guy's career and drop back down to 160. Maybe Arthur Abraham will be available. That's a good fight. Pavlik wins it, but it's a good fight.

What else? Among the lightweights we have Nate Campbell vs. Juan Guzman and Michael Katsidis vs. Juan Diaz coming up. Campbell and Guzman is a tough scrap but I give the edge to Campbell. Katsidis Diaz? I honestly don't know who wins that one.

The Golden Businessman is trying to lure Manny Pacquiao away from 135 for a December 6 fight at 147. Funny thing is, a lot of folks think that's a dangerous fight for the golden one....