Is this 1989???

The Braves lost again to the Cubs last night. I just saw the score and I really don't want to read any of the details. The Cubs have the best record in baseball, just like in 1989 when they won the division but were defeated by the Giants in the playoffs. Of course, the Braves were dead last in their division in 1989 with a 63-97 record, 28 games behind the division winner. If things keep going this way, they may end up with that same record.

I had another flashback to 1989 when I was driving in to work this morning. I heard the new song from New Kids on the Block called "Summertime"on XM20. I also heard "I'll Be Loving You" on the XM 80's station. These guys are in their upper 30s or maybe lower 40s, should they really be calling themselves New Kids on the Block? Shouldn't they be called Older Men who Didn't Have Much of a Solo Career So They Decided to Go Back to What Worked Before? I'm sure there is a demographic that they are trying to attract, mainly the 30 something females who were screaming at their concerts in the 80s and 90s, but they could also target the daughters of those 30-something mothers as a "I listened to these guys when I was in high school, so it's something that we do have in common." The song is catchy, and it may sell pretty well, but is there anything that is original anymore? Nearly every song I hear is a remake of an old song or has some kind of sampling of an old song. Are we, as a society, not receptive to originality because it is different than what we are used to?

In 1989, George Bush was president, although it was Papa Bush instead of his incompetent son. The democrats had the first African-American man as chairman of the DNC and the first African-American governor in 1989, and now they have an African-American man running for the presidency. Pete Rose was suspended from baseball for gambling in 1989, now Tim Donaghy is running into the same gambling issues in the NBA.

If we do not learn from the past, are we destined to repeat it?