They are beautiful,
but . . . ?
Why are there so many beautiful young women on the NFL
Network? It's not that I am complaining. After all, they are nice to look at
and they are not annoying in the way Kelly Ripa, my nemesis, seems determined
to be at all moments she is on air. I am
only ruminating, not criticizing. The women they employ all seem to know their football,
and I haven't seen anyone make a fool of themselves. I wish I could say that of
many men and women who do regular news programs, as they are often out of their
depth.
Most if not all networks covering football or other sports do
the same thing now - include a pretty young woman. But, the inclusion of them is almost always
done in a token way. For example, when I started this post I was watching the
morning show on the NFL Network. As usual, there are two former well known
football players, one relatively tiny white male host with a broadcasting
background (I could ask "why?" about his type too, as the players and
coaches seem to handle it all fine without on-air broadcast training, but the male "journalists"
are at least allowed to show more football knowledge) and then there's the token woman. There is never more than one and she is
always outnumbered, usually three to one. In fact, they never seem to do a one
on one debate with them. She may be
blonde or brunette, but she's always very young and pretty. Rarely is there any real analysis from her.
I'm not sure I've ever heard any. Maybe
a comment like, "Well, their defense has been playing better." But, they don't have them explain the read
option play or anything like that.
Is she there because female fans want to see a woman? I don't think so. I haven't seen a study but
not only have I never heard a woman say we need more women covering football,
but the limited commentaries I can find online seem to indicate that, in
general, women want to be able to participate in sports, but don't care who
covers them.
Do the men want her them as eye candy on these shows? I doubt many care all that much, but there's
no call for it from them. People want to
see their heroes and great athletes. The NFL Network and other football shows
are "manned" by former players, many of them big stars and coaches. Naturally, as this is football, they are male.
I googled all women sports shows and apparently CBS has one
called We Need To Talk. I've never seen it advertised or heard anyone talk
about it. I've read it wasn't rated, meaning, no one is seeing how they are doing,
if that is possible. I hate to conclude
this is just more politically correct nonsense, trying to prove there are no
differences between men and women other than in physiology.
Anyway, the tokenism is here to stay. It's not really
important, but it's just silly.
Don't shoot.
I've written online quite a bit on this subject, commenting on
articles and replying to other commenters, but I haven't written about it (at
least much) on this blog. And, it
deserves its own post. It reminds me of
writing about abortion, which I once did here while feeling uncomfortable.
Suffice for these ruminations, at least based upon what I
have read so far, there is a huge difference between Eric Garner, who it
appears to me died as a result of unnecessary police action, bad laws and
policies, but in which I have no reason to think race played a role, and
Michael Brown, who it appears to me was very
likely the primary cause of his own demise.
I think for many white people, certainly most I have
discussed it with, they have tremendous sympathy for Garner and little to none
for Brown, except perhaps that it is sad he is dead and did not have a chance
to turn his life around. But, the
problem is, when protesters put the two together, heads turn away. In fact, I just read an article by the former
basketball great, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was arguing that this is not about
the police, but racism (his father and grandfather were officers). His article
made sense until he lumped Brown with Garner.
Also, when Al Sharpton appears as a leader, the protests
lose all credibility. That is not to say that there is no legitimacy to the protests.
There may be a problem in certain, even many places, and we should always look
at policing with a thought to reform. The police, like any institution can be
improved with rational changes. For one, after reading the federal court opinions,
I was in agreement that NYC's stop and frisk program needed to be significantly
changed. But, the police can also be
made ineffective and ruined by political and irrational policies brought about
by political pressure. I do not believe
that Al Sharpton cares, however much he says that violence is inappropriate,
that lives are taken if it advances his political movement (not that death
threats made against him, presuming they are true, are tolerable either). His constant drumbeat over any claimed attack
or killing of a black person regardless of truth makes me think he wants to
advance people he identifies with at the cost of everything and everyone else.
The chance for rational leaders to make rational choices are
lessened when protesters are complaining if the authorities release a video
showing their martyr holding up a store, which some did, by their raising their
hands and saying "don't shoot" as a symbol regardless of whether it
really happened to Mr. Brown, or grouping Eric Garner with Brown, as if it is
the same thing. And of course the looting, arson and carnage in Ferguson and
some other places doesn't help the protesters either, even if the large
majority wasn't involved. I wasn't there, but when Gandhi, the model for all
modern civil disobedience and peaceful reform movements, was advocating
independence for India, he would go on hunger fasts in order to stop the
violence with his personal sacrifice.
While I was writing this post two police officers were
executed in NY by a black male who, it is reported, claimed in online posts
that he was going to kill officers over Brown and Garner. The two officers he
shot were of Chinese and Puerto Rican descent. It doesn't matter that he had a history of gun
violence and even shot his girlfriend earlier. He was inspired by the
irrational side of these protests. At least one PBA official has laid the blood
on De Blasio's doorstep for his statements regarding his own son and the police. I feel that's fair to a degree, but certainly
an overstatement. However, De Blasio and
Pres. Obama and AG Holder should back off their inflammation of racial issues
and should even walk back previous inflammatory statements. It is, of course, almost impossible for a
politician to apologize or admit error unless their job is in jeopardy.
Cuba
There are essentially two positions here. One, it will never
end until victory, the Castros are dead and Cuba is capitalistic. The other -
enough already - we must continue the cold war and economic warfare against Cuba despite that it has
never been particularly effective and despite the hardship it creates for
Cubans on the island and in this country.
It is incredibly hard if not impossible to find anything good
to say about the Castros (although I did learn one tactical lesson from Fidel,
if what I read is true, stemming from when he was a rebel against the Batista
regime - purportedly, when he was in prison, the prisoners were required to get
up at an early hour - he had those under
his sway get up an hour earlier than that - in other, words, he took the
control from his jailors.)
But, Fidel is enfeebled and Raul is an aged man whose
retirement can not be far away (he says, I believe 2017 or 18). Of course there
powerful people behind them, and it is not possible for us to determine who
will step into the breach. But, I am one
of those who believes that more interaction with us will lead to their people
wanting more of what we have. It's not a
zero sum game, and of course, South and Latin America countries show us that we
will not be blindly emulated by any country, but, I wonder what they would be
like had we not been the example. In any
event, even Cuba is no longer Cuba, a leading exporter of terrorism and sending
troops around the world. Time for all of us to move on. We have with China and Russia, both much worse
than Cuba; we even have with Vietnam, for crying out loud. I'm not recommending
we trust them or reward their government, but, trade, travel, diplomacy, etc.,
should be freely permitted.
I already have met many people who have been there and smoke
Cuban cigars. Why should there be any peril in it for Americans from their own
country?
Gronk and JJ
Is Gronkowski who JJ Watt would
be if a Tight End? Is JJ Watt who Gronk would
be if a defensive lineman? They are
practically matches in physical form, passion and talent. Both seem like near irresistible forces who
are as punishing to hit as to be hit by. Of course, this is just harmless fantasy type speculation., but I like it.
QBs
It is still football season so I will indulge myself with
another NFL matter. The NFL rates QBs according to a rating system that many
people laugh at, but, I don't think it is all that ridiculous as it includes a
lot of different factors - completions, touchdowns, yards and interceptions -
divided by attempts and filtered through a formula. However, the NFL primarily
rates QBs by the single statistic of yards completed, which is much more
ridiculous to me. Yardage has too much to do with how often you get to throw in
your teams system and how far your guys can run with the ball after they catch
it to be a basis for ranking.
So, what should we use? Any system will have some faults. Much
more impressive to me is the QBs touchdown to interception ratio. Touchdowns
and turnovers are what win games.
Fumbles change games too but they are much more rare for QBs than
interceptions. So, that is my basis.
In my chart below I also show completion averages (obviously
with some minimum number of TDs and attempts in place for all these stats)
because it tracks fairly well with the TD/interception ration and therefore
supports my argument. You may ask, why
not start with pass completion percentage?
My reason is that I really don't thinks it is as reflective of what my
common sense shows. Brees did not have a
better year than Manning. Alex Smith did
not have a better year than Luck. Tannehill did not have a better year than
Brady and Wilson, Smith and Manning. Etc.
I acknowledge that both the TD/interception ration and pass
completion percentage stats are influenced by other players, as a tipped ball
can still be an interception and completions obviously involves having guys who
can catch the ball. Nevertheless I feel that the results best comports with my common
sense impressions. I also show the passer ratings in my chart because, as I
said, it does includes multiple factors. Not surprisingly, the top three QBs in my
system this year also have the best passer ratings. But, none of these stats account
for the running ability, which is, for some very few QBs, a weapon.
In my system, Aaron Rodgers is having by far the best year
of any QB, followed by Romo and Roethlisberger.
Brady might have been higher but for the first two games of the season
where for some reason, his blockers should have just been called "watchers."
I'm a little surprised some few mention
him in the MVP contest but, as much as I favor him, I don't think he deserves
it this year. Nor Manning. Manning's passing rating is inflated by the high
number of touchdowns, but his touchdown to interception rating is meh, not
least because of his last game against the Bengals. But, that's football and
your bad games count too.
My ranking system The NFL's ranking
TD/int Pct Rating
Rodgers 7.200 65.1
111.0 Brees
Romo 4.000 70.3
114.4 Roethlisberger
Roethlisberger 3.750 67.4
103.8 Luck
Brady 3.666 64.5
98.3 P. Manning
Wilson 3.333 62.8
95.7 Ryan
Smith 3.000 65.3 93.4 Rodgers
Manning, P. 2.600 66.8
102.9 Stafford
Luck 2.375 61.7
95.4 Brady
Brees 2.285 69.6
99.2 Rivers
Ryan 2.333 66.4
96.7 Eli Manning
Tannehill 2.166 67.0
93.2 Tannehill
Rivers 1.937 67.0
95.8 Flacco
My system, whatever its faults, is far superior to the NFL's.
I put the NFL's rankings in next to mine
for comparison, to show the difference. Rodgers,
Romo and Roethlisberger (along with Tannehill, the only one the NFL has about
right) have been the best QBs this year by far.
Rodgers is only number 6 on the NFL list and Romo is way down at 14. That's
ridiculous. Romo is having an MVP type season so far and Eli Manning (who was
much better year this than last, but see below) and Flacco are ahead of him. So is Jay Cutler (who is not as bad as many
others, but just the worst per dollar)! And
the NFL has Russell Wilson 17th. How does that make sense? Stafford, despite Detroit's success,
shouldn't even be on the list. His performance, for all the talent on the team,
has not been particularly impressive other than in total yardage. Luck and Brees, the first possibly a future
hall of famer and the latter definitely so, are overrated by the NFL this year
because of the sheer number of times they throw the ball in their teams'
systems.
If I could just make some
arbitrary changes I might put Wilson ahead of Brady and Manning at least even
with him. Manning does surpass Brady in most
every category by a little bit except TD/int. ratio. Both rarely fumble
(Manning has 2 so far and Brady 1). Wilson
runs so well, he is a rushing weapon no other
QB can match except perhaps Kapaernik and to a less degree Newton, both of whom
had terrible years overall and neither
of whom would make my list anyway.
I will leave my analysis off
here. As a matter of feeling based on
intangibles, for any one critical game, especially at the end of the game, I'd rather have Rodgers or Brady than anyone
else in the league. Manning may be the
best ever in many regards, but I'd rather have them.
By the way, my MVP is J.J. Watts.
No other player has been so important to his team. Next, though he will likely
get no votes, is Odell Beckham, Jr. He
is the sole reason in my view that the Giants have recovered and won a number
of games in the second half of the season. Without him, Eli Manning would have
continued on his downward trajectory. He's that key.
Oil
I have long been an agnostic with
respect to the climate change debate, somewhat because I don't understand the
science well enough (and argue that virtually no one else does either - reading
an article is different than reading a scientific study) and it's been too
politicized to trust most anyone on it. Nevertheless, I think we can see two
phenomena remain steady for at least 15 years, one on each side of the
argument. Manmade global warming does
not seem to be happening but the local melting of glaciers and mountain peaks
seem to be occurring most everywhere, but with the state of the two major ice
sheets containing 3/4s of the world's fresh water - Greenland and Antarctica - still
being debatable.
But, leave all this aside. There
is a very good reason we should be concentrating hard to develop renewable
forms of energy and carbon based alternatives to oil (like shale/natural gas)
at home. Dropping oil prices is a formidable weapon against some of the bad
actors in the world , Russia being one of them.
Of course, we can't say for sure that the loss of oil revenues will have
an effect on the aggressiveness of countries, but, it obviously weakens their
economies.
The Bolt
As much because of his
infectiously joyful (although not very humble) personality as his legendary
prowess, Usain Bolt of Jamaica has become the most popular athlete in the
world. I don't really care so much about
his personality though but I marvel at his abilities. Though there are other
fast men who are capable of beating him on a given day, he has been far and
away the fastest man in the world for a considerable period of time now and
many other athletes consider him the most dominant athlete in the world.
I am going to keep this short but
. . .
His 9.58 seconds in 2009, running
against the other fastest sprinters in the 100 meters is so fast that it is has
only athletically been equaled as a sport achievement by NBA player Wilt
Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game and getting 55 rebounds another time.
His two hundred meter record
barely eclipsed the previous almost unattainable record of someone else who was
one of the most remarkable sprinters in history - Michael Johnson (the former
200 and 400 meter record holder).
He won the 100 meter and 200
meter sprints in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and in both also a gold in the 4 x
100 meter relay along with his Jamaican teammates. No one had ever won the 100 meter and 200
meter races in two Olympics in a row (Carl Lewis just missed) and certainly not
also the 4x100 meter relay along with it.
He is also the world record
holder in the rarely run 150 meters race.
Nobody cares all that much about
indoor records, but he holds the 100 meter record for that too, set just this
year.
During the 150 meter world record
he ran the fastest time ever for a flying 100 meters - 8.70 seconds, faster
than any other human has ever run, over 25 miles an hour.
He is the first athlete two hold
the 100 and 200 meter world records in the modern era (1977, when automated time keeping became
mandatory).
He is the all time leader in
World Championship medals with 10 (8 gold, 2 silver - Carl Lewis has 8 gold, 1
silver 1 bronze).
He compares himself to Michael
Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Fair enough.
Books 2014
I have commented on a couple of
online articles on the best books of 2014 that there was only one book I found
a must read (already read it) and there was nothing else out there that made me
just mad to get it. That may say more about me than about the state of
publishing, but, so it is. Fortunately, there are, for practical purposes, an
endless previously published books in this world and I can never hope to read
but a fraction of them.
My number one piece of advice
I admit, despite finding
abhorrent the hacking of SONY emails, I also enjoyed it. So did just about
everyone else who wasn't affected by them.
Here's why I think we liked them:
-We consider everyone in the
movie and tv businesses celebrities and we like to talk about them and get
glimpses of their real lives.
-People were caught kidding
around and we are now are gleeful that they pay the price for the political
correctness we at least imagine they stand for.
-People got caught telling the
truth. That's always exciting.
- People got caught being
arrogant. That's even more fun.
I tell every client and most of
my friends (more than once), even strangers, the same advice - do not write
things in emails, texts, chats, etc., that you do not other want people to
see. It is now the principle part of
legal discovery and in almost every single case I deal with outside of (but
sometimes) personal injury cases, emailing and texting play a major role. Each
time, almost always, someone in a case
says something they are sorry about. I
know people who have lost jobs, been severely embarrassed and lost friends over
emails. Don't be a dummy.
The Rape Fallacy
Rape has much been on people's
lives lately and you have to applaud the desire to reduce it as much as humanly
possible. But, no, not at all costs. Recently, the NY Times published several
commentators on rape in a linked article. One of them took the position that
the default had to be that those claiming rape must be believed regardless of
the consequences to men. I was very happy to see that almost every commenter,
even on the very liberal NY Times' website, were very negative in response. I
wrote:
"I am greatly relieved by
the overwhelming rejection of her position by commenters. Ms. Wanjuki's one
size fits all approach would hurt men whose lives would be destroyed for no
reason, but also women, who more and more people would disbelieve or find
reason to find fault with based on gender in retaliation. The idea that only
men lie about rape is just nonsense up there with past practices that placed
valued testimony based on race or gender or Iran's president's claim that
homosexuality doesn't exist in Iran. If we are not past that, then we are
backsliding terribly. People lie, period. Sometimes for gain, sometimes for
attention, and sometimes even unaccountably. A great many people lie when
giving oaths or making complaints. We have seen the effects of her approach
when those in the media, followed by the public, leap to conclusions. It
destroys lives that do not deserve it. Those who do lie and those who don't lie
are also subject to mistake, misinterpretation the conscious and unconscious
bias that is part of human nature. Personally, I find her beliefs either
reprehensible, if she is aware of their fallacy, or unaccountably
foolish."
Having said that, many people do
like that reprehensible approach and there are already some laws and policies
in place which almost presume guilt. We can oppose and legislate against rape
without deciding men have less rights than women.
You say tomato, I say I can't believe that worked
Last Summer my daughter burned
her forehead in the sun. It wasn't a
dangerous burn but it was bright red and it hurt her. Her boyfriend told her to
put a tomato on it. I kept my opinion to myself. She sliced a tomato and popped
it on her forehead. A few minutes later
there was no sign of any burn. No sign at all. Literally a few minutes. Zero sign of a burn. Null. None. I couldn't
believe it. I can't wait to burn myself on something so I can try it.
Last post of the year
I really fell down on the job
this year. I only posted 24 times
including this one. That's twice a month
for those of you who have literally forgotten how to add. Mostly it is because
I've just been busier at work. When I write
things like this - how I haven't posted much, I like to quote that Rodney
Dangerfield joke about how unsuccessful his early career was - "At the
time I quit, I was the only one who knew
I quit!"
Anyway,
for this year - I quit.
