Pro Football Thoughts

8 Changes I would like to see in Pro Football TV broadcasts:

1. No more than two consecutive commercials during the break after a score, injury or 2 minute warning.

There are simply too many commercials.  They interrupt the pace of the games, and are largely irrelevant unless you 

a) need more insurance, 

b) are thinking of buying a new luxury SUV or Pickup Truck,

c) are amenable to changing your brand of beer.

2. More time covering cheerleaders, less time with sideline commentary and injury reports.

Currentlly, too much time is devoted to injury reports, arcane statistics, fans in outlandish costume, people with signs, what the Qback's mother thinks, etc.  Personally I think the perky young cheerleaders who spend a great deal of time preparing their routines should get more camera time.

3. Ability to mute commentary but still hear crowd noise.

As mentioned in the previous point, too much time is spent yakking about stuff that is not the game-at-hand.  Sometimes the booth staff gets carried away with their own cleverness, and you just have to mute them. There should be an option to shut off the commentary but still hear the ambient noise of the fans.

4. More diversity on teams.

I notice that most of the pro teams appear to be over-represented with African-Americans.  Is this fair? In the spirit of equal representation, there ought to be an affirmative action program for Caucasians, Jews, Indian- and Chinese- Americans.

5. Eliminate Holding penalty for offensive blockers.

More seriously, I would abolish the penalty for offensive holding.
The Quarterback is a vulnerable position - as evidenced by the number of key QB injuries.  Blockers should be allowed to trip and hold opponents from access to the QB or other runner. 

6. No Throw back uniforms

This is an annoying waste of fabric, and serves no purpose.  The uniforms are usually ugly and disturbingly different from the uniforms that viewers are accustomed to.  They might as well be wearing clown masks. 

7.  Eliminate the over head camera.

Un-necessary distraction.  I worry the the cables will snap and fall on the players.  I don't need to experience the angles that the overhead camera gives.

8.  No player or coach interviews.
Invariably, these exchanges are both un-informative and un-interesting.  The only entertaining sideline interview was when Suzy Kolber talked to a drunken Joe Nameth.

Had Enough

Keith Oberman,  Progressive commentator and chief critic of the Bush Administration in the day, is back.  

He says, " I would rather endure a third term of George W Bush than 5 minutes in a Trump presidency."

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This rant is pretty good Click here.    7 minutes, but worth it, if you've had enough..

Remember the Everly Brothers?

Last night we went to our favorite local venue - The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN) - to see the Everly Brothers tribute band called "The Bird Dogs."  It was an entertaining and enjoyable return to the 50's and 60's when the Everlies produced hit after hit.  They played a lot of the old songs that we loved.  My only complaint is that they were too loud, but I feel that way about a lot of modern music.
Returning home after the show, I was moved to click on some of the Everly hit tunes on You Tube.  While listening to the 1984 Albert Hall Reunion Concert, I checked-in with Wikipedia to try to learn why the brothers had split-up in the first place, after such a successful run of hits as a duo.

I was surprised and dismayed to learn that the pair were plagued by jealousy, drugs and alcohol.  At one point they wouldn't even record together.  Phil refused to be in the studio with Don, so he sang his  part and later Phil would record the harmony. They sang together onstage but not in the studio.

Don  attributed their estrangement in later life to  "their vastly different views on politics and life"
Could it be true that a big reason for their enmity was political differences?  Jeeps, this would be a poster example for how ideology can ruin relationships.  Come to think of it I suppose it's been going on since the Civil War.  So sad to watch good things go bad.

Phil died in 2014 from COPD shortly before his 75th birthday.

AFTERWORD:

Don is said to be supporting Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election.

Carpe Autumn

There is nothing as magic as an early morning stroll under a bright New England sky in October. The crisp, moist air hangs like golden wisps of smoke, whispering ripe apples and pumpkins. 

Emily Dickinson found the slant of light on winter afternoons to be oppressive, but the hue and angle of the light in autumn is a tonic for the soul.

Yes, you can feel the promise of frost in the damp air and the dew glistening on the grass. One night, very soon, the tomato vines and marigold leaves will turn black. We will pull them up and toss them on the compost pile.  

Though we will sorely miss the freshly picked tomatoes for our salads and homemade salsa, and we will long for the luxury of golden pungent marigolds in vases, but we will not mourn their passing.   We are already thinking of the spring planting. Renewal.

Perhaps it is the knowledge that we only have a few precious weeks to savor the fruits of our cultivation makes us appreciate them more than if we could expect them every day. And invites us to look ahead with hope to the inevitable Spring

We who love the change of seasons welcome Autumn, and in turn, Winter. We do not carp about weather. We celebrate the changes in the skies.  

You will not hear us complaining about the rain or the heat or even the hurricane. We take what comes, knowing that, if there is a god, then it is his will.  Despite our prayers or wishes or puny technology we have no power over weather - we can only try to endure.

You may hear us remark that the lawn is brown or the snow is too deep to go to work.  These are not complaints they are merely observations.  We are Buddhists.  We cannot make the weather happen.  We can only sit and hunker down when the winds blow, and wait for the lovely days.

This is life.  Because the earth is off-kilter, we have seasons.  

As I get older I truly appreciate the seasons. Predictable changes give us a sense of urgency - adding commas and semicolons to our life sentences.  As we see the lifeline getting shorter, we eschew comfort and tedium. We embrace the challenge of slip and skid against our aging bones. Let the winds and seas rage. Let the snow pile high. Let the power lines fail and the toilets freeze. We'll survive.

Or, maybe not.

In our hearts, we know that the temperature of the earth is constant at a depth of six feet. And, lord knows, there will be plenty of time for that.

Treedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

Don't ask me who won the Vice Presidential Nominee debate last night.  After watching the first  fifteen minutes, I bailed, and went back to reading my book.

Instead of showing us something new and fresh, both candidates made it clear that they came to replay the samo-samo party lines of their running mate.

Since I have heard those stale and half-true claims and accusations already dozens of times I did not want to waste any more time listening to these two stooges.

The moderator, whose name I did not get, was wearing too much make-up and looked completely fake.  She was ineffective in keeping the schoolyard antagonists from interrupting each other (Kane was the worst offender - I felt like punching him in the stomach.)  

I will not put much stake in the opinion polls.  If someone actually stayed and watched the whole
show, I would not value their opinion anyhow.

Too bad they didn't invite Bill Weld, the Libertarian VP nominee.   He might have livened things up a bit.  Since Gary Johnson has embarrassingly flubbed several easy foreign affairs questions, Weld has apparently given up on Johnson.  He tells the Boston Globe that he plans to spend the next five weeks blasting Trump.  His chief goal is to keep Trump out of the White House and take a lead role in rebuilding the GOP.  Good luck with that plan.  

Tax Evasion

TAX EVASION

At the debate the other night Hillary launched her "October surprise" on Trump, suggesting that he refuses to show us his birth certificate oops I mean tax returns because he doesn't pay any taxes.

Then a copy of Trump's tax return for 1995 is mysteriously "leaked."    It showed that he claimed a nearly billion dollar loss and subsequently paid no taxes.    Trump says, "That makes me smart." Accountants say this is legal, since tax rules that favor wealthy filers would have allowed writing-off up to $50 million in taxable income per year for up to 18 years.

By stark contrast, a middle-income earner reporting a $30,000 loss would only be allowed to take a maximum of $3,000 as a write-off for that tax year.  And the carry forward loss is capped at $3k per year, even if there are further losses.

I am reminded of Leona Helmsley the hotel heiress who famously remarked "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." (She went to jail for tax evasion, sentenced to 16 years, but was able to buy her freedom after only 19 months.)

Mark Cuban thinks the"loss" was probably a quasi-legal tax shelter.  I think it was tax evasion.