Saturday, March 31, 2012
Unattractive NCAA Title Game: Ky vs Kan
Friday, March 30, 2012
Governor Etch-a-Sketch and President Open Mike
So both candidates, Romney and Obama, should be suffering heavily now for these gaffes, right? Well, the last public opinion poll shows Obama picking back up the ten percent in job approval rating he had most recently lost due to spiking gasoline prices. And Romney continues to chug on toward the Republican nomination with his arsenal of fatcat donors and a not-so-surprising endorsement from George H.W. Bush.
With the way that news is presented nowadays, one channel, FoxNews, made a lot of hay about Obama's open mike gaffe, while another, MSNBC, pushed the story about Romney's "Etch-a-Sketch" campaign. CNN covered both but dwelt on neither: both stories are apparently gone and forgotten, as far as they are concerned. I suppose the upshot to all this is that neither story is strong enough to sway the problematic "undecided" voter, who will probably wait until just before the election and then make their decision based on completely irrelevant, emotional, and stupid reasons.
Being a kid once, I had myself yearned for an Etch-a-Sketch back in the early-to-mid 1960s. I had seen the commercials showing how easy it was to draw pictures on the screen, which gave the appearance of something very high tech (at least from a child's perspective). But one Christmas I got one as a gift and was very disappointed when I discovered that I could only draw straight vertical or horizontal lines on it. Those TV ads were a fraud and I knew it, although I hadn't yet learned the word "fraud". So when I first heard of the political reference to Etch-a-Sketch a few days ago, my fraud-sensitive ears automatically perked up...
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Viral Attack Nixes March Running Goal
The Neighborhood Terrorist
I do my running primarily around my home neighborhood, in which I have lived since 1989. I run down the same streets and past the same houses over and over (and over) again. I'm not black nor do I wear a hoodie when running. In fact, I look like some pathetic white middle-age codger with a running shirt, shorts, cap, and running shoes. I hold (very visibly) a Gatorade bottle in my hand while running. Still, from time to time I have the unsettling experience of noticing vehicles slowing down around me and even stopping in the middle of the road as I run by, as if they are trying to determine whether I "belong" in "their" neighborhood. There seems to be this presumption that pedestrians are de facto suspicious and motorists are de facto legitimate, when in reality it is the person alone on the street who is more vulnerable to the motorist.
The idea that people-at-large can pack guns on themselves and go about judging who "belongs" and who doesn't, frankly, scares me. As a matter of fact, it is a form of terrorism, as far as I am concerned. This dude Zimmerman was warned by the police not to follow Martin, but he kept on. He was the aggressor, but in his mind he was the "good guy" trying to protect the neighborhood. And that's the operating definition of a vigilante: someone who thinks they're the "good guy" and who presumes the personal right to enforce their judgements against the "bad guys", even with violence and killing. But the effect of this behavior is to terrorize people to the point where they are too afraid to walk the streets in their own neighborhood anymore. So we're talking about more than a vigilante: the term "terrorist" fits more to me.
I have to compare which type of terrorism threatens me the most, the "Al-Qaeda" brand that brings out the stereotypical image of an Islamic extremist, or the home-based type in which individuals run rampant imposing their (often prejudicial) black-and-white worldviews on others with the force of arms. And I sadly must conclude that it is the latter category that imposes the greatest threat to me. By far. How about you?
Monday, March 26, 2012
Early Evening Sky Spectacle Returns
I wonder how many people even look up in the evening sky, and then, of those who do, how many know or even care about what they see...
Sunday, March 25, 2012
NCAA Hoops Down to Final Four
There are three games left and then a new champion will replace last year's, which was of course... (do you remember?)...oh yeah, Connecticut. The teams left are Kansas, Louisville, Ohio State, and favored Kentucky. If things go the way I WANT, Louisville will beat Kentucky, Ohio State will beat Kansas, and then Louisville will beat Ohio State for the national championship. The way I THINK it will go down, though, sadly looks to be completely different: Kentucky beats Louisville, Kansas beats Ohio State, and Kentucky beats Kansas for the title. Yuck!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
"Sway" Voters Bother Me to No End
The only discernible reason I see for the 10% drop in our president's job approval rating is the sudden hike in gas prices, which brings up an interesting point. All I've heard from the right for the last four years is how Barack Obama is a socialist who wants the federal government to manage the economy. These voices fervently support the idea of a privately-based free market in which prices for goods and services are regulated, not by the state, but rather by the law of supply and demand. Well, I suppose that's all very good and fine if prices are cheap, but when the market for a necessary commodity (in this case it's oil) dictates a rapid spike in price, somehow it is the "socialist" president's fault for not directly intervening with the authority of the government to hold costs down.
As for the presidential candidates running on the Republican side, I can't for the life of me figure out the drastic changes in polls from even one day to the next. After all this time, you might rationally suppose that people, with all of the media access available to them these days, would have been able to form their own opinions and preferences regarding these candidates. Instead, a large swath of the voting population seems to be content with swaying with the political breeze. It's these "sway" voters who scare me more than the demagogues seeking power and who also have inspired the kind of almost insanely negative and largely dishonest campaign banter that has been inflicted upon this nation over the course of recent months...
C'mon, if you haven't been able to figure out whom you support or oppose by now, you might just as well stay home and forget about it, as far as I'm concerned. Because, quite frankly, that would mean you're just the kind of voter who would put a real problem into office (and into power) because of some vague, irrational, and emotional appeal ...
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tebow to Jets
I did hear a couple of people on ESPN and sports talk radio mention that fact that the Jets offensive coordinator this year is Tony Sparano, who employed the wildcat offense when he was coaching Miami. A player like Tebow is perfect for this formation, which necessitates a run-proficient quarterback. In Miami, Sparano employed pass-savvy running back Ronnie Brown for this role.
The smart thing for the Jets to do regarding Tim Tebow is to throw him into the game on third (or fourth)-and-short situations, a scenario that he excelled at in his freshman year at Florida in 2006 when they won the first of two national championships in three years. Back then he never threatened to replace the Gator starting QB Chris Leak and still got into the game in crucial situations. Playing him this way would throw defenses into confusion while releasing the pressure, both from Tebow and from his fan base, to give him game appearances. And providing Tebow an assigned, specialized role like this would also give Sanchez a sense of security at his starting position.
Once it became clear that Peyton Manning was going to join Denver, the vicious attacks against Tim Tebow's abilities as a starting quarterback in the NFL resumed in the sports media. This in spite of the undeniable fact that he was the pivotal agent responsible for his team turning a dismal, cellar-dwelling season around and making the playoffs for the first time in years. And then going on to knock off heavily-favored Pittsburgh in their first playoff game.
I think that some teams are clueless about effectively using a player like Tebow with his special (and very useful) set of skills. Denver falls into the clueless category. They could have kept their starter Kyle Orton for the last two years while sending in Tebow for those aforementioned short-yardage situations. Instead they allowed an avoidable quarterback controversy to fester. A Sparano-led Dolphins team could have integrated this talented, positive, tough, and spirited asset into their offense in similar manner. I don't think the current Dolphin leadership understands this, though. They, like Denver's John Elway, are thoroughly immersed in the doctrine that the NFL is a PASSING league, by gum, and not even wins and a division title under a different strategy will sway them. But the Jets might be conducive to adapting their offense...and since they are in the same division as my Dolphins, the prospect of facing them twice a year with the Tebow "wild-card" element factored in scares me a little...
Oh, one more point. Can any franchise be more clueless than the pathetic Jacksonville Jaguars, who had a chance to obtain the one player who would fill their half-empty stadium every home game? Their new owner is on record as saying that had he owned the Jaguars back when Tebow was in the draft, he would have sought him. Where was this master of hindsight, though, when he actually had the chance to pick him up? I don't know, but wherever he was he was sitting on his hands. Then again, the college draft is coming up next month, along with the opportunity for further wheeling and dealing. Maybe Tim Tebow shouldn't get too comfortably settled in New York just yet...
Thursday, March 22, 2012
NCAA Sweet Sixteen: My Preferences and Rankings
1 Florida (7)
2 North Carolina (6)
3 North Carolina State (12)
4 Louisville (4)
5 Indiana (14)
6 Baylor (9)
7 Xavier (15)
8 Ohio State (8)
9 Cincinnati (13)
10 Ohio (16)
11 Wisconsin (10)
12 Michigan State (5)
13 Marquette (11)
14 Kansas (3)
15 Syracuse (2)
16 Kentucky (1)
As you should be able to see, my prospects for a happy tournament ending are bleak, with my three least favorite teams also happening to the three BEST teams. Still, Florida is currently playing their best basketball of the year. And if ANYONE manages to beat Kentucky during the tournament, I'll regard that as a personal victory of sorts. But don't count on it: they are, in my opinion, head and shoulders above the rest of the field...
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
NFL QB Musical Chairs Continues
I like Garrard a lot, and if he stays healthy, he could be the catalyst for success that Miami has been missing over the past few seasons. However, their other quarterback contending for the starting job, Matt Moore, did play well once he was giving the starting role last year. So I see a good situation down south. As for Henne, maybe playing in another city will help his career; after high initial hopes, he never seemed to click for Miami.
Tim Tebow, I'm sure, will be picked up one way or another by another team, but it may be a long time (if ever) before he gets his starting role back as quarterback. He wins games and generates fan enthusiasm and media interest. Sounds like a formula that an NFL owner would have to take very seriously before passing up on him. I just don't want him down in Miami with fans screaming for him every time Garrard or Moore goofs up on a play...
Monday, March 19, 2012
Peyton to Join Denver Broncos
Today it has been revealed that much-sought-after veteran NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, after a relatively short period of “shopping around” the league for a team of his preference, has decided to sign with the Denver Broncos. It is interesting, at least to me, that John Elway, the team’s executive vice-president and a celebrated Bronco Super Bowl-winning Hall of Fame quarterback in his own right, was the chief force bringing in Manning. After all, when Elway was first drafted into the league in 1983, it was by the (then Baltimore) Colts, the same franchise that cut Manning less than two weeks ago. Back then, though, Elway had warned the Colts that he simply would not play for them. But they drafted him nevertheless and ended up trading him to Denver. And now, another Colts-to Broncos history repeater…
Being a Miami Dolphins fan, I was disappointed that they failed to sign Peyton Manning. I thought he would have been a good fit for this talented team that needs an offensive leader. I was further disappointed when their other prospect, Green Bay’s backup quarterback Matt Flynn, decided to join the Seattle Seahawks instead of coming to the Dolphins. Now Miami is left wondering why they can’t seem to close the deal with their prospects.
Now that Peyton Manning is slated to become Denver’s starting quarterback next season, I would be very surprised were Tim Tebow to remain with the franchise. I think he’ll probably be traded, but to where? Please, oh please let it not be to the Miami Dolphins! I don't think that they have a clue about how to effectively use him...
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Rise and Fall of My Thrill Ride Hobby
My theme park fascination continued through 2004, but it began to fade the following year. Our attendance began to dwindle until, in the past few years, we hardly ever visit one. Why the drop-off in interest?
Well, for one, "conquering" a ride by experiencing it enough times for any apprehension to be gone takes the "thrill" out of thrill rides to a great extent. Also, I am not too keen on having to drive the distance involved in getting to a theme park like Wild Adventures, Busch Gardens, Universal, or Walt Disney World and then driving the return trip home. I don't like to pay the entrance fee, either, although an annual pass can sometimes be a good deal if we visit the same park a number of times. Going through a park for hours on end can be grueling in itself, and especially during the hot Floridian summertime, which can span from spring through most of fall (and seems to have already begun in late winter this year). But what sets me the most against theme parks is the idea that I usually have to wait for long stretches in long lines just to enjoy a two-minute ride. That I have totally lost my patience to withstand.
To top all of these drawbacks, I have a medical condition that won't be helped any with the kind of gravity manipulations and stress that many thrill rides emphasize. So even if I lived right across the street from a good theme park and had a lifetime free pass for it, as well as an express pass that allowed me to bypass the long lines, I still wouldn't be going on most of the rides. So at least for the indefinite future, I'm afraid that I will be cutting even further back on my theme park visits. But that's already been happening anyway during the course of the last seven years...
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Gators NCAA Bracket Situation Flips from Negative to Positive
The 7th seeded Gators took care of their own business by dominating 10th seeded Virgina in their opening tournament game 71-46 and then waited to see who their Sunday opponent would be, almost certainly 2nd seeded Missouri (groan). Instead, Missouri fell in a major, major upset to 15th seeded Norfolk State 86-84, resulting in a pairing tomorrow that favors Florida for reaching the goal of making it to the Sweet Sixteen. But as a colleague reminded me last night, they still have to face a team in Norfolk State that beat Missouri, which had gone through the season with a blistering 32-2 record. But as I see it, I would rather face a team that upset a tough opponent than have to contend with that opponent myself...
Other teams I am following, which include North Carolina, Florida State, and upstart South Florida, all made it through yesterday's games and, like Florida, will play again tomorrow to also try to become one of the vaunted final sixteen teams left in the tournament. Should be very interesting...
Friday, March 16, 2012
Gators Begin NCAA Tourney Play Today
Sometimes in tournaments like this, the way to the Final Four looks well nigh impossible with very tough teams lined up ahead to play in upcoming rounds. Then, almost miraculously, some of those teams inexplicably fall to underdogs and clear the way in that bracket. I think this happened to an extent in 2005 when Florida stunned everyone by first sneaking into the Final Four against anyone's expectations and then easily walking away with the national championship trophy. I'd like to say that the same could happen this year, but unfortunately the Gators, although good enough to be in the tournament, are nowhere near the level of that earlier championship team. Still, it's fun to see how far they might go...
I am not only rooting for Florida in the tournament. I also traditionally support North Carolina, and Florida State has an unusually good team this year. Yes, this just might be the year that the Seminoles do what Florida pulled off a few years ago...and win it all!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Buy This Car...and Ignore Sirens
But at least with this commercial, I was able to retain an association with the general product, although that really wouldn't help out the company shelling out the big bucks, thinking that their fancy advertising was actually bringing in customers. The commercial was about a car that was so high-quality that it minimized...no, completely blotted out outside noise. Examples of noises being excluded from the happy driver's privileged ears were shown, with the last one being a loud jack-hammer being used right outside the car window, in a heavily urban traffic setting. The driver smiled (was it a smug smile? I can't remember) as he heard NOTHING but saw the worker jack-hammering away. A virtual sound-proof driving experience. And he blissfully drove off, with the last sound heard in the commercial being the wailing siren of an emergency vehicle. The implication here was clear: with this car, you can even ignore ambulances, fire engines, and the police! Well, let's add warning horn blasts from other drivers as well!
I didn't know that emergency vehicle sirens were sounded just to annoy drivers in "inferior" vehicles. Apparently, though, if you're the proud owner of the special automobile being advertised, you have entered a different class of humanity, one that is entitled to total insulation from unwelcome sounds...as well as unwelcome civic responsibilities...
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sh-sh-sh! You're in the Coffee Shop!
When I first walked in this morning, I noticed two things: the strange, collective seating instead of the many small tables for small parties that the old design featured (and which I liked very much), and the fact that during such a busy time no one was sitting there. Just look in the above picture at a table that I would expect to see in a library. Not pictured is a row of packed-together seats lined up at a very narrow counter facing the window around the corner, seats that even children might have trouble fitting into alongside each other. In the time I've spent here today (sitting in one of the few "for-two" tables left in the joint), nobody's felt fit to sit there. Small wonder...
I don't blame the people running this store for the new arrangement, which is one of those top-down outcomes of a VERY top-down, highly centralized corporation. Still, I managed to throw in a couple of diplomatically expressed barbs at the manager when I ordered my coffee this morning (like I'm sure they'll instantly change things back to before after hearing my objections). But after sitting here a little, I began to shift a bit in my thinking...
Sometimes I see myself (please don't laugh) as a little bit different from people at large, even to the point, at times, of being a different variety of human being. If I decide to use the new seating while others shun it, then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to actually come in at formerly crowded times and be able to find a seat, albeit one that I don't particularly care for. Yeah, maybe that cramped, long window counter with its small, high chairs is just the ticket for someone like me who tends to go "counter" to the crowd. Then again, my common sense tells me that the "crowd" will eventually adapt to the new seating and once again "crowd" me out...
Later...as I left the place, sure enough, that thin counter with its cramped seating was starting to fill up. Oh, well...
Sunday, March 11, 2012
NCAA Tourney Brackets Bring Usual Outcries
Yesterday at 6 PM the brackets for the 68-team NCAA basketball championship tournament were announced, and with much fanfare. So beginning in a couple of days, depending on how they stand in the seedings, teams will either have to win six or seven games in a row to attain this year’s title of National Champion. As is the case each year, some schools felt unfairly left out of the tournament. The TV announcers kept bringing up that Drexel, from some obscure conference, was left out while Iona, from another equally obscure conference, was included. This “controversial” decision was explained by a member of the selection committee who determined that Iona had gone through a more demanding regular season with higher quality opponents. But to me, this is all beside the point. One, they keep adding to the total number of teams allowed in the tournament: had they just stuck with 64, the controversy would have been moot with neither team getting in. Two, each of these dinky, forgettable conferences were still represented in the tournament, by their own conference tournament champions. And three, isn’t this supposed to be the tournament to determine the national championship? Why are people obsessing over the obviously more inferior teams at the bottom of the field?
There is a continual debate going on in many sports about how much the post-season should weigh in for determining championships, as opposed to the regular season. In Division I college football, a school from a minor conference can do everything right and go undefeated year after year, but never get a chance to play for the national championship. This is simply unfair. Then, on the other end of the scale in college basketball, while any school has a shot at the title, the heavy emphasis on the season-ending tournament tends to de-emphasize the regular season in terms of importance. In fact, in most conferences a school can lose every game until the conference championship tournament and then make the NCAA tourney if they suddenly come alive and win their conference championship. That just doesn’t sound right, either.
The fact remains, though, that a playoff system that gives all teams a shot at the title if they can win at the crucial time is superior to one that automatically consigns a large section of the teams to second-class status, never to get a chance to be champion no matter how well they do. How would you like it if you were a Seattle Mariner fan in baseball (or a Seattle Seahawk fan in football) and were told that, since Seattle isn’t considered to be “major” enough then they can’t play for the championship no matter how well they do in the regular season? But that’s how they run major college football. Still, as often as not, the eventual winner of the NCAA Basketball Tournament often leads to many wondering whether this is also an inadequate way to determine the best team…
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Official's Blown Call in Tennessee-Mississippi Game
It's always interesting how people can focus on ONE controversial moment in a close game to judge the validity of the eventual outcome. After all, Tennessee shot rather poorly throughout that game: had they made just a few more baskets, they would have won handily without even needing overtime to accomplish it.
I have mixed feelings about the college establishment muffling the complaints of players and coaches about poor officiating. As an American, I think ideas and opinions should be freely expressed, especially those of a dissenting nature. There does need to be a sense of restraint and decorum about expressing such views, though, and it is here that the powers-that-be can and should exercise some influence over what is said.
Contrast this with a "reality" TV show I saw the other day about tattoo artists vying for some mythical reality TV tattooing title. Every time, it seemed, that a contestant was rated behind an opponent, they vociferously complained, often with anger and profanity, that the judges didn't know what they were doing. After seeing this, I can appreciate why the college sports authorities would want to quash open dissent: it can get pretty ugly sometimes...
Friday, March 9, 2012
Allergies Picking Up
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Good Peyton, Bad Payton
Another "pay-ton", this one whose reputation remains sky-high, has just been cut from his career-long team: this week the Indianapolis Colts, anticipating a star quarterback drafting of Stanford's Andrew Luck, cut Peyton Manning, possibly the greatest quarterback in the game's history, to avoid paying out a contractually-imposed $28 million bonus. Manning suffered through three neck operations and difficult, long recoveries last year and it's uncertain how much longer he will be able to play professional football. If the price tag isn't too high, it would be cool to see him wearing a Miami Dolphins uniform next year...
Neck injuries can build up over time, so I wonder whether some of Peyton's neck problems came about from opposing players putting unnecessarily rough hits on him in order to collect "bounties". I do remember the Colts playing in the Super Bowl against the Saints a couple of years back. In my opinion, everyone in New Orleans management aware of their disgusting program who even just gave it tacit approval should be fired. Immediately.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
NCAA Hoops March Madness Upon Us
Last night there were a couple of games on ESPN in minor conferences: VCU vs Drexel and Gonzaga vs St. Mary's. Sorry, I haven't quite gotten my enthusiasm high enough to care in the slightest about these games, which by what I saw were pretty competitive. But maybe I just need to wait a week or so...
Monday, March 5, 2012
Venus and Jupiter on Display in Western Evening Sky
Now the skies have cleared up again and, alas, our lunar companion has moved on with its phasing toward more eastern parts of the night sky. But the spectacle of seeing the two brightest planets so close to each other in the early evening sky is still something to behold. Try to catch this wonder if you have the chance...
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Sermon Hits the Mark on Several Points
Naturally, this preacher followed the theology he subscribed to and cited Jesus as the perfect example of someone who, although clearly under a lot of time pressure to accomplish a great deal in a very short time, nevertheless calmly went about his tasks, concentrating on one at a time, while building in rest periods between activities.
Rest is important, and so is recreation. Naturally, we don't want to lose sight of our duties and goals in life, either. But better to pace oneself at things than to frantically burn oneself out under unrealistic deadlines and schedules while rushing through several activities at once.
Still, I beg to differ with the pastor's flat-out opposition to multitasking. In my opinion, being able to think on different levels about different things at the same time is actually part of our basic human nature and is necessary to effectively function as a mature adult in today's society. Naturally, some activities (like driving) demand more focused attention to the task at hand than do others (like tidying up the house). When I run, I usually listen to my MP3 player. Also, during that activity I mentally review foreign language vocabulary lists and engage in an inner dialogue about just any topic that interests me. In fact, some blog article topics of mine have come to me while running...
I suppose in the end that balance between work and rest is the main thing. And cultivating a sense of patience and perspective about what can be done in the time accorded us. Gee, that sounds an awful lot like Gandolf's advice to Frodo!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Winnie the Pooh's Got Nothing on This Blustery Day
I understand that there are two storm systems at play here, including the one that swept through the Midwest and South, killing at last count 32 people from tornadoes. There is a tornado watch for my area through the night, which is expected to see an intensification of the storminess...
Thursday, March 1, 2012
...With a Nod to Sufjan Stevens
Let's see, what am I reading nowadays? I just finished mystery writer Susan Grafton's J is for Justice novel; it has a pretty nifty ending, I must say. Now I'm starting on the late Michael Crichton's Sphere, having deliberately avoided the movie. I hardly ever read the book version of a movie after I've watched it, although I am always watching movies based on books I have previously read. The only exception I know to this was with Arthur C. Clarke/Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, when I read the book after seeing the movie. But then again, this was a unusual case of a book written based on the movie! I am also gradually getting through what is shaping up to be an excellent novel by Stephen King: 11/22/63. I haven't yet reached the halfway point, though...
I am planning to continue my running until someone with medical authority in the matter flat-out prohibits it. Today I did a short run of 3.24 miles. I'll be running a short distance tomorrow since I'm driving to Jacksonville and back in the morning. I plan to keep up my distance running as I instinctively feel that it definitely contributes to my overall good health. I also want to go back to swimming like I did last year...