Okay, I do have to admit it, I am really liking the "new" hockey. Yes, you heard it right.
The pace is faster, the goonage has decreased and the scoring is up. What is not to like? But make no bones about it, this step is much like the one Cadillac took with its edgy design: the attempt to appeal to a broader or new audience runs the risk of alienating the old. My straw poll suggests that many more people like the new format than not, but none of these folks would be considered "hard core" fans.
So later in winter when I am up and flipping channels and I see Ottawa v. Calgary on ESPN, I'll let you know if I tune in.
10.26.2005
10.18.2005
I am sincere...really, I am!
Let's expand upon the discussion of "truth in our daily lives" and "insincerity". Nah, let's not. Tilam has yet again shattered the stereotype and really hit the nail on the head. Despite the beliefs of many of the "beautiful" people, you never really "own" any material things this go 'round. What you DO own is your thoughts and feelings - your integrity, your honestly, your emotions and conduct. If you throw it away how is anyone supposed to rely on you, how is anyone supposed to trust you, how is anyone supposed to believe what you say and do? Too many times it gets thrown away because as a society we have become fairly selfish and self-centered, and we do things which benefit ourselves above all others in all situations, apparently with the feeling of impunity and lack of consideration for the effect on others. Yeah Yeah, there are exceptions, but...
Okay, let's get to the fun stuff:
Sox out via the broom, Yanks out in 4. (NOTE: 4? Thew, in my number system, it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5! In our world, 3 + 2 does not equal 4, but 5. Even more sloooooowly....fiiivvve. ) While I think it's good for baseball that Chicago and the Anaheim/California/LA Angels of Anahiem/whateverthefriktheirnameis battled it out, ultimately I find it somewhat unsatisfying that NY and Boston are not slugging it out again. The offseason is going to be VERY interesting - some key players from both teams are free agents (Matsui, Damon, etc), I don't envy Cashman and Epstein.
Hockey is back to a big splash. Arenas are full again, the game is more exciting, more offensively oriented, more high scoring. BUT, the big litmus test will be the ratings on TV. Because ultimately, hockey will NEVER become a draw until you can attract the fans who sit at home watching the tube. That was, is, and will be the challenge for the economic future of hockey.
Now, based on what I believe to be her selfish and self-centered reasons, her lack of loyalty to her professional sport LPGA, and the fact that she's a "phenom" who has won two events (Diddly and Squat - hehe), I root against Michelle Wie. BUT, I have to tell you that it's pathetic when a fan or reporter (in this case) can call tournament officials and get a player DQ'd. This isn't the first time this has happened, several times in the past fans have called in and questioned players on their conduct (Stadler kneeling on that towel, etc). This is bullshit. Do we allow fans with instant replay to call the crew chief of a baseball game and get a call changed? Basketball and Football have challenges and instant reply upon occasion, but fans sticking their noses into a golf tournament, not to mention doing it AFTER THE TOURNAMENT, thus costing the player her livelihood. Fans sticking their noses into ANY sporting event, affecting outcomes and being seen as watchdogs, is just bad precedent...
Yankees got permission to speak with wonder pitching coach, Leo Mazzone - who coulda predicted that?! :)
'Nuff for now...
Okay, let's get to the fun stuff:
Sox out via the broom, Yanks out in 4. (NOTE: 4? Thew, in my number system, it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5! In our world, 3 + 2 does not equal 4, but 5. Even more sloooooowly....fiiivvve. ) While I think it's good for baseball that Chicago and the Anaheim/California/LA Angels of Anahiem/whateverthefriktheirnameis battled it out, ultimately I find it somewhat unsatisfying that NY and Boston are not slugging it out again. The offseason is going to be VERY interesting - some key players from both teams are free agents (Matsui, Damon, etc), I don't envy Cashman and Epstein.
Hockey is back to a big splash. Arenas are full again, the game is more exciting, more offensively oriented, more high scoring. BUT, the big litmus test will be the ratings on TV. Because ultimately, hockey will NEVER become a draw until you can attract the fans who sit at home watching the tube. That was, is, and will be the challenge for the economic future of hockey.
Now, based on what I believe to be her selfish and self-centered reasons, her lack of loyalty to her professional sport LPGA, and the fact that she's a "phenom" who has won two events (Diddly and Squat - hehe), I root against Michelle Wie. BUT, I have to tell you that it's pathetic when a fan or reporter (in this case) can call tournament officials and get a player DQ'd. This isn't the first time this has happened, several times in the past fans have called in and questioned players on their conduct (Stadler kneeling on that towel, etc). This is bullshit. Do we allow fans with instant replay to call the crew chief of a baseball game and get a call changed? Basketball and Football have challenges and instant reply upon occasion, but fans sticking their noses into a golf tournament, not to mention doing it AFTER THE TOURNAMENT, thus costing the player her livelihood. Fans sticking their noses into ANY sporting event, affecting outcomes and being seen as watchdogs, is just bad precedent...
Yankees got permission to speak with wonder pitching coach, Leo Mazzone - who coulda predicted that?! :)
'Nuff for now...
10.14.2005
Untruths
Professor David Gelernter has an article in the L.A. Times commenting on insincerity in politics. My two comments are 1) insincerity is too kind a word and 2) it is not limited to politics.
"Insincere" implies a sort of self-awareness that is lacking in the discourse Gelernter mentions as examples. Maybe self-awareness is wrong, but I am insincere when I apologize for something I really did not think was wrong. Lying for the purpose of personal destruction is something quite different.
In my position (I am an executive in a corporation), I am occasionally sued. The first time I read a complaint directed against me, my jaw dropped. The claims made were demonstrable lies. I called my attorney and was politely informed that there was no "perjury" in a complaint and their purpose was to get into court, not win the case. They lie, they get settlement money, end of story.
In one deposition, caught in one of these lies, the plaintiff assured everyone that the statement wasn't a lie, but an "untruth." An untruth, you see, is not a lie. I guess it is a strategy.
Truth is one of the basic fabrics of our civil life, not a weakness. The state of discourse, whether in politics or in life, does seem to have slid into "insincerity." That is unfortunate, as individuals, we have every few things that we can truly call our own, but one of them is our honesty. One should think hard before one throws it away.
"Insincere" implies a sort of self-awareness that is lacking in the discourse Gelernter mentions as examples. Maybe self-awareness is wrong, but I am insincere when I apologize for something I really did not think was wrong. Lying for the purpose of personal destruction is something quite different.
In my position (I am an executive in a corporation), I am occasionally sued. The first time I read a complaint directed against me, my jaw dropped. The claims made were demonstrable lies. I called my attorney and was politely informed that there was no "perjury" in a complaint and their purpose was to get into court, not win the case. They lie, they get settlement money, end of story.
In one deposition, caught in one of these lies, the plaintiff assured everyone that the statement wasn't a lie, but an "untruth." An untruth, you see, is not a lie. I guess it is a strategy.
Truth is one of the basic fabrics of our civil life, not a weakness. The state of discourse, whether in politics or in life, does seem to have slid into "insincerity." That is unfortunate, as individuals, we have every few things that we can truly call our own, but one of them is our honesty. One should think hard before one throws it away.
10.06.2005
Various Items
Around the horn on the goings on in various parts...
Young Athletes
I agree with Thew: what happen for pay for performance? Further, tell me what is appealing about Michele Wie? If you want pretty golfers there is Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis or Anna Rawson. Looking for better golfers there is...nearly everyone else. More power to her for snagging dollars for nothing, but it won't last if she does not win.
Harriet Miers
There is nothing "wrong" with Miers as a Justice. Quite frankly, the idea of an "outsider" (read not a professor or professional judge) on the court is appealing. People who have worked with her are very supportive, the rest of us just don't know...yet. The problem for the President is that conservatives are fed up with his approach to pretty much everything except the GWOT. In particular, the President has allowed Congress to spend like a drunken sailor. What happened to the party of small government? A huge drug entitlement, more bureaucracy, and $250 billion for Katrina (or $400K for every affected family!).
I don't disagree with Miers' profile, but I have no faith in the President's ability to do the right thing for conservative principles. Conservatives talk about Miers being a "stealth nominee," but George Bush is fast becoming (in retrospect) the the "stealth nominee" - talking a good game on the campaign trail, but acting very differently in office.
2008
All of the above bodes badly for a Guiliani or Powell or McCain or other moderate conservative candidate for the GOP in 2008. The Base has been betrayed and they are not likely to forget.
Interestingly, the person most likely to suffer is Jeb. Given the "conservative" track record of 41 & 43, why would the GOP nominate another Bush??
Baseball
I was hoping for a Yankees-Red Sox Championship. Not happening and that is Too Bad. The Sox look just beat up. And the White Sox seem to have awoken from their late year stupor.
As for the Yankees, the pitching continued its late season performance, but A-Rod Sheffield and Matsui really fell apart in the clutch. Ortiz for MVP.
And Giambi is definitely back on the juice.
Unlike last year, I am a St. Louis believer. Now true, it is only San Diego, but Edmonds, Pujols and Sanders are hitting well. With last year under its belt, the Red Birds should show up a different team.
And hats off to the Astros and Braves for what could have been the best playoff game ever.
College Terror
A fizzy soda can in Penn Station is front page news, but a Islamic convert who blew himself up after trying to enter the OU-KState football game last week is buried. Hinrichs tried to buy alot of ammonium nitrate a week earlier and blew himself up with TAPT, the same stuff that the Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber used. Thankfully, it is highly volatile and he go *poof*.
And it seems Georgia Tech is the latest campus to have a possible terror threat or cell.
Of course, this makes perfect sense. Campuses are hotbeds of far left radicalism that embraces "any means necessary" to make their point. It is also fill with impressionable youth who have little or no understanding of the consequence of their actions. One can't help but imagine Ward Churchill is pleased with these developments (as ;ong as he isn't hurt, that is).
UPDATE (Sort of): UCLA also? Uh-oh. I really believe the next terrorist attack will be a small (15 - 25 dead) attack on a soft target. A college campus makes perfect "sense."
South Asia Earthquake
Obviously, George Bushes fault.
Seriously, it does put Katrina in perspective. While the overall numbers certainly do not matter to those who lost a loved one, the South Asia Earthquake certainly puts the Katrina rants in a different light. 30,000 vs. 3,000. 3 million homeless. These poor ARE really poor. (Not "poor" in the US version, but in the "real world" version. That is, dirt freakin' poor.)
Oh, well. Gotta jet.
Young Athletes
I agree with Thew: what happen for pay for performance? Further, tell me what is appealing about Michele Wie? If you want pretty golfers there is Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis or Anna Rawson. Looking for better golfers there is...nearly everyone else. More power to her for snagging dollars for nothing, but it won't last if she does not win.
Harriet Miers
There is nothing "wrong" with Miers as a Justice. Quite frankly, the idea of an "outsider" (read not a professor or professional judge) on the court is appealing. People who have worked with her are very supportive, the rest of us just don't know...yet. The problem for the President is that conservatives are fed up with his approach to pretty much everything except the GWOT. In particular, the President has allowed Congress to spend like a drunken sailor. What happened to the party of small government? A huge drug entitlement, more bureaucracy, and $250 billion for Katrina (or $400K for every affected family!).
I don't disagree with Miers' profile, but I have no faith in the President's ability to do the right thing for conservative principles. Conservatives talk about Miers being a "stealth nominee," but George Bush is fast becoming (in retrospect) the the "stealth nominee" - talking a good game on the campaign trail, but acting very differently in office.
2008
All of the above bodes badly for a Guiliani or Powell or McCain or other moderate conservative candidate for the GOP in 2008. The Base has been betrayed and they are not likely to forget.
Interestingly, the person most likely to suffer is Jeb. Given the "conservative" track record of 41 & 43, why would the GOP nominate another Bush??
Baseball
I was hoping for a Yankees-Red Sox Championship. Not happening and that is Too Bad. The Sox look just beat up. And the White Sox seem to have awoken from their late year stupor.
As for the Yankees, the pitching continued its late season performance, but A-Rod Sheffield and Matsui really fell apart in the clutch. Ortiz for MVP.
And Giambi is definitely back on the juice.
Unlike last year, I am a St. Louis believer. Now true, it is only San Diego, but Edmonds, Pujols and Sanders are hitting well. With last year under its belt, the Red Birds should show up a different team.
And hats off to the Astros and Braves for what could have been the best playoff game ever.
College Terror
A fizzy soda can in Penn Station is front page news, but a Islamic convert who blew himself up after trying to enter the OU-KState football game last week is buried. Hinrichs tried to buy alot of ammonium nitrate a week earlier and blew himself up with TAPT, the same stuff that the Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber used. Thankfully, it is highly volatile and he go *poof*.
And it seems Georgia Tech is the latest campus to have a possible terror threat or cell.
Of course, this makes perfect sense. Campuses are hotbeds of far left radicalism that embraces "any means necessary" to make their point. It is also fill with impressionable youth who have little or no understanding of the consequence of their actions. One can't help but imagine Ward Churchill is pleased with these developments (as ;ong as he isn't hurt, that is).
UPDATE (Sort of): UCLA also? Uh-oh. I really believe the next terrorist attack will be a small (15 - 25 dead) attack on a soft target. A college campus makes perfect "sense."
South Asia Earthquake
Obviously, George Bushes fault.
Seriously, it does put Katrina in perspective. While the overall numbers certainly do not matter to those who lost a loved one, the South Asia Earthquake certainly puts the Katrina rants in a different light. 30,000 vs. 3,000. 3 million homeless. These poor ARE really poor. (Not "poor" in the US version, but in the "real world" version. That is, dirt freakin' poor.)
Oh, well. Gotta jet.
10.05.2005
Here's to cute young chick athletes
I discovered something the other day:
If you rearrange the letters in "Anna Kournikova" you get "Michelle Wie". Another cute young athlete who has major hype and who hasn't (and probably won't) win anything...but who needs to win with the kind of endorsement money they get?
If you rearrange the letters in "Anna Kournikova" you get "Michelle Wie". Another cute young athlete who has major hype and who hasn't (and probably won't) win anything...but who needs to win with the kind of endorsement money they get?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)