Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Trump should collectively nominate the cast of Hamilton to be Secretary of Education just to see leftists heads explode. "But they are not qualified" the media will point out. Then why are you listening to them Trump could ask... I love Mitt Romney. People who see cheap in that picture and not humble just don't get it... Quote of the day: "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."- Mark Twain...  A day late but still worth remembering... I don't want a drone. I want the mechanical owl from the first Clash of the Titans movie... This is true (and sad)... Reading Charlie Pierce's post election Tweets - I can't help but picture him going naked Howard Hughes peeing into glass jars insane because the election didn't go his way... Am I the only one who reads this report and immediately thinks of Breaking Bad?... I would love to hear Adele cover Ted Nugent's Stranglehold... I'm still disappointed that Conor McGregor wasn't signed to play Mad Sweeney in American Gods... This is also true (and sad)...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I wonder if Bill Belichick hates Chris Mortensen more today than he hated Tom Jackson back in 2001... Incredible - these are not still photos... Hard to believe but Pete Carroll is almost a year older than Bill Belichick... Charlie Pierce has the best piece I've read yet on how ridiculous Ballghazi has become (and was to begin with)... How great would it be if someone replaced Stephen Hawking's computer voice with Emo Phillips... Heh heh - Bad Lip Reading NFL 2015...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Rand Paul summarizes Barack Obama's NSA policies

- Projecting a Jon Lester contract extension. As an informed Red Sox fan I would be happy with a 4-year contract with a 5th year option at $20 million per year.

- Charlie Pierce is also not happy with Obama's NSA policies

- 5 epic drinking stories

- Jimmy Kimmel's take on Obamacare. As Homer would say, "It's funny because it's true".

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

OK I'll say it! The verbose Charlie Pierce is not a good fit with the MTV raised target audience of Grantland. And this is coming from a Charlie Pierce fan. Just too wordy - makes ESPN readers feel like they are taking SAT verbal tests... Joshua Chamberlain was a hero of Gettysburg and other Civil War battles but his body paid an awful price... The Red Sox gave call up Brock Holt number 26. This is another nail in the coffin for anyone who thinks the team has plans ever to retire that number for pariah Wade Boggs... I cannot remember a year I cared less about the All-Star Game. Or who may have been snubbed in the selection process... Small Town Dumps would be a good name for a band... Spes Mea Veritas (Hope is My Truth) could be a good motto for the Obama Administration (since truth obviously is not their truth)... The Emei mustache toad grows spikes on its lips for a few weeks so it can fight over girls. In the future I can see certain humans altering their DNA to do the same. And I can see SPIKE broadcasting Mustache Fights (and God help me - I can see myself watching it)... Israel should claim responsibility for the coup in Egypt just to mess with all the haters like Mel Gibson who claim they are responsible for all the wars in the world... They call it Online Dating but if you don't meet in person it is not really dating at all...

Boston

Two of the best writers from the Boston area also have two of the best explanations of what Monday means to people for whom Patriot's Day has been an important part of our fabric of life.

Jackie MacMullan's take.

Charlie Pierce's take.

I flew out of Logan on Tuesday morning and though the mood was somber - the flights were on time and things were somewhat back to normal. Which is a good thing. Maybe being in an airport made me think this but I can't help but believe that just like post 9/11 the whole plane full of passengers would rush anyone trying to take over a plane - next year the security at the Boston Marathon will be fine because the onlookers will make it so. Next year God help anyone carrying heavy backpacks who hesitate to answer when half-drunk Sully and Murph ask "Hey - what's in the bag?"

Bill Belichick an Anarchist? Ummm - NO

Charlie Pierce can really turn a phrase which helps to make him a fun writer to read. But the problem isn't how Pierce is saying something - it is the something he tries to say. In his latest Grantland offering Charlie Pierce puts forward the idea that Bill Belichick is the NFL's last anarchist. Ummm - NO!

Anarchists don't have a uniform way of doing things - the Patriot way. Anarchists aren't known for requiring people to just do their jobs. Any personal flair or on-field demonstrations of individuality are normally swiftly dealt with by Coach Belichick.

Bill Belichick isn't an anarchist. The very idea is stupid but that doesn't jive with Charlie Pierce's thinking. Describing Belichick as he is wouldn't allow Pierce to utilize his beloved quotes from Leftists such as Emma Goldman or Bob Dylan.

It is this mindset that will be the doom of Grantland. These people are writing more for each other than for a paying audience. It is a giant echo-chamber. The problem is the readers can only be sucked in so many times. For instance I was sucked into listening to the podcast of their TV critic guys mostly because they were going to talk about Justified. Problem is one of the critics couldn't get into Justified because he thought there was too much shooting - on a show about a US Marshall with a Western gunslinger mentality - too much shooting. Really. And the other critic agreed with him. Needless to say - you won't find me wasting any more time with those podcasts.

Grantland was a great idea. It was supposed to be this place you'd check every day because of the great content. But I'd guess I might check it once a week now (if that) because I already know what I'm going to see. What's the point of reading an article on Grantland if it is just the same viewpoint rehashed over and over?

Charlie Pierce Attacks Tim Tebow's Faith to Make Charlie Feel Good About Himself

Charlie Pierce has an attack piece on Tim Tebow up at Grantland. The piece has almost nothing to do with sports. The piece has everything with Charlie Pierce's need to portray himself as some sort of morally superior person.

I must say that a certain amount of cowardice is involved here in waiting till Tim Tebow lost to go after his religious beliefs. Charlie Pierce comes off like the Edward G. Robinson character Dathan in The Ten Commandments shouting, "where is your God now?" It was also most unseemly to invoke Christopher Hitchens in this piece because of that. Hitch would never have waited till a loss to say what he thought had to be said - but Charlie Pierce waited. Yet still the cool kids will call him brave for doing it.

Pierce criticizes Tebow's brand of Christianity. He says that this "particular splinter has a long record in America of fostering anti-Enlightenment thought." If I was to go after Enlightenment thought the way Charlie Pierce goes after Tebow's faith then you would read a screed about Guillotine's and the French Revolution which with all its bloodletting was the most tangible outcome of the Enlightenment. The most tangible outcome of Tebow's ministries in the Philippines will probably be a new hospital.

I happen to agree with Teddy Roosevelt who was not keen on those who worked to convert others to their religions. He didn't like it because first the proselytizer would have to destroy the person's existing beliefs to get them to accept the new beliefs. Pierce makes the argument that's what Tebow and his family are doing in the Philippines which - as Pierce points out - is already 95% Catholic. I wonder if the Jesuit educated Pierce would like to extol the methods used by the Catholic Church in gaining such a plurality. Of course Pierce won't do that but at the same time he won't ruin his straw man argument either.

When you get right down to it this is article by Pierce is just another case of a person trying to drag down - nay smear - another just to try to feel better about themselves.

The Beginning of the End for the NCAA

Charlie Piece is verbose - but he is right. The NCAA is on a slippery slope to having to pay athletes. The NCAA is suggesting a $2,000 stipend for athletes. I think the answer at some point will be to pay college athletes minimum wage "work/study" for revenue generating sports (even if the end result is a net loss for the sport).

Using simple math and a minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour then that works out to roughly 17 hours per week for 16 weeks of football. Does anyone think that is enough hours? Remember - you would also be paying for travel. Let's call it 25 hours per week - OK? That works out to a $2,900 stipend. But what if that student goes to school in California who has and $8 per hour minimum wage? Then suddenly that student-athlete is getting a $3,200 stipend. Advantage USC and suddenly there a reason to go to UCLA again. Good luck to Minnesota and their freezing winters and $6.15 per hour minimum wage.

Slippery slope indeed. And we haven't even broached the idea that there is no reason this income is not taxable.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Good point by Charlie Pierce - why have all of our junk foods been super-sized except Halloween candy?

- I agree 100% with the idea of a 2-yr $20 mill contract for David Ortiz

- Tony Kornheiser is awesome

- 74 Homemade Signs from Rally to Restore Honor and/or Fear. The Tea Party stands for less government and less spending - what the heck was the message yesterday?

Tiger Woods

Charlie Pierce has the best take on the Tiger Woods situation that I've seen yet.

Why is it that all coverage of athletes always seems to veer between worship and salacious gossip? Seeing Woods as a "hound" should come as no surprise to anyone with a brain or who has eyes to see. Yet I'm still not interested in reading details of his marriage crumbling on live TV.

Manny and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Dreds

I thought the analogy of Jonah being overthrown to calm the stormy seas was an apt analogy to describe the Manny Ramirez situation and trade. Charlie Pierce paints a picture that is more biblically akin to Joseph and his multi-colored coat being thrown down a well by his jealous brothers.

It is the delegation of "veterans" who came to Epstein declaring, in essence, "We cannot work in this ambience!" (then perhaps huffing off to their trailers for a massage and some chamomile tea) that's the most bizarre element of the whole affair. For all the murmurings from the fainting couch by the local baseball romantics about how Manny Ramirez failed to respect The Game and did his teammates dirt, these same people seem more than willing to accept the proposition that the rest of your defending World Champions are made of candy glass. Is the poisonous presence of Manny Ramirez the reason catcher Jason Varitek is petrifying almost by the hour, or why Josh Beckett hasn't thrown a changeup in six weeks, or why most of The Kids have been playing like people who got lost on the way to the AAA park? (Jacoby Ellsbury, the speedy young center fielder who was such a sensation in last year's World Series, is hitting an abysmal .186 since the All-Star break and has stolen one base since June 17.) And has Epstein himself been so distracted by Ramirez's performance that he's failed to notice that his middle relief corps is a landfill?

There is no denying that Pierce has a point.

Tom Wolfe vs Charlie Pierce

I was struck by this exchange between Peter Robinson and Tom Wolfe.

ME: Henry Luce famously called the twentieth century "the American century." Will the twenty-first century represent a second American century?

TOM WOLFE: I believe we’re on the edge of about 800 more years of American centuries. The biggest problem is all the people who see a problem. It’s very fashionable to think that the end is near.

I think the Wolfe quote hit me hard because I had just read this piece in Esquire by Charlie Pierce. When you read the word "cynic" in the Pierce piece - it may be helpful for true comprehension to replace that word with "aging hippy who still thinks he knows best and why won't these damn whippersnappers just listen to me."

I guess I was bothered by the Pierce piece because of the underlying current of "Blame America First" and "the Republicans have led us to hell in a handbasket" sentiment that runs throughout every line of every page. The "cynic" in the "story" (I use scare quotes around "story" because I'm not sure what to call the piece - it certainly isn't a profile of Obama and it certainly isn't reporting - it may not even be non-fiction) - anyway the cynic thinks, "Maybe the world wants America to sit down and shut up for a while." I think this last line is the one that gets me the most. It's as if the "cynic" doesn't want America to be great. He wants America to be both equal to our European partners and well liked. He wants us to pass an John Kerry-type Global Test.

I was bothered by Pierce's piece and his mindset until I read the quote from the great Tom Wolfe. It was then that it hit me that Esquire is just a gussied up fashion magazine for men and that Charlie Pierce was just being fashionable. I was then able to let go of my - for lack of a better word - anger towards the Pierce piece. I mean as far as fashion goes - the Pierce piece is like Capri pants on men. Sure it's fashionable in some circles but you have to laugh at such wrongheadedness - not get angry.

Evening Links



- The above is one of my favorite pictures of Manny and here is an excellent column on Manny by Charlie Pierce over at Slate.

- Lt. Michael Murphy receives the Medal of Honor