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The refs really blew it. Not the real refs though.

It seems as if I was the only person in the country who didn’t see the controversial last play of the Monday Night Football. But that’s okay because fallout was in no short supply from the Seattle Seahawks win over Green Bay that maybe shouldn’t have been.

Here is a fairly simple explanation of what happened from an Associated Press piece published by The Washington Post. Except it really was not all that elementary my dear Watson, especially when explained by the likes of Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. Oh, and just to be perfectly perspicuous, that is NOT Peter King the Republican congressman from New York whom Reuter’s magnificent media writer Jack Shafer once referred to as “an exploding carbuncle masquerading as a member of Congress.”

High five? Yeah, high five! Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

 

If you somehow managed to miss the root of this controversy — so all-encompassing that even the President “tweeted” about it — it stems from a labor-management issue as us left-leaning, Red fellow travelers like to call it. Those of the evil rich NFL Owner Class locked out the regular referees and apparently replaced them with just about anyone who has worn a zebra-striped shirt. That is not so far from the mark if the statement by Mitch Mortaza is true. He is the founder and president of the Lingerie Football League. Yes, there is a LFL although I’ve yet to see a game and will probably need a condition of hyper insomnia before I ever watch such a spectacle. Nonetheless, Mortaza says some of the current NFL substitute referees had worked for the lingerie league but were allegedly let go because they didn’t make the cut. I have to wonder if the refs in that league also wear lingerie? I really don’t want to know the answer though.

Blown calls happen all the time in the NFL and even the most seasoned “Zebras” are not immune from making one. The fact is, however,  that these are substitute refs, “scabs” in the language of the older hard-line union members, whose train wreck of a call may have brought this whole debacle to a head. Oh, and speaking of millions, it was reported today that some $300 million in bets on the game changed hands. I don’t really want to repeat myself, but do you know what I could do with $300-freaking-million? People are pissing away $300 million that hinged on one incompetent call while who know how many others, myself among them, live week-to-week. What a world, huh Bubba?

Such are the type of calamities that make the conspiracy nuts who already think professional or even college games are fixed wonder if the “fix” was really in on this Monday night madness. So many amazing games with stunning turnarounds have been showcased on Monday night games that it is a target-rich environment for the conspiratorially-inclined.

And so, to paraphrase the immortal words of the ever-amazing Vice President Joe Biden, this was “a big f***ing deal.”  It was answered by the NFL by a confusing statement that basically said: “Yeah, the call sucked but so what?” So there we have it. Another football game. Another blown call.

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Happy Labor Day and be happy that we can be happy

A Wikipedia article about Labor Day points out the paradox of how the holiday weekend is known for big-time sales yet most retail workers do not get time off and also work more hours.

Labor Day is traditionally known as the end of the summer yet if you live here in Southeast Texas you know that’s a lie. The end of summer is usually in early November. That is known as fall, or more precisely, the week here in this part of the country which is between summer and winter.

It is more the time of the year and the luck of the calendar that means Labor Day this year marks the beginning of “real” football. When I say real I mean not the NFL preseason games which don’t mean a thing except to the coaches and players. Likewise, I mean high school and college football. One’s preference as to which comes first guides the order. I still like high school football best and particularly my old high school’s team. Go Eagles! I hope to see at least one game this year. College, I’m not so jazzed about. Money has made the collegiate-level sport so that it isn’t about anything other than winning. I mean anything! It’s like the NFL, except the majority of college players are not yet as good as pros and the play is not nearly as interesting. That’s just a fan’s opinion, of course. Conferences are being re-formed where its schools might be clear across the country. What was wrong with the good ol’ Southwest Conference anyway?

Labor Day is also about cookouts, the beach, the lake, parades, concerts, all manner of entertainment and having fun.

Lost in all that Labor Day means in the United States is the true meaning of Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland gave labor unions the holiday as a political ploy. Cleveland hoped labor would develop amnesia when it came to his having dispatched nearly half the Army to battle striking railroad sleeping car workers. The Army response to the Pullman Palace Car Co. strike in Chicago was crafted by Cleveland, who said the stoppage interfered with mail delivery. Thirteen strikers were killed. Historian Kenneth C. Davis says in this CNN article that labor kept the holiday and Cleveland was fired by his party in the following primary election.

Rights for workers, humane working conditions, child labor laws all came about from unions but the successes were neither overnight, nor were they always bloodless. That is what Labor Day is really all about. That, plus the fact that the day and the weekend means no work so people can sun themselves, barbecue or go shop until they drop.

So enjoy the weekend. Celebrate! And raise a toast to all those who labored before you.

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Another broke vacation? Not if you hit that little button at the end.

My Blackberry from work has lost its mind, literally, so I have to send it away to the tech folks. That’s not so bad but I also have to send my work computer along with it. That’s not so bad because I decided with my computer away, I can’t really do much at work, so I am taking a vacation beginning Saturday and ending a week from Monday. My boss signed off on it. That’s not so bad.

I wouldn’t be of envy to all workers but the fact that I have 17 days vacation on the books is quite a bit when you consider I work an average of 26 hours a week. My vacation, leave as we call it, is accounted for in hours. Thus when you say you have almost 140 hours that seems laden with a smidgen more heft. I don’t work every day. I don’t always work 8 hours a day. So when I take vacation, it is added on to days off and hours that I do not work. It makes me feel at least a little better that I am not making a pile of moolah.

What is bad is that this unexpected vacation will coincide with a time of little expendable dollars. I’ve got to do some fund-raising. Maybe I should do like the Obama campaign and hit up everyone I can think of for $3-$5. Just $3.” Please sir, I want some more.”

Hit that donation button boys and girls, men and women, dogs and cats! I need me some vacation money so maybe I can go, to the big H-E-B store and buy something to eat. I don’t have money to go anywhere, so I guess I am going to catch up on my sleep, catch up on my reading and maybe try to find a freelance gig or two. Where is that tropical storm, by the way?

Oh well, I think I will eat a hot dog. It’s not good for me. But it’s cheap and I’m so broke I can’t pay attention. Or like my Daddy used to say: “If trains were selling for a dime a dozen, I wouldn’t even have the change to buy the echo of a whistle.”

You thought I might end this with “That’s not so bad?

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Polls, e-mailing for dollars: Insanity in the living room of the disenfranchised

Polls for the 2012 presidential race make me want to chop wood. Well, that is figuratively speaking. It has been a long time since I chopped any wood and if I have it my way it will be even longer before I do it again.

It’s just that polls drive me crazy or more accurately the stories written about polls drive me nuts. Take today, for instance. Here is a snapshot of “Polls Obama” on Google News, my trusty aggregator:

President Obama, Romney Tied in Latest Washington Post-ABC Poll

‎Poll of Polls: Obama ahead of Romney, but slightly

Poll: Obama has 8-point lead over Romney in Va.‎

Obama, Mitt Romney Deadlocked In Race, Poll  Finds

And so forth.

Yes, it is partly the Internet’s fault and my fault if this variety of polling results makes me a bit on the looney side. The Internet is a showcase for tons of news and partisan sites showing everything from the national take down to a precinct in Intercourse, Pa. It is my fault that I read these stories or at least the headlines and the lead.

Such variety of polls are, of course, nirvana for political junkies. To the serious political junkie putting all these pieces together into some electoral context is a Karl Rove-ish version of the board game “Risk.”

But here Schmoe is, that would be me, just trying to figure out where things stand overall. That is so because every freaking precinct in every freaking state isn’t of vital strategic importance when it comes to the Electoral College. Where I live is a good example. Yes, I live in one of the areas of Texas that has voted traditionally Democrat. Like elsewhere in this wonderful state with its misguided voters though, the Republicans are pushing their way in and trying to root out all the old Yellow Dogs, like me. Since Shrub Bush was first elected I have felt disenfranchised for pretty much every race above ticket of county judge. My vote for president means nothing.

My pocketbook is another story. Well, not my  pocketbook. A guy asked me last week if he could borrow $10. I told him I don’t know ten people with a dollar. Or two people with a $5 bill either. Oh, I know you probably get tired of this, I certainly do, but you can go right here on this link and I can tell you how to send me money. I am in the process of putting a PayPal button on my blog for donations, but I am having a problem getting it up and running. How would your money be used? Oh, for things like … living. Times are harder than they’ve been in a long time and if you appreciate what you read here sometimes, even if you don’t appreciate it, you can go right here and I can tell you how to send me your money.

Obama’s people are wearing off on me, I suppose. Some of the e-mails I receive from the Obamas, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Joe Biden and George Clooney — they aren’t personal e-mails mind you — you would think Barack, Michelle and the girls are sitting in a dimly-lit White House making do another week on Beenie Weeniess and Shasta. And they always ask for another $3. “Just $3 more, Dick, and we can beat that old Republican money machine this month.” I doubt it. I doubt it because the Dems are always pleading poverty.

I’m glad I didn’t sign up for e-mail from the Romney people. Everybody wanting my money you would think I am Warren “Jimmy” Buffett.

But I am serious. Go here so you can send me $3. Just $3. A $3 bill. No don’t do that. I don’t need the Secret Service folks messing around here. But anything, a can of Beenie Weenies and a Shasta, even. No don’t do that. I’d hate to see Sasha and Malia go to bed hungry.

 

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Paper purchases such as those in Texas by Buffett group signal signs of hope

Newspapers have taken hits over the past decade. A combination of economic factors combined with the technological explosion including the Internet have shaken the foundations of the printed paper.The turmoil continues to this day what with Advance Publications leaving a good portion of the Gulf Coast without newspapers printed daily in New Orleans, Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile, Ala.

Still, some signs suggest the ink-stained wretch may not be relegated to the past.

Economic stresses of one type or the other seemed to plague the newspaper industry for most of the 15 years I worked full-time for three papers. Well actually four as I was managing editor for an 8,000-circulation weekly but the fit was wrong and I quit after less than a month there so I don’t count it. One factor in particular affecting papers was the cost of newsprint which rose along with the cost of energy. Various other changes in the market, while not drastic, made its impact on the industry such as in classified advertising. When I first started working as a small-town weekly newspaper editor in 1990, the classified ad was quickly headed down a dark alley. The growth of Wal-Mart also made its mark on newspaper fortunes when its stores popped up, seemingly overnight, and drove smaller, established businesses — also newspaper advertisers — out of business.

Lo and behold came the Internet and rocked newspapers to the very core of the way they operated, in both the news and monetary end. The “pajama-clad” Internet commentator hailed the demise of the printed newspaper. The “citizen journalist” would now take over and save the world. Many editors and publishers foolishly believed the anonymous experts who said newspaper would become a relic of the past thanks to their beloved “Internets,” as one U.S. president used to call it.

But not so fast my PJ-attired friends. All is not as it seems. For instance, while his neighboring newspapers to the east and west — owned by the aforementioned Advance Publications and that are set to send many score of employees packing as well as cutting back on printed editions — The Sun Herald on the Mississippi Gulf Coast has its engines set at full speed ahead.

Glenn Nardi, president and publisher, of the Biloxi-based 47,000-daily/56,000-Sunday daily wants to see the paper grow through print, Web and phone.

 “To paraphrase Mark Twain: ‘Reports of print’s death are greatly exaggerated.’ In fact, the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the nonprofit organization created and supported by the advertising community to measure newspaper and magazine audiences, reports that newspaper paid circulation grew in the last audited six-month period.”

One of the five richest people on the planet also sees something worth putting his money where his mouth is when speaking of papers. Berkshire-Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett is purchasing newspapes left and right, no pun intended, seeing as how Buffett has been a major backer of President Obama. And some see Obama as left wing. Get it? Oh forget it. The one-time paper boy, Buffett, bought his hometown Omaha World-Herald and hasn’t stopped buying newspapers.
The Omaha World-Herald Co. subsidiary of Berkshire announced last week it has bought its second Texas newspaper, the Waco Tribune-Herald, after purchasing the Bryan-College Station paper, the Eagle. The company also announced today that it closed the deal on purchasing the 63 newspaper properties of Media General with its largest property The Tampa Tribune. A full-disclosure note, this blogger is closely connected to someone who spent almost a decade as a writer at the Waco newspaper. Since I am limited by a confidentiality agreement, I can’t say much more about the Waco Trib except it was and remains a very good daily paper. The Berkshire-Hathaway people are purchasing the Trib from Robinson Media, which bought the Trib from Atlanta-based Cox newspapers. Waco insurance magnate Clifton Robinson and his son, Gordon, bought their hometown paper three years ago but said they are convinced that it should be run by “media professionals.” The paper made news not long after the Robinsons took over the Trib when they put “In God We Trust” on the paper’s flag, the Page 1 newspaper name at the top. Perhaps that isn’t so far out since Waco is home to Baylor, the world’s largest Baptist university, which was also attended by both Robinsons. Buffett has said editorial decisions will be left with local newspapers such as editorial board choice of candidates.
Maybe Buffett, like the Waco family Robinson, just always wanted to own newspapers. But the “Omaha Oracle” isn’t too sloppy with his business acumen. Perhaps the purchases by Berkshire-Hathaway are a whim. But  I would imagine many who know business much better than I do would doubt it.
It will be interesting to see how a familiar paper turns out under the chairmanship of Warren Buffett. I hope for only good, as I think the purchases by Berkshire-Hathaway signal ahead.