Author: thependulumswings staff

Take Out This Week’s Trash

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

To put a lid on the national discourse trash that this week was, we offer you an important Baltimore Sun op ed read below.  Was it just a week or so ago that President Trump lashed out at Baltimore based Congressman Elijah Cummings’ district after old Elijah lashed out at Trump for all of the “caged” children at the border?  Was it just a week ago that we learned that “infested” is a racially charged word?

A pro Trump supporter and over 170 volunteers descended on West Baltimore to take out the trash.   Whether it was a publicity stunt or not, time will tell.  But what is so telling is the plight of the people in the blight of the rat infested neighborhoods.  What is also so telling is a newspaper writing that the poor people cannot keep their own neighborhood clean.  Does income have anything to do with cleanliness and pride?  Do drug dealers really have anything to do with keeping the trash in place?

Maybe next week will be better.  The weekend is here, everyone should take a deep breath at 5:00 pm today, pop open a beer at 5:01 pm, and chill the hell out until 8:00 am Monday.

The link to the quick read and amazingly telling, in so many ways, opinion piece is here.

Why?

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Today we wonder why.

The head of the NRA warned the Trump administration yesterday that suggesting that more stringent and universal background checks for gun owners would not be “welcomed” by a great number of his supporters.  Why not have a thorough check?  If you want future citizens/immigrants thoroughly checked why not a future gun owner?

Donald Trump always says that he never attacks people until provoked.  He states that he only counter punches and does so twice as hard as when he is first attacked.  If that is entirely true, and we doubt it, why not put the jabs aside yesterday on his two city (Dayton and El Paso) tour?  Those that protested his arrival and talked about him after he departed the two cities couldn’t put their attacks aside which is shameful.  But,  President Trump could have and should have risen above the fray on the one day that rising above the polarization was warranted.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Meanwhile, about a dozen outspoken Democrats have called for Mitch McConnell to recall the Senate to either approve pending gun legislation or create new gun law.  Why wasn’t this urgent need an urgent need prior to the past two weekend’s shootings?  It’s as reactionary as the TSA making you take off you shoes after they figured out you could actually put explosives in your shoes and walk straight through those reactionary security screening machines designed to detect those explosives.

Why did they go home for six weeks in the first place? Isn’t there infrastructure, prescription costs, healthcare, and a ballooning deficit to attend to?  Why don’t they mandate six week vacations for all?  Think of how many tropical drinks you could suck down through ocean saving paper straws in 42 consecutive days off.

When the Democrats held the House and the Senate in the first two years of the Obama Administration why didn’t they pass stricter gun control measures?  When the Republicans held the House and the Senate in the first two years of the Trump Administration why didn’t they pass stricter gun control measures?

Why couldn’t New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, appearing on The Sean Hannity Show last evening, affirm that he supported gun ownership for citizens who passed background checks, were deemed mentally stable, and who had not been convicted of a felony?   He was asked every which way and declined each time.  Thankfully he is polling at less than one percent in his run for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

It’s positions like his from the left that slow or stifle any real meaningful dialogue.  If you are from the right you have every right to worry about giving an inch and having people try to take a yard.  If you are a proponent of the Second Amendment why would you want to give an inch when someone in a big government (De Blasio) position, running for the biggest government position of all, is protected by guns doesn’t feel like you should have that same right?  Didn’t some of his running mates publicly state that they would go door to door confiscating guns?  Good luck with that.

Why does it feel like the national narrative has changed from Russia, Russia, Russia to racist, racist, racist?

Why don’t we impeach Trump? Isn’t being a racist, a white nationalist, a white supremacist, or having white privilege an impeachable offense?  Clearly those heinous beliefs combined with collusion and obstruction can get it done.

Then we can blame someone else the next time a mentally ill person decides to “go off” on a group of innocent people in any town in any moment for any reason.  Then, after a week of lip service we can go back to our daily routines until it happens yet again.  And, then we can look around the halls of Congress and find someone else to blame.  Well, we can if they are in session.

Happy (C)Hump Day!

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Happy Hump Day.  You’ve made it this far into the week, you might as well stick it out now and go the distance.  Joe Scarborough, MSNBC cohost of Mornings With Joe, made it far enough into his transformation to the Democratic Party that this AM he decided to stick it out and go all of the way over the cliff.

BBR, being fair and balanced, monitors all news outlets.  This AM we tuned in to hear Joe, his sidekick and wife Mika Brzezinski, and others interview Nebraska GOP State Senator John McCollister.  McCollister tweeted Sunday night, “The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country. As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.”

Ah, that’ll get you instant oxygen on MSNBC.   Through out the 5 minute or so interview MSNBC had the large font, all caps, double high banner on the bottom quarter of the screen stating “REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR IN NEBRASKA SAYS GOP IS “COMPLICIT” WITH WHITE SUPREMACY.”  But, a funny thing happened in those five minutes.  No one asked him about the “complicit” claim.  No one.

But they did ask him why he was speaking out against his own party.  Mika, “So where do you stand with your party affiliation?  I guess the Republican Party kicked you out?”  McCollister, “No. they can’t. Only I can kick myself out.”  Nice try by Joe’s wife.

McCollister went on to say that “the GOP party under Trump has lost the values it used to stand for being free trade, legal immigration, and fiscal sanity.”  Joe called Trump a “long time Big Government Democrat who only changed parties so that he could run” then asked, looking for leaks in the dam  “if he had heard from or received any support from elected officials in Nebraska or around the country?”  “No, no elected officials have reached out.”  Nice try by Mika’s husband.

Willie Geist asked what his fallout could be for speaking out.  “I term out in three years and we have no caucus, so the political fallout for me is very little.”  BBR would have liked to have asked him, then, why it took all of this time to speak out.  We think we got that answer.  Nice try by Willie.

An unnamed commenter on the desk asked how “Nebraska farmers were holding up given the reckless and incompetent tariff and trade policies.”  McCollister expressed surprise that no backlash had occurred from the farming community.  He said “I guess that they are just hoping something will eventually get better.” Nice try by Mr. Unnamed.

Mika was thanking him for his time and said that she “really appreciated his voice” as the interview concluded, but Mika’s husband couldn’t help himself and jumped in.  “Thank you so much Senator for standing up and being counted, sounding like actually a member of the party of Lincoln,” Joe said.  “Yep!” Mika said.

So, to summarize Joe called they party he joined “big government democrats.” And, Mika and Joe yearn for the old days of the Republican Party when it stood for free trade, legal immigration, and fiscal sanity.   So, isn’t Trump attempting to balance the trade field with China, Mexico, Canada, and others to make it truly free or at least a level one as opposed to one sided tariffs?  So, isn’t Trump railing incessantly about his belief in immigration as long as it’s legal?  Now, on the fiscal sanity, BBR wholeheartedly agrees.  Trillion dollar deficits are no way to run a country.  We wonder if they felt they felt the same from 2009-2016.  However, Trump’s team insists that there is plenty of time to tighten the belt, just not now.  And, they claim that they will when (2020-2024) they want to “Keep America Great.”

Joe’s wife should be so, so proud.  Her transformation of Joe, former Republican Congressman, is complete.  It’s complete in the sense that they both cannot accept that Trump was elected in 2016, and both spend 24/7 speaking out against anything he does.  Russia, Russia, Russia.  Racist, racist, racist. It’s complete in how he identifies his Democratic party affiliation.

But, but ideologically they sound so, so confused.

Happy Chump(s) Day.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The cartoon character Wimpy would often offer to pay Popeye on Tuesday for a hamburger today.  Well, it’s Tuesday, time for Wimpy to pay up.  And, if it’s Tuesday, it’s time for us to cook up our Ten Piece Nuggets.  Except ours are free of charge and served below.

  1.  The New Orleans Saints said welcome back to the NFL to their prized WR Michael Thomas after a week one holdout late last week.  Thomas rejoined the team and joined the 100 million dollar club.  The contract is for five years and guarantees 61 million.  It’s the highest dollar contract for a WR ever.  Not bad money if you can get it.  He enters his fourth year after entering the league as a second round pick.
  2. Which WR’s went ahead of him in the 2016 draft? In round one it was 15. Corey Coleman, 21. Will Fuller, 22. Josh Doctson, and 23. Laquan Treadwell.  In round two at 40th overall Sterling Shepard was taken.  If you can even name which teams these five play on you play too much fantasy football.   Thomas was taken 47th overall.   In three years he has caught 321 passes, good for 3787 yards, and 23 TD’s.  Shepard, also a second rounder, has caught 190 balls which is good by far for second place in this underwhelming group.
  3. Atlanta wants to keep up with the Joneses though.  Soon, very soon, they will make Julio Jones the highest paid receiver in the NFL.  And, they should.  The now 30 year old is two catches shy of 700 and has over 10k yards receiving.  If Atlanta won more often, or if he played for a higher profile team he would be even more well respected for his abilities.  He is but a few strong seasons away from Hall of Fame type numbers.
  4. Drew Brees was on The Dan Patrick Show late last week.  He finished second on the NFL Network countdown of the 100 best players.  It’s the players who vote for these players making it one of the best lists of “best of” in BBR’s opinion.  Patrick asked Brees his opinion of who should be number one.  Without hesitation, Brees agreed with the voting that placed Aaron Donald, DT Rams, as the very best.  Brees said, in effect, that Donald was special, and really in a league of his own.  Patrick then asked who he thought should be second.  Without hesitation again he said, “Tom Brady.”  “Why?” asked Patrick.  “Six Super Bowl wins,” Brees responded.  “A quarterback is ultimately judged on wins,” he concluded.
  5. Speaking of winning, most every NFL year multiple teams (usually 3 or more) that went 6-10 or worse the year prior go 10-6 or better the next year and make the playoffs.  It’s the parity the NFL covets.  Easier schedules, health, luck, and higher draft picks help.  It’s just rather hard to predict who.
  6. So, who went 6-10 or worse last year?  The Giants, 49ers, Cardinals, Bucs, Lions, and Packers did so in the NFC.  In the AFC it was the Bills, Jets, Broncos, Raiders, Bengals and Jaguars with the dubious distinction.
  7.  The obvious choice from the above is the Green Bay Packers.  Reasons to like them are 1) a healthy Aaron Rodgers, 2) an easier schedule that last year, 3) a bevy of high draft choices, 4) a more aggressive D, and 5) the enthusiasm  and culture change a new head coach brings.
  8.  Guessing who else is just that, guessing.   BBR likes the  San Francisco 49ers as a possibility..  The 49ers D isn’t bad.  We are putting a lot of faith in  the Jimmy Garropolo that went 5-0 in his first five starts at the end of 2017.  And Nick Bosa is a beast coming off of the edge.
  9.  Who else?  Here is a long shot to do so  Da Raidas.  The Raiders bottomed out purposely last year.  They stocked up on some high character hard nose draft picks and are in the midst of changing their culture with Gruden and Mayock running the show that moves to Vegas in 15 months.  They might be more of a 2020 pick in year one in Sin City.
  10.  Watching the Cleveland Browns will be fascinating this year.  They haven’t had this much hype and hope in the Dawg Pound since the team was reborn in Cleveland after it’s prior one bolted to Baltimore.  Mayfield, Landry, OBJ, and a salty D from a year ago might just be the ticket to playoffs.  The division isn’t bad either.  Cincinnati is weak.  Baltimore is down.  Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh, but beatable.  Could the Browns win two v the Bengals and split home and away with the Ravens and Steelers?  Sure.  That’s 4-2.   If you split the other ten 5-5, you finish 9-7.  The Jets, Broncos, 49ers, Dolphins, and Cardinals are opponents that could be five victories.  Ten wins aren’t out of the question.  Or, will they find a way to be the same old Browns?

Wimpy never ate so well.

 

 

Gun Control Is a Mind Game.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Saturday 20 people lost their lives in an El Paso, Texas mass shooting inside of a crowded Walmart store.  Dozens more were injured.   Early yesterday morning nine people lost their lives (including the sister of the shooter) in a crowded downtown entertainment area mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.  Dozens more were injured as well.   And in California just last Sunday yet another mass shooting took place during a harmless outdoor festival.

Everyone agrees that all three incidents were terrible.   And everyone feels that all three incidents were avoidable.  But, were they?

Alexjandro Bedoya thinks so.   He told the crowd at the MLS game in Washington DC, right after he scored a goal, as much.  He wants Congress to do something to end gun violence. You can see the short clip here.

Elizabeth Warren and Don Lemon think that they have the answers too.  They blame Trump for fanning the flames of white nationalism.  We didn’t attach the clips because we feel like you have heard their cries before.  However, there is no concrete nor credible evidence that the Cali nor Ohio shootings follow that narrative.  The El Paso one does seem like a hate/racist crime at this point but attaching it to Trump is only a matter of opinion.

A few years ago a few mass shootings were blamed by many on radical Muslims that President Obama wouldn’t label as such.  And, there was the awful Sandy Hook elementary school killing when a deranged 20 year old who killed his school teaching mom, six adults, and 20 school aged children.

In June of 2017 during a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in Alexandria, Virginia, James Hodgkinson shot U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, U.S. Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika.  The Virginia Attorney General concluded Hodgkinson’s attack was “an act of terrorism fueled by rage against Republican legislators”.

In a tweet just minutes ago, Trump said: “We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain.”

“Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform,” Trump continued. “We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”

How long do you think it will be before the Democrats chastise Trump for trying to tie immigration reform to strong background checks?  Will it be by the time you read this?  Sooner?

So, it seems, this past week like in past years everyone has an opinion on why someone opened fire on innocent people.  But, it seems like the reasons actually vary wildly.  And, the pleas for gun control, gun legislation, background checks, banning assault rifles, bump stocks, semi automatics, and automatics pour out loud into the national conversation/debate.

Gun control.  How do you “gun control?”  Or, how do you control guns?  The Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms.  There are 330 million of them in the possession of Americans the fifty states over.  All of the above debate doesn’t control and can’t control those already available.  And you can strengthen or lengthen background checks.  The Brady Bill mandates five days.  Does waiting, say, ten days vs five make any difference?  Bump stocks?  We banned them.  That mattered not this past week.

Weekly, one or two at a time, hundreds die across the US due to gun violence.  Some shootings are justified, while many, many are not.  But mass shootings get our attention because of their randomness and so many innocent lives lost in one fell swoop.

What all of the above doesn’t address is mental illness, pure and simple.  If someone is diagnosed as mentally ill and has easy access to a gun, they shouldn’t have.  But, we submit, that ANYONE who opens fire on innocent people anywhere is mentally ill whether they are clinically diagnosed as such or not.  Why?  Shooters choose to shoot.  Consciously they make a decision to load a gun, drive to a location, and open fire over any alternative available to them to do otherwise.  And they do so for any many different reasons.   Any of those “easy out” reasons makes them choose to shoot.  And, that makes them in our eyes mentally ill.

You can’t “control” the human mind.  You can’t “legislate” it either.  You can only attempt to make it feel loved.  You can only attempt to educate it.

It makes us very uneasy when we can’t diagnose a root cause of a problem and put guard rails in to minimize or prevent it from occurring again.  Even in this very divided nation, strong minds would find an answer if there was an answer.  And, we would implement it.

But, so far, strong minds have no solution for broken minds.

 

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Debates

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The Fox Theater, which was certainly a fair and balanced venue, hosted night two of two of the second round of the Democratic Party Presidential 2020 debates.

You’ve likely had your fill of it, so the ten nuggets that follow are light, quick, low calorie, and priced just right.

  1.  Cory Booker wants to start impeachment proceedings now.   Good idea except his speaker likely won’t allow it, a House vote would fail, and the Senate wouldn’t even bring it to a vote.   He’s drinking the Kool Aid and he doesn’t even know which flavor.
  2. Jay Inslee, the climate change candidate, is passionate and then some on this topic, or crisis if you prefer.   He, and everyone else on stage, knows that America only produces 15% of the world’s fossil fuel emissions.   If we change all of our “bad” habits, 85% remain.  One candidate said we only have twelve years left. Inslee calculates it a mere ten.  Surely by the next debate someone can get it down to eight.
  3. Kirsten Gillenbrand dramatically asked white people how they would feel “if their son was walking down the street wearing a hoodie and was stopped by the police.”  We wonder about the hoodie comment which is an obvious attempt at correlating it to black male teenagers.  Do all black teens wear hoodies?   Seems like she might be prejudging herself a bit there.
  4. Candidate Yang wants to give every family $1000 a month every month, but two debates in we still aren’t sure why.   Last night he decided to tell us that we should also pay people before they went to prison and pay them after they got out.  He’s no Mary Williamson, but he’s a bit on the edge.
  5. Mary Williamson was the most Googled searched candidate after Tuesday night’s debate.   She is interesting.  Being the most searched can be good or bad though.  Her idea of creating a Department of Peace sounds so comforting though, doesn’t it?
  6. Most everyone on stage last evening was for decriminalizing border crossings. Public opinion polls overwhelmingly are opposed.  It’s a losing hand.
  7. Many are for single provider healthcare effectively eliminating private plans.  The over 150 million who have it are overwhelmingly opposed.  It’s a losing hand.
  8. Kamala Harris went from the hunter to the hunted.  Tulsi Gabbard took her to task on her Cali Attorneys General decisions on marijuana, the death penalty, and other areas.  It will be interesting to see how the polls shake out after this debate for both.  Gabbard needs a few points to stay and Harris might have made a few available to her.  Harris is borderline condescending and angry.  It was a step backwards for her.
  9. NY Mayor Bill De Blasio’s opening and closing statements featured him telling us that he wanted to “tax the hell out of the wealthy.”  Ok.   Then what Bill?
  10. Sleepy Joe Biden, still the pole sitter, took over seventy percent of the attacks on stage.  He handled some well.  Some, not so much.  At the end of the long evening, he closed by asking folks to visit his site at Joe 30…..3….30.   It should have been an appeal to text Joe to 30330.   Get some rest Joe.
  11. One extra.   So.  Who won the two nights?   BBR thinks it was Donald Trump.  But, November 2020 is a long ways away.  Say it ain’t so, Joe.

 

 

 

To Be or Not To Be a Racist. That is the Question.

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

President Donald Trump is a racist.  If you don’t believe us, just ask MSNBC, or CNN, or The Atlantic, or Joe Scarborough, or Mika Brzezinski, or Bernie Sanders, or AOC and the three, or Elijah Cummings, or the Reverend Al Sharpton.

President Donald trump isn’t a racist.  If you don’t believe us just ask fair and balanced Fox News, or Fox Business, or Rush Limbaugh, or Mark Levin, or cheerleader Sean Hannity.

Elijah Cummings took on what he feels is inadequate care for children at our border.   And the House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Cummings put on a show Thursday screaming at acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan about the way illegal immigrant children are treated in detention centers.  “These are human beings!” raved the Maryland Democrat. “Human beings just trying to live a better life!”

Racist Trump took to his favorite avenue to express himself.  He tweeted  “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cummings District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.

And so, predictably, yesterday friends and foes lined up on both sides of the attacks and counter attacks.  Haven’t you watched this movie before?  And, haven’t you watched it before that?  And, won’t it be playing soon all over again, and over again, at a theater near you?  You bet it will.  It will be live on stage at the Fox Theater in Detroit tonight and again tomorrow night.

The debate’s debaters will no doubt take turns trying to one up one another talking about just how racist The Donald is.  But, there is no real debate within the party about how to beat Trump in 2020.  Democrats have to win over Trump voters in swing states like Michigan, a crucial plank in the party’s 2020 strategy in luring its own traditional supporters back to the polls.  And, like a made in America in Detroit, Michigan Ford, they’ll start the engine tonight in The Motor City.

Boosting turnout in majority African-American Detroit as well as in some of its Democratic-trending suburbs where the party found success in last year’s midterm election should do the trick, state party leaders say.  State party leaders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin say much the same.

Nationwide, the black turnout rate fell to roughly 60% in 2016, down from a record high of nearly 67% in 2012.  It marked the first such decline in 20 years among African-Americans in a presidential election.  Democrats, who typically win an overwhelming majority of black voters, now have just over 15 months to try to reverse that slide.

Trump won Michigan by only about 11,000 votes.  Turn out 15,000 more black voters in 2020, and insure that the traditional 94% of them vote for the Democrat, any Democrat, and voila, the 16 electoral votes goes back to where it usually goes.   Take that strategy to the aforementioned three other states and the rust belt flips.  And, with that, the White House has a new rent free renter for the next four years.

Do you wonder why they chose Detroit for the debate site?  Do you wonder why the attack on Trump for his attack on Elijah’s district is labeled racist?

Cummings has been in Congress for 20 years.  Did the temporary living conditions on our southern border somehow just now deteriorate?  Did the living conditions in some areas of his Baltimore district somehow just now deteriorate?

The answers are of course no and no.  But, the Democratic Party is only interested in your answer to one question.   Is Donald Trump a racist?

 

Phone A Friend

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Twenty years and 363 shows and counting Who Wants to be a Millionaire? keeps on putting out content that keeps viewers wanting more.  It’s won 7 daytime Emmy’s and is ranked as the sixth most popular game show in viewership in TV history.

Falling just shy of that is boomboomsroom.com (BBR).  It’s getting close to one year on Al Gore’s internet and is now over 275 posts.  We’ve won no awards and aren’t ranked on any list of popular websites.  YET!

Our reader feedback has been way more good than bad while still in our infancy.  We are learning every day and hopefully in your eyes getting better every day.  We feel like our content has now earned us the right to grow our readership.  And, we are politely asking for your help to do so.

If you think a friend, biz associate, or family member would like to read what we write please invite them to join our small, but growing community.   It’s quite easy of course.  You can send them a link, and tell them that we post most every Monday thru Friday.  Or, you could ask them to subscribe as you might have at the bottom of the home page.  Or, if they agree, you could just send us their preferred email (easy peasy) and we’ll handle the rest ASAP.  Some of you have done this more than a few times and we are grateful.

Remember, it’s just an email a day to them at 9 AM CST only on days that we have new content.  It’s free to subscribe/read, has no ads, and no spam.

And, most importantly, the website is far safer than our Russian interfered with election process.  Ask Mueller.  Never mind.

So please do two things for us.  One, phone (or text) a friend or ten and get them on board with us.  And, two, have a super weekend.

 

 

I Have Yet Another Story and a Moral Thereof

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

BBR’s staff is taking a trip down memory lane in the mid south of the U.S.  Last night we decided to rest our dogs in the downtown Marriott Little Rock Hotel (formerly well known as The Excelsior Hotel).  The Excelsior is infamous as it was the hotel where Paula Jones claims then Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton forced himself on her on May 8th, 1991.

But nearly six years prior on November 18, 1985, in the same hotel, another event lead to an infamous moment or three all be it on a smaller scale.  This writer was checking in on that Monday evening on business.  Earlier on the way to the NOLA airport, on 50,000 watt WWL 870 a local sports radio host spoke, as he did every football season Monday, with Las Vegas football betting guru Tony Salinas.  Tony’s Monday call in reviewed his picks from the week prior.   Late in the ’85 college season he was 25 of 33 against the spread on his announced on the show picks.  At 50k watts the channel had a big, multi state following.  It only grew larger as his picks hit and hit and hit.

As I entered the airport Salinas signed off and would be back for his usual Thursday spot to make his three weekly picks.  After a flight and a connector flight and a rental car I was checking in at the empty front desk of the hotel.  It was empty until a guy put his gaudy metallic silver briefcase on the counter down a ways from me and announced that he was checking in.  “Your name sir?”  “Salinas.”  “Tony Salinas.”  I swung my head to the left.  With a Dallas Cowboys Starter jacket, a metallic briefcase, and a watch bigger than his wrist stood Tony Salinas.

I had to, I just did.  So I did.  I introduced myself and explained how I knew him and had just listened to him a few hours earlier.  He laughed and said that we should meet for a drink and watch the second half of the Monday Night Football game as he had another radio gig till then.  “Sure.”

The Washington Redskins were playing the New York Football Giants.  I explained to Tony how big a fan many of my friends, biz associates, family members and other gambling degenerates were and that hung on his every word of gambling advice.  “Theismann, back to pass….”  SNAP.   Lawrence Taylor broke Theismann’s leg like a match stick effectively ending his career.  Wow.  “I took the Giants on the halftime line,” he boasted as Theismann was carted off.  Wow.

“Tony, before I go, can I get the best of you best picks this week?”  “Walt, not only will Pittsburgh cover the seven, they are going to beat no. 1 rated Penn St. straight up.”  Wow.   I couldn’t wait to share this scoop with one and all.  Tony actually shared the story of us meeting in Little Rock on air as he made his picks on Thursday to the “common people,” not “insiders” like me.  I was riding high on what is called today “street cred.”

In fact this was so big that a Saturday night party was in order to watch the game and celebrate our winnings.  Come one, come all.   Bets for big dollars (back then) were placed with great confidence by one, by all.  The anticipation of big winnings, laughter, and the smell Salem Lights and Jack Daniels filled the house.

Penn St. blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown late in the first half to go up 21-0.  “Don’t worry, Pitt will come back.”  At least thrown popcorn and peanuts don’t hurt much.  Ten more points in the second half  added to the drubbing that the Nittany Lions put on the Panthers.  The final was 31-0.  I considered entering the witness protection program if only it could be offered to me.  My fifteen minutes of fame was long gone as was my street cred.

Oh.  What’s the moral of the story?  There is no sure bet, so don’t.   And, if you do, pay off your gambling debts so that no one snaps your leg in two like Taylor did to Theismann.

 

 

 

Whining about Reclining

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

As the dog days of summer bark well into the still bright evenings, the “where culture meets sports” press is always looking for something to heat up their clicks, views, page visits, and readership.   Apparently, forty eight hours ago the Louisiana State University’s football operations remodel unveil gave them all of the  Kibble’s and Bits that they needed.  And, the feeding frenzy is on.

If you haven’t seen any photos or video hype pieces of the new digs you must have stepped out of the social media sun and missed the shade that has been thrown at it.   No less than ESPN, CNN, SI, Busted Coverage, and The Big Lead have weighed in.  That is in addition to the numerous local tv channels near Baton Rouge and far.  Here is a two minute video that captures the hype and some of the opinions of it if you haven’t seen it.

Is the locker room itself new, innovative, opulent, decadent, and a bit over the top?  Yes.  Is it more opulent, decadent, and over the top than numerous other Power 5 schools’ locker rooms?  No, it’s just the latest.  Take a look at Oregon, Alabama, Texas A&M, Clemson, and Georgia to name just a few.  This LSU upgrade is just the latest to stir up the discontent and misunderstanding across America and the academia world of how all of this works.

Lots of the conversation has immediately centered on 1) our library flooded and it needs an upgrade, and 2) our professors need a raise, and 3) what about our  math building, or chemistry building, or, and 4) they do all this, why can’t they pay the players, and 5) kneel down Eric Reid, former LSU and NFL player, lamenting that the money donated could have gone to scholarships to need based kids.

What it hasn’t centered on is that the remodel also includes a big nutrition center for the players and is open to ALL students as well.  It features fresh food and  caters to specific dietary needs of all who want to participate.  It also redid the coaches offices.  If you are going to work 70 hours a week, why not have some creature comforts?  Or, you can just focus on reclining locker seats that look like first class airline modules and shake your head.

This project was 100% funded by private donations through the Tiger Athletic Foundation(TAF).  It’s private money, therefore it’s individuals who choose what to support.  A few years back the business school was funded in the exact same way.  The LSU sports programs collectively fund themselves and have GIVEN back to the university over 12 million dollars a year for the last five years.   Football on this and almost every campus is the moneymaker that funds other sports and still can provide the giveback.

Paying the players versus building new offices, nutrition centers, and locker rooms have little to do with one another.  If America wants colleges to play the players its a decision that is independent of how they eat and where they get dressed.  If you side on the paying them side, then you should side on the “in the meantime at least we can make their lives better with these alternatives.”  However, if you believe in paying, good luck with the “how.”  Title IX changed the college sports landscape forever.  But we digress.

One LSU professor tweeted that he saw all of this while sitting in his dirty office that he had to buy a Dirt Devil to clean himself.  LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, not short on moxie, tweeted back.  He asked why this professor thought he was entitled to the fruits of the team’s labor?  The tweet is deleted, but the screen shot lives on in infamy.  It looks like Joe thinks capitalism is alive and well.  If the professor feels like he deserves a cleaner office, he should get one at LSU or he should move on to, say, Harvard.  If he feels like he should be paid more, perhaps he should consider coaching football.

Tyrann Mathieu, who donated one cool million, commented on Eric Reid’s thought.  The Honey Badger told Reid that he should give all that he wanted to for scholarships.  Oh, and Tyrann also let him know that he had done that in addition to the TAF donation.  It’s your serve Eric.   Stop protesting and get up off of your knees and dust off that checkbook, er, Venmo account.  Your pal said that it’s time to pay, pal.

All of this, unlike the hot summer sun, will burn for only about 24 more news hours.  But, before you know it fall will arrive.  It always does.  And when it does 100,000 football starved fans will pay big money to fill Tiger Stadium and stadiums across the land to get their annual football fix.

But, if you want to fix what’s wrong with college today, please do.  Nice (ok, opulent) locker rooms aren’t part of the problem. They are actually part of the solution.