People are dumbasses
The title of this blog is an obvious truth of life. In every organization, society, group, club, etc., there is at least one dumbass. In a nation as large as the United States, that means there are literally millions of dumbasses walking around with full citizenship rights. Mainly because it would be too hard to weed them out so that only those who know why they are making decisions vote.
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/17/census-2011-data-confirm-trend-of-population-diversity/
Anyway, CNN recently published a story reviewing the last census data. The data concluded that there are more minorities being born in the United States than the Majority whites. This is a natural progression of things for a nation that has had a consistant flow of imigration from different parts of the world. Demographics in this country are in a constant state of change. Which is good. And most people should recognize it as such, because diversity is a catalyst for new ides.
But not everyone sees it as such.
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/17/census-2011-data-confirm-trend-of-population-diversity/
Rush Limbaugh went to his followers saying that CNN is trying to threaten Whites. (Before we continue, let me check my hands. . . yep, I’m white). The Whites are going to have revenge taken on them, and we must protect ourselves against the coming calamity to befall our race.
I hardly feel threatened by people of other backgrounds from me. While I think that illegal immigration needs to be addressed, I feel perfectly ok with imigrants coming to this country, setting up shop, voting, and taking an active roll in our community. I’m definitely sure that no revenge will be enacted among white people when it gets to a point that there will be no true majority group.
The other thing is, CNN was simply reporting census data. There is no way that CNN was trying to threaten anyone in the first place. So, Mr. Limbaugh, if you somehow find this blog of a liberal-leaning moderate, You are, in fact, scared of the coming changes in the demographics of this country. You want whites to stay in control and are not willing to consider that other ethnicities may have power in this country. Is it fair to say this is, at a minimum, borderline racisim?
While Mr. Limbaugh is hardly the dumbass I’m referring to, since he is a marketing genious, those who believe what he says and take him at his word are. A lot of what comes out here is nonsense, and he would lose his influence if people could think for themselves.
Just saying.
The Art of Overreaction
Ok, this is my first post in a while. I’m pretty sure the entire second half of the spring semester went by since I last posted. Something else came and went since I last posted as well.
The Capitals playoff run.
Yes, once again the Capitals disappointed their fans with a second round exit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But did that really disappoint?
Well, if you are a D.C. Sports Radio personality, entire changes are needed up and down the organization from the last draft pick in the minors to the General Manager of the franchise. They think it is almost proof of the rumored (but false) Mayan prediction of the end of the World. Alas it was not.
What is true is, while it absolutely sucked having to shave my playoff beard, it didn’t take forever and a day to get over the loss. For most of the die-hard Capitals fans, we have found other things to fill the void in the vicarious-living sections of our hearts. D.C. is like that.
D.C. has a huge culture center in the forms of among other things, museums, theatres, resturaunts, other sports teams, that the death of one teams championship dream won’t kill us. We are passionate about our teams, and we live and die with them during the course of their season. However, when one season ends, another one is usually starting. This is even true of the Redskins, guys.
Yes, it will suck watching, once again, another hockey team raising the Stanley Cup. Yes, I do wish for a day where I see the names of the Capitals engraved on that cup. Yes, I will once again debate whether or not our superstar should also be our captain, who our head coach will be, and how to fix our power play. Yes, I may even say the word “Penguins” and “pieces of (expletive deleted)” in the same sentence.
But for now, I have the Nationals, Orioles, D.C. United, the Smithsonian, concerts, plays, the awesome combination of the two called the musical (yes, I do enjoy Avenue Q, Rent, Evita, and so on), the beginning of NFL, and the NHL off-season to carry me through next season.
C-A-P-S!!!1
Who Cares?
Yesterday, I went to an awesome baseball game. The Nationals home opener had all of the ups and downs that makes baseball awesome. Fantastic pitching, great defense, extra innings, the home team winning. In addition, the Quantico Marine Corps marching band, a gigantic flag, flyover in pregame ceremonies.
This is one of those sporting events I always hear the guys on the radio say this area needs.
Before I continue, I truly wish it were possible for me to avoid local sports talk radio. Unfortunately, sports talk is one of the 3 stations it appears I can get away with listening to without my co-worker ruining the content to in his incessant attempts to get on my nerves.
Anyway. The game had plenty to talk about. Missed opportunities, late game drama, everything. And, the Nationals won! The team continues to show promise at actually being good this year, with post-season aspirations. This baseball team has people talking.
Instead of talking about any of those things and the awesome first weak of the season for this team, the local sports radio personalities are complaining about how the “Teddy” a mascot made to look like a cartoonish version of President Roosevelt, never wins the “Presidents Race.” He is going off about how disrespectful the schtick is.
Really? This is the best you can come up with. We know that Theodore Roosevelt is considered by history to be one of the best presidents we’ve had. But you aren’t on the air to berate a 4th inning gimmick. That’s not why we listen. WHO CARES? It’s a fun little thing. We know the schtick will end, and quite frankly, I’m not that worried about it. I’m more worried about the quality of play on the field.
BTW, I’m certain Teddy will win when they make the post season.
Can we move on.
Voter Security
I know the idea has come up several times. I’ve been mostly in favor of the idea, but never really passionate about it. In all probability, my passion for it may wane over the course of the next few days.
Some requirement in elections to show some form of Identification.
It occured to me today, since I was not required to show an ID, that someone who knows my name, address, and where I need to go to vote, could have easily voted before me and denied me a chance to make my own choices in the primary.
Likewise, there was nothing really to stop me from going back later after changing, and pretending to be someone else and getting two votes today.
On the comment card on my way out, I did mention an ID requirement if there is a feasable, fair way to do it without a disproportionate denial of voting rights to any particular group. I have heard that argument that some demographics have a high rate of not carrying an ID. I never said it has to be a driver’s license or passport. A national voter id or one run by the states would be fine. Prove you’re a citizen, eligible to vote, and whatever information is needed by the election judges to see you’re in the right place, and you’re good.
I am only partially surprised that in this age where everyone is worried about security, id’s for everything, that this isn’t already in place.
Back to school
Yes, I went back to school this week. Yeah, the semester started two months ago, but it feels like a fresh start because of the 8-week course schedule that UMUC does. You’d think night courses would be a good way to get the benefits of actually going to classes while avoiding the drama that goes with college.
We’ll deal with that later. These next two months is Fundamentals of Human Resource Management and Principles of Marketing. When I saw that I had to take these classes, I figured that HR Management would be kinda my BS class. You know, just take it, do your best, pass it, and move on, while Marketing would really grab my attention. This really wasn’t the case, judging by my professors. HR management might actually catch my attention, and my marketing professor better provide a mattress and pillow for me with his style.
That aside, I have a wonderful distraction in my marketing class. I happened to find an old HS classmate in that class. I’ll depend on her to keep me awake as we keep each other amused with Draw Something, passing notes via tablet/lap top, and cracking jokes about the professor. Welcome to 13th grade: University Edition. I hope she realizes I’m not the dork I was in HS. She’s married, but I’d like to think I’ve changed anyway.
Ok, back to said drama from earlier. Apparently, the college drama is unavoidable when the drama actually IS the college. Apparently, this wonderful 8-week system that I do admit, I like, a lot of professors didn’t like. Apparently she was shady, too. Check out this article from WaPo. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/aldridge-steps-down-as-president-of-umuc-after-6-years-on-job-leave-still-unexplained/2012/03/22/gIQAoQcoTS_story.html
So, when the drama IS the school, no way of avoiding it. Seriously, I thought we were over this by now.
Unrelated note: TWO WEEKS TO BASEBALL!!!
Can’t write
I just realized how long its been since I’ve posted anything. I really can’t thing of an excuse for my prolonged absence from here, other than I truly just couldn’t think of anything to write. Either that, or I just didn’t think about writing, period. I’m really having trouble why this is.
I’ve been on a semester break. The second half of the semester begins this weekend with the exciting courses of Human Resources Management and Marketing Theory. Surely, the excitement of being able to relax has to have been worth writing about.
The home stretch to the Stanley Cup playoffs has begun. My Capitals are making their push to sneak in, which is something they should have been doing all season.
MLB Spring training has begun. Oh, which reminds me, I need to get on my Baseball movie marathon, soon. Major League, Field of Dreams, The Natural, and Bull Durham. (I know there are many, many other baseball movies, but as far as I’m concerned, those are the best. Maybe I’ll add Eight Men Out to it.) I shouldn’t have a problem thinking of anything to say about that. Or how Bud Selig wants to ruin baseball for his own personal gain.
Maybe some dates I’ve been on recently. Especially since they’ve been with the same girl, who is very fun to be around. She lives kinda far from here, but, its worth it so far. I’m seeing her again soon. Time to introduce her to friends maybe?
I truly have no excuse for not writing more often, other than, I really didn’t think about writing recently. Any of these should have provided the proper motivation to put this up and keep the two of you who actually read this thing up to date on the parts of my brain I wish to make public.
Hopefully, I’ll do better. Forgive me?
Dammit, Bud!
Each of the following articles explain what happened, and the merits of it.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/02/mlb-makes-the-expanded-playoffs-official-for-2012/related//
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7638357/mlb-expand-playoffs-two-teams-10
Bud Selig has done it again. Made a successful argument to the press and the players to make a change to a system that truly was not broken. If it was broken, it was something that he broke back in 1994.
A little history. In the beginning, there was no World Series. There were two leagues who fought over talent. Who ever won the most games in their league was crowned the league champion. That was the end of the season, and then they did it again the next season. The idea of a post season had crossed people’s minds, but it never really took off.
Then the leagues called a truce over the talent, and decided it was time to have a special position to resolve disputes. The Commissioner of Baseball was born. Another part of this truce was the establishment of a championship series to declare a World’s Champion of baseball. The first World Series was played between the two league champions.
Then, in the 1960′s, after more than 40 years of just the league champions playing in any form of post season, someone decided to have each league divide itself into divisions. Now each league had an East and a West Division. The division champions would play in the NLCS or ALCS. The winners of the LCS’s would be the League Champions and would play in the World Series. For the first time ever, the best team in baseball faced the possibility of not winning their league championship.
In 1994, the Commissioner’s office decided it was time to expand the post season again. There would now be a Central Division added and the famous wild card. There was a lot of backlash to this. However, I was only 10, and I was kind of excited for it. I saw baseball change for the first time in my lifetime. Looking back and looking now, I would rather not have it, but it is what it is. I could take or leave it, seeing that this is how I grew up with the Major League Baseball season going. However, the perils of expanded playoffs became very apparent in 1997, when the two best teams in baseball; Baltimore and Atlanta, yielded what was supposed to be guaranteed World Series berths to Cleveland and Florida (now Miami).
This year, Baseball is adding a second wild card to the mix. Not only do I think this is a bad idea, especially if early reports are true that the 4 and 5 seeds will meet in a one game playoff, but I think the timing is suspicious. The end of the 2011 MLB season was one of the greatest in recent memory, with a last ditch scramble to get into the post season. Teams were fighting for Divisions and Wild Card spots like I can’t ever remember happening before. That lead to a just as exciting post season.
Adding that last wild card format will mean we don’t have a scramble like that again. One where early season slumps come back to bite you if you can’t close the season. Some are theorizing (see links above) this means the division title will mean more, because you don’t have to worry about the wild card. I don’t think that is really its intended purpose, and I think there are plenty of teams that will be out of reach of the division who end up in this one game playoff.
I can hear in my head asking “What about one game playoffs of the past?” I have found those very exciting, because it means that the two teams involved finished the season so strong that the 162 games simply were not enough, and they needed that one extra game between equals to settle it. This new system creates an artificial playoff that could be between two teams that are 10 games apart, far from equal.
I am having trouble viewing this move as anything more than a money grab, with the (likely) unintended consequence of killing any excitement of the late season push for a playoff berth. To me, last season was worth so much more than these extra wild card games could possibly generate. I don’t know that the goose that’s laying the golden eggs is dead, but something tells me that it is at least a little poisoned right now.
Is there a way Bud Selig can be impeached by the fans?
A prompt of Self reflection
I don’t know how much I actually self reflect on who I am or how I’m viewed. I don’t even tend to think about it that much except in rare cases. Yesterday morning turned into one of those rare cases. At work of all places
There is a personality assessment called DiSC. According to my training, its based on the work of Dr.William Marston and his piece,”Emotions of Normal People”. The assessment itself is an acronym:
Dominant
influence
Steadiness
Conscientiousness
Based on the assessment, the two that come up with the greatest frequency are your personality type. In addition, there is a curve drawn across all four that give you a classic pattern.
I came out as an SC with a classic perfectionist pattern. I was not surprised at all. I actually laughed because of how my score came out and the exercise before it showed exactly that. However, it seems some others were shocked.
We were told to go around the room and get as many signatures as possible based on questions. One of them asked about being bold. I answered “no”. I do not see myself as bold. That threw the room through a loop. They also thought is be more of a Di or DS.
These things are based on your answers to questions about you.
I’m curious what would happen if someone else took the assessment about me what would happen.
Here is one model of DiSC that explains each letter well. Also know they are trying to sell you the test.
It is interesting to see that disconnect between how people view me, and how I view myself. It is definitely an eye-opener. Guess time to figure out who I am……again.
What’s at stake in spring training?
Spring training has begun. Over the next month or so, the big stars will be honing their craft and making sure their play warrants their fat pay checks and monster contracts they signed during the hot stove season. The other players, draftees and journey men will be playing for their spot in the show.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/season-preview/2010/269689.html
That article from Baseball America really spells out the difference. The minimum salary for a Major league ball player is $400,000. The salary for your average minor leaguer isn’t much more than what many college kids are making.
One of the beautiful things about all of this is there is always a second chance for many of these guys. Even if they don’t make the show, they have an opportunity to get one step closer to their goal. That isn’t to say the life isn’t hard before you reach the majors. From what I understand, Bull Durham still isn’t that far off of life in the Carolina League.
Why I find local sports talk annoying.
I’ve probably posted something like this before, but it really annoyed me today. The difference in content between local sports talk and national sports talk radio shows is about the difference between the relief pitcher on an independant league team and the starter for the New York Yankees.
National sports talk radio, from what I heard all day, was pretty varied. They talked about the night Kobe Bryant had, and where that put him on the list of all time NBA scorers, the New York Giants parade in Mahattan and the rally they held at their home stadium, and a few minor points about Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Thrown in were a few things about MLB trades and NHL action. Very well done from what I think. That’s what I expect from sports coverage.
I don’t expect the local stations to be so broad in their scope. I’d expect it to focus on local stories, such as the Wizards actually winning a game last night, the Capitals up coming game, the Nationals and Orioles preparations for spring training, and maybe a little bit of speculation surrounding the Redskins, in addition to fall out from the Super Bowl. Not what I ended up hearing.
What I ended up hearing was as simple as two things, and no more. First was a conversation that contributed nothing other than to say what losers the Redskins and Wizards have been for the past forever and a half, and what should the fans do about it. Thanks for telling us our football and basketball teams blow. I didn’t already know that.
The other thing that I heard today had little to do with local sports or anything mentioned on national sports news. It was the kind of thing that I’d guess you’d hear on TMZ. Gronkowsky was apparently quite drunk and dancing with LMFAO shirtless. I cannot think of one reason why this was worth mentioning. I don’t care that his team had just lost the Super Bowl and the rest of the team wasn’t saying anything.
However, local sports talk radio found it worth taking calls about all day, and ignoring anything that actually had to do with sports locally and involved some insight.
My thoughts are that if they want ratings, they need to give us something more.
