Sunday, October 23, 2016

Some Thoughts

Just some random thoughts to start your Monday...

Congrats to the Cubs: The one thing I truly love about baseball is the sense of history. That is what gives the game its charm. The Chicago Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945 (the Indians haven't won since the 1948). They haven't been because of a curse caused by a man who wanted to bring a goat to a game but was forbidden. In 2003, the Cubs almost made it until a fan named Steve Bartman interfered with a catch and promptly became the most hated man in Chicago. It's moments like this and every single fan staying in that stadium until well after the game was over to celebrate which makes baseball an interesting sport... baseball embraces its peculiarities. For some reason I cannot understand, the NFL is trying to purge all that is not generic from its game.

YawNFL: Speaking of the NFL, I am finding this season's game to be pretty boring. I think the problem is there are too many games on television, too much politics, too much talk of contracts and business, too many announcers spewing nonsense with no ability to tell a story, too much ADD, and too much decided by the Refs. It's cost the game its sense of being a game.

Yay Colorado!: I like voting in Colorado. Just did it. Voted for President, Senator, Congress, state politicians, judges, constitutional amendments, tax plans and other stuff. I voted against ending "slavery," because that might end community service sentences. I voted against a Single Payer system. I voted against raising the minimum wage. I voted against Hillary and for Trump. I voted to mess with the parties. I voted to let our schools borrow more money -- they are growing so fast they need it, and against making it harder to let me vote for these things.

The most interesting was messing with the parties. Believe it or not, I voted to open Colorado's primaries because that's the only way I see to break the iron grip of the fringe on the Colorado GOP. I used to think the problem was states that let non-party people vote in primaries, but here the problem is that the GOP keeps nominating Religious Right types who are unpalatable outside their cult. This seems to be the only way to fix the party, so I voted to make it possible to let outsiders vote in the primary. Hopefully, this will open the party to normals.

A Show of Farce: Putin just sent a handful of ships past Britain in what is being called a show of force. Never mind that the aircraft carrier is old and decrepit and needs its own tugboat in case it stops working. Never mind that the other ships look like something from some crappy third world navy made with ships bought from real navies after they are retired. Never mind that even if the carrier makes it to the war zone, it is nothing more than a huge target for anti-ship missiles. Let's see. Lousy military. Crappy economy. Failing demographics. Why are we afraid of Putin again? Oh yeah, he has nukes and a small d*ck.

Fake Women Rock!: The UN just gave an award to Wonder Woman and named her their Honorary Ambassador For The Empowerment of Women and Girls. I find this hilarious because she's fictional... and was created by a man. Between this and People making Kaitlyn/Bruce Jenner their "Woman" of the Year, I'm left wondering if leftists actually like real women. Yeah, no irony there.

What a world!

20 comments:

tryanmax said...

Bottom to Top:

Gotta Wonder: Not only was Wonder Woman created by a man, she was created by a man with a bondage fetish who incorporated his non-pro-consent* kinks into the comic. [*ugh, brain soup]

You're Putin Me On: Nothing to add. Just wanted to get that pun out there.

Early Voting: This year, for the first time, I did the absentee ballot at home. It was awesome! I sat down with my ballot and my phone and actually looked up every name on the ballot. I made a point to vote against anyone endorsed by the World-Herald (aka Warren Buffett's paper of record).

No Pro Ball for Me: I've always preferred college ball to pro ball for reasons you state. You can only tell one team from another by the jerseys, they all play the same style. Bill Callahan tried to bring West Coast offence to Nebraska under the auspices that that's what it takes for college players to get into the pros. The move put the program in the crapper for a decade. The new coach, Mike Riley, has taken Nebraska football back to its smashmouth roots and, so far, they're having the best season since Osborne retired. Incidentally, I'm also an outspoken ('round these parts) 'Bama fan because of my love of ground game. There's no ground game in the NFL to speak of.

It's the ApoCublypse: Cthulhu and SMOD have many disagreements, but they both have one thing in common, they both root for the Cubs.

Bonus: #4 is on the way. He's scheduled to arrive on Wednesday!

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, They do root for the Cubs! LOL!

On Wonder Woman, you see that all the time in Hollywood. All these Hollywood feminists talk about roles for "strong women" and then they point to female characters who are basically bondage fetish fantasies written by basement dwelling male weirdos. I find that humorous.

And don't forget the talk about putting a woman on the $20. Rather than picking a woman with some accomplishments, all they can come up with are feminists whose only claim to fame is being women.

I LOVE early voting! I do the same thing. Get my ballot. Get my computer. Look them up and then vote. I highly recommend it. Good call voting against Buffett's people.

I like the ground game too and solid defenses. The NFL is all about selling wide receivers and making everything generic.

Nice puns, by the way!

Anonymous said...

Tryanmax: Congratulations on # 4. That's wonderful! As far as Wonder Woman goes, it's beyond hilarious that the UN named a FICTIONAL CHARACTER their woman of the year. However, as far as Wonder Woman goes,all I can say is this, no matter what perverted fantasies inspired her creator, I was 10 years old in 1975, when she came to life on tv, and 14 in 1979 when she left. For some people it was Catherine Bach as Daisy Duke. For me Daisy seemed like somebody who would be a platonic friend. After all, she was Bo and Luke's cousin, for pete's sake. For me, Lynda Carter in that suit, well let's just leave it alone.(Now how's that for a pun. :) As far as football goes, My son and I took my 3 year old granddaughter to my high school alma mater's game last friday. It was her first live game. We had her yelling "Come on ref, call it both ways!" and "You're killing me ref!" like a veteran. I introduced her to my old coach and his wife and it was a great time. He was a man by the way that subscribed to the opinion that "There are only four things that can happen when you try to throw a football and three of them are bad." He's also in the Clermont County Ohio sports hall of fame. As far as pro ball goes, while I'll always love the Steelers, I don't really follow it. The first and most important purpose of any set of rules governing a sport should be the safety of the participants. But damn, man,it seems like every time I turn on a game there's just a torrent of yellow flags and it gets worse every year. All sports contain some element of risk, even noncontact sports.
Anyway, just some thoughts of my own. Lynda Carter....
GypsyTyger

BevfromNYC said...

>>>Bonus: #4 is on the way. He's scheduled to arrive on Wednesday!<<<

Wait, what? Does that mean what I think it means?

Koshcat said...

1. Where's Bartman? We need to stop this because if the cubs win I believe it breaks the seventh seal.

2.Jenkins with the WSJ had an interesting take on why ratings are dropping for the NFL. Not too dissimilar to what you stated but coupled with a younger generation that doesn't sit in front of a TV wasting away 3.5 hours. Instead, they would prefer to watch 10 min of highlights on-line. Without a major overhaul, NFL will continue to decline. I think they need to do several things: 1. Cut back the penalties especially the crappy didn't hurt anyone penalties such as holding; 2. Only stop the clock to review all scores and team time outs. This will help eliminate dancing after plays and crap because there isn't enough time to dance; 3. Eliminate 80% of the ads and adopt what soccer and hockey does; 4. Replays in one spot say in New York and they have 30 sec to decide. Only Replay scores and return the other calls on the field. Ref misses the call, tough, cause they're human and make mistakes too. Review the results later and get rid of the refs that suck consistently.

3. My Colorado ballot is sitting at home on my desk. I love looking up all the judges and their ratings. I am going to vote against open primaries because f**k those people who can't commit to anything. Let them form their own party if they don't like the choices.

4. "Long live our Soviet motherland,
Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live our people, united and free.
Strong in our friendship tried by fire.
Long may our crimson flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all men to see."

5. I was younger than Gypsy but Linda Carter made things tingle in a confusing way as a young boy. I think most men would follow Wonder Woman into battle.

Anthony said...

I've heard about Wonder Woman's eyebrow raising origin, but nowadays she is a generic hero, at least in the depictions I've seen (think animated tv shows and movies rather than comic books).

She wasn't named women of the year, she was named an honorary UN Ambassador, a role that always goes to fictional characters.

That being said, I think this is more a testament to the power of DC's marketing branch than the popularity of Wonder Woman.

She hasn't really starred in anything in the past several years aimed at people who weren't adult geeks (kids and the mainstream get their awareness of superheroes from games, movies and tv shows rather than comic books).

In an aside, I'm not saying I am not a geek, but I am not a comic book geek (my geekdom towards books, movies and videogames). Comic books do a lot of things that annoy me.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/un-naming-wonder-woman-honorary-ambassador-sparks-protests-n671121

Honorary ambassadors — as opposed to goodwill ambassadors like Nicole Kidman and Anne Hathaway — are fictional characters. The U.N. previously tapped Winnie the Pooh to be an honorary Ambassador of Friendship in 1998 and Tinker Bell as the honorary Ambassador of Green in 2009. But the protest on Friday seemed to unnerve many of the U.N.'s press officers.
The event brought together actress Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV series, and Gal Gadot, who has taken on the role in the forthcoming "Wonder Woman" film, as well as Girl Scouts in Wonder Woman T-shirts and U.N. staffers' kids who skipped school, with one girl wearing a full Wonder Woman costume, complete with head piece. Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment, gave a speech in which she argued that stories — even comic book stories — can "inspire, teach and reveal injustices."

Koshcat said...

So, it doesn't bother any of the other guys out there that the UN chose as its honorary ambassador a woman from a tribe that would kill male children and only raise the girls? Kind of like China in reverse?

tryanmax said...

Gypsy, I only heard it as three things can happen whenever you throw the football, and two of them are bad. What's the third?

Bev, it depends what you think it means.

Anthony, I don't know where NBC got that honorary ambassadors are fictional characters. Laura Bush was an honorary ambassador for the Decade of Literacy. A quick search of "UN honorary ambassador"--minus the terms -wonder and -angry to filter recent noise--yields many names of apparently real people who I've never heard of.

Rustbelt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rustbelt said...

Two words: GO TRIBE!

Bad pun: Stop rushin' to conclusions about Vlady. It's not his fault his was cursed with a face that screams, "I would've been a pimple-encrusted wimp stuck forever in the hole at the drive-thru had I been born in America and not had KGB morons to give me a false/undeserved impression of [your description here] superiority."

UnDay: Yeah, it's United Nations Day, according to my National Geographic calendar. Who's for picketing that eyesore HQ of theirs and demanding they pay their millions of dollars in unpaid New York parking fees? -and then swindle them and spend it all on pizza and union-equivalent beach houses?

Also, Andrew, did you get that email I sent you?

Anonymous said...

Tryanmax: One - Your quarterback gets sacked in which case you've lost yardage and wasted a down.
2 - The pass is incomplete,in which case you've wasted a down.
3 - The big one. It's intercepted.
4 - You gain some yardage.
GypsyTyger

AndrewPrice said...

tryanmax, Congrats on #4, if it is what I think it is. :)

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, I suspect Bartman would have been murdered in sight if he went to Wrigley Field.

On the NFL, I think there are too many flags and too many flags for things that shouldn't be. It now feels that games are being decided by the refs as much as the players, and that's not good for the sport.

AndrewPrice said...

GypsyTyger, My favorite was Erin Gray from Buck Rogers. :)

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, I think it's a silly choice for women no matter how you cut it. Not to mention, I can't imagine them doing something like that "for men."

"This year, Dilbert will be our Ambassador for Men." Hardly. It's speak volumes to how they view women as being akin to children.

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, How is that different than Hillary?

AndrewPrice said...

Now now Rustbelt, Putin is a macho macho man... he's got to be... a macho man.

It's fun to stay at the Kaaaa aaaaa G B.
It's fun to stay at the Kaaaa aaaaa G B.

Anthony said...

Andrew,

Earlier this year the UN picked an Angry Bird as an ambassador for the day of happiness.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/18/un-names-angry-birds-character-red-to-tackle-climate-change.html

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Red, the starring animated character in the soon-to-be released "The Angry Birds Movie," as an honorary U.N. ambassador to encourage young people to go "green" and step up action to tackle climate change.
-----

Ban said there was no better way to mark the International Day of Happiness on March 20 "than to have our animated ambassador raise awareness about the importance of addressing climate change to create a safer, more sustainable and happier future for all."

tryanmax said...

Gypsy, it's the sack I never heard included. Kinda iffy since you can get sacked on a run, but more likely in a pass setup I suppose.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, I've never had major surgery so I think we're on the same page. Thanks!

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