Falcons Could Be Playing Outside in Six Years
Arthur Blank has a dream, and when a man like Arthur Blank dreams, the man who invented the big box hardware story where all your DIY dreams come true, he dreams BIG.
You see, Mr. Blank, erstwhile owner of the Atlanta Falcons, dreams of one of those shiny new outdoor stadiums for his football team, and all of the untapped revenue streams that he gets no part of in the current lease agreement with the Georgia Dome. Mr. Blank understands the economics of the game of football. He knows that to truly make money, his teams need to win, and they need to make it into the playoffs.
There is no margin for error for Blank in Atlanta right now, unlike in say, Cincinnati, where the worst owner in the NFL, Mike Brown, owns his own stadium. Brown may refuse to sell the naming rights, but he still receives every red cent from the stadium (including other bookings beyond football, like concerts). Does anyone here think Mike Brown is worried that he has one of the worst teams in football year in, year out due to his cheap ways? Do you think Mike Brown sweats when the Bengals do not make the playoffs… again? Of course he does not sweat. Mike Brown owns his own his stadium! In the NFL, having a new stadium and the revenue stream that comes from it is better than printing your own money.
While the Georgia Dome is approaching its 20th season of operation this year (it opened in 1992), for an older stadium, it is not a bad venue for football. The seating bowl compares favorably to any new stadium; there is not a bad seat in the house. The Georgia World Congress Center, which owns the Dome, plans on keeping and maintaining the building, even after the Falcons vacate for their new stadium just a few blocks away. This of course makes the most sense, as the Dome is needed for the SEC Championship Game in football, the SEC Basketball Tournament, the NCAA Final Four which comes to Atlanta every five years or so, and the Chik-Fil-A Bowl & Kick-Off games. None of these events, which demand the need for a controlled environment, can be held in the Falcons’ new stadium, which begs the question: are Arthur Blanks’ dreams not big enough?
A retractable roof stadium would be more expensive than the simple, open-air stadium Blank wants, but by forgoing a roof, Blank forgoes the voluminous amounts of revenue a large, roofed structure would provide him, for years and years down the line. The SEC Championship football game alone is one of the biggest moneymakers in all of sports. I think Blank might be wanting to shoot himself a few years after his new stadium opens, as he sees all of those events continue to fill the Georgia Dome, events that could have played in his new stadium if he had just ponied up an extra 100 million or so for a retractable roof.
In the end, Mr. Blank could have been penny wise, but dollar foolish.
Aaron Murray Gives Bulldog Nation a Scare
Over the weekend, Georgia Bulldog rising sophomore phenom Aaron Murray sprained his ankle while playing a pick-up soccer game on campus, nearly causing the heart-stopping deaths of about half of Bulldog Nation.
I am all for kids being kids, having fun with your friends, and of course, getting some exercise is never a bad thing. But Murray is not like a regular college kid. As much as the NCAA likes to pretend that student athletes are exactly like regular college kids, the student athletes in the money sports (football and men’s basketball) are not. They just are not. They have signed contracts (scholarships) to receive an expensive education with all expenses paid by an Athletic Association, which is a business affiliated with, but not a part of, the parent university. Running around an athletic field with your buddies is not the best thing a person in Murray’s situation could do.
More thought needs to be taken by kids who play football and basketball, particularly by the team leaders, especially the starting QB, on the best way to exercise or spend their time outside of football activities. Quarterbacks are supposed to be the smartest, most mature players on the field. Smart, mature players do not put their health or the team’s health in jeopardy by doing stupid things. Tom Brady is not playing pick-up soccer on Boston Common. Matt Ryan does not ride a scooter through traffic in downtown Atlanta. I do not want to come off as a wet blanket, but Murray needs to be smarter.
I hope that after this injury scare so close to the start of spring practice (which he will be able to attend) Murray is smarter.
Today in History
On 23 February 1945, one of the most iconic moments in United States Marine Corps history was captured on film for all to see and remember, for all time.
On the fifth day of the Battle of Iwo Jima, five Marines and a Navy corpsman reached the summit of Mount Suribachi and took part in the famous (second) flag raising on this day, a moment captured in Pulitzer Prize-winning photographic form by Joe Rosenthal and recreated for the USMC War Memorial in Washington, DC.
It is true that this was the second flag raising of the day, as the first flag was thought of as too small and hard to see by the Marines still fighting to control the island, so a bigger flag was found and Rosenthal was grabbed to document the occasion. To this day, Iwo Jima remains one of the longest and costliest battles in American history. Many Marines died fighting for that little spit of land, which was needed for a forward landing strip for an upcoming invasion of Okinawa as well as the bombing of the Japanese home islands.
So please, if you find yourself drinking a beer or an alcoholic beverage of some type tonight, raise your bottle or glass in honor of the Marines who fought and died 66 years ago on Iwo Jima.
TV Dinner
I do not think of myself as someone who particularly likes to beg or plead. It is unbecoming and makes one appear weak.
However, I am here, prepared to prostrate myself before you gentle reader on behalf of a television show that should be a success on par with the first six or seven seasons of The X-Files. Remember The X-Files? That show was FOX’s breakout sci-fi hit in the mid-90’s. A show with a singular vision that was well written, well acted, and contained a kind of built-in mythology that rewarded long-time fans when mysteries were solved, riddles answered. People would have X-Phile Parties to gather and watch Mulder and Scully search for the truth that was “out there.” The show also existed on Friday night for years, a night on which it prospered and grew, and it became a cultural cornerstone for both the network and fans.
I bring all of this up (FOX, well written and acted science fiction show, involved mythology, Friday night, likable leads) because there is another show that FOX has moved to Friday night (now considered a “death slot”) that continues the great spirit of The X-Files, but is in danger of being cancelled well before its time, and that show is Fringe.
Fringe is every bit as good as the earliest years of The X-Files, if not better. The personal histories of the main characters are inter-woven into the show’s mythology in ways The X-Files only hinted, but never realized. Fringe brings us the stories of Dr. Walter Bishop, a still-brilliant but mentally unstable scientist whose work existed on the “fringes” of scientific theory, his brilliant-but-troubled son, Peter, and their FBI handler/partner, Olivia Dunham, who has ties to the Bishops she is unaware of, and secrets of her own.
This show is not like many other science fiction shows through time. It is an action-orientated show, it is a drama, it is funny as hell, and it is all of these things while using some of the trappings of science fiction to advance the stories of the characters.
The show is produced by JJ Abrahms, and I can only think that many fans are staying away because of his connection to Lost, and they don’t want to be left hanging in the way Lost disappointed many people. The thing is though; Fringe answers most of the questions the show poses, frequently within an episode or two. The show is very rewarding in that way, having learned from the mistakes Lost made in keeping people on the hook for too long.
The fact is, Fringe is worth your time and effort. In a television landscape that is full of garbage like Jersey Shore or lame NCIS and Criminal Minds spin-offs, Fringe is a wholly unique and thrilling experience on TV today. Go out an rent the first two seasons on DVD. Then find streaming sources online for the first few episodes of this third season that HULU.com no longer carries, and then pick-up watching the third season as it moves towards its thrilling conclusion in May.
Trust me, you will not be sorry you did. Fringe is worth your time. I promise.
Smart Quote
In honor of the continued struggle in northern Africa for freedom:
All free men remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Inaugural Address
Hey, Check This Out!
Here is a good trailer from before the premier of Fringe’s first season.
Hey, don't forget to follow me on Twitter at UGABugKiller. Thanks!
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