Thank Goodell It's Friday

This guy knows a something about what happens when we let ideas divide us and lead us to hate.

Divided We Fall

I want to make this very clear before I start: I am, and have been for years, a person who considers himself without a political ideology. For me personally, I was once extremely conservative, but time and actual experience living in the world taught me that subscribing to any ideology is like enslaving your mind, and that embracing a centrist, moderate point of view gives a person more leeway to change their mind or have their mind changed, which contrary to current belief, is actually a good thing. Believing in an ideology the way I did, the way so many people do, means your mind is made up, it cannot be changed, you are a slave to your political beliefs, blindly following them to wherever they lead, even if it is the darkest recesses of humanity, and that is an idea that is now anathema to me.

With all of that said, the question that is on my mind right now is: What the hell has happened to my country since I joined the Marine Corps in 1998?

I may no longer be an active duty Marine, but the love I have for my country has never wavered, and I cannot help but notice the shift in national fervor towards more ideology on the fringes, that marches away from the middle, from moderation, in the last 13 or so years. When I graduated from Parris Island, I may have not personally liked the President at that time, but I never felt such vitriolic hatred towards him that it seems half the country felt towards Bush, and now half the country feels towards Obama.

When did our country become so divided, allowing the radicals on both sides of the political aisle control of so much of the message each side blindly believes in?

And people, it is not just about politics. We see it in sports, especially now, with the NFL labor strife. People have taken sides, and they have taken sides with a vengeance. While I am impressed with those people who have passion and who have intelligence in arguing their side, I am thoroughly not impressed by those same people when they act like the other side possesses not one single valid point or intelligence of their own. That kind of slavish devotion to their ideology in this matter is a microcosm to the bigger political and cultural problems facing America today.

I guess I just feel disheartened today.

You know, people like Richard Dawkins, the famous British Atheist, who claim that the world would be so much more peaceful without religion in it are so full of crap. They just use that line of bull to further try and prove their cause for atheism, when the truth is, human beings will always find a reason for war, for fighting, for wanting what someone else has.

Because it is humanity, not religion, that is the problem. Religion is just the excuse. If people were to actually follow their beliefs in Christianity or Hinduism, for example, there would be no war; there would actually be harmony. But human beings who have political ideologies, who are frightened of people who are different, who want what others have, and who cannot stand living in a world where everyone else does not think like they do will always find a reason, an excuse, for war; to fight, to take, to kill.

People with the most extreme point of views will always have the loudest voices. Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, Dan Rather (a wolf in sheep's clothing if there ever was one), just about every idiot actor in Hollywood, Paul Krugman, Sean Hannity, Richard Dawkins… these people shouldn’t be the voices we listen to or follow. They are the same people throughout history whose voices carried the messages that showed the very worst humanity had to offer: Burn the witch! Blame the Jew! Burn the book! Kill the pig! God is dead!

We must rise above our need to enslave our minds, to follow the loudest voices, and we can start in the smallest of fights, like with this NFL-NFLPA standoff, in which both sides have valid arguments, both sides are not behaving as they should, and both sides share blame in how negotiations fall apart.

Fans, do not hurl insults at writers who are defending the NFLPA, calling them “pinko” or “commie,” there is no reason for that. These people just have different ideas than you do, and hurling insults without arguing logically makes you seem unintelligent. That goes double for some of those same writers (let’s face it, most writers) who side with the NFLPA and act as if the Owners or those arguing for the Owners have no legitimate point of view or arguments, and who act like all of those who say that the Owners have a legitimate argument have bought into the “propaganda” of the NFL. It is okay to be on the side of the NFLPA and admit that they are just as complicit in these matters as the Owners. It is not only okay, it is the truth.

Let us all be civil to one another. Start with the NFL labor mess, and maybe someday soon, move that into the political arena. It is possible to disagree without hate. It is possible to negotiate without vitriol. It is possible to speak to someone who does not agree with everything you believe in and find them to be pleasant company.

We have to move the discourse back to the middle and away from the extremes. Reject Jerry Richardson and DeMaurice Smith. Embrace Robert Kraft, Arthur Blank, and players who, well, who haven’t made themselves known yet because of NFLPA solidarity, but who are moderate and would have preferred to keep on negotiating.

If we can do it with this small argument (in the grand scheme of things), we can move on and reject the politics of Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin, and embrace the politics of Joe Lieberman and John McCain.

Then, maybe, the people who make up the country I love can get back to disagreeing with each other on a more peaceable level, such as it was when I was a boot Private back in the day.

Gameday Predictions (March Madness Edition)

So, it is now Friday, and the NCAA Tournament has been live for a day.

Whose bracket besides mine is now busted beyond all reason?

Why oh why did I buy into ODU? Why I oh why did I buy into the Big East (looking at you, Louisville)?

I am incapable of predicting anything when it comes to college basketball. At this point, I am just praying my Georgia Bulldogs win a single game.

So what’s my prediction for this Tournament, which EVERY sports writer and blabber told us was going to be boring, but has already given us three upsets and two last--shot wins?

Madness.

Oh, and a Duke-Kansas Final. The Dookies win their second in a row, which will probably cause more hate from Jalen Rose and his non-Uncle Toms.

Today in History

On 18 March 1893 former Governor General of Canada, Lord Frederick Stanley pledges to donate a silver cup to use as a trophy to be awarded to the best amateur hockey team in Canada.

This is, of course, the Stanley Cup, perhaps the most famous and celebrated trophy in professional sports.

The Cup would continue to be awarded to amateur hockey teams until 1910, when the various North American hockey leagues began to play for it, pitting champion against champion. The Seattle Metropolitans were the first American hockey team to win The Cup, and since 1926, the Stanley Cup has only been awarded to the Champion of the NHL.

The Jukebox

Lists about “Best Ever…” are subjective things, but they are generally fun because they bring about real passion in the way people will want to argue the merits of any such list, and unlike in most things in modern life, that passion is usually good natured, not anything like what I talked about earlier.

I think I will start to use Film Real, TV Dinner, and The Jukebox to start making some lists every now and again, not for any particular reason, but just because they are fun and lead to pretty good discourse.

Lists, of course, take time, and thought, and both of those I find in short supply at the moment of this writing, so to tantalize you (maybe) about the list you may find here next Friday, I just want to say… Nevermind.

Smart Quote

I love this quote, because in modern times I believe it stands for the slavery of the mind that the blind following of political ideology has brought our country.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half-slave and half-free.

Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Hey, Check This Out!

Here is the last-second buzzer-beater that destroyed my bracket this year, as I, a complete idiot, had ODU making the Final Four.

Feel free to laugh at my misery. But you know what, my day was still better than Rick Pitino’s. Heh.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!

Wednesday Football Two-A-Days

The Greatest Generation in one of their most iconic moments. OOH-RAH!!!

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!

Thank Goodell It’s Friday!

A No-Brainer in Flowery Branch

Mike Smith deserves to be lauded for his achievements in Atlanta as much as he deserves scrutiny for his mistakes in two early playoff exits (both times his team was favored), and so it has to be the NFL’s biggest no-brainer that Mike Smith deservedly received a contract extension from team-owner Arthur Blank and GM Thomas Dimitroff for three years and what’s being reported as a big raise (though no details have come out as of yet to the size of the raise).

I know it seems as if I’ve used this space to be particularly hard on Mike Smith, the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and in some ways I have. I am hard on the man for good reason: he’s an excellent coach, and much should be expected of him and the team he leads. When he and his team fail to live up to not just our expectations, but his own, then a hard look must be taken to find out why that is and what must be done to correct grievous mistakes that lead to the failures.

Even with his post-season mistakes, Mike Smith has proven to be a excellent leader of men and a steady hand on the rudder guiding this organization to highs it has seldom experienced, or in some cases, never experienced before. Mike Smith is the only Falcons’ head coach to have more than one double-digit win season under his belt. I know that sounds ridiculous (and it is), but Smith is the only Falcons’ head coach to have more than one season of 10-or-more wins in his career.

Mike Smith is also the man who guided this franchise to their first-ever back-to-back winning seasons. Many fans around the league of other teams may take for granted this simple act of being average or slightly above average two years in row in the NFL, but until Mike Smith arrived in Atlanta, Falcons’ fans had never known what it was like to cheer on a team that was able to continue success from one year to the next. Even Tampa Bay and the Cincinnati in all of their histories of wretchedness had achieved the simple pleasures of back-to-back winning seasons, but never Atlanta, until Blank and Dimitroff hired the unassuming Mike Smith to lead the team.

The length of the extension is three years, and it is both an adequate length showing confidence in Smith and his vision, and a shrewd move by businessman-extraordinaire Arthur Blank. Blank, who by all accounts, is still angry about the playoff loss to Green Bay, knows the future of his team hangs precariously on the edge. He’s given Smith three years to prove whether he can evolve in the modern NFL; if he can adapt his football philosophy and become a more aggressive coach whose teams make things happen on the field as opposed to coaching his team simply to react to what the other team does. Truly great leaders are able to adapt their plan of attack and overcome the obstacles in their way. Leaders who fall in love with their plans, unwilling to change them, will eventually fail.

If Mike Smith can embrace change, can truly see his shortcomings and not only his successes, then he can become one of the great NFL coaches and lead the Falcons to the Promised Land. If he doesn’t, well, the shrewd businessman Arthur Blank, who built Home Depot, won’t be on the hook for his contract for very long.

Game Day Predictions (Super Bowl Edition)

On paper, this Super Bowl has it all: two of the NFL’s historically-best franchises (9 Super Bowls between them, the most ever to meet in the big game), two great young QBs, two aggressive, hard-hitting defenses, and two teams who somehow very wrongly think the color yellow is the color gold.

I see an ebb-and-flow Super Bowl, much like Super Bowl XXXVIII between the Patriots and the Panthers. I see the offenses prodding two excellent defenses in the first quarter, and then exploiting defensive miscues in the second. I see great half-time adjustments by two great defensive coordinators (Dick LeBeau for Pittsburgh and Dom Capers for Green Bay), followed by a furious finish in the fourth quarter.

In the end of what should be an excellent game, I just can’t bet against the man who may be in the midst of usurping the title of most clutch QB in the NFL from Tom Brady: Ben Roethlisberger. While to me personally (I have a huge man-crush on Brady), I don’t like that idea, given Roethlisberger’s past transgressions and general air of douche-baggedness, even I can’t deny that the man is simply magic when the chips are all-in.

However, I don’t see Big Ben winning the MVP. No, I see the Steelers down 31-27 with about four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and Green Bay driving in the redzone, when Troy Polamalu intercepts Aaron Rodgers for the second time in the game, giving Big Ben 80 yards to cover in 4 minutes. Of course, he doesn’t need that long, and leads the Steelers to the go-ahead touchdown with about a minute left in the game. Then, before time expires, Polamalu snags his third interception to ice the game away and earn Super Bowl MVP honors.

The Steelers win the Super Bowl, 34-31. Rodgers throws for four touchdowns, but his three INTs (one first quarter, two in the fourth) to Polamalu seal the deal.

Today in History

On today’s date, 04 February, in the year 2004, the biggest time wasting and addictive website in interwebs history was founded by a Harvard computer nerd with moderately poor social interactivity issues.

Yep, that’s right, today marks the seventh anniversary of the founding of Facebook.com (or, thefacebook.com, as it was known then) by Mark Zuckerberg (and if you’ve seen The Social Network, others who will go on to sue Zuckerberg).

I used to be active on Facebook, but am no longer. I’ve been facebook-free for about five months now, and unlike what I imagine quitting smoking must be like, it wasn’t hard at all. I simply suspended my account, and that was it. Suddenly, the air was sweeter, and my days seemed brighter. I guess I just couldn't take anyone asking me to watch their corn anymore.

And after quitting Facebook, I promptly signed up for Twitter, heh.

(In my own defense, I use Twitter as an information tool, I don’t let it use me, much as allowed Facebook to do. Also, Twitter isn’t trying to dole out my private information to the highest bidder… yet.)

Hey, follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!

The Jukebox

I love my iPod Touch because it gives me the freedom to not only listen to what I want with a swipe of my finger, but to create eclectic mixes and playlists on my iPod without having to connect to my MacBook as well.

Right now, I’ve been in particular love with what I’ve labeled “Old Country.” Basically, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, et al. Normally, I love my rock and especially my alternative (my high school years, the years that truly inform a person’s musical tastes, where in the mid-90’s) rock, but the old-guard singer-songwriters from Nashville were music’s first rebels, and they're awesome.

Most people don’t realize that most major country music stars are just pretty or handsome faces that can sing. Most of them don’t write their own songs; not like Cash or Haggard or Nelson did. There are few singer-songwriters left in modern country music (Toby Keith is one of which I know). In fact, you can say there isn’t much difference in modern country music and the lame pop acts of the last ten years like Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys, who wouldn’t know how to write a song if you provided them pen, paper, key, and meter.

I urge y’all to head on over to iTunes to (legally) download some of the best singer-songwriters of the last century. Men who knew how to tell a story in song-form, men who rebelled against the conformity of their times to create great music. You won’t be sorry you did.

Smart Quote

I believe this quote is appropriate, given the situation in Egypt.

Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.

Sir Winston Churchill, 1937

Hey, Check This Out!

Oh, how I miss you Tobias Fünke, and all of your hilariously inappropriate double-entendres! (Warning: may be considerd NSFW, so use headphones if you got'em.)