Just so we're clear, sports is nothing but an enjoyable break from the misery of the real world right now.
That said, our beloved Grizzlies aren't much of an enjoyable break right now. The front office made the conscious decision to bring in a bright young coach in the summer before the 2016-2017 season. David Fizdale was fresh off the Miami Heat bench, having served as Eric Spoelstra's Associate Head Coach during the whole LeBron James/Championship era in Miami. Under Fizdale's leadership, we were going to become a modern NBA team. We would play fast. We would shoot threes.
To that end, the front office decided to let Zach Randolph and Tony Allen leave through free agency last summer. Those two men were the grit and the grind in the Grizzlies' grit and grind.
Prior to last season, in addition to the NBA maximum contracts given to Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, the Grizzlies signed Chandler Parsons to a third max contract. Parsons was the three point shooter who would loosen up the middle with his marksmanship from the arc. Only he was broken into pieces, and never made any contribution last year whatsoever.
Now, Conley is out, again, with his Achilles tendon. He has missed major portions due to injury three of the last four seasons. Gasol is making 41% of his shots this year, and either cannot or will not rebound or defend. He is 33 years old, ancient in the NBA. He won't get better than he is right now.
And Sunday night, as Gasol had shot 6 of 17 with 5 rebounds through three quarters against the hapless Nets, already seven games into a losing streak, Fizdale sat Gasol for the fourth quarter.
Gasol pitched a fit after the game. He talked to every media member he could find. He said he wouldn't put up with being benched. He said that it was only done to hurt him and make him look bad. He is, in a word, delusional. He does not deserve to be playing right now.
Oddly, he never mentioned his on-going poor performance.
But yesterday afternoon, the front office heard their prima donna's hurt feelings, got the message, followed his directions, and fired the offending, offensive coach.
Gasol has spent every minute since making sure everyone knows that he didn't demand Fizdale's firing. He didn't have to. After his post-game performance, it was clear he wanted a different coach. NOW!
He got what he wanted.
Mike Conley was here before Zach Randolph arrived. Marc Gasol was here before Zach Randolph arrived. The Grizzlies made the playoffs three times prior to Randolph's arrival.
But they were swept each time.
The Memphis Grizzlies never won even one playoff game until Zach Randolph came to Memphis, much less any playoff series. Now, with him gone, and Conley incapacitated, and Gasol more effective at running the front office than playing, they likely will not even make the playoffs again for many years to come.
Not much of an enjoyable break from the real world right now. None, after Tiger football ends with their bowl game in a few weeks.
Never said that before!
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Abusing women is unacceptable. Do we really have to tell guys this? Al Franken version.
Al Franken became a hero of mine through his association with Saturday Night Live, at first with his old comedy partner, Tom Davis, and, later, on his own. I was thrilled when he became part of Air America, in the effort to counter the massive right-wing media (Fox News, Limbaugh, etc.) with a liberal presence. His friendship with Paul Wellstone solidified Franken's interest in politics, and my desire to support him. I couldn't have been happier when he was elected, and re-elected, and his service in the US Senate has been exemplary. I can't imagine any US Senator with whom I would be in more complete agreement on issues. I have been hoping that he would run for President in 2020. I fully intended to vote for him.
But today, Leeann Tweeden told her story.
She told her story, and shared a photograph from a 2006 USO tour. Al Franken is 66 years old now, which makes him 55 in 2006. No 55 year old man can possibly think that it is acceptable to pose for that photograph. Ms. Tweeden is clearly asleep in the photo. Franken does not appear to be touching her in the photograph, but his hands are positioned in places where a decent man would not and cannot position his hands. And her story goes well beyond a photograph.
Roy Moore should not be in the US Senate because of his behavior with girls and young women while he was in his 30s. Al Franken should not be in the US Senate because of his behavior with a young woman while he was in his mid-50s. Franken should resign, and should resign immediately.
This behavior is not acceptable. It cannot be made acceptable. It must, invariably, be made public, and the appropriate consequences must be borne by the perpetrators of this behavior. Harvey Weinstein lost his company. Kevin Spacey and Louis CK have lost their careers. Roy Moore should not get a Senate seat, and Al Franken should lose his.
And I would simply ask, again, why is Donald Trump, a constant and unrepentant sexual predator, still allowed to be in the White House?
But today, Leeann Tweeden told her story.
She told her story, and shared a photograph from a 2006 USO tour. Al Franken is 66 years old now, which makes him 55 in 2006. No 55 year old man can possibly think that it is acceptable to pose for that photograph. Ms. Tweeden is clearly asleep in the photo. Franken does not appear to be touching her in the photograph, but his hands are positioned in places where a decent man would not and cannot position his hands. And her story goes well beyond a photograph.
Roy Moore should not be in the US Senate because of his behavior with girls and young women while he was in his 30s. Al Franken should not be in the US Senate because of his behavior with a young woman while he was in his mid-50s. Franken should resign, and should resign immediately.
This behavior is not acceptable. It cannot be made acceptable. It must, invariably, be made public, and the appropriate consequences must be borne by the perpetrators of this behavior. Harvey Weinstein lost his company. Kevin Spacey and Louis CK have lost their careers. Roy Moore should not get a Senate seat, and Al Franken should lose his.
And I would simply ask, again, why is Donald Trump, a constant and unrepentant sexual predator, still allowed to be in the White House?
Monday, October 02, 2017
Our American Hobby, Las Vegas Edition, October 2, 2017
At 8:15 am on Monday, October 2, 2017, CBS is reporting the numbers out of Las Vegas as "50+ killed, 400+ hurt." Another white man. American born. No significant police record. With multiple automatic weapons, of course. There is no other way to kill and wound that many people, short of explosives.
We have seen this happen in elementary schools. We have seen this happen in high schools. We have seen this happen in movie theaters. We have seen this happen in nightclubs. What we have not seen is anything change after any and all of these previous incidents.
Now? I doubt it.
Except, possibly, for one thing.
This was a country music festival.
This attack on country music fans carries with it somewhere between a possibility and a likelihood that many of the dead and wounded are members, or are closely related to members, of the National Rifle Association.
This is the NRA's strongest demographic.
Will this be the moment that Americans realize that the NRA gives not one shit about human life? That the NRA has not bought and paid for members of the House or the Senate to guarantee anyone's freedom? That the only interest that this trade association has is selling more guns? And the bigger, stronger, more deadly, therefore more expensive, the better?
Profits are all that matter to the National Rifle Association.
They don't give a damn about children.
They don't give a damn about young adults.
They don't give a damn about people in a nightclub frequented by LGBTQ men and women.
They don't give a damn about christians at prayer in their church.
They don't give a damn about people gathered in a movie theater.
They don't give a damn about our military personnel on their bases.
And we are about to learn that they don't give a damn about people gathered at a country music festival.
Their own people.
Their own demographic.
Their own gun owners.
They don't give a damn about anyone or anything but profits from the sale of guns.
And now, I would guess, we won't even give a damn when the NRA's fraud is finally left exposed for all the world to see. Their only interest in gun owners is as marks to turn over more money to gun manufacturers. Their only interest in your freedom is in your freedom to die at the hands of a gun nut.
No one outside the military needs automatic weapons. No one outside the military needs these voluminous magazines that makes it possible to fire so many rounds that the smoke in a hotel room becomes so thick that it sets off the smoke alarms. That, by the way, is how the police figured out where this shooter was.
He shot so many times that the fire alarms went off.
We have decided that it does not matter that our democratic process was pirated by Vladimir Putin and his minions.
We have decided that it does not matter that we are led and represented by a raving lunatic who lacks the impulse control of the average two year old.
We decided long ago that it does not matter if numbers of our fellow citizens, including our children, are murdered indiscriminately on a daily basis.
Now we will decide if the NRA's own people can join this list of It Doesn't Matter, if, truly, no one and nothing matters but profits from selling guns.
I know what I expect that answer to be.
I sure would like to be wrong.
We have seen this happen in elementary schools. We have seen this happen in high schools. We have seen this happen in movie theaters. We have seen this happen in nightclubs. What we have not seen is anything change after any and all of these previous incidents.
Now? I doubt it.
Except, possibly, for one thing.
This was a country music festival.
This attack on country music fans carries with it somewhere between a possibility and a likelihood that many of the dead and wounded are members, or are closely related to members, of the National Rifle Association.
This is the NRA's strongest demographic.
Will this be the moment that Americans realize that the NRA gives not one shit about human life? That the NRA has not bought and paid for members of the House or the Senate to guarantee anyone's freedom? That the only interest that this trade association has is selling more guns? And the bigger, stronger, more deadly, therefore more expensive, the better?
Profits are all that matter to the National Rifle Association.
They don't give a damn about children.
They don't give a damn about young adults.
They don't give a damn about people in a nightclub frequented by LGBTQ men and women.
They don't give a damn about christians at prayer in their church.
They don't give a damn about people gathered in a movie theater.
They don't give a damn about our military personnel on their bases.
And we are about to learn that they don't give a damn about people gathered at a country music festival.
Their own people.
Their own demographic.
Their own gun owners.
They don't give a damn about anyone or anything but profits from the sale of guns.
And now, I would guess, we won't even give a damn when the NRA's fraud is finally left exposed for all the world to see. Their only interest in gun owners is as marks to turn over more money to gun manufacturers. Their only interest in your freedom is in your freedom to die at the hands of a gun nut.
No one outside the military needs automatic weapons. No one outside the military needs these voluminous magazines that makes it possible to fire so many rounds that the smoke in a hotel room becomes so thick that it sets off the smoke alarms. That, by the way, is how the police figured out where this shooter was.
He shot so many times that the fire alarms went off.
We have decided that it does not matter that our democratic process was pirated by Vladimir Putin and his minions.
We have decided that it does not matter that we are led and represented by a raving lunatic who lacks the impulse control of the average two year old.
We decided long ago that it does not matter if numbers of our fellow citizens, including our children, are murdered indiscriminately on a daily basis.
Now we will decide if the NRA's own people can join this list of It Doesn't Matter, if, truly, no one and nothing matters but profits from selling guns.
I know what I expect that answer to be.
I sure would like to be wrong.
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Summer
I was a bit anxious at the outset. More than a bit, actually. Because when I first thought about this summer prior to school's dismissal in late May, I thought that it had been quite a long time since I had spent a summer responsible for a child. Sheer terror set in as I thought about it, because I quickly realized that I had never been at home, every day, all day, with a child for the entire summer, and, since Grandmommie teaches Summer School each year, that was exactly what was about to happen.
And suddenly, late 50s did not seem like a good time to try to learn how to do that. Granddaddy was sweating it, big-time!
Three weeks would be simple. My parents take Kaly to Vacation Bible School each summer. They continue to choose to be religious, and that's their business, not mine. And you try to tell great-grandparents that they can't have their great-grandchild. Then, she had been accepted for a week of the school system's CLUE Camp. (CLUE-Creative Learning in a Unique Environment-is the Shelby County Schools program for gifted children.) Finally, Grandmommie had registered her for a week of camp at the Memphis Zoo, given her love for that wonderful place and its animals.
Kaly thoroughly enjoyed each of those weeks, especially Zoo Camp, and that just raised the bar for the remaining time of Hanging Out with Granddaddy.
I was determined that we wouldn't sit in the house watching TV all summer. Which was kind of silly, because one thing we have learned about our granddaughter, since she came home in mid-October, is that she really doesn't watch TV. So that one was easy. The iPad, however, was a genuine challenge. And I was no more interested in a summer of small screen than I was of giant screen.
I knew that one day would be Library Day. That is a summer tradition for us. Even when she wasn't living here, we did our best to have a significant library visit each week in the summers. Then, I knew that for at least a generation, Malco Theaters' Summer Movie Camp had played on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings throughout the summer, and the movies tend to be pretty good. They certainly were again this summer! (Rio 2, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Penguins of Madagascar, Trolls, and Horton Hears a Who) Hard to beat for $2 apiece per film! Also, the Orpheum Theater's Summer Movie Series always includes family films. This year, we caught the annual Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (That's the Gene Wilder version. You know, the GOOD one.), and The Princess Bride, one of the greatest films ever made.
And, in checking on options, I found that Memphis Botanic Garden was holding Mudpie Mondays and Adventure Fridays. On Mondays, the kids were able to make old-fashioned mud pies for the garden fairies who live in the My Big Backyard part of the Garden. Fridays brought a presentation on something fascinating about the natural world each week. (Mosquitos: why they bite us, and how to run them off, for example) Each of those activities was followed by some time in the Garden's spray park, where it thunders for two minutes to signal that the rain is about to fall, every 30 minutes. Then I discovered that our wonderful Brooks Museum held Wacky Wednesdays. The Brooks is our fine arts museum, and they had volunteers to help the kids make a piece of art (Wire Sculpture was her favorite), then they showed several short films from Caldecott and Newberry Award winners, then they provided a bingo game that encouraged the kids to tour the museum to find the pictures shown on the game cards. Then we threw in a few Saturday morning visits to the Memphis Zoo for animals, the Teton Trek fountain, and picnics. We also mixed in a few Lazy Days, just to take it easy.
I think that I have never had so much fun in one summer. It has been an absolute blast spending it with this delightful little girl, who has so much personality, so much confidence, such an intellect, and her mother's beauty.
She made this intimidating prospect of a whole summer a great deal of fun for an awfully anxious old Granddaddy!
And suddenly, late 50s did not seem like a good time to try to learn how to do that. Granddaddy was sweating it, big-time!
Three weeks would be simple. My parents take Kaly to Vacation Bible School each summer. They continue to choose to be religious, and that's their business, not mine. And you try to tell great-grandparents that they can't have their great-grandchild. Then, she had been accepted for a week of the school system's CLUE Camp. (CLUE-Creative Learning in a Unique Environment-is the Shelby County Schools program for gifted children.) Finally, Grandmommie had registered her for a week of camp at the Memphis Zoo, given her love for that wonderful place and its animals.
Kaly thoroughly enjoyed each of those weeks, especially Zoo Camp, and that just raised the bar for the remaining time of Hanging Out with Granddaddy.
I was determined that we wouldn't sit in the house watching TV all summer. Which was kind of silly, because one thing we have learned about our granddaughter, since she came home in mid-October, is that she really doesn't watch TV. So that one was easy. The iPad, however, was a genuine challenge. And I was no more interested in a summer of small screen than I was of giant screen.
I knew that one day would be Library Day. That is a summer tradition for us. Even when she wasn't living here, we did our best to have a significant library visit each week in the summers. Then, I knew that for at least a generation, Malco Theaters' Summer Movie Camp had played on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings throughout the summer, and the movies tend to be pretty good. They certainly were again this summer! (Rio 2, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Penguins of Madagascar, Trolls, and Horton Hears a Who) Hard to beat for $2 apiece per film! Also, the Orpheum Theater's Summer Movie Series always includes family films. This year, we caught the annual Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (That's the Gene Wilder version. You know, the GOOD one.), and The Princess Bride, one of the greatest films ever made.
And, in checking on options, I found that Memphis Botanic Garden was holding Mudpie Mondays and Adventure Fridays. On Mondays, the kids were able to make old-fashioned mud pies for the garden fairies who live in the My Big Backyard part of the Garden. Fridays brought a presentation on something fascinating about the natural world each week. (Mosquitos: why they bite us, and how to run them off, for example) Each of those activities was followed by some time in the Garden's spray park, where it thunders for two minutes to signal that the rain is about to fall, every 30 minutes. Then I discovered that our wonderful Brooks Museum held Wacky Wednesdays. The Brooks is our fine arts museum, and they had volunteers to help the kids make a piece of art (Wire Sculpture was her favorite), then they showed several short films from Caldecott and Newberry Award winners, then they provided a bingo game that encouraged the kids to tour the museum to find the pictures shown on the game cards. Then we threw in a few Saturday morning visits to the Memphis Zoo for animals, the Teton Trek fountain, and picnics. We also mixed in a few Lazy Days, just to take it easy.
I think that I have never had so much fun in one summer. It has been an absolute blast spending it with this delightful little girl, who has so much personality, so much confidence, such an intellect, and her mother's beauty.
She made this intimidating prospect of a whole summer a great deal of fun for an awfully anxious old Granddaddy!
Saturday, July 08, 2017
Our Historic Good Fortune
We were incredibly fortunate that George Washington was on the scene when the Revolutionary War broke out, and again, when the Articles of Confederation failed miserably, and we moved to our present form of government.
We were incredibly fortunate that Abraham Lincoln was on the scene when the approximately 90 year struggle over slavery (referring strictly to the time when there was an independent American government) broke out into warfare.
We were incredibly fortunate that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on the scene, first, when the Great Depression was at its peak, to restore a sense of hope and institute the New Deal to get the country moving again, economically, and then again when war came to America again in 1941.
We were incredibly fortunate that, in 1962, John F. Kennedy was on the scene when the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and our military leaders wanted to attack them. His cool prevented World War III from breaking out, and got those missiles removed.
We were incredibly fortunate that Barack Obama was on the scene when the worst economic disaster since 1929 befell the world in 2008. His judgement and determination contributed mightily to saving the world economy.
We are incredibly fortunate that, in 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are on the scene. Since the United States has decided to abdicate our responsibility to lead the world by inexplicably allowing in office an utterly ignorant and ill-mannered buffoon, we depend mightily and totally on these statespersons who know, and are committed to, the traditions, the values, and the principles that have sustained the western world in this post-World War II period. This critical moment, as each of those described above, is no time for ignorance and arrogance as policy.
At least the citizens of Germany and France know that.
We were incredibly fortunate that Abraham Lincoln was on the scene when the approximately 90 year struggle over slavery (referring strictly to the time when there was an independent American government) broke out into warfare.
We were incredibly fortunate that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on the scene, first, when the Great Depression was at its peak, to restore a sense of hope and institute the New Deal to get the country moving again, economically, and then again when war came to America again in 1941.
We were incredibly fortunate that, in 1962, John F. Kennedy was on the scene when the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and our military leaders wanted to attack them. His cool prevented World War III from breaking out, and got those missiles removed.
We were incredibly fortunate that Barack Obama was on the scene when the worst economic disaster since 1929 befell the world in 2008. His judgement and determination contributed mightily to saving the world economy.
We are incredibly fortunate that, in 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are on the scene. Since the United States has decided to abdicate our responsibility to lead the world by inexplicably allowing in office an utterly ignorant and ill-mannered buffoon, we depend mightily and totally on these statespersons who know, and are committed to, the traditions, the values, and the principles that have sustained the western world in this post-World War II period. This critical moment, as each of those described above, is no time for ignorance and arrogance as policy.
At least the citizens of Germany and France know that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)