This is Brian Williams from last night's NBC News ripping Mark McGwire.
Here's the quote:
Good evening. Because this is a family broadcast, we probably can't say what we'd like to about the news today that Mark McGwire—the home run hitter, the family favorite from the St. Louis Cardinals—stopped lying today and admitted that he did it while on steroids. For those of us who were raising young baseball fans and baseball players who looked up to Mark McGwire, that summer of ‘98 was magical stuff, as he and Sammy Sosa vied back and forth for the title of Single Season Home Run King. He didn't tell the truth to Congress or to his fans until finally, formally coming clean today. He's been unable to get into the Hall of Fame and, apparently—even for him—the shame here was too much.
Have you ever heard Brian Williams or any other network news anchor use that type of language: "stopped lying today" and "shame" when describing anything?
-Americans misled about Weapons of Mass Destruction?
-Torture?
-The shift of wealth over the past decade from the working and middle classes to the very wealthiest?
There isn't a political issue that isn't couched in "there are arguments on both sides" regardless of the merits of those arguments. We have watched the erosion of our civil liberties, the erosion of our natural environment, the erosion of our nation's infrastructure, the erosion of any moral standing we might have had following 9-11 - we are still in the middle of an incredible economic collapse; Americans are dying every month because of a lack of health insurance; 25% of all mortgages are underwater - we have watched as, on multiple fronts, we have crept closer and closer to midnight on the Doomsday Clock -
And this is where Brian Williams decides to show some outrage. This is who should feel shame:
Mark McGwire.
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. To future historians, let me suggest to you that as you look back at the early days of the 21st century, that your theme be the insanely misplaced priorities of those who held the megaphones. While our country was in decade long freefall what we shouted about was steroids.
2010 NBA All-Star Ballot
Monday, January 11, 2010
We're just about at the halfway mark in the NBA season - here are my choices for the All-Star teams:
West
C Duncan
F Nowitzki
F Anthony
G Nash
G Bryant
G Roy
G Paul
G Williams
F Randolph
F Durant
F Landry
C Stoudemire
East
C Howard
F Bosh
F James (MVP)
G Rondo
G Wade
C Lopez
C Lee
F Smith
F Iguodala
F Wallace
F Pierce
G Johnson
West
C Duncan
F Nowitzki
F Anthony
G Nash
G Bryant
G Roy
G Paul
G Williams
F Randolph
F Durant
F Landry
C Stoudemire
East
C Howard
F Bosh
F James (MVP)
G Rondo
G Wade
C Lopez
C Lee
F Smith
F Iguodala
F Wallace
F Pierce
G Johnson
1st and Ten: The Weekly Tendown, January 3-9 2010.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Hi.
This is Issue 9 of the Weekly Tendown, my weekly look at the very best cultural happenings from the past 7 days; Last Week, I discussed Captain Kangaroo, the G Spot, Helicopter Dads, the Hot/Crazy Scale, and my favorite pretend Jay-Z lyric "you gotta be a baller to marry your stepdaughter" What - what do you suppose we'll look at this week...
First: Red on Red Crime.
My midweek blog this week offered my picks for the NFL playoffs and a discussion about how, as a fan of a team which does not make the playoffs, I root based on who I least dislike. When I'm left with a game between, say, the Cowboys against the Favres, I really can't muster up even the energy to watch in an unlimited channel universe. Right now, for example, Dallas is thumping the Eagles (meaning I'll have gone 2-0 today after my midday switch from Bengals to Jets) but I'm listening to this week's Adam Carolla podcasts and starting the Tendown; Carolla's good at this; I've forgotten with whom he was talking a few weeks ago, but he confessed to getting aroused when roughhousing with his young son - it was just from the friction, he wasn't looking to get handcuffed from the makeshift studio, but that's a helluva thing to admit; in previous incarnations of this blog I cut a little deeper into my life than do I now (art's tricky - you can write a terribly personal love song without fear that it will impact your professional life, but I've decided that blog posts really have to have compatible sensibilities to my professorial persona; work's a role no different than is this - but it's the one that feeds the bulldog, and I ain't got the energy to learn another trade) but I would never have cut to the bone like Carolla just to tell a joke.
The reason I'm not watching the game is, when it's two teams I actively dislike, other than injuries (joke, he wishes he didn't have to add parenthetically) I've got nothing to root for (Mike Silver on KNBR this week tossed the Mike Vick to the Niners back up the flagpole; I wrote about this in the last offseason; there is no circumstance, not a move to Los Angeles, not setting fire to jersey #16 in midfield, not another dozen losing seasons which could cause me to renounce my Niner fanship - unless we sign Mike Vick. Then I am out until he is gone and it will be the single most significant breakup of my life.)
But this week saw multiple outbursts of Republican on Republican violence and I ate up every bit of it. Simple Jack went on his radio show and said phone calls from the birthers were "the dumbest thing I ever heard" and even suggested they might be Obama plants. That got teabagger blowback, including by Alan Keyes who said Beck has "little or no understanding of the profound issues of principle" that motivate the whackos. Which must have been quite a blow to Simple Jack, given how he's devoted so much of the past 36 months to misunderstanding American history and it's only now anyone finally notices.
That was the opening act - the middle was RNC Chair Michael Steele releasing a book, apparently without the knowledge of any top Republican leaders. Steele was said to be devoting excessive time to promoting himself as opposed to the Party - Steele was criticized for taking fees to deliver speeches - Steele then said the Republicans couldn't take back the House in the midterm elections and wasn't sure if Republican candidates were ready to lead. Steele's book takes shots at both Bush 43 and 41; and scores of staffers leaked all week the heated exchanges between the various Republican heavy hitters over Steele's suitability to continue as Chair..
The main event is on 60 Minutes this evening, when John McCain's campaign manager Steve Schmidt will say that Sarah Palin's disinclination to prepare for her debate with Joe Biden led to a simplfication of her prep to avoid a "debacle" and presumably other Sarah Palin is only occasionally acquainted with the truth stories.
This doesn't even get to the 2009 Republicans v. 2002 Republicans from this week as the heads predictably opened their faces to rip Obama for waiting 3 days to discuss the Underpants Bomber when Bush's 6 day wait to talk about the Shoe Bomber went without criticism. Or that the current trial in the criminal courts system emboldens our enemies, giving them a platform to spew hateful rhetoric - but the similar domestic terrorist trials held over the previous decade demonstrated America's strength and its principles. Here's America's Mayor, who this week also said that the United States wasn't a victim of domestic terrorist attacks under Bush (continuing a weird right wing meme that's sprouted up in recent weeks, Dana Perino and Mary Matalin also said something similar). It's interesting that it just goes accepted that Bush is wholly without blame for 9-11 occuring on his watch; Matalin actually said the Bush Administration "inherited" 9-11; had President Gore gotten a brief entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US" in a Counterfactual Bush v. Gore goes 5-4 the other way universe, I assume the Democrats would not be as successful in claiming a lack of blame.
It's just schadenfreude. Nothing here will salvage the value of my South Florida townhouse (David Corn this week predicted that a full 50% of US mortgages will be underwater by the end of 2011) and I don't mistake the red states cannibalizing themselves for positive electoral news. But it's fun. And daddy likes to have his fun.
That's the best thing that happened this week - after the Jump - the Rest of the Tendown!
This is Issue 9 of the Weekly Tendown, my weekly look at the very best cultural happenings from the past 7 days; Last Week, I discussed Captain Kangaroo, the G Spot, Helicopter Dads, the Hot/Crazy Scale, and my favorite pretend Jay-Z lyric "you gotta be a baller to marry your stepdaughter" What - what do you suppose we'll look at this week...
First: Red on Red Crime.
My midweek blog this week offered my picks for the NFL playoffs and a discussion about how, as a fan of a team which does not make the playoffs, I root based on who I least dislike. When I'm left with a game between, say, the Cowboys against the Favres, I really can't muster up even the energy to watch in an unlimited channel universe. Right now, for example, Dallas is thumping the Eagles (meaning I'll have gone 2-0 today after my midday switch from Bengals to Jets) but I'm listening to this week's Adam Carolla podcasts and starting the Tendown; Carolla's good at this; I've forgotten with whom he was talking a few weeks ago, but he confessed to getting aroused when roughhousing with his young son - it was just from the friction, he wasn't looking to get handcuffed from the makeshift studio, but that's a helluva thing to admit; in previous incarnations of this blog I cut a little deeper into my life than do I now (art's tricky - you can write a terribly personal love song without fear that it will impact your professional life, but I've decided that blog posts really have to have compatible sensibilities to my professorial persona; work's a role no different than is this - but it's the one that feeds the bulldog, and I ain't got the energy to learn another trade) but I would never have cut to the bone like Carolla just to tell a joke.
The reason I'm not watching the game is, when it's two teams I actively dislike, other than injuries (joke, he wishes he didn't have to add parenthetically) I've got nothing to root for (Mike Silver on KNBR this week tossed the Mike Vick to the Niners back up the flagpole; I wrote about this in the last offseason; there is no circumstance, not a move to Los Angeles, not setting fire to jersey #16 in midfield, not another dozen losing seasons which could cause me to renounce my Niner fanship - unless we sign Mike Vick. Then I am out until he is gone and it will be the single most significant breakup of my life.)
But this week saw multiple outbursts of Republican on Republican violence and I ate up every bit of it. Simple Jack went on his radio show and said phone calls from the birthers were "the dumbest thing I ever heard" and even suggested they might be Obama plants. That got teabagger blowback, including by Alan Keyes who said Beck has "little or no understanding of the profound issues of principle" that motivate the whackos. Which must have been quite a blow to Simple Jack, given how he's devoted so much of the past 36 months to misunderstanding American history and it's only now anyone finally notices.
That was the opening act - the middle was RNC Chair Michael Steele releasing a book, apparently without the knowledge of any top Republican leaders. Steele was said to be devoting excessive time to promoting himself as opposed to the Party - Steele was criticized for taking fees to deliver speeches - Steele then said the Republicans couldn't take back the House in the midterm elections and wasn't sure if Republican candidates were ready to lead. Steele's book takes shots at both Bush 43 and 41; and scores of staffers leaked all week the heated exchanges between the various Republican heavy hitters over Steele's suitability to continue as Chair..
The main event is on 60 Minutes this evening, when John McCain's campaign manager Steve Schmidt will say that Sarah Palin's disinclination to prepare for her debate with Joe Biden led to a simplfication of her prep to avoid a "debacle" and presumably other Sarah Palin is only occasionally acquainted with the truth stories.
This doesn't even get to the 2009 Republicans v. 2002 Republicans from this week as the heads predictably opened their faces to rip Obama for waiting 3 days to discuss the Underpants Bomber when Bush's 6 day wait to talk about the Shoe Bomber went without criticism. Or that the current trial in the criminal courts system emboldens our enemies, giving them a platform to spew hateful rhetoric - but the similar domestic terrorist trials held over the previous decade demonstrated America's strength and its principles. Here's America's Mayor, who this week also said that the United States wasn't a victim of domestic terrorist attacks under Bush (continuing a weird right wing meme that's sprouted up in recent weeks, Dana Perino and Mary Matalin also said something similar). It's interesting that it just goes accepted that Bush is wholly without blame for 9-11 occuring on his watch; Matalin actually said the Bush Administration "inherited" 9-11; had President Gore gotten a brief entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US" in a Counterfactual Bush v. Gore goes 5-4 the other way universe, I assume the Democrats would not be as successful in claiming a lack of blame.
It's just schadenfreude. Nothing here will salvage the value of my South Florida townhouse (David Corn this week predicted that a full 50% of US mortgages will be underwater by the end of 2011) and I don't mistake the red states cannibalizing themselves for positive electoral news. But it's fun. And daddy likes to have his fun.
That's the best thing that happened this week - after the Jump - the Rest of the Tendown!
2009-10 NFL Playoff Predictions
Thursday, January 7, 2010
I finished dead at .500 picking every NFL game of the season against the number; do with that what you will as you approach these thoughts.
Week One Winners:
AFC: New England, NY (that's a change, upon further review. Kick isn't for a few hours)
NFC: Dallas, Green Bay
Week Two Winners:
AFC: Indianapolis, San Diego
NFC: New Orleans, Minnesota
Conference Titles:
AFC: Indianapolis over San Diego
NFC: New Orleans over Minnesota
Super Bowl 44:
Indianapolis over New Orleans
As for the lines this week, you shouldn't play any of them. Really, if you want to invest, invest in season long win totals, not specific games and really not playoff games. The Packers are getting a point and I think they win outright, so if you must. I've now jumped on the Jets and they're getting a field goal.
I picked the Chargers in pre-season (which you can find around here someplace) so if they win, I'll claim a victory there also (double dip! good times).
Who am I rooting for - the way I do this really is, as a 49er fan, is to work backwards from whom I'd least like to see win. Hateraid is sports fans' fuel.
12. Philadelphia - this is a marked change for me, I've always thought of the Eagles as the team I least disliked in the entire NFC, but as you could find elsewhere on this page, I now root against them each week as they employ (and laud) Mike Vick. Let that be a warning to the rest of the league - Vick's gonna go somewhere else next year - and then I'll root against you too.
11. Minnesota - Favre. I can't recall the last time I actively rooted for Brett Favre. Perhaps never.
10. Dallas - It's the Cowboys. Who could root for the Cowboys? Have I ever, in a single instance, ever rooted for the Dallas Cowboys? It would be like rooting for your boss or a minister who dislikes dancing.
I recognize my NFC options are dwindling. Goddamn Eagles screwed me with this Vick thing.
9. New England - The current evil empire; this is strictly sports fan hateration, I only dislike them for their success (Favre I dislike for the same reason that Kirk Hiner Hates Madonna, which you can also find somewhere on this page - and Dallas is the single smarmiest sports franchise in North American history).
8. Indianapolis - which, since I'm picking them to win the thing, isn't ideal. Again, hateration, I'd rather Manning didn't win another title. It's a tide I cannot stop, but Manning will probably retire as the consensus choice for best QB ever and one more SB is probably all he'd need to get there.
7. Arizona - only because they're in my division and I don't personally care for Warner. If he were to get knocked out and Leinart were to play, I'd root for Leinart as would all good Trojans.
6. Green Bay - the stick it to Favre factor weighs in their favor, but I've got lots of years of irritation at the Packer fans being framed as all that is good and white...er...right with the NFL. And somehow the Lambeau leap is just good clean fun but every other touchdown celebration is an affront to decency.
5. San Diego - I wrote a piece about political contributions by NFL teams a few months ago - the Chargers dwarf the rest of the league, and have been overwhelmingly right wing in their donations.
4. Baltimore - the Ray Lewis stuff gets a little exhausting, it's overly messianic for my taste.
3. New Orleans - the economic impact to the poor and working class will be way overblown, what Katrina allowed New Orleans to do was gentrify.
2. New York - I enjoy when the New York teams who don't usually do well, do well (like the Knicks, for example, I'd like to see LeBron go to the Knicks, that would be fun to me) and Sanchez (although clearly being over his head this year) is one of my guys.
So - the team I'm rooting for to win Super Bowl 44...
1. Cincinnati.
-they've got multiple Trojans, I like Ochocinco's act, they've never won before, and a weird Super Bowl run would mean clips of their previous SB losses, which were, of course, to my Niners.
Go Bengals.
Week One Winners:
AFC: New England, NY (that's a change, upon further review. Kick isn't for a few hours)
NFC: Dallas, Green Bay
Week Two Winners:
AFC: Indianapolis, San Diego
NFC: New Orleans, Minnesota
Conference Titles:
AFC: Indianapolis over San Diego
NFC: New Orleans over Minnesota
Super Bowl 44:
Indianapolis over New Orleans
As for the lines this week, you shouldn't play any of them. Really, if you want to invest, invest in season long win totals, not specific games and really not playoff games. The Packers are getting a point and I think they win outright, so if you must. I've now jumped on the Jets and they're getting a field goal.
I picked the Chargers in pre-season (which you can find around here someplace) so if they win, I'll claim a victory there also (double dip! good times).
Who am I rooting for - the way I do this really is, as a 49er fan, is to work backwards from whom I'd least like to see win. Hateraid is sports fans' fuel.
12. Philadelphia - this is a marked change for me, I've always thought of the Eagles as the team I least disliked in the entire NFC, but as you could find elsewhere on this page, I now root against them each week as they employ (and laud) Mike Vick. Let that be a warning to the rest of the league - Vick's gonna go somewhere else next year - and then I'll root against you too.
11. Minnesota - Favre. I can't recall the last time I actively rooted for Brett Favre. Perhaps never.
10. Dallas - It's the Cowboys. Who could root for the Cowboys? Have I ever, in a single instance, ever rooted for the Dallas Cowboys? It would be like rooting for your boss or a minister who dislikes dancing.
I recognize my NFC options are dwindling. Goddamn Eagles screwed me with this Vick thing.
9. New England - The current evil empire; this is strictly sports fan hateration, I only dislike them for their success (Favre I dislike for the same reason that Kirk Hiner Hates Madonna, which you can also find somewhere on this page - and Dallas is the single smarmiest sports franchise in North American history).
8. Indianapolis - which, since I'm picking them to win the thing, isn't ideal. Again, hateration, I'd rather Manning didn't win another title. It's a tide I cannot stop, but Manning will probably retire as the consensus choice for best QB ever and one more SB is probably all he'd need to get there.
7. Arizona - only because they're in my division and I don't personally care for Warner. If he were to get knocked out and Leinart were to play, I'd root for Leinart as would all good Trojans.
6. Green Bay - the stick it to Favre factor weighs in their favor, but I've got lots of years of irritation at the Packer fans being framed as all that is good and white...er...right with the NFL. And somehow the Lambeau leap is just good clean fun but every other touchdown celebration is an affront to decency.
5. San Diego - I wrote a piece about political contributions by NFL teams a few months ago - the Chargers dwarf the rest of the league, and have been overwhelmingly right wing in their donations.
4. Baltimore - the Ray Lewis stuff gets a little exhausting, it's overly messianic for my taste.
3. New Orleans - the economic impact to the poor and working class will be way overblown, what Katrina allowed New Orleans to do was gentrify.
2. New York - I enjoy when the New York teams who don't usually do well, do well (like the Knicks, for example, I'd like to see LeBron go to the Knicks, that would be fun to me) and Sanchez (although clearly being over his head this year) is one of my guys.
So - the team I'm rooting for to win Super Bowl 44...
1. Cincinnati.
-they've got multiple Trojans, I like Ochocinco's act, they've never won before, and a weird Super Bowl run would mean clips of their previous SB losses, which were, of course, to my Niners.
Go Bengals.
My College Bowl Lock.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
If you followed my college football picks this season, you'll know that for the bulk of the year I had really incredible success, and was perfect in making my "lock of the week" pick for the first two months of the season.
I stumbled down the stretch, but still finished 19 games over .500 overall and strongly over in my weekly locks.
I picked every bowl game this year, including some totals - I'm only 1 over .500 going into tonights game; I picked the under and Alabama giving 4 tomorrow night.
But tonight is my lock of bowl season. Central Michigan -3 over Troy (it's up to 3 1/2 now).
I like it a lot, if I were on a bigger roll, I'd really be incredibly confident. My numbers aren't locked in though, clearly, and it's fair to question my call here.
Nonethless - it's the biggest play of bowl season. Good luck.
I stumbled down the stretch, but still finished 19 games over .500 overall and strongly over in my weekly locks.
I picked every bowl game this year, including some totals - I'm only 1 over .500 going into tonights game; I picked the under and Alabama giving 4 tomorrow night.
But tonight is my lock of bowl season. Central Michigan -3 over Troy (it's up to 3 1/2 now).
I like it a lot, if I were on a bigger roll, I'd really be incredibly confident. My numbers aren't locked in though, clearly, and it's fair to question my call here.
Nonethless - it's the biggest play of bowl season. Good luck.
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