Did anyone really want to wake up early this morning? I might be tempted to call you a liar if you say you did. Another Monday starts another dry week. Temps today are warmer than usual—plenty of sunshine. There’s rain to our west, but there is little chance of it surviving long enough to even give us a sprinkle. Leaves on trees are about as colorful as they’re going to get this year. And you still have to work.
On the positive side of things, G made it back to Indiana last night. We’ll see him after school and I’m looking forward to his chatter, assuming he’s not completely exhausted. The animals will be happy to greet him, too. His absence has made quite a difference in how everyone behaves.
Kat’s car started throwing codes at her over the weekend and one of them is potentially bad news: The battery pack is dying. She’ll have to take it to a dealership to find out if they can replace single cells in the battery pack or if the whole thing is dead. She was planning to buy another vehicle in January. Having to do so now would be a tremendous hit to finances.
At least yesterday had some interesting football. We’re at that point in the season where injuries are causing good teams to struggle. The Colts managed to beat the hapless Dolphins, 16-10. It wasn’t a terrific game for either team and for a moment in the fourth quarter, it looked as though Miami might mount a comeback. Chiefs beat the 49ers, 28-18 in a Super Bowl rematch that, if we’re honest, was totally disappointing. Statistically, Mahomes is having his worst year ever. San Francisco is struggling to field a healthy team. That the Chiefs are now 6-0 speaks to how good the team is and how lousy the league is at the same time. A late field goal allowed the Lions to give the Vikings their first loss of the season, 31-29. Both teams are playing surprisingly well for the first time in decades. They’re going to make the playoffs interesting. After so many tight games yesterday, can tonight’s games be anything but disappointing? Ravens play the Bucs in Tampa and the Chargers travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals. Baltimore and LA are the favorites, but this could be a real snooze fest.
The exciting news comes from the WNBA where the New York Liberty won their first title over the Lynx, 67-62 in overtime. Of course, it’s the WNBA so the officiating is being blamed for affecting the outcome of the game. Still, it was one of the most exciting basketball games we’re likely to see this year. The men will have to actually work hard for once if they want to be as entertaining.
And, because we’re in that time of the year, there’s baseball news worth mentioning. It will be the Yankees versus the Dodgers in the World Series. Again. This is the 12th time the two teams have met in the World Series, going back to 1941. The rivalry is almost as old as the leagues. Jet lag plays a strong role in how the visiting teams play. If you can stand to watch baseball on television (I can’t), this could be a decent series.
The rest of this morning’s news is boring by comparison. Here are a few headlines.
- US convenience stores look abroad for the secret to decent food. They’re fast becoming an alternative to traditional fast food.
- Israel’s wars are expensive. Paying the bill could force tough choices. This is the result of win-at-all-cost thinking. No one wins.
- Musk offers voters $1 million a day to sign a PAC petition backing the Constitution. Is that legal? In an age where people can now gamble on the outcome of elections, it’s questionable.
- Lionel Richie likens touring to vacation as he announces Europe shows. WTF? Maybe the musician needs to cut back his activities at home if the chaotic schedule of touring is considered a break.
- New cases of political violence roil the U.S. ahead of a contentious election. This is sheer stupidity. You don’t get to force your views on others. Remember when people kept quiet about how they were voting? Let’s go back to that.
- These are the 21 best types of American cheese. Because everyone needs to know, don’t they?
I’d list more, but you might fall asleep reading them.
Sunrise is sneaking up on us. I suppose it’s time to start looking around for something that resembles motivation. Maybe I’ll find it under the covers.
Or in another cup of coffee.
Cancel The Outrage
People love to bitch. If there’s one thing the Internet has done, it’s brought out the false outrage factor in a lot of people over things that are often insignificant. We get upset over the tiniest little things that, in the grand scheme of things, make absolutely no difference… until they do. False outrage can result in the passage of ridiculous laws attempting to fix a problem that never actually existed. We’ve seen several states do just this in regard to a non-existent problem regarding immigrant violence. Now, Louisiana’s governor seems ready to do the same thing over a fucking basketball game.
Here’s what happened: Monday night, prior to the LSU/Iowa game in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, LSU coach Kate Mulkey guided her team back to the locker room following their warm-up period, per normal. While they were there, the national anthem was played in the arena. They weren’t there. They didn’t even hear it playing. This is normal.
However, the bitch force that already didn’t like LSU, primarily for extremely racist reasons, decided to get upset about the Louisiana team not being on the court and standing up. They complained. Loudly. So much so that Louisiana’s sorry excuse for a governor, Jeff Landry, decided that the state needs a law that would cause any athlete in the state to lose their scholarship if they missed the playing of the national anthem. Is it just me or is that extremely stupid? Talk about a knee-jerk reaction!
Coach Mulkey said later, “Honestly, I don’t even know when the anthem was played. We kind of have a routine [for leaving the court at a certain time].”
Cody Worsham, the school’s associate athletic director, added, “Our basketball programs have not been on the court for the anthem for the last several seasons. Usually, the anthem is played 12 minutes before the game when the team is in the locker room doing final preparations.”
Furthermore, in the other women’s game that night, neither UConn nor USC were on the floor for the national anthem. BEING PRESENT FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS NOT A REQUIREMENT ANYWHERE! Teams warm up and then return to the locker room until it’s time to start the game. They need the time to concentrate and make sure they’re all on the same page.
CAN THE FUCKING OUTRAGE
This is not an issue of nationalistic pride. This is not a matter of protest, though they have every right to do so. This is a matter of doing what is best for the outcome of the game. It’s been going on for years and to get upset about it now is fucking delusional.
But while we’re on the topic, let’s remind ourselves why, if they wanted to, the players (or anyone else) might want to protest the US national anthem.
There are plenty of legitimate issues to be upset about around the world. Whether or not a basketball team is on the floor for the national anthem is not one of those issues.
Take your false outrage and shove it up your ass.
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