There are times when I'm convinced that Joe Namath really did make a deal with the devil to ensure a win in Super Bowl 3. How else do you explain these past 40 years of futility?
Once again, the Jets managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The New York Jets managed to collapse and let the Dolphins once again beat them. I can't even count the number of times that the Dolphins have dashed the Jets hopes. And once again we have managed to make an opposing quarterback look like the second coming of Joe Montana.
Of course, the Jets fans are really the losers here. Not only do we have the constant pressure of the Giants fans who rightfully so seem to own New York. But we are also so stupid that the Jets ownership thinks they can shove PSLs down the throats of the fans so that the fans can not only pay for the tickets but also pay for the rights to buy the tickets. All so we can continue to see just bad, bad football.
I never thought I'd put the Jets fans in the same company as the Chicago Cubs fans, but really, they are two of a kind. And how stupid are we that we keep coming back for more. If I do my math correctly, and the Jets are in fact the second coming of the Chicago Cubs, then we have at least 60 more years of futility to look forward to.
Get those PSL's while you can!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
What's wrong with this picture??
Alright, so let me see if I've got this straight. The Big 3 automakers are barely hanging on. Chrysler has already formed a "cashless" alliance with Fiat (what the hell is a cashless deal - they shake hands and now Chrysler sells Fiats?? I'd like to make a cashless deal with Apple Computer if they're up to it). GM and Ford are still trying to figure out what their next move is. They have asked for bailout money - who hasn't - and they have to restructure their businesses in a huge way just to survive the winter.
So now the Obama administration wants to hit them with new emission and fuel economy standards (thanks to California)?? Now? Why now? And somehow the fact that the automakers are balking at these comes as a surprise to our new President?? Please!!!
We have an industry - perhaps the only one left in the US that actually makes things - that is being forced to restructure thanks to the fickle tastes of the American public. An industry that is simply trying to hang on. And we want to change the rules on emissions now??
How does this make any sense. Hey, look, I'm no car expert, but I've been around them for a long time. And I know that today's cars are practically putting out fresh air compared to the cars that used to roam the roads in the '60s and '70s. I also know that there is no way in God's green earth that my Impala puts out more emissions than the tractor-trailer that just went down my street - no way at all (and these aren't included in the new regulations.)
So the way I figure it, what would it hurt to wait about a year until the Big 3 (or 2 or whatever the hell is left) has put their feet back under them before hitting them with new regulations. It's not like the air is going to get that much more polluted anyway. If the numbers I'm seeing are right, we are already driving our pretty-clean cars less anyway.
Now the folks at CARB who are just in love with these regulations will tell you that all they are doing is trying to get the carmakers to sell here what they already sell "over there", meaning in other countries. What they are having a hard time understanding is that a) we don't currently build any of "those" cars OVER HERE which is where we need the jobs and b) to import them would require a tremendous use of fossil fuels just to get them here and then deliver them from the ports to the dealers, etc and c) we Americans really don't want those cars in the first place.
C'mon, be serious. Other than the Mini Cooper (which is a cool car) just how many of these micro machines have you seen here. I keep hearing that the Smart car is practically sold out but unless Mercedes is painting them in invisible paint, I've only seen the same red one driving around town for months - and there's a dealership right up the street.
We keep beating up the carmakers, acccusing them of mismanaging and building the wrong thing and doing a hundred other things wrong. But let's face it - the carmakers were reacting to market forces. WE were the ones who were stupid enough to shell out $65,000 for a Cadillac pickup truck. I was in marketing at one time - if you're dumb enough to pay me $65,000 for a Caddy with a pickup bed, I'll build it. Tell your friends.
We were the ones who decided that we needed a three-ton Ford Excursion to go to the 7-11 for milk. We were the ones who decided that our kids needed to be shuttled to school in a modified armored personnel carrier. All the automakers did was build them for us.
And don't try to tell me the Japanese weren't buying into this because I see a ton of Toyota Tundra trucks sitting on dealer lots too (and those ridiculous Honda trucks with a trunk - who the hell needs that?!?) We just don't get to hear what their shareholders or boards of directors think because they report their information while most of us are sleeping. All I know is that Toyota took over the number one spot in sales this year - and lost money for the first time since talking pictures were invented. Seems they can't make money selling things either.
Change takes time. It took a long time for us to go from stage coach to station wagon and it took slightly less to go station wagon to Hummer (or the SUV of choice). We can and will make the necessary changes. But it will take time.l
Changing the standards now - while the homegrown industry is still reeling - is just adding salt to the wounds that we, the American public, inflicted.
I'm all for cleaner air and better fuel economy. But I'm also all for helping an industry right itself. Give me cleaner air and more mpg. Just give them to me in a year or two.
So now the Obama administration wants to hit them with new emission and fuel economy standards (thanks to California)?? Now? Why now? And somehow the fact that the automakers are balking at these comes as a surprise to our new President?? Please!!!
We have an industry - perhaps the only one left in the US that actually makes things - that is being forced to restructure thanks to the fickle tastes of the American public. An industry that is simply trying to hang on. And we want to change the rules on emissions now??
How does this make any sense. Hey, look, I'm no car expert, but I've been around them for a long time. And I know that today's cars are practically putting out fresh air compared to the cars that used to roam the roads in the '60s and '70s. I also know that there is no way in God's green earth that my Impala puts out more emissions than the tractor-trailer that just went down my street - no way at all (and these aren't included in the new regulations.)
So the way I figure it, what would it hurt to wait about a year until the Big 3 (or 2 or whatever the hell is left) has put their feet back under them before hitting them with new regulations. It's not like the air is going to get that much more polluted anyway. If the numbers I'm seeing are right, we are already driving our pretty-clean cars less anyway.
Now the folks at CARB who are just in love with these regulations will tell you that all they are doing is trying to get the carmakers to sell here what they already sell "over there", meaning in other countries. What they are having a hard time understanding is that a) we don't currently build any of "those" cars OVER HERE which is where we need the jobs and b) to import them would require a tremendous use of fossil fuels just to get them here and then deliver them from the ports to the dealers, etc and c) we Americans really don't want those cars in the first place.
C'mon, be serious. Other than the Mini Cooper (which is a cool car) just how many of these micro machines have you seen here. I keep hearing that the Smart car is practically sold out but unless Mercedes is painting them in invisible paint, I've only seen the same red one driving around town for months - and there's a dealership right up the street.
We keep beating up the carmakers, acccusing them of mismanaging and building the wrong thing and doing a hundred other things wrong. But let's face it - the carmakers were reacting to market forces. WE were the ones who were stupid enough to shell out $65,000 for a Cadillac pickup truck. I was in marketing at one time - if you're dumb enough to pay me $65,000 for a Caddy with a pickup bed, I'll build it. Tell your friends.
We were the ones who decided that we needed a three-ton Ford Excursion to go to the 7-11 for milk. We were the ones who decided that our kids needed to be shuttled to school in a modified armored personnel carrier. All the automakers did was build them for us.
And don't try to tell me the Japanese weren't buying into this because I see a ton of Toyota Tundra trucks sitting on dealer lots too (and those ridiculous Honda trucks with a trunk - who the hell needs that?!?) We just don't get to hear what their shareholders or boards of directors think because they report their information while most of us are sleeping. All I know is that Toyota took over the number one spot in sales this year - and lost money for the first time since talking pictures were invented. Seems they can't make money selling things either.
Change takes time. It took a long time for us to go from stage coach to station wagon and it took slightly less to go station wagon to Hummer (or the SUV of choice). We can and will make the necessary changes. But it will take time.l
Changing the standards now - while the homegrown industry is still reeling - is just adding salt to the wounds that we, the American public, inflicted.
I'm all for cleaner air and better fuel economy. But I'm also all for helping an industry right itself. Give me cleaner air and more mpg. Just give them to me in a year or two.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Gone too soon, part 2
About two years ago, one of my former players died from cancer. He was 16. He left a sister and a father who were devastated at his loss. He left scores of friends who were also at a loss for words. And he left a coach who found himself asking "why?" At that time, I wrote a piece where I discussed how coaches weren't supposed to bury their players. How young men were supposed to grow up and pass on the wisdom that their coaches had given to them. How they were responsible for carrying the torch to a new generation.
In other words, I tried to say that 16 year olds weren't supposed to die. Not at 16, anyway.
Each day, as I sit at my desk, my eyes scan the wall of team photos. And each day, I stop on the photo of the young man with the wide smile and the too-tight pants and I wonder what might have been for him.
And now it's happened again. Not to a former player, this time, but to the son of a former mentor and a great friend. Only this time, the end wasn't expected as it was with the previous young man. After all, the cancer had ravaged his body and it was only a matter of time.
No, this time, the young man had a minor illness, which incredibly escalated until his spleen burst and he arrested and died. At 17. With no time for goodbyes.
I was there when McKenna was born. I remember seeing him as a child, watching him grow. He moved away when he was about 9, but I remember thinking "there is a great kid." He was an athlete. A good student. A great brother. He reflected his parents.
I spoke with his dad the other day. He sounded lost. And there was one thing he said that has stuck with me for the last 3 days or so; he said he can't come to grips "with the finality of it." He's not away at school, he's dead. He's not coming back. Not for the weekend, or spring break or ever.
We packed our oldest off to school on the same day I received the news. He's back at school, awaiting the start of the semester. He has basketball games to go to, books to buy, finals to sweat out. He has spring break to look forward to.
He has his whole life ahead of him. Just like McKenna did.
He'll sleep well tonight. But I won't. Because now I worry about the "finality" of it, and pray I never have to go through what my friends have gone through.
Hug your kids tonight.
In other words, I tried to say that 16 year olds weren't supposed to die. Not at 16, anyway.
Each day, as I sit at my desk, my eyes scan the wall of team photos. And each day, I stop on the photo of the young man with the wide smile and the too-tight pants and I wonder what might have been for him.
And now it's happened again. Not to a former player, this time, but to the son of a former mentor and a great friend. Only this time, the end wasn't expected as it was with the previous young man. After all, the cancer had ravaged his body and it was only a matter of time.
No, this time, the young man had a minor illness, which incredibly escalated until his spleen burst and he arrested and died. At 17. With no time for goodbyes.
I was there when McKenna was born. I remember seeing him as a child, watching him grow. He moved away when he was about 9, but I remember thinking "there is a great kid." He was an athlete. A good student. A great brother. He reflected his parents.
I spoke with his dad the other day. He sounded lost. And there was one thing he said that has stuck with me for the last 3 days or so; he said he can't come to grips "with the finality of it." He's not away at school, he's dead. He's not coming back. Not for the weekend, or spring break or ever.
We packed our oldest off to school on the same day I received the news. He's back at school, awaiting the start of the semester. He has basketball games to go to, books to buy, finals to sweat out. He has spring break to look forward to.
He has his whole life ahead of him. Just like McKenna did.
He'll sleep well tonight. But I won't. Because now I worry about the "finality" of it, and pray I never have to go through what my friends have gone through.
Hug your kids tonight.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Welcome
Welcome to my little corner of cyberspace - a place where I can share my views on almost anything and you can feel free to let me know what's on your mind.
I named this space "Steam" after a series of entries I have made in old-fashioned paper journals over the years - a place where I could let off steam about a variety of topics.
I'm still figuring this out, so bear with me as I get my cyber-legs under me.
And welcome . . . . to Steam.
I named this space "Steam" after a series of entries I have made in old-fashioned paper journals over the years - a place where I could let off steam about a variety of topics.
I'm still figuring this out, so bear with me as I get my cyber-legs under me.
And welcome . . . . to Steam.
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