NFL Refs

So the replacement refs have been replaced, yet Chris Collinsworth still found breath to waste on words like, "The Eagles want the replacements back" or "There will be a lot of discussion about that pass interference call," Sunday night.

Until we have a Ref on mic, the announcers need to stop armchair officiating. It's disrespectful. The announcers have multiple angles to review on every play in super slo-mo and even then I sometimes wonder if they're watching the same images I am.

The game is fast moving and tough to call. Do your job and stop criticizing the Refs for doing their jobs until they start criticizing your inept participation in an athlete's trade as a former athlete.

Blind Man in the Bleachers - Kenny Starr

Religious Right Might Need to Checkity Check Themselves

Recent conversations with, and emails circulating among, my friends from the Religious Right have me drawing conclusions ... maybe even judging ...

One friend subscribes religiously to any form of media willing to bash the leader of the free world. That same friend is beside himself that the biased mainstream media let's Obama get away with his lies and Godless tactics.  A recent right-based circulating email  ended with, "We need to get rid of this Socialist, Muslim in the White House" because he is supportive of funding the acceptance of Palestinian Refugees onto our land.

It seems to me the Christian Conservatives among us tend to either pity or hate anyone not religiously in line with their senses of morality.

Pity and hate are symptoms of arrogance.  Christ preached humility ...  It's time to put down the torches and pitchforks.  It's time for Christlike tolerance to replace religious hypocrisy.

Losing My Religion - R.E.M.

Rhode Island Missing Mark on Gender

Bear with me for a 'graph and a half ...

I can’t speak like a pirate.  Today is “National Talk Like a Pirate Day” and even though I’ve watched Pirates of the Caribbean and each sequel in excess of 20 times, my pirate dialect is nothing short of embarrassing.  It’s not an inadequacy.  It’s just who I am and I can live with that. But when I see all these show-offs saying “Arrrr matey” and “Man the mop swabbie”, I feel I am unfairly discriminated against. No, I don’t think people do it purposely. They do it out of ignorance so I know I am justified when I call for an end to the very offensive “Talk Like a Pirate Day”.

Likewise, my wife’s dad left her mom (or was it the other way around? Not sure but neither here nor there) when my wife was 14.  When the daddy-daughter dance came along, what was she to do? Well, unfortunately for her, the ACLU figured it out about 27 years too late.  Yep, 27 years ago they could have just done away with the entire practice altogether. Instead, my wife had to endure (end sarcasm) one of her favorite memories accompanying her best friend and best friend’s dad to the joyous event.  I guess you could say she “stagged it” but, yes, still it is a cherished memory for my wife.

Rhode Island has banned Father-Daughter dances and Mother-Son ball games. The ban was prompted when one single-mom cried foul since her daughter had no daddy to escort her.  I’d say what that poor girl lacks is a mom with creativity or without issues dealing with men.  Even in the most ardent, man-or-woman-hating, single-parent atmosphere, someone emerges as a father or mother figure in the lives of children being raised by just one parent.  The girl can go to the dance if she so desires, yet rather than having to face the facts of her daughter’s misfortune and her own poor planning in life, this mom would have NO ONE attend such an event.

It’s gender discrimination they say …

The ACLU says, “In 2012 not every girl necessarily wants to grow up and be Cinderella, some might actually like to go out on the baseball field and a public school of all places should not be suggesting otherwise…”

Why do women wear a dress and men a tux at a gender-mixed wedding?  Why do girls tend to play with dolls and boys tinker toys or footballs?  Is it stereotyping and mind shaping?  What does “2012” have to do with it anyway? Who would name their boy "Sue"?

It doesn't really matter ...

Red herrings exposed, what’s being missed in all this politicizing, is that these events are meant to encourage interactions between parents and their children.  It’s aimed at stretching the parents to act beyond an innate comfort zone.  It’s not about whether or not little Sally would rather attend a ball game than a dance.  It’s about Mom. You know?  Mom: that lady who spends some breath every week scolding dad for watching “football, AGAIN?” It’s about Dad. You know?  Dad: the guy who’d rather attend an Ogden Raptors game, than dip mom on the dance floor wearing his finest threads and smelling like a freshly pampered Julio Iglesias.

By and large (To misuse a nautical term. [Yes ... it's nautical] Seee? Landlubbers just shouldn't try that pirate thang)  Boys are different from girls. 

Generalizations recognized, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water, people.  Let’s embrace our differences.  Let’s enjoy rather than demonize tradition. We’ve come to a fork in the road (I almost said Rhode).  One sign leads to a Rhode (snap, did it anyway) less taken and reads, “If we can’t please everyone, we should please no one.”  On the other road, or shall we just call it “the beaten path”, a more tattered sign reads, “I learned my lesson well”.

Garden Party - Ricky Nelson