Humanity
AEG Lobbyists Begging for Special Treatment
09/02/11 14:25 Filed in: NFL
As AEG has passed the local hurdles, local politicians in their over-stuffed pockets, it is on to Sacramento, to cajole, pander and extort state legislators to provide special treatment in easing vital environmental protection laws and in exempting them from litigation designed to offer a dose of reality.
As described in my Aug 10, 2011 post, "Football in LA, the CONS", billionaire Philip Anshultz and his AEG thugs can buy what they want, and put up a pretty good smokescreen, so that voters, especially football fans among them, don't see, and in reality, don't care.
Funny, the LA haters are now the allies of those of us who think that AEG should at the very least, follow the rules designed to protect the future of California, and to some extent, insure future generations of breathable air and majestic lands.
A pending bill by LA's own Sen. Alex Padilla would make a mockery of the judicial process in an effort to steamroll the AEG stadium, totally removing the TRIAL COURT from the litigation process, and handing all such matters regarding the stadium over to an appellate court with unrealistic expedited procedures, apparently eliminating such useless elements of litigation as FACT FINDING.
Just like the teabaggers at the Federal level, the special interests begging for freedom from the laws of the state of California so they can pocket more and more billions, couch their begging in terms of jobs: "Let us break the law when ever and where ever we want, and we will create jobs; don't let us break the law, or delay our breaking the law, and those jobs will be lost."
Screw them. They need us, not the other way around.
As described in my Aug 10, 2011 post, "Football in LA, the CONS", billionaire Philip Anshultz and his AEG thugs can buy what they want, and put up a pretty good smokescreen, so that voters, especially football fans among them, don't see, and in reality, don't care.
Funny, the LA haters are now the allies of those of us who think that AEG should at the very least, follow the rules designed to protect the future of California, and to some extent, insure future generations of breathable air and majestic lands.
A pending bill by LA's own Sen. Alex Padilla would make a mockery of the judicial process in an effort to steamroll the AEG stadium, totally removing the TRIAL COURT from the litigation process, and handing all such matters regarding the stadium over to an appellate court with unrealistic expedited procedures, apparently eliminating such useless elements of litigation as FACT FINDING.
Just like the teabaggers at the Federal level, the special interests begging for freedom from the laws of the state of California so they can pocket more and more billions, couch their begging in terms of jobs: "Let us break the law when ever and where ever we want, and we will create jobs; don't let us break the law, or delay our breaking the law, and those jobs will be lost."
Screw them. They need us, not the other way around.
theHoundDawg |
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Least We Forget, Michael Vick is SCUM!
08/13/11 12:51 Filed in: NFL
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All the current adulation over michael vick is disgusting.
He did not just raise dogs for fighting and promote dog fighting, as so many people seem to say. He TORTURED AND KILLED dozens of dogs, in painful and brutal fashion, over a period of years. Until he was caught. Were it not for a series of events that led police to his home on a totally unrelated matter, and not involving him, vick would still be doing this TODAY.
Also keep in mind the fact that his was not a hobby to vick, but rather a money-making criminal enterprise that helped further line his pockets for years.
Players, reporters, and fans heaping praise on this piece of scum, and hoping for his continued success, are soul-less, compassion-less, heart-less, thought-less lumps of organic matter.
Sic the NFL dogs on him: 
| theHoundDawg |  |
Football in LA, the Cons
As the LA City Council climbs on board with the AEG/Philip Anshutz give away in order to build a football stadium in downtown LA, two things seem clear: 1) The reality of a Los Angels NFL team is now more likely than it has been since the 1994 exodus of the Rams and Raiders, and 2) The powers that be in LA are uncaring, black-hearted, opportunists, who would steal from their grandmothers and crawl under the covers with the devil to curry favor with their most vocal constituents.
I wrote a more politically-themed post concerning Anshultz on theHoundDawg blog back in April ("Where Politics and Sports Meet: A Tale of the Two SoCal Hockey Team Owners, How They Use Their Billions, and What it Gets Them"), but suffice it to say here that Anshultz, while partially motivated by the bottom line, is now and forever dedicated to advancing his ultra-right wing Christian conservative agenda, and in controlling so much of the Los Angeles entertainment scene, with his Kings, his Staples Center, his LA Live, his hotels, and now his football stadium and likely (at least in some part) his football team, he will be exerting his political and economic influence as he has around the US for two decades now, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fight against gay rights, to remove the study of evolution from schools, to require the teaching of creationism, and to elect his pet politicians, such as george w bush, to office.
We do not need him in LA, and we certainly we do not need our over-powering lust for a football team to obliterate all rationale thought and give him the keys to the candy store.
And just how ridiculous is it to approve a plan to tear down the Convention Center and rebuild it a block away, so he can build his stadium a block closer to his Staples Center and LA Live?
And what of that football team? How did Ram and Raider fans feel in 1994? For that, matter, how did Charger fans feel in 1960? I was a trermendous Charger fan in 1960, and was devastated when they moved two hours to the south. Well, what about the dedicated fans in Minnesota? Or the Jaguar fans in northern Florida? Or the St. Louis fans who saw a former owner, Bill Bidwell, rip the Cardinals from their guts and move them to Arizona; the same Cardinals that had earlier said adios to their legion of fans in Chicago? And yes, what of the loyal Charger fans in San Diego? Does anyone in Los Angels give a fuck about any of these other fans? Hell NO! Give us a TEAM! Who cares about anyone else!
Bull. We've waited since 1994. We can wait until the next expansion.
One more important point we need to keep in mind. In 1996, Peter O'Malley was ready, willing and able to build his own privately funded football stadium next to Dodger stadium, where an EXPANSION team would make its home. At that time, the LA City power structure, led in this effort by Mayor Dick Riordan and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, had declared that no NFL team would EVER play ANYWHERE else but in the moribund 70-year-old LA Memorial Coliseum. They told O'Malley where he could stick his millions of available non-taxpayer dollars.
The effects of this have had a disastrous effect on the Los Angeles sports scene ever since. First, and least important, LA was never on an NFL expansion list because the NFL knew no professional team would ever consider playing in the Coliseum. So, while teams were awarded to the likes of Jacksonville, Carolina, and Houston, LA stood cut off and out in the cold. Second, was the effect this had on LA baseball.
O'Malley was so disgusted with LA politicians, that he decided to get out of LA sports, and made the decision to sell the Dodgers. The ultimate outcome was the McCourt ownership, but just remember how horrendous the six years of Fox ownership were. The Dodger never made the playoffs during the Fox years, but did so in four of McCourts' first six years.
Had the Mayor and LA city council embraced O'Malley's plan, today LA would be in its second decade of having its own football team, not one stolen from another city, and we would have never know the vile Fox ownership nor the corrupt McCourt years.
And Peter O'Malley would be the owner and would be running the show, for both teams.
And we wouldn't be handing the keys to the city to Anshultz.
I wrote a more politically-themed post concerning Anshultz on theHoundDawg blog back in April ("Where Politics and Sports Meet: A Tale of the Two SoCal Hockey Team Owners, How They Use Their Billions, and What it Gets Them"), but suffice it to say here that Anshultz, while partially motivated by the bottom line, is now and forever dedicated to advancing his ultra-right wing Christian conservative agenda, and in controlling so much of the Los Angeles entertainment scene, with his Kings, his Staples Center, his LA Live, his hotels, and now his football stadium and likely (at least in some part) his football team, he will be exerting his political and economic influence as he has around the US for two decades now, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fight against gay rights, to remove the study of evolution from schools, to require the teaching of creationism, and to elect his pet politicians, such as george w bush, to office.
We do not need him in LA, and we certainly we do not need our over-powering lust for a football team to obliterate all rationale thought and give him the keys to the candy store.
And just how ridiculous is it to approve a plan to tear down the Convention Center and rebuild it a block away, so he can build his stadium a block closer to his Staples Center and LA Live?
And what of that football team? How did Ram and Raider fans feel in 1994? For that, matter, how did Charger fans feel in 1960? I was a trermendous Charger fan in 1960, and was devastated when they moved two hours to the south. Well, what about the dedicated fans in Minnesota? Or the Jaguar fans in northern Florida? Or the St. Louis fans who saw a former owner, Bill Bidwell, rip the Cardinals from their guts and move them to Arizona; the same Cardinals that had earlier said adios to their legion of fans in Chicago? And yes, what of the loyal Charger fans in San Diego? Does anyone in Los Angels give a fuck about any of these other fans? Hell NO! Give us a TEAM! Who cares about anyone else!
Bull. We've waited since 1994. We can wait until the next expansion.
One more important point we need to keep in mind. In 1996, Peter O'Malley was ready, willing and able to build his own privately funded football stadium next to Dodger stadium, where an EXPANSION team would make its home. At that time, the LA City power structure, led in this effort by Mayor Dick Riordan and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, had declared that no NFL team would EVER play ANYWHERE else but in the moribund 70-year-old LA Memorial Coliseum. They told O'Malley where he could stick his millions of available non-taxpayer dollars.
The effects of this have had a disastrous effect on the Los Angeles sports scene ever since. First, and least important, LA was never on an NFL expansion list because the NFL knew no professional team would ever consider playing in the Coliseum. So, while teams were awarded to the likes of Jacksonville, Carolina, and Houston, LA stood cut off and out in the cold. Second, was the effect this had on LA baseball.
O'Malley was so disgusted with LA politicians, that he decided to get out of LA sports, and made the decision to sell the Dodgers. The ultimate outcome was the McCourt ownership, but just remember how horrendous the six years of Fox ownership were. The Dodger never made the playoffs during the Fox years, but did so in four of McCourts' first six years.
Had the Mayor and LA city council embraced O'Malley's plan, today LA would be in its second decade of having its own football team, not one stolen from another city, and we would have never know the vile Fox ownership nor the corrupt McCourt years.
And Peter O'Malley would be the owner and would be running the show, for both teams.
And we wouldn't be handing the keys to the city to Anshultz.
| theHoundDawg |  |
Education Suffers but Football is King
02/22/11 12:03 Filed in: College Football
Texas Tech University faculty members were due $3 million in raises for 2011, when the administration determined the necessity of freezing all such raises. In these perilous economic times, such freezes have become all too commonplace, and astute educators can comprehend the necessity of such a move.
What is much more difficult to comprehend and understand and accept, is what Texas Tech then proceeded to do, in these “perilous economic times” - they found sufficient resources in their meager, overburdened coffers, to award head football coach Tommy Tubervile a $500,000-per-year raise, for each of the next five years.
Faculty members expressed their displeasure at a faculty senate meeting last week, and Texas Tech president Guy Bailey responded with a brilliant comment: “i’d love to be giving pay raises right now more generally” (as reported in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal). Was he a Texas Tech English major? Bailey has also alleged that Tuberville’s raise does not siphon off money from academics, but that fact is that the Texas Tech athletic department is subsidized to the tune of $2.25 Million per year from academic funds.
Curiously, Texas Tech has recently been actively striving to raise its academic standing among US Universities. As it now stands in the most recent US News and World Report ratings National University category, it is number 159 (out of 191 in the category). The football team, under Tuberville, did equally well last season, compiling a 3-5 record in the Big 12, and helped by a schedule that included the likes of Weber St. and New Mexico, an overall 8-5 record.
Gotta wonder just how many faculty members at Texas Tech rake in $2 million per year like Tuberville. I won’t hold my breath.
What is much more difficult to comprehend and understand and accept, is what Texas Tech then proceeded to do, in these “perilous economic times” - they found sufficient resources in their meager, overburdened coffers, to award head football coach Tommy Tubervile a $500,000-per-year raise, for each of the next five years.
Faculty members expressed their displeasure at a faculty senate meeting last week, and Texas Tech president Guy Bailey responded with a brilliant comment: “i’d love to be giving pay raises right now more generally” (as reported in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal). Was he a Texas Tech English major? Bailey has also alleged that Tuberville’s raise does not siphon off money from academics, but that fact is that the Texas Tech athletic department is subsidized to the tune of $2.25 Million per year from academic funds.
Curiously, Texas Tech has recently been actively striving to raise its academic standing among US Universities. As it now stands in the most recent US News and World Report ratings National University category, it is number 159 (out of 191 in the category). The football team, under Tuberville, did equally well last season, compiling a 3-5 record in the Big 12, and helped by a schedule that included the likes of Weber St. and New Mexico, an overall 8-5 record.
Gotta wonder just how many faculty members at Texas Tech rake in $2 million per year like Tuberville. I won’t hold my breath.
| theHoundDawg |  |
Jerry Jones Super Bowl Embarrassments Continue to Mount
02/06/11 14:17 Filed in: NFL
Guess this is a day for lists.
Poor Jerry Jones:
1. For months prior to the season, he hyped his Cowboys, assuring friend and foe alike that they would be playing in HIS stadium’s Super Bowl. Didn’t quite work out that way, huh, Jerry? His Cowboys limped home at 6-10, enduring such sub-par play that he even went so far as to change head coaches mid-season.
2. A headline-making accident at HIS stadium injured several people, due to poor maintenance and oversight, allowing snow and ice to pile up on the stadium roof and cascade down on top of unsuspecting bystanders. Was it just lack of maintenance ($$$$), was it poor building design, or was it just out-and-out negligence? In time, that will all be decided in the courts.
3. And as a capper, today, a couple of hours before game-time, the local Fire Department told stadium officials and fans that make-shift extra seating was unsafe, and that they would not permit fans to sit in those seats. Oh, Jerry - need to set those records for attendance; who cares if a few fans GET KILLED. Just cram them in where ever you can.
Poor Jerry Jones:
1. For months prior to the season, he hyped his Cowboys, assuring friend and foe alike that they would be playing in HIS stadium’s Super Bowl. Didn’t quite work out that way, huh, Jerry? His Cowboys limped home at 6-10, enduring such sub-par play that he even went so far as to change head coaches mid-season.
2. A headline-making accident at HIS stadium injured several people, due to poor maintenance and oversight, allowing snow and ice to pile up on the stadium roof and cascade down on top of unsuspecting bystanders. Was it just lack of maintenance ($$$$), was it poor building design, or was it just out-and-out negligence? In time, that will all be decided in the courts.
3. And as a capper, today, a couple of hours before game-time, the local Fire Department told stadium officials and fans that make-shift extra seating was unsafe, and that they would not permit fans to sit in those seats. Oh, Jerry - need to set those records for attendance; who cares if a few fans GET KILLED. Just cram them in where ever you can.
| theHoundDawg |  |
Snoop Dogg and the Dodgers - Say It Ain't So!
08/13/09 13:45 Filed in: Baseball
This past March, I wrote a lengthy post on theHoundDawg Blog entitled "Snoop Dogg and Farrakhan", describing the rise of Snoop Dogg as a cultural icon despite his sociopathic history and his association with Louis Farrakhan.
Now, the Dodgers have chosen to use Dogg in the marketing of their new "Ticket Truck" campaign. Following is a comment I left on the Dodgers' official website, folowing the article announcing this campaign:
Now, the Dodgers have chosen to use Dogg in the marketing of their new "Ticket Truck" campaign. Following is a comment I left on the Dodgers' official website, folowing the article announcing this campaign:
There is not much more that I can say about my disgust with this situation, other than how much I resent his soiling of the noble "Dogg" ["Dawg"] name.The Dodgers now have their own Michael Vick - a man who spent several years in prison, has had numerous drug and firearm related arrests, has been on trial as an accomplice to murder, has been sued for allowing (or ordering?) his "crew" to assault a fan, and who has been a driving force in making obscene, violent, and misogynistic lyrics a mainstay of popular music, and worse yet, who has admitted his membership in the Nation of Islam and of his fervent support for the most miserable, disgusting anti-Semite on the American scene, Louis Farrakhan, who, during a lifetime spewing lies and hatred, was quoted in the New York Times as calling Judaism a "gutter religion", and who in a 1984 speech broadcast on a Chicago radio station stated unequivocally that "Hitler was a very great man". Jamie McCourt, as Dodger CEO and as an active member in the Jewish community, you should be ashamed of yourself in associating the Dodgers with Snoop Dogg.
| theHoundDawg |
Vick Should Rot in Hell, NOT Get Millions to Play Football
07/27/09 19:39 Filed in: NFL
| Michael Vick did not "make a mistake" as his apologists argue. He ran a for-profit criminal enterprise for several years, He partially designed, and financed, and ran on his own property, a dog-fighting ring, participating in breeding, training, fighting, and murdering, untold numbers of dogs, for profit. He continually lied to his employers and NFL administrators, and the public, and ultimately pled guilty to doing the disgusting acts alleged in the criminal indictment filed against him in federal court. The image to the right is a photo of a dog injured in a staged dogfight, and is from the Save Vick's Dogs blog. In exchange for his guilty plea, he received a ridiculously lenient sentence of just less than two years in custody. Now, as he has regained his freedom, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has handed back his career to him, on a silver platter. Thanks to Goodell, Vick will be earning millions |  |
I have lost all respect for VIck's new mentor and number one apologist, former coach Tony Dungy, and will have nothing but disgust for any NFL owner who signs Vick to a contract, putting his despicable image in front of fans and media, and feeding him millions of dollars to finance his next criminal enterprise.
| theHoundDawg |
Sports Meets Real Life Head-On
Its been a tough few days for sports fans to remain in their fantasy bubble, keeping the realities of "real" life out of the toy department. In the past three days, 44 year old former NBA star Wayman Tisdale died, ex-Charger QB, first round pick, Div. II assistant coach, and all-time bust Ryan Leaf was arrested on drug and burglary charges, golfer Phil Mickelson left the PGA tour upon learning that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, the 39-year-old wife of Arizona Diamondback lefty and former Angel Scott Schoeneweis was found dead by her 14-year-old daughter, and today the airwaves were full of discussions about a second chance for the scum-of-the-earth Michael Vick, who is scheduled to be released from prison tomorrow.
Words cannot described the tragedy of the deaths of people like Tisdale and Gabriella Schoeneweis, nor the ordeal that Phil and Amy Mickelson and their family will now have to endure. But as to the other two events, the track record of Leaf was pretty strong evidence that his so-called rehabilitation and re-entry into civilized society would be short-lived, and his return to his prior lifestyle could be readily anticipated, and as far as VIck is concerned, well.....
That miserable scum should never play another down in the NFL and should never collect another red cent from any pro football owner. On the field, he was the most over-rated performer in the modern history of sports, and off the field one of the true evil, vile, disgusting excuses for a human being to ever enjoy the fruits of an over-paid, over-rated athletic career. It is disgusting to hear commentators, such as former coach Herman Edwards, fawning over Vick, and anticipating which team will win a sweepstakes for the right to pay him to return to football.
Well, hopefully the next few days, with the NBA playoffs and MLB interleague play, will see a return to on-flied excitement and no more off-the-field stories at the top of the sports news.
theHoundDawg
Words cannot described the tragedy of the deaths of people like Tisdale and Gabriella Schoeneweis, nor the ordeal that Phil and Amy Mickelson and their family will now have to endure. But as to the other two events, the track record of Leaf was pretty strong evidence that his so-called rehabilitation and re-entry into civilized society would be short-lived, and his return to his prior lifestyle could be readily anticipated, and as far as VIck is concerned, well.....
That miserable scum should never play another down in the NFL and should never collect another red cent from any pro football owner. On the field, he was the most over-rated performer in the modern history of sports, and off the field one of the true evil, vile, disgusting excuses for a human being to ever enjoy the fruits of an over-paid, over-rated athletic career. It is disgusting to hear commentators, such as former coach Herman Edwards, fawning over Vick, and anticipating which team will win a sweepstakes for the right to pay him to return to football.
Well, hopefully the next few days, with the NBA playoffs and MLB interleague play, will see a return to on-flied excitement and no more off-the-field stories at the top of the sports news.
theHoundDawg
Pistons Owner and World-Class Philanthropist Bill Davidson Has Died
03/13/09 23:47 Filed in: NBA
Bill Davidson, self-made billionaire, noted sports owner, and one of the great philanthropists of his era, died today at age 86.
At various times, he owned several different professional sports teams, most notably the Detroit Pistons, which he bought in 1974, turning leadership over to basketball professionals, resulting in a long, successful run as one of the top teams in the NBA, winning three NBA titles during his tenure.
He also build several successful businesses, most notably, Guardian Industries Corp.
His greatest achievements, however, were in making the lives of other people better, with his extravagant philanthropy, his donations totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, to his alma mater, the University of Michigan, to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, and $75 million alone to establish the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
Rich sports-teams owners are a dime a dozen. Men like Bill Davidson are few and far between.
theHoundDawg
At various times, he owned several different professional sports teams, most notably the Detroit Pistons, which he bought in 1974, turning leadership over to basketball professionals, resulting in a long, successful run as one of the top teams in the NBA, winning three NBA titles during his tenure.
He also build several successful businesses, most notably, Guardian Industries Corp.
His greatest achievements, however, were in making the lives of other people better, with his extravagant philanthropy, his donations totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, to his alma mater, the University of Michigan, to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, and $75 million alone to establish the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
Rich sports-teams owners are a dime a dozen. Men like Bill Davidson are few and far between.
theHoundDawg