Non-announcement
If my blog can remain stable for another 24 hours, I will announce an easy contest where you can win an Amazon gift certificate for $50 or a grand prize of an iPod nano. How’s that? More information tomorrow evening…
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A few thoughts on Plaxico Burress
Plaxico Burress, star wide-receiver for the world champion New York Giants, turned himself in to authorities today after accidentally shooting himself in the leg Friday night at a Manhattan nightclub. (I don’t believe this story for one second.) Burress’ lawyer argued that “he had 35 million reasons to come back to court.” Therefore, no bail needed to be set. (Wouldn’t he have those $35 million reasons NOT to go to a club with a gun?)
It is a privilege to play in the NFL. Plaxico Burress, Adam “Pac Man” Jones and many others need to try to grasp that playing in the NFL is not a right. The enormous stupidity shown by some of these athletes is almost understandable. Yes, I said it was almost understandable. These athletes get (and get away with) everything in our society. In junior high school and high school, teachers go easy on them. Other students do their homework for them. They are treated a little bit like royalty. All they have to do is make some impressive baskets or throw a football well. When they get to college, the treatment continues. They get paid to turn on sprinklers. Alumni will try to figure out a way to slip them some cash or a car or even a house — ask Reggie Bush. Yep, I’m playa hatin’!!
Then they get to the NFL, where the spotlight of celebrity is now upon them. Local newspapers cannot or will not cover up their shenanigans. As a matter of fact, the local newspapers try to expose their exploits. Now everything is different. Unfortunately, these athletes who’ve gotten away with everything have a hard time adjusting.
Let me ask three basic questions, Mr. Burress. First, why do you need to go to a club where you think you have to have a gun with you? Secondly, you make a lot of money . Why not hire bodyguards to protect you? Let them get in trouble for carrying concealed weapons. Finally, two days before the big football game against your arch rivals, the Washington Redskins, why are you out at the club anyway? (Could this be why your production has fallen off this year?)
I don’t think that I’m going out on a limb by saying that Plaxico Burress is no genius. Nowhere else in the world could he make $35 million in three to five years. He can’t make that kind of money working at Wal-Mart or at Sanford’s junkyard or on Wall Street (especially these days). Plaxico Burress and athletes like him should fall on their knees and thank God that they can run and catch a football and get paid so very handsomely for it.
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Monday Evening News Roundup
It appears that the United States warned India back in October that there was going to be an attack on the hotel and business centers in Mumbai.
Contrast the above intelligence “success” to President Bush’s interview with Charlie Gibson last night. Bush admitted that the biggest failure of his presidency was the cataclysmic lack of weapons of mass destruction. Bush had the audacity to place the blame for that travesty at the doorstep of the CIA, when in fact the blame is entirely his. It was his job to look at all the information. It was his job to weigh the pros and cons. He abdicated that responsibility.
The indictments that a Texas grand jury turned in against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been dismissed. Who’s surprised?
Blogger Glenn Greenwald, who has been on my radio show on a number of occasions, had another great post yesterday. He commented on an issue of the New York Times in which an article brought attention to a number of conflicts of interest regarding General Barry McCaffrey. General McCaffrey is on the payroll of NBC News. Glenn does an excellent job highlighting the hypocrisy of NBC. Generals who show up on the evening news should really be free of conflicts of interest.
The National Bureau Of Economic Research has now officially stated that December 2007 was the start of this recession. So what has the Bush administration been doing for the last year? With the stock market dropping almost 700 points today, I must say I do not believe Bush administration has done enough.
Barack Obama has announced his national security team. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will continue in his present position. Eric Holder will be the Attorney General. Former General James Jones ( see the Jones commission report) will be his National Security Adviser. Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona, will become Secretary of Homeland Security. Susan Rice will be nominated for Ambassador to the United Nations. Finally, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will serve as Secretary of State. This team is tremendously qualified. As usual, however, I have some questions. Where is General Wesley Clark? I really thought Senator Chuck Hagel would be appointed to Defense. Is there a spot for him in the administration? (By the way, the “fair and balanced” Fox News didn’t even cover the Obama press conference.)
Almost a quarter of United States employees who use the Internet at work spend a little time during the workday looking at on-line pornography. :-) Nice. Nothing else need be said.
GM drop kicks Tiger Woods
As humans, we are supposed to learn from our mistakes, having larger brains than most other mammals. When I see us making the same mistakes over and over again, though, I just have to wonder if our larger brains are working.
Although Tiger Woods is an athlete, he seems to be someone who has at least a few neurons that work. Why wouldn’t someone want to make an alliance with Woods to strengthen their company? How about adding Tiger Woods to a creative team to completely re-do the Buick line? How about using Tiger Woods is an example of someone who does not rest on their laurels, but instead tries to get better every day?
Instead of doing any of the above, GM has decided to cut their contract with Tiger Woods. They are saving money, they say. Give me a break! Fire a couple of executives who continue to make bad decisions again and again… now that would save billions.
From AP:
Turns out, Tiger Woods wouldn’t really rather have a Buick. At least not anymore.
When Woods ended his nine-year relationship with General Motors Corp. on Monday — a mutual decision between a megawatt celebrity who doesn’t need the work and a teetering corporation that needs every penny — it offered yet another snapshot of how badly the American economy has deteriorated.
Woods is the world’s most marketable athlete with an estimated $100 million endorsements a year. If his agreement with one of the world’s most active sports sponsors broke apart, some experts to wonder if any endorsement or sponsorship deal is really ironclad in these tough times. (more… )
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Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
