Tag Archives: nfl

Whoever’s Playing the Titans

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Memphis unveiled itself to me gradually, transforming from an unfamiliar military posting to a vibrant urban landscape that captured my imagination. During my service, I encountered a city pulsing with warmth and verdant spaces, its character emerging through welcoming residents and lush surroundings. Strategically nestled beside the mighty Mississippi River, Memphis offered more than a mere geographical coordinate—it represented potential and promise. As my military chapter concluded, the city’s distinctive spirit and emerging opportunities beckoned, compelling me to contemplate putting down roots in this remarkable Southern metropolis.

Memphis faced significant challenges as its residents allowed ineffective leadership to guide municipal development, repeatedly investing substantial resources into projects with minimal public benefit. The pattern of misguided spending reflected a broader systemic issue within the city’s governance and community decision-making processes. I could and would elaborate but it is far off the point of this post.

The Houston Oilers’ relocation saga became a pivotal moment in NFL history when the franchise set its sights on Nashville. Despite the city’s enthusiasm, a critical challenge emerged: the absence of a suitable professional football stadium. This infrastructural gap would become a defining hurdle in the team’s ambitious transition.

The Oilers appeared to leverage their potential relocation to Nashville as a negotiating tactic, hinting to Memphis leaders that a compelling stadium proposal might persuade them to reconsider their planned move.

As anticipated, Memphis residents fell for the calculated strategy, swallowing the entire proposition without hesitation. Following substantial municipal investment in infrastructure improvements, the Oilers predictably executed their long-standing blueprint precisely as intended. As soon as possible, the Oilers became the Titans and moved to Nashville.

While the legal and procedural aspects of the situation appeared legitimate, there is a strong sense that the residents of Memphis were ultimately disadvantaged and did not receive fair treatment. The circumstances suggest that despite apparent adherence to proper protocols, the outcome was fundamentally unfair to the local community, leaving them feeling marginalized and shortchanged.

Despite my waning interest in professional football following the national anthem controversy, I maintain a steadfast opposition to the Tennessee Titans. While I don’t subscribe to the concept of karma, there’s a certain poetic justice in witnessing the team’s ongoing struggles, which stems from my personal principles.

It is my rationale that I root for whoever is playing against the Titans. It is my rationale that I like to see them flailing as they are. It would not hurt my feelings if they would just fade away, which would leave Nashville with a stadium and no team, sort of as it was for Memphians these many years ago.

Contributing to the Salaries of Millionaire Professional Athletes

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Of course, it is possible that you contribute to that baseball or football player when you go to see that game. It only makes sense. It’s what you pay tickets for.

However, I really don’t think it works that way. My guess is that doesn’t cover half of the salaries. I might be wrong. Still, I would like to see a breakdown on where the money comes from and where it goes.

Regardless, if the cities did not build the stadiums, the clubs would have to. It is sort of the way it started out. As time went by, more and more, the cities and counties started paying for the stadiums as a draw to pro teams, or for that matter, the semi-pro stadiums.

So, with your tax dollars, they pay to put the stadiums in, which allows the teams to put their millions toward the players. To me, the way I look at it, the taxpayers are helping to pay the players, even if they never go to a game.

So, isn’t it nice to know, even though you can hardly pay your car payment or grocery bills, they involuntarily make sure a dollar or two out of your paycheck goes to pay for that multi-millionaire player’s contract and bonuses.

If you don’t believe me, if none of the cities pay for the stadiums, just watch how fast those contracts decrease in value.

The hitch is this. If you take a little from each player, they’d not miss it and they could pay for the stadiums. Then the cities would not have to reach into our wallets to build the stadiums.

Then, the only folks that would pay for the contracts would be the ones paying for the tickets. I would imagine the concessions could pay for the stadium upkeep.

It does make me wonder though. Why do I write this when I know very few will read this, if any. Well, I also like talking to fence posts.

First, Catch the Ball

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Okay. I wasn’t the best in the little league, though I thought I was better than the coach thought I was. One thing I will say, I never missed a ball during a game while I played first base. It was because of something my brother taught me. First, catch the ball.

That is to say, no matter what you plan to do after you catch it, make sure to catch it. It seems so obvious but I have seen even the pros start to throw someone out at first before he caught the ball. That is embarrassing. Even more, it can cost the game. Not only can’t you not make the play without the ball, but if that ball goes on out into the field, it can cost runs. Worse, it allows that other batter to come to the plate and hit the little pill over the fence.

To be sure, it takes determination. The instant that hard hit grounder starts in your direction, you must make the determination to catch, or at least stop that ball. No matter what else you did before or will do after, that is the number one concern.

Strange as it might seem, I saw first one football player, then the other a short time later drop an almost perfect pass. They had both their hands on the ball and it was very catchable. In both cases, they started making their plans for what they were going to do after getting the ball… then they dropped the ball.

Excuse me, but aren’t these guys getting at least 6 figures a year. Perhaps I have it wrong, but I would think the coach would really want a receiver who would first catch the ball. I mean I’m not one of those high paid coaches, but as I have said before, I am available. I mean, I do understand the basics, like catching the ball.

It is really nice to be the fastest on the field. However, it won’t do you a bit of good if you can’t put your hands around that ball and secure it firmly. Then you can run. Then you can go through all those elusive moves. But first catch it. As I said, I learned that in Little League. My guess is that most of the football players learned the importance of holding onto the ball in high school. I am sure it has been stressed repeatedly in college.

It is as that architectural engineer wrote, “The most important thing, is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing.”

It is important in baseball. It is important in football. Actually, it is the most important thing in just almost everything. This means, it is really difficult to keep a nation a representative republic when you can’t even keep the elections honest. I mean, it is sort of the most important thing.

How to Win at Football

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It’s easy. I have been observing and I believe I have the perfect method to win and I could beat any of the other teams.

  1. Don’t get penalized. I have noticed that penalties almost always kill drives, especially the 10 yard variety. The 15 yard types are the really bad stoppers. When I see a fifteen yard penalty on TV, the cameras almost always cut to the coach, who is generally ready to start pulling his hair out. On occasion, I have seen one of them jump up and down and yell. It doesn’t do any good. Better to tell the players not to commit the penalties.
  2. Do not fumble or get intercepted. Turnovers are particularly bad when it is close to one end of the field or the other. Imagine the team is on the five yard line and drops the ball. Yeah. That is not a good way to get on the good side of the coach. On the other hand, fumbling the ball on your own 10 yard line isn’t good either.
  3. Long gains are good. However the real secret to winning is to make sure you gain 5 1/2 yards per play. This will get you first down after first down with a good margin for error, especially in light of item 4.
  4. Make sure the quarterback never gets sacked. All offensive plays should result in positive yardage.
  5. Make sure that each possession of the ball should result in some kind of score, even if it is a field goal. For this reason, it is good to have a kicker who has a cannon for a leg. If he can kick a field from the 50 yard line, it will have a very positive outcome on point production. It means that it is not necessary to reach the goal to score, only the opponents 40 yard line. It really puts a lot of pressure on the opponent’s defense.
  6. Defensively, remember, don’t allow the other team to do any of the above.

Now that I have shown I know how to win football games, I offer my expertise to someone willing to pay me a few million dollars. I am not greedy. 10 million will be fine.

As an aside, I find it interesting that football coaches get paid more the the commander in chief. This is true even though the coaches army is far smaller. Does that mean that a football coach is more important?

Rules & Refs

Posted in Biden, Cease fire between Israel and Gaza, Deceit by

It’s another football weekend. Teams will take to the field and play, mostly by the rules. When there are infractions the referees will usually step in and penalize the guilty team.

Nowadays, the officiaters have help. It just almost seems like there are cameras everywhere. When a play is in doubt, it can generally be reviewed from 2 or 3 different angles. I would call that a good thing. It keeps the game a little more fair, though occasionally someone does get by with something.

However, that just doesn’t happen much these days. There are many refs out there and the refs are getting better.

However, I think Old Joe’s been watching too many football games. He seems to think wars are like football. He seems to think the fighters will all compete by the rules. Whenever they don’t, he expects someone to toss a flag. Then, whenever there is a contested action, he figures it can be reviewed on the instant replay. This of course, while everyone just pauses and uses the time to catch their breath. And, oh yes, it will give the fan a chance to get a brew.

Then to, in war, there are no stopwatches. It isn’t over in a few hours. For some, it’s never over.

Better that the wars never start, like when Trump was in office. Better that the war is over fast. Less will be killed in a 2 week war than a two month war.

Old Joe just doesn’t get it. Because he permitted Iran and Russia to build up their fortunes, two wars broke out. People are dying because he insisted on driving the price of oil up. People are dying because Old Joe decided to give Iran a few billion.

I sure wish we could get a referee to throw one of those yellow things and pronounce penalties on Russian and Iran. However, I’m not getting my hopes up. I know the difference between football and war.