auf Wiedersehen

The National Football League has decided to close down their 16 year experiment in globalization. NFL Europe will be no more. Goodbye NFL Europe! Thanks for your help in developing Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, and my personal favorite – Adam Vinatieri.

Unfortunately, the NFL will not leave the wider world alone. The commissioner stated: “From now on we will focus on regular-season games and use new technologies to make NFL more popular worldwide”

What’s the point? I entitled this post “auf Wiedersehen” because the only country in which American football was even remotely popular was Germany. The league first began with 10 teams from across the States and Europe; including cities from Spain, Scotland, and England. When NFL Europe removed its shingle there were only six teams; five of them were in Germany and the sixth was in Amsterdam. Who knows, the attendance for the German teams may have been boosted by the American military in that country. That’s just a guess. I have no data to verify that statement.

My point is this: just like soccer will never take off in America, football will never be an international smash. Let’s accept that and move forward. What is the point of playing regular season games in foreign cities? Why do that? How will that create an appreciation and a fan base for American football? If a football league in Europe never took off after 16 seasons, why does anyone believe that playing NFL regular season games abroad will create a thirst for the game? NFL Europe was losing $30 million a season! You cannot blame all of that on poor play. The game just does not appeal to Europeans.

Give it a rest. Play all the pre-season games in Europe, Asia, South America or wherever for all I care. But when the regular season begins, every game should be played stateside. Let the rest of the world watch the games on satellite. If they want to watch a game live they can book passage on a flight over here.

The Antidote for Your Misconceptions

In case you have not noticed, I added a new blog to those already listed on the “blog page“. The new blog is Doses of Reality: the Antidote for your Misconceptions. It is written by my friend Philip duBarry (Philip, forgive me. I’m not sure if the “D” is to be capialized or not. If you had an American name instead of a French one this would not be a problem!) The blog is co-authored by Philip’s wife Karen and his brother Stephen. Here is how they describe their family blog:

Never Talk About Politics or Religion…

While some families stand by this time-tested guideline for polite dinnertime conversation, we (Philip, Karen and Stephen) absolutely do not. We found (and still find) the dinner table a place for discussion of the most controversial topics imaginable. This blog is simply an extension of that rich experience. We invite you to join our civil, but probing, discourse. TUMS not included…

That is far superior to how I describe my blogs. You will find that the duBarry’s, even though they evidently come from French stock (maybe it’s Belgian?) are nonetheless politically conservative. Philip in particular is an obvious Fred Thompson backer. Personally I have not yet concluded whether or not that is a good thing. You will find the discussion at Doses of Reality to be intelligent and witty. The tone is always respectful, regardless of your misconceptions.

Check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Conservatives Attack!

Senator Lugar has lined himself up for an all out blitz from conservatives. Since he disagrees with the “surge” the inevitable comparisons to Harry Reid have begun. No doubt Rush Limbaugh and friends will turn both barrels on Lugar. (I wonder if Senator Voinovich will also receive a scolding from the Limbaugh/Coulter set?)

I think that Varvel’s cartoon does not accurately depict Lugar’s position. Desiring a different course of action does not equate to “giving in”. Lugar has not suggested that the US “cut and run”. How can the only options be “surge” or “withdrawal”? Other options must exist. Do I know what they are? No. But I find it hard to believe those are the only viable choices.

Here is a sample of the conservative howling over Lugar’s comments: “Clear and release does not work in an asymmetrical war – the terrorists hide until we leave, then come back stronger than ever. Clear and hold, the new policy that we have switched to under the surge, is the only way to develop stability until the Iraqis can take over.”

Just how long are we to “hold”?

Personally I am not crazy about Lugar’s plan; mainly because I do not completely understand his logic. I don’t know how it is possible to stabilize the area with less troops. I don’t know how we prevent Iran from becoming the pseudo-leader of Iraq if we are not on the ground to restrain them from entering the country. These are tough issues with no easy answers – to include “surge” or “withdrawal”.

Lugar’s Plan

Here are Sen. Lugar’s concluding remarks in regards to his Iraq plan:

Mr. President, the issue before us is whether we will refocus our policy in Iraq on realistic assessments of what can be achieved, and on a sober review of our vital interests in the Middle East. Given the requirements of military planners, the stress of our combat forces, and our own domestic political timeline, we are running out of time to implement a thoughtful Plan B that attempts to protect our substantial interests in the region, while downsizing our military presence in Iraq. 

We need to recast the geo-strategic reference points of our Iraq policy. We need to be preparing for how we will array U.S. forces in the region to target terrorist enclaves, deter adventurism by Iran, provide a buffer against regional sectarian conflict, and generally reassure friendly governments that the United States is committed to Middle East security. Simultaneously, we must be aggressive and creative in pursuing a regional dialogue that is not limited to our friends. We cannot allow fatigue and frustration with our Iraq policy to lead to the abandonment of the tools and relationships we need to defend our vital interests in the Middle East. 

If we are to seize opportunities to preserve these interests, the Administration and Congress must suspend what has become almost knee-jerk political combat over Iraq. Those who offer constructive criticism of the surge strategy are not defeatists, any more than those who warn against a precipitous withdrawal are militarists. We need to move Iraq policy beyond the politics of the moment and re-establish a broad consensus on the role of the United States in the Middle East. If we do that, the United States has the diplomatic influence and economic and military power to strengthen mutually beneficial policies that could enhance security and prosperity throughout the region.  I pray that the President and the Congress will move swiftly and surely to achieve that goal.

You may Sen. Lugar’s entire remarks here.  I still need to process what he had to say. I do not think he is a traitor or a coward. I do not think that he has become Harry Reid’s new best friend. But I am not sure what he proposes is an improvement to the current screwed up situation.

Beware of Alligators

I am Midwesterner with more than a pinch of Dixie. I also like to golf, although golf has never liked me; in fact it hates me. I still enjoy playing the occasional round; especially while on vacation. Being a Hoosier my typical vacation jaunts are the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee or the beaches in Florida or South Carolina. Six to eight years ago, while vacationing in St. Augustine, FL I went with my dad and brother-in-law to play a round of golf. It was on that occasion that I first encountered a golf course sign which read: “Beware of Alligators”. I asked the guy in the clubhouse, “Are there really alligators on this course?”

Remember, I’m from Indiana; we only see alligators on TV or in books.

The man answered, “Heck yes there are alligators on this course! This is Florida. Alligators are everywhere.”

I lost a whole sleeve of balls that round, because I never hunted for a one. I saw an alligator, too; warming himself on the slope falling away from the 10th green.

With that story from my past fresh in your mind, I leave you with the following report from the AP wire.

VENICE, Florida (AP) — A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities said.

Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.

The alligator latched on to Burger’s right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.

“I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled” for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.

Burger, from Lenoir City, Tennessee, was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.

It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.

The pond at the sixth hole has a “Beware of Alligator” sign.

“Unfortunately, that’s part of Florida,” course general manager Rod Parry said. “There’s wildlife in these ponds.”

Caption It!

It is said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. I have decided to start a regular series called “Caption it”; neither the title nor the idea are original. Gary Varvel has recently started a similar series, although he draws his pictures and simply insert them onto the post. I’ve seen other blogs do the same thing; Purgatorio and Blonde Sagacity come to mind.

Here are the ground rules (based on Varvel’s rules): I’ll paste a picture or cartoon with the title “Caption It” and you will provide the caption in the comment section. Keep it clean (I alone am the lone and final arbiter). Keep it brief (brevity is the soul of wit). If you can’t do those two things, keep it to yourself.

Let’s get started!

Dog Face

Beauty is most definitely in the eye of the beholder. This has to be the ugliest dog that I have ever seen. Evidently, many people agree with me.

“Elwood” is a 2 year old mongrel; half Chinese Crested and half Chihuahua, which in my opinion are two of the world’s ugliest dog breeds. Combine them and you have Elwood. On Friday Elwood was crowned in Petaluma, CA as the world’s ugliest dog. I have not seen the vote totals, but by appearances he should have wan by a landslide.

Elwood’s owner, Karen Quigley, said “I think he’s the cutest thing that ever lived.” Thus proving that beauty does indeed reside in the beholder’s eye.

Personally, I agree with Elwood’s breeder who had planned to euthanize the dog fearing it was too ugly to sell.

More PDAs

Earlier in the week I posted about a 13 year old Virginia middle schooler who was sent to the office for hugging his girlfriend in the school cafeteria. That was an innocent, offbeat story with which I had some fun. It is easy to become aggravated at a school who will not tolerate touching of any kind, not even handshakes or high-fives.

Then I read this story at Yahoo! – “2 Girls Kicked off Oregon bus for Kissing”. The two girls were 14! Just one year older than Mr. Hal Beaulieu, and only two years older than my oldest son.

The girls, both 14, said the driver called them “sickos” after a female passenger complained about their kiss. The driver then stopped the bus along the street and forced them off.

 There is plenty wrong with this picture; a picture, I must add, which makes me queasy when I think on it. First, people don’t need to be making out in public. Hal understood this. Why don’t these two young Oregonians understand this? Second, teenagers have no business making out period. Third, two girls kissing each other is just plain wrong; as wrong as it would have been for two boys to have locked lips. (I have to mention here that I am assuming the girls were not simply trading friendly pecks on the cheek. The reactions of the “female passenger” and the bus driver lead to the conclusion that the kiss was something more than a friendly gesture.)

Did the bus driver overreact? In today’s political and social climate the answer is yes. Had he just told the girls to stop making out in public nothing may have come of this, but throw in the “sicko” comment along with the boot from the bus and this guy has problems staring him in the face.

I can remember my school bus driver kicking unruly passengers off the bus with regularity. That was a different time (amazing how fast times or changing) and a different place. Being kicked off the bus in smalltown Aurora, IN is much different from being jettisoned in Portland, OR.

The driver has been disiplined. The company has apologized. But the most disgusting thread of this story is not the kids kissing; it’s the response by one of the girls’ mother.

The mother of one of the girls, Ronnda Zezula, welcomed the apology. “The only thing I had a problem with is they didn’t really address why the driver broke those policies,” Zezula said. “He knew it was wrong. He’s been a driver for 11 years.” She also said she wished the agency had made the extent of the disciplinary action public to show it will not “be just a slap on the wrist.”

Her “only problem” seems skewed. I would think she’d have a big problem with her 14 year old daughter kissing someone else in public. I would think she’d have an even bigger problem when the “someone” is another 14 year old girl.

Hamastan

The situation in Gaza is bad. That is not exactly a new development, but things are much worse than they have been and much worse than they should be.

Democratic elections do not always work. Hamas swept the Palestinian elections last year. The US pushed for those elections, and then were surprised when Hamas was swept into power; radical terrorists ruling a 140 sq. mile strip of land  stuffed with 1.4 million Palestinians. (Think about those numbers for a second: 140 square miles – 1.4 million people.)  Condi’s comment at the time was “Nobody saw it coming.” I bet Abbas did. Israel too.

Speaking of Abbas, is there a difference between a moderate terrorist and an extremist terrorist? I only ask because Mahmoud Abbas is not one of the good guys.  Yasir Arafat’s successor is better dressed and more educated, yet his group Fatah funds the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, a terror outfit that has spilled as much blood as Hamas. Fatah are not religious fanatics such as Hamas, but they are still terrorists. Abbas doctoral thesis was that the Holocaust was a myth. His 1982 doctoral dissertation was The Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement.

I’m not sure what was worse, however; the elections which transfered power from Fatah to Hamas, or Israel pulling out of Gaza. You might recall that President Bush  sent Condi to pressure Ariel Sharon to pull out of Gaza and in 2005 the Israeli Defense Force left. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the plan, and at the time he was roundly criticized. He looks a little smarter than his opponents today.

Higher Gas Prices

Check out The Stump blogger Patrick Casey’s post entitled “Democrats to Guarantee Higher Gas Prices”. His post deals with the Senate Finance Commitee’s 15-5 approval of a $29 billion package of tax-incentives rewarding alternative energy sources and penalizing the oil and gas industry. If you’re ready for the oil companies to be penalized for high gas prices do not think that this is the answer. Read his brief post and be sure to follow his link on pass-through costs.