Lots of chat these days about how hard it is to repeat as NCAA men's basketball champion, but before we write-off UF's chance to repeat, let me remind people that it's less unusual to repeat as a tournament finalist. Since 1981, I recall North Carolina, Houston, Georgetown, Duke, Michigan, Arkansas, and Kentucky all repeating as finalists, but not as champions. Yes, it's unusual to repeat as champion, but less unusual to make consecutive finals. And if UF makes the final this year, one has to like their chances.

Kobe "Wan Kenobi" Bryant is out of work for a day again. Seems he can't keep his sucker punches to himself. Now his coach Phil Jackson says it's a normal motion. Yeah, right. It's a normal motion he makes to intimidate and punish defenders who cover him too close. That's why anyone throws an elbow. That's why throwing elbows is a foul.

Did you know there's a third political party forming in America? Visit the Unity 08 website for a look.
unity 08

Remember when Wally Schirra of Apollo 7 fame did Actifed ads after using them on his space flight? If not, you may know the story. Anyway, I wonder if the Anna Nicole judge will be asked to do Kleenex commercials. Seems like a natural fit. We should have known what to expect when he talked early in the proceeding about his wife being his boss. That's called an "earmark of a duffer" in golf.

NBA great Dennis Johnson died at only age 52. Larry Bird said Johnson was one of the greatest athletes he'd ever seen play basketball. I saw Johnson play in college at Pepperdine. I knew Johnson was amazing because Pepperdine sent him to the center circle for the opening tap, although he was only 6' 3" and they had a 7' center, whose name I can't recall.

"If you're gonna have heroes, make sure they're dead so they can't blow it."
-Anonymous quote

I would add that fictional heroes work well too, but heroizing Dirty Harry might make people think you're a fan of Clint Eastwood.

I see that Frank Broyles has retired as athletic director for University of Arkansas. Someone asked him once if he'd still be friends with Lou Holtz (then coach of Arkansas) if the football team had a losing season. "Sure we'd be friends, I'd miss him too."

"Any lawyer who’s never lost a case has never taken a hard one."

William French Smith, U.S. Attorney General 1981-85
(a real attorney, not a make-believe one from TV)


Fear has a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Is this a contradiction? An element in our country believes the U.S. should leave Iraq, slowly or otherwise, so that Iraquis will take charge of their situation and deal with their problems. However, that same element doesn’t believe the U.S. should stop the flood of illegal immigration from Mexico so that Mexicans will take charge of their situation and deal with their problems. I’ve never been persuaded by do-what-I say, not-what-I-do policymakers, or those who invoke principles for convenience.

From Miles Davis,

"I think you fall in love with the first woman you can feel... and after that... I mean these love songs and stuff, they're nice to listen to, but it's not true."

Rest In Peace...

I give my periodical "Yes, we're as stupid as you think" award to ABC Nightly News for February 8, 2007. ABC spends at least a couple of minutes covering the death of Anna Nicole Smith and mocking that she's famous for being famous. Well, Anna Nicole was famous because the media gave her coverage, and if they don't like her fame, they should stop covering her. ABC followed the Anna Nicole story with a 30 second report about four inventors who were added to the Inventor Hall of Fame. However, ABC doesn't bother to give us the inventors names, just their inventions... as though we were not aware of the inventions, or their importance, or their ingenuity. The point of reporting is to tell me what I don't know, such as the inventors names... not what I do know, such as the accomplishment-less life of Anna Nicole. The story behind any great invention is usually more compelling and insightful than any story about Anna Nicole. But the story of Anna Nicole is also the story of electronic media's control or power, so laughing at Anna's fame is the same as trumpeting em's influence... and giving itself a kiss on its airy butt. Another sad part of the Anna Nicole attraction is that the media simply likes to make fun of things, the way kindergartners make fun of the handicapped. ABC is admitting that its audience is more like Anna Nicole than a great inventor, I suppose, but that's not news. I got news for you ABC, to a lot of somewhat daydreamy Americans, a girl who comes from the wrong side of the tracks, marries into a billion dollar fortune, and lives a rococo life thereafter is a success story. Nice scoop for the vacuous lemmings! Good night and good riddance.

There's an excellent reason why Peyton Manning is the highest paid player in football, and Rex Grossman isn't.

"Strength has never been one of my weaknesses"
-Dan Hampton, Bears' Hall of Fame defensive lineman


[Oliver Wendell] "Holmes is a skeptic without becoming a cynic, which is... endearing about him, in a way. He didn't think anybody knew how to make society better. But he was deeply respectful of the people who were struggling to do so."
-from The Supreme Court, PBS


"Popularity is never a criteria for art."
-from Thomas Hart Benton, a Ken Burns documentary


Sex in the City ought to be called Skanks in the City. A guy doesn't use spermicide with those gals, he uses fungicide.

Poor Kobe Bryant, he can't believe he got suspended for throwing a prohibited, reckless, and vicious arm and elbow swipe that happened to hit someone in the face. All the NBA pundit half-wits run to his defense... because they've been watching crummy basketball for so long they can't tell the difference between skill and brutality, or maybe never could tell the difference. That's not basketball Kobe, that's jungleball, that's Ali getting into a ring and fighting like he's in a bar. People who make tens of millions of dollars a year to play basketball should have more skill.

We're heading into the Super Bowl and I'm reminded over and over that there are two black head coaches running the Bears and Colts. This sort of takes me back to when Halle Berry won the first best actress academy award for a black woman. Leading up to her award, and for years, all we heard from Halle was how she just wants to be an actress, not a black actress. Then, when she gets the award, all she can talk about is how it's so important for a black woman to win.

Now, I'm not racist or anything. In elementary school, at the start of the 70s, I wrote report papers about Crispus Attucks, George Washington Carver, Bill Russell, and Kareem Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor). I also happen to be a Bear fan, so I couldn't be happier than to see Lovie Smith's team make it to the Super Bowl. But it's not a victory over racism to identify people by their race. Tony Dungy said it would be great when one day no one discusses the race of the coach, but if that's so, why did Dungy feel it necessary to make the point? Where's the coverage about Art Shell, coach of the NFL's worst team?

Getting head coach jobs in the NFL was never about race, it's about all the inside, silent crap that goes into getting a lot of the chief type jobs in America. Take a look at a couple of unsuccessful pro sports men of color: Isiah Thomas and Bernie Bickerstaff. Being black hasn't prevented those men from rising far above their level of competence in coaching and management. Why do they rise? Probably because they mingle with people who run basketball teams and they're considered safe inn keepers, in a sociological sense.

Am I the only person who's sick of hearing about "political solutions" for Iraq, and how we can only resolve the problem with a political solution. Let me guess, someone in politics came up with the term political solution. Politics, and politicians are responsible for the mess in Iraq, and I doubt any of them are capable of finding a solution. How about a human solution, one that considers the people dying, sacrificing, and paying for the mess... instead of the tiny number of political people seeking to run, or profit from whatever kind of nations emerge.

I've been reading a little about Shia and Sunni muslims lately too, and I wonder how President Bush has such a hard time relating to Shias from Iran. If Bush were a muslim, and I was to handicap whether he'd be Shia or Sunni, I'd place my bet that he'd be a Shia.

Well, that was a nice soft 60 Minutes segment about the Duke Lacrosse team scandal.  The accused in that mess deserve some sympathy, but no matter what DA Nifong has done during this case, I'm sure he didn't hire the stripper or invite her into the players' home.  It's a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive, but a stitch in time might've saved nine as well.  It's comforting to public investors that one of the accused kids was set to work on Wall Street, NOT!

I read where NY Giants defensive end Michael Strahan has to pay his ex-wife $15.3 million in a divorce settlement.  I'm reminded of an old quote by hockey hall of famer Bobby Hull, who said his wife made him a millionaire... and before his divorce he was worth three million.

Apple Inc. has become as big in legal news as it is in technology news.  In re Cisco and the name iPhone, I hope Apple's trademark lawyers are better than the lawyers they used to review executive stock option grants.

Gee, what a surprise, there's a camera video of the Saddam Hussein execution.  What we need next is a 3-D simulation of the whole scene for pundit analysis.  "Tell me doctor, how long do you think he lasted once the floor dropped?"  "Mr. executioner, what kind of maintenance is performed on the apparatus?  Was there a chance the floor wouldn't work that day?"  The former Iraq is a region that has almost no order, decorum, or dignities, so why would anyone expect the execution of Hussein to vary from that norm?

I heard a nice comment from a C-Span caller this morning.  He mentioned how a European CEO said in an interview how pleased he was to lead a company that contributed to his country's well being by providing satisfying work for citizens and paying taxes dutifully.  Some people still see that business is a civic enterprise, and not just something that exists to enrich its highest executives.  I hope as more U.S. executives go to jail, or pay money penalties at least, that the Looters' Ball will wind down.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia on the mindset of authority.  From oral argument in the case of Meredith v. Jefferson Co. Board of Education.

"How do we know that these are benign school boards?  Is it stipulated that they are benign school boards?"