POLITICAL COMMENT ON THE SUPER BOWL

Probably no one wants to  again have to hear that the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl.  But, it was an exciting game.  

Bill Maher ranted about the the quarterback, coach and owner being friends of Trump.  Multi-millionaires hang with their own clique - and they dropped in my estimation; but we must remember that New England as a block voted Democrat against Trump and, of course, Georgia voted for Trump. 

Having said that, the Falcons played an excellent game - a great team.  

There are people that don't like the Patriots, but you can't tie them to Donald Trump because of the politics of a few participants in the team.  

There is no place in football for politics. 

I have never never felt like saying this before: but fuck you Bill Maher.

I know no one probably gives a shit; but god dam it - five Super Bowls... New England Patriots are quite a football team. 

the Ol'Buzzard 

SOMETHING ABOUT FOOTBALL THAT REALLY BUGS ME.

I loved playing football as a kid; and as an adult I wait with anticipation for the New England Patriots NFL football games on TV.  

The violence doesn’t bother me; but, it is fucking aggravating to see a player make a tackle, catch a ball or run for a touchdown then point up in the air like he is dedicating his exploit to God’s graciousness. 

This moron doesn’t realize that during the three-hour duration of the game approximately 1,200 children died of diseases, 2,625 children died of starvation, 180 people were raped, and 600 murders were being committed. 

I think the idiot is holding up the wrong finger.  If his God can get credit for a player’s athletic ability, He should also be held responsible for the cruelty he permits in the world during the duration of the game. 

the Ol’Buzzard

NEWS 24/7

News media running 24/7 give us the option to tune into the news programs of our choice – programs that give us the slant that confirms what we want to hear.   I admit, my favorite news program is the Rachel Maddow show.  I watch Rachel as much for entertainment as for news.

My first teaching job in a remote Indian village was third, fourth, fifth and six grades combined.   These kids knew little outside of their village life and politics.    Each morning I would tape the world news that aired earlier on RATNET (the single channel of television available in the Alaskan Bush) and play it for the children at the beginning of each school day.    I would ask them five questions:

 What is actual news?

What is sensational hype?

What is not news?

What is fact?

What is opinion?

I had parents that came to me and said that they were having to watch the news because their children wanted to discuss it when they came home from school.

The twenty-four news cycle bastardizes the news.   It has to be that way, for how many different ways can you present the same event for twenty-four hours?   Almost any natural news event can be covered in five minutes, but then the discussions, predictions, opinions and suppositions begin ad-nausea in order to stretch a precise incident to hours of coverage.

We are fed a mixture of news and pabulum and entertainment under the guise of information.   News is purposely slanted to the viewing audience (high numbers bring advertisers; and it is really all about money – not news coverage.  

  

MSNBC spent ten minutes on ‘inflation gate’ this morning: Were the footballs used by the New England Patriots slightly deflated for better handling during their final game with the Colts?  

At the end of the section we knew no more than we did at the beginning: If presented as news this should have warranted no more than a comment; it would have been more appropriate in the sports section.

In plain language the news man knew no more about 'inflation gate' than we knew, since the findings of the league have not been announced; but he spent ten minutes on hype, speculation and opinion.  My students would have said: NOT NEWS.  

The best coverage was from Rachel Maddow - she put it into perspective; entertainment. 

the Ol'Buzzard