NFL16: $ales $oar, NFL Evades and No Forward Progress in Kaep Krusade

Colin Kaepernick’s Sit n’ Stew over his national anthem and white police officers is a big hit with some NFL jersey buyers (‘You’re not gettin’ it until Christmas, you know that, right?) but leaves him and his team about 9 yards shy of 1st & 10 with a playbook long on smack and short on answers.

— — —

America the democracy. That’s the game-plan, as long as Diebold® does its duty and those Electoral Collegians behave themselves. In truth, what we’ve really become is a consumerocracy. Oh…my…god.

China’s gaining ground on the consumer front but U.S.A. still holds commanding lead in the drive to grab (merchandise), gobble (gluten) and guzzle (HFCS & oil) like there’s no tomorrow. Course, if we don’t keep buying we can say bye-bye to the economy and “tomorrow” may be “another day” we just assume skip.

Some set-up, eh, buy or die? I can see it now, AT&T’s new ad campaign: ‘”(We’ve made you) an offer (you) can’t refuse,” and have a nice day.’

*The Powers-that-be can chisel away at our liberties in a post-9.11 State of Alert and have consumers dancing on a string and we barely make a peep. But take away our cruise package, Big Gulp® and Facebook feed and watch the streets fill up faster than a 6am express lane.

An athlete who had been an NFL player of some note, though, appeared headed for a reserve role, makes a public-gesture-short-on-a-few-facts to purportedly bring attention, not to himself (oh-no), but to what he claims is a serious and pervasive national wrong (police misdeed), and the biggest societal response is a smattering of jock-joinder (Megan Rapinoe, Brandon Marshall, etc.) and correlating spike in sales of his NFL jersey, vaulting it to the treasured #1 spot (“Colin..Jersey“ / nymag.com / 9.7.16 / A.Raymond).

In Colin Kaepernick’s world, such a perch might just be more esteemed than the triple crown: An MVP, Super Bowl ring and a ♫ hip-hop ♫ chart-topper. Top it off with the Oprah interview and the man’s made.

But even as Kaep Krusader’s jersey likeness makes appearances at events and gatherings around the nation in coming months as the glitter garb, the mass of buyers probably won’t be taking to the streets in furtherance of his purported purpose (awareness & change), not if it interferes with The Simpsons schedule or a Walking Dead marathon.

There are statements, then there are priorities. It’s 2016.

The act itself, Colin’s refusal to stand in a pre-season ceremony (v GB (8.26)) in allegiance with his nation’s flag and anthem in Key‘s Star-Spangled Banner, a hopeful gesture in show of patriotism, camaraderie and conformity, has been on rare occasion displayed by athletes in the past in one like form or another.

It was the timing and the man behind the gesture that caught most by surprise.

And it’s what has transpired since that opening act that has many passing a critical judgment on Mr. Krusader.

Being a believer in that Anglo-American tradition known as due process (Magna Carta (1215)), I felt obliged to give the would-be social advocate a fair chance to make his case. Push-back on forced conformity has its place. If I’m ever in a public arena where God Bless America gets amplified in snub of another bedrocker in the principle which separates that cantankerous twosome of church and state, watch this fan pull a Keys Krusade of his own, i.e., remain seated.

In that initial stage there was no Trump-like, knee-jerk reaction (love it or leave it) to Kaepernick’s sit-down strike from this quarter. Like it or not, unless it’s mean-spirited or clearly self-serving, we can all afford to lend an ear to hear-out the protestor, for a time. We’re a democracy, right? Right.

Time’s up.

I suspected self-service and politics were Colin’s true motives given the initial form of protest and timing, but wondered if something constructive, more hopeful might come from it. “(Prejudice) is forever busy and needs feeding.”

Then came the mock-socks and Krude Krusader exposed himself as a fraud.

The socks took stage in 49ers final pre-season game in San Diego, depicting cartoon police figures as what appeared only white (pink) colored swine. Racist?

Anyone with a sincere beef on local or State police misdeed, and actionable cases do exist, need look no further than the U.S. Justice Department. President Obama’s enforcement arm oversees and is broadly empowered to intervene on any set of facts that even remotely relates to racial injustice in America.

All Kaepernick has achieved in substance from his juvenile display in petulant finger-point and high drama that singles out one profession, one race, a show that devolved into mean-spiritedness (mock-socks), is to administer one big booster shot to one man’s celebrity, a voting sector looking to pass ‘the buck’ of blame (Harry‘d nod ‘no‘), a ready platform for a smattering of jock-joinders (Rapinoe), claimed-victims who’ve more to say (Marshall, etc.) and then those who’d profit from Nike jersey sales and the like.

The Krudesader will be milking this bovine for as long as it gives juice. Probably about as long as Tim Tebow and his sponsors (Mets, etc.) will be milking his Heisman for all it‘s worth. But at least Timbo’s on his feet and giving it the old college try, I’ll give him that much.

For the NFL’s part, they’re apparently cool with Colin (“Roger Goodell“ / usatoday.com / 9.7). It took Roger Goodell and his team of law review legal eagles two weeks to decide on the appeasement approach to CK’s passion play.

I know of no other private enterprise that does more to encourage racial harmony and career opportunity for blacks and other minorities than does the NFL, which might explain the tepid, tardy response.

The Commissioner, as well as DeMaurice Smith (NFLPA) and his lawyers, could have penned a joint-statement that found Colin’s complaint too narrowly worded (white police), krude (socks), cuts too broad a swath (v. patriotism) and yet still respected his right to non-conformity. As reported, CBA does not require stand-at-attention.

Instead, the League and union, who have a close relationship with the U.S. military, took a page out of Ms. Clinton’s playbook and chose to tread lightly.

Most observers likely see Kaep in one of two lights: He fumbled on the play and then laughed about it (mock-socks), or, he ran it in for TD. No fence-sitting.

Oddly, even had Goodell come out in complete support of Kaepernick’s sit ‘n stew and the socks, supporters of the reserve signal-caller would most certainly still believe the Commissioner to be the devil. It is what it is, “a rose is a rose,” racism, from whichever direction it emanates (mock-socks), is still racism.

And don’t expect Kaep & Co. to make a call for consumer boycotts or anything weighty that would require self-sacrifice in their own top income sources or the buying public’s discretionaries department, though, it does appear others are forcing the issue a bit in that Mr. Marshall has reportedly been dropped as a spokesman by the Air Academy Federal Credit Union (“Broncos LB” / nbcsports / 9.9.16 / J.Alper). A decision to Brandon’s displeasure, no doubt, but guessing AAFCU is not his bread n’ butter account. Will the Krude Krowd see that severance and raise the stakes? Time will tell.

Above all, Colin, like Smith, Raja and Dick Sherman too, hold this truth to be self-evident: All consumers are created equal and endowed with an unalienable right to purchase without unreasonable restriction. On that, they all agree.

Steven Keys
NFL HunchLine
Photo credit: C.Kaepernick, wc.cca, Aukirk, 2.3.13; R.Goodell-soldier; 7.10.8, wc, Sgt.B.DelVecchio, Afghan; money-counting, J.Belmonte, 2004, wc; Money-drawbag, wc, 2006, Johnny-Automatic; Kaepernick, wc, 10.27.13, D.Hartwig; Goodell, wc, 8.30.12, SSG, T.Wade; R.Goodell-soldier; 7.10.8, wc, Sgt.B.DelVecchio, Afghan; Moneybags-stacks, wc, 1921, SRS, BauerLineInc; NFL-symbol, wikiproject
Posted: 9.9.16 @ 6:08pm, edit 9.10 @ 12:03am; Copyright © 2016

NFL16: Kaep Krusader Sitting Tall In Anthem Boycott? Better Guess Again

What lives in a man’s heart, who can really say?

Sometimes even he won’t know, not until Father Time brings it all into focus, that is, if that man (woman) finds enlightenment along the way. ‘Some grow older and wiser, some just older.’

That’s the question (♥) football fans around the nation are asking themselves following Colin Kaepernick’s decision last weekend to sit down during the national anthem in a 49ers’ pre-season, pre-game (v GB) show of defiance and determination over the on-going issue of racial inequality in the United States.

Gotta admire one who advocates for justice. It’s the motive, method and then level of sincerity behind the overt act(s) that’ll peak the curiosity, cue debates, set media scrambling and strain the sensibility of more than a few commentaries.

I’ve never been a big fan of forced conformity (one reason I‘ll never be rich), though, it has its place (HOA covenants, compulsory education, military service, immunizations, speed limits, etc.). That’s where one’s judgment capability, even surrounded by advisers, will come into play.

Francis Scott Key’s Star Spangled Banner (1814) is not the ♫ toe-tapper ♫ the former Super QB (47) has come accustomed to hearing when filling his cranium with music from the ever-present head-muffins he wears (Beats-by-Dre). But its inspiration is honorable (War of 1812), its cadence easy and makes no religious test in the version of which I‘m familiar (See; God Bless America (Berlin)).

Maybe, just maybe, Kaep has other motivations in mind as he keeps up his sit-down strike for as long as San Fran brass keep him in uniform, which was a somewhat tenuous proposition before his pessimistic statement on the nation’s racial state.

And one has to wonder exactly how tuned-in to any issue of social merit could be the Milwaukee native, Cubs draftee (‘09-R43) and Runnin’ Rebel alumnus (2010) (Wikipedia) if that issue does not emanate (w/wisdom) from lips of his favorite balladeers, given the head-gear routine and the world of NFL accoutrements in which he and every pro player is ensconced: Limited library.

As such, I have a few guesses as to what else might be driving Kaepernick’s display of social conscious and non-conformity, and why now:

1) Never Stop Caring…or Careering

With his NFL gig appearing to be in fade-mode and possessing of a business background (UNLV), pumping-up your political credentials can enhance post-NFL marketability. On the issue of racism, one on par with the national jobs outlook (always assailable), Colin can’t miss.

But that’s too risky a tack, no, Stevo? ‘Au contraire, Esteban,’ might say his agent. ‘The folks who’re characterizing Colin’s gesture as un-American were likely not in his corner before nor target-market to buy his pitch today.’ What Colin’s boycott will do is solidify a favored position with his peers that may include the SAS’y one (Disney), Black Lives Matter and many in the Democratic Presidential nominee‘s campaign who’re all too eager to remind America just how much work is yet to be done on the racial fronts, at least one of ’em, and energize a base in the process.

Key, of a different note (♫), you have gotta’ protect & promote the product ($), whatever your commodity may happen to be. Roger Goodell, DeMaurice Smith (NFLPA) and Rich Sherman know it all too well.

2) Doing the Sam-Sham

Like Mike Sam before him (2014) whose deficiency in NFL talent did not stop him from receiving ample opportunities (Rams, Alouettes, Dallas, Vet Combine) after his pre-Draft disclosure of having a homosexual orientation, a social notoriety seemingly worked as leverage, Kaep too is, intentional or not, putting his 49ers team in a rather precarious PR position where his release / trade could give, to those of a bully bent, cause to attack the club in claim of racial insensitivity when, in fact, such postulated roster move could be rationally-based entirely on talent, or the lack thereof.

Theoretically then, Kaep could, like Sam before, use his new civil rights notoriety, as leverage to, in his case, forestall any roster move.

Much speculation on my part. But two (2) points on which I am certain:

[1] While Kaep’s intentions may be just, if not entirely free of self-interest, choosing to diss the national anthem is a bad play. Mixed messages and half-measures (unilateral racism) make for poor social statement. Indifference to such can suggest impure motives; And [2], when juxtaposed against actions of others in sport (Ryan Lochte), Colin’s call deserves at the very least a modicum of patience and consideration from his critics.

When you think of the string of wrongs that Lochte perpetrated, all working a taint upon the Olympics, Brazil, team USA and then boyish dismissiveness of taking responsibility once the bad was exposed (“I exaggerated that story”) and following favoritism afforded by many in the media and entertainment worlds (Dancing With the Stars), in a comparative sense, Colin can be fairly characterized as Walking Tall (‘73 / 04).

And “this (calculated confrontation) too shall pass.”

The San Francisco 49ers, if they don’t release / trade CK soon will seek, then demand his cooperation as preferential treatment and actions viewable as un-patriotic cannot stand, no pun intended. The NFL will then assert policy directives while NFLPA will back its member regardless of the merits or non-conformity (CBA) of his actions (See also; PEDs).

When tackling issues that sweep across the social plain, the bravest people are often the loneliest (See; Trumbo & Abbey). They count their profits in common coins of community breadth, substantive gesture and the few but sincere conversions that may come. In weight-room lingo, it’s called no pain, no gain. True progress exacts a steep price in self-sacrifice, all around.

If Colin’s cause is sincere, largely unselfish and informed (again, the ♥ thing (?)), I wish the man well. Lacking in any of those and the Sporting Gods should, in time, exact their revenge, i.e., ex-QB.

Steven Keys
NFL HunchLine
Photo Credit: C.Kaepernick, wc.cca, M.Morbeck, GB, 9.9.12; Kaepernick, 10.27.13, wc, D.Hartwig; F.S.Key, wc, 8.9.48, USPS, BE&P; M.Sam, wc, 8.24.14, ED.Drost; R.Lochte3-M.Phelps4, 4×200, wc, Rio, 8.9.16, F.Frazao, Agency.Brazil;
Posted: 8.30.16 @ 12:25pm, edit 9.1 @ 11:26am; Copyright © 2016

MLB16 Chin Music: The Last Iconic, Hack’s 191 Endures As Ueber-Think Thrives

The Ueber Code: No $tone Unturned

Evanston, Illinois: That’s the birthplace.

It aught tell the reader, onto which of Windy City’s two major league ball-clubs I pin my hopes n’ dreams for World Series glory. It aught.

Not familiar with Chicagoland, beyond sports, its famous residents (Prez Obama, Ray Kroc (McDonald‘s), Carl Sandburg (“Big Shoulders”), Oprah Winfrey, Bill Murray) and the legends (Mrs. O‘Leary, Al Capone, Harry Caray)?

No map-app? No problem. Some clues: I think Hank O’Day had moxie to burn while bribe-taking Joe Jackson, human as we all are, has no place in the Hall, ever.

Still in the dark? Hmmm, okay, let’s see…oh, oh, I’ve got it, this should flip the switch: My team was the first dynasty of professional baseball, winning the flag (6) or taking 2nd (3) nine of MLB’s first 15 years (1876 – 90) and today can make a strong case in claim of title to our nation’s most beloved sports franchise, i.e., America’s Team. A claim.

That‘s right, you got it, I’m a Chicago Cubs fan.

And like any Bruins backer worth their weight in beehive bounty, I accept the White Sox as a necessity to Chicago’s baseball gestalt, appreciating their one-half part in helping make that rare state, a metropolis supporting two major league teams (NYC, SF Bay, LA metro). Were they members of rival operations, i.e., a Federal, Players or American Association, that’d be even the better (quality & cost controls), but the Courts and compliant media don’t see it that way and most fans, even with $20 nachos, aren’t squawkin.’ Buuurp!

I’d appreciate South Siders even more had they chosen to keep “Old Roman” Charles Comiskey’s (1859-31) name for their new digs (1991-02), one that drips with cachet, first gaining national prominence in late 1880s as key cog in those great St. Louis Browns clubs (AA) and then of course as founder of Chicago’s entrant into the new rival American League, rather than cave to corporate shill, i.e., US Cellular, a tag with about as much cachet as a corn-dog n’ cola. Buuurp!

Nevertheless, I do hold the Pale Hose in higher regard than HFCS, most TV and fellow Evanstonian Peter Ueberroth who as Commissioner in ‘84 PS gave Cubs playoff chances, their first in 40 years (25 more than Padres existed), the short shrift in awarding the Garvey – Gwynn Padres home-field (SD 3-2), even as San Diego was five up in the loss column over the Sandburg – Sutcliffe North-siders, then strong-armed the Cubs into installing lights in the friendly confines.

Not very nice, Peter.

And not all too bright either, given that this baseball version of America’s Team was likely the favored opponent of neutralites around baseball nation who were eagerly anticipating the match-up with Sparky’s roaring Tigers (DET 4-1 SD).

But that sort of play was $OP for Pete in his two Directorships, the first selling the summer semi-Olympics in Los Angeles (Commies stay home after Corporates boycott Moscow (80)), then in steering MLB operations (Oct.1984-89), a procedure that would change the business of sport management forever.

While his baseball reign was a cup o’ coffee in Commissioner time, his directives have had staying power, becoming the template for sport leaders from coast to coast in both professional and semi-pro (NCAA) ranks.

The Ueber Principle: Maximization of profit potential (MPP). Nothing’s sacred, nothing’s off the table. Everything in the sport is either a billboard or bargaining chip in a profit scheme. If it doesn’t turn a buck, it’s out with the recyclables, Dude. Continuity, style, history, reflection, ‘Where’s the consumerism in those, Loser?’ Oy vey.

In a real sense, Pete’s tack was an outgrowth from Earl Butz’ game-plan for US farm families in the 70s, President Nixon & Ford’s landscape-changing Secretary of Agriculture: ‘Get big or get out!’ Sans the subsidies (anti-trust?), but ballparks no small contributor to the push on high-fructose corn syrup consumption.

And it’s not just greedy owners and media minions who push the UP, union rank n’ file (& Retainers) are at the front of the profit parade. When it comes to money in sport the enemies (owners) of my enemies (players) are friends. Cha-ching!

Ueberroth’s predecessor Bowie Kuhn (1969-84) was no Ernie Banks (“Let’s play two!”) and had his critics in owners (Finley / Steinbrenner) and players both (Flood / Mays & Mantle (casino ties)). But the Maryland native and former NL lawyer did exude a sporting spirit in maintaining a competitive field, backed the induction of Negro League greats into the Hall as their BoD resisted and had an awares of the corrupting influence that some forms of profiteering can have on a game‘s integrity (fantasy gamble, etc.). Cufflink with a conscience?

Today, those kind of views will make you a sauropod, flagged straight into the tar-pits. Gulp!

The games are no longer pastimes but merely vehicles for money-makers with smallest of pretense given to quaint notions of reflection & trust. No surprise then that most players now live by the Machiavellian (or Orson Wellesian (The War of the Worlds (radio ‘38))) credo: ‘Ends ($$) justify the means (PEDs),’ or, in present verbage, ‘Cheat if you can get away with it (smirk), even if you don’t (See: Lance, Braun, A-Rod, Lochte, Al-Jazeera 4, etc.) because you’ll get a Disney gig either way. Honk!

And the passengers taken for a ride in the vehicle? Young consumers, of course, the most malleable market who slurp celebrity n’ selling-points the media’s all too eager to pour (Goodell’s grim, rule change needed, officiating awful, etc.).

Hoping for Hatchlings

With the 2016 Cubs cruising to a Central crown, a 2nd straight post-season and most people’s pick to win their first Pennant in over 70 years, you might think I’d be giddy with good vibrations. And then you’d probably be new to sports.

If there’s one thing a well-weathered Wrigleyite is not, it is a chicken-counter, as in before those proverbial eggs get hatched. Hatchlings here being the necessary deeds & titles (playoff ticket punched, NLDS win, NLCS, etc) that must be in-hand for residence in Champion City.

The caution comes from generations of fan disappointment, starting with every Cubs contender post-1918, from Hippo Vaughn’s hopefuls, who had a higher BA (.210 v .186), scored more total runs (Red Sox’ Ruth top RBI man (2))) and lower ERA (2.18 v 2.30) than their ‘victorious’ Boston opponents, to last season’s NLCS fellows of fizzle (0-4 NYM) and 11 other post-season busts in between.

Wilson Watch: The New 61

But there is an achievement so impressive, so weighty that Bruins’ backers can, around late-August of every season, reflect upon with pride and satisfaction, one that’s not likely to be eclipsed anytime soon if ever, and that is Hall of Famer Hack Wilson’s eye-popping 1930 single-season tally of 191 RBIs.

This season, that satisfaction came earlier as the only challenges to the 191 were mounted by Ed Encarnacion (TOR) and Nolan Arenado (COL) who just hit the 100 RBI mark last week. With five weeks to go it’s safe to say, “forget about it.”

Hack’s record will likely stand for another winter and is so frozen in place it’s gonna’ take a serious bump-up in greenhouse gas emissions and disappearance of at least one polar cap to melt the icy wall of invincibility that seems to surround the mark.

There are many tremendous single-season records in MLB’s annals that’ve been achieved, challenged and sometimes bested since it‘s first opening day in 1876.

A short list of some unique and still standing notables:

· Boston Beaneater Hugh Duffy bats .440, wins NL Triple Crown in 1894;
· Same season, Phillies’ Billy Hamilton crosses home plate 198 times;
· Christy Mathewson wins 31 (1.27) and tosses 3 CG-SOs in 1905 Series;
· Ed Walsh wins 40 in ‘08 (1.42 / 464 IN / 42 CG) as Sox team bats .224;
· Ruth’s 1921: 177r, .378ba, 16tp, .846slg, 17sb, 145bb, 59hr and 171rbi;
· Indians’ Joe Sewell strikes out a mere four times in 608 at-bats in 1925;
· Rogers Hornsby wins 2nd Triple Crown in 1925 batting .403 (.401 ‘22);
· AL Leader in HR, R, SLG & OB%, Ted Williams hits .406 in style (41);
· Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson breaks MLB color barrier, wins ROY in ‘47;
· A’s Bill Fischer pitches 84.1 straight innings w/out issuing a walk in ‘62;
· B. Gibson (22-9 / 1.12) & D. McLain (31-6 / 28 CG) go pitch crazy in 1968;
· O. Hershiser throws 59 scoreless innings en route to ‘88 Series win (A’s).

Some sportologists try to sell the theory that the ‘streak’ is baseball’s grandest feat for its high stress and unassailability. And to that I say, poppycock, Doc.

Such marks may prove invincible once sanctioned but anything subject to official scoring (Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio’s 56) or personal discretion (Cal Ripken’s 2632) will, upon closer inspection, reveal weak-links in their chains of greatness.

Ever since Yankees’ GM Ed Barrow snatched the Babe from Beantown (‘19), fans have thrilled at power-ball. Goodbye spitters, dead-ball hitters and “Hit ‘em where they ain‘t” (Keeler),..hello lively ball, home run call and “Holy cow, he did it (Rizzuto)!”

In supplanting Ruth’s 60 single-season homer mark (‘27) in 1961, Maris’ number became the biggest jewel in the crown of baseball exploits and holy grail every big bopper in the game wanted to grasp. If the stars aligned, both homer marks did invite serious challenges: Foxx (58 / ‘32); Wilson (56 / ‘30); Greenberg (58 / ’38); Kiner (54 / ‘49); Griffey (56 / ‘97).

But it was the possibility which made them enticing and then easy prey for the performance-enhancing slugs.

Juicers blew by the iconic 61 like it suddenly didn’t exist, as fans & media went ga-ga over Mark & Sammy (’98). The hypocrites could fill every park in the land.

Some of the great bat marks felled in recent years:

Maris’ 61, SS – HR (‘61), bested by Mark McGwire & Sammy Sosa (‘98), then Barry Bonds’ 73 (‘01);
Hank Aaron’s 755 career HR (‘76), overtaken by San Francisco Giants Bonds’ 762 total in 2007;
George Sisler’s SS – 257 hits (‘20), surpassed by Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki in 2004 with 262 safeties.

Baseball’s governors have a sticky-wicket on their manicured hands: What does Elias Sports Bureau do about Bonds tainted tallies (73 / 762)? Does Ichiro get a pass? Not bold-decision makers and, as noted, focused on coin rather than history, Manfred & Co. will likely continue on the ‘do-nothing’ path and leave the mess for future generations to resolve. Guardians of the game? Ugh.

What the major league game clearly needs is an injection of some Kenesaw Mountain Landisonium to give baseball back its courage and clarity, in play, ownership, management, media coverage and record-keeping, a bedrock component since 1876 . Get Pfizer on that one, STAT.

As such, Roger’s fabled 61 will never regain its former luster, leaving one, last, great, untouched single-season, power mark, free from the grimy fingerprints left by drug-cheats, calling-cards ignored by baseball’s cops on the beat (MLB & collectors in media) who seem only interested in making their pension.

Wilson’s gargantuan RBI record has stood the test of time (86 years) and serves as testament to what a man on a team stamped Good Dugout Seal-of-Approval can achieve w/out body armor, cortisone, PEDs and $30M-a-year (K).

The 191 is the new standard for power prowess, benchmark for immortality. It’s the new 61. But you won’t hear that on Disney (ESPN) or MLB Network.

Had Hack painted his masterpiece with a New York brush (NYG 1923-25) instead of Chicago, epicenter of trains, Great Lakes traffic, commodities & Midwest flair, Gotham City scribes would’ve immortalized Wilson’s fantastic feat in poetry & prose (See; Franklin Pierce Adams). As it stands, the media mecca of America will never pay homage to a record set by a Second City sultan.

Another reason Hack’s 191 is marginalized: So few have challenged it.

There were Gehrig (184 / ‘31), Greenberg (183 / ‘37) & Foxx (175 / ‘38), but even with today’s advantages in armor, medicine, nite n’ lites, travel-zip, more games, AL-DH, Denver and lower mound, 153 (T. Davis / ’62) and 165 (M. Ramirez / ’99) are closest anyone’s gotten in over 60y. Tigers Miguel Cabrera stood at 130 with five weeks+ left in the 2012 season and finished with a thud (139).

RBIs need three things: Base-runners, a team-mentality and general health.

Ruth ushered in homer-ball but Depression era players were frugal fellows, never forgetting the purpose behind batting: Score runs, win games! Today’s Home Run Derby mindset sneers at OBP and then, when the table is set, too many batters ( & Mgrs) fixate on the long ball.

Maybe the Sporting Gods guard the 191 as an emblem to an era. Good riddance to segregation and the fixola (1919) which was embedding but honoring the days free of nightly walk-off bunny-hop hysteria, Gatorade® drench, shave cream pie-in-the-face routine, drag pants, body armor, late-game World Series snooze (Zzzz), drug cheats (PEDs), tinker-bells (in rule change), sabrmetrics nor hanger-ons who hope for Hall call. Only records most 30s guys cared about spun on a Victrola.

And maybe Cubs finally take the Pennant again this season, maybe they don’t.

What’s certain now and likely to remain certain for the foreseeable future is that practically no one remembers who won the Pennants or World Series two years ago but nearly every baseball fan worth their weight in salted peanuts n’ franks knows the name of the man who holds major league baseball’s single-season runs-batted-in mark. “Hackidu” it’s you! That aught tell you something about the sacrosanct status of records, Mr. Manfred. So get crackin!’

Steven Keys
Can o’ Corn
Photo Credit: H.Wilson-R.Hornsby, Chicago Cubs; H.Wilson; C.Comiskey, BPL, 1910, wc.cca; P.Ueberroth, wc, Wrigley, US.Gov; B.Kuhn, wc, 1982, MLB; Wrigley.Field, Jblesage, wc, 5.28.8; H.Wilson; E.Barrow, B.Ruth, H.Frazee, S.McInnis, wc, 1918, TSN; G.Sisler, B.Ruth, T.Cobb, LoC, wc, 10.4.24; Wilson, Goudey, wc, 1933; Meeting.Gods, wc, 1630, Poelenburch, RPG-Mauritshuis; Canned-corn
Posted: 8.24.16 @ 2:17pm EST; Copyright © 2016

9 of 10 v. R-word: Redskins Row a New Front in War on Choice

“Politics makes strange bedfellows.”

Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden and Calvin, A Study of Character (1870) and Edward de Vere, The Tempest (1590s) (Wikipedia).

— — —

“Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

Ed and Charlie knew what they were writing about. Perceptive Dudes.

Life is full of surprises, oh my gosh: Big and small, short and tall, public and nobody’s business at all.

Sometimes that surprise will result from the most unexpected amalgamations you could imagine, all converging peacefully upon that figurative berth.

Case in point: Meeting of minds these past 4 years in support of NFL’s Washington Redskins more recently embattled but long-standing motif (1932).

Conservatives like Dan Snyder and Don Trump speaking with the same voice, on this topic anyway, as progressives like Dan Rather and Kevin Durant about a bit of commercial art in defiance of the ongoing attack on freedom of choice, or worded another way, personal autonomy of thought.

The merge in mind is a response to the national niche that emerged after the “really big (shoe)” Nike contracted for control of the League’s uniform duties in 2012 (and look how that’s turned out, i.e., Color Rush, Bucs, Browns). It’s when PC promoters took a page outta’ the energy industry’s playbook (no warming) and began fomenting the myth that there was broad resentment on the DC moniker. Make another bed, get The Simpsons sheets.

Cue an epiphany of outrage that burst upon the sporting scene, spearheaded by compliant sport scribes (P.King / D.Banks), self-serving special interest (R.Halbritter (Oneida)), célébrité in bad actors (J.Oliver), positioning politicos (H.Clinton / H.Reid), a mass of soc-media minionry and the bully bandwagon filled-up faster than you can say Jack Robinson. And all stubbornly still holdin’ on tight, even post-Post poll, likely fearful of vexing testy mandate-givers in snobbish defiance of a now vetted Indian consensus while heralding hypocrisy like we’re too dumb to notice most were mute pre-2012 on what they claim a race topic, one that if federally docketed is accorded the strictest of scrutiny.

But sincerity, “fatal” in quantity (O.Wilde), is for saps, right? And what would aboriginal Americans know about Indian sport logos anyway, eh, Harry? Ugh.

PC Battleground: Pro-Choice v. Politically Correct

For pro-choicers, their own entente, a pro-logo alliance fortified by the recent Washington Post poll (May), a serious sampling that threw cold water on hot-headed anti-choicers in merely confirming what most adults, sporting or not, had already known, that Indians (9 of 10) and otherwise are not offended by the moniker in opposite of dictates of NCAA and dictionary boards of editors, has been a curious kinship.

But while this Redskins ruckus works through Federalia, will remain a political football to kick about (See; P&TO) no matter who wins in November and brings together strangers more inclined to give “kindness” than pain, it may be having the opposite effect on the anti-Redskins contingent.

What looks the new litmus-test for the liberally-inclined may be driving a wedge between New Deal / Frontier – Great Society Dems (moi) and their court-appointed cousins, the politically correct who picket-in-hate (“That’s racist!”) just like the in-your-face (8ft “buffer zone”) anti-abortionists camped at Planned Parenthood, intimidating with selected scripture and blurting bloody “murder!”

One side slips under the covers, metaphorically speaking, cautious but content, the other discovering they’ve been “sleeping with the enemy.”

Talk about “strange bedfellows,” holy headboard, Batman!

“A (Poll) is a (Poll) is a (Poll)”

The Post poll isn’t just a poll, it is the poll. It’s the “mother,” father, grandma, grandpa and ‘old woman who lives in a shoe (1794)’ poll of all logo surveys.

It’s a sampling, claims not otherwise, publicized its method but is likely closest we’ll ever get to eliciting in a national, seemingly neutral, skilled manner the feelings of aboriginal Americans on the issue of Indian sport monikers.

And forget about a national plebiscite on word definitions. No interest from either side. Not so crazy a notion, considering we’ll soon cast ballots (if the Diebold® permits) for a President who’s essentially a button-manager (nukes) and ‘yes man (or woman)’ for corporate consumerism. Besides, a vote on Redskins would open a Pandora’s Box. Wouldn’t want our democracy too pure, would we (See; the Fed & Chiefs)?

To dismiss a poll out-of-hand as flawed as some feebly contend when conducted by an entity who was publicly opposed to the motif’s continued use, i.e., no bias, a paper with long record of liberal endorsement and top reporting (Watergate), well, that’s an opposition that can claim only one valuable but potentially abusive attribute on its credit ledger: Power, unchecked variety (Watergate, etc.). In this case, a power that found much of its fuel in the workings of virtuality.

The internet & social media have their upside. But it’s a double-edged sword. The lives of the < 25 set are permeated by gadgetry and their applications. A study at Baylor found college-age users spend about 8 (M) to 10 (F) hours a day on their phones (“The Invisible Addiction” / Roberts – Yaya – Manolis / JoBA / 8.26.14 (cited on Your Health w/Dr. Richard and Cindy Becker)). Where the good doctors got “invisible” from I can’t imagine. Call it the send n’ snub.

This addiction to information and communication technologies makes malleable users susceptible to trends. Followers on Facebook, Twitter, countless web boards are swaddled with a sense of community but in its virtual state those cozy covers can be pulled off in an instant when unseen leaders, i.e., site managers, get bored then bulldoze the neighborhood. And yet minds and opinions have already been shaped with little or no time to reflect.

And it’s in that world of trends & texts where the petite anti-Redskins campaign found its footing and will forever forage for converts to feed its big appetite.

More Than Dictum

Sport monikers can invoke themes outside the world of “tumultuous merriment.”

It’s not hard to see how topics like sociology, art, money, history, can be partial basis for their creation and then source for a fuller inquiry in retrospect.

Redskins opponents have been attempting to introduce civil rights onto the scale of justice when pleading and panning the famous Indian portrait.

It’s been my experience in reading through historical usage of redskin that’ve appeared online since the DC motif was put in the cross-hairs, that racial slur rarely reads as intent of writers unless coupled with words like blood-thirsty, savage, heathen and the like, slurs themselves, not redskin. I can’t write to all references posted but identification appears the common if not universal intent in use, just as color words black (Negroid) and white (Caucasoid) do today.

History matters, not so much to recent Presidents who, where education’s topic, are still bear-hugging math & science, but rather, to those who realize answers to societal issues & ills lay often in appreciating the past. While it matters, so too does a balance of relevancy when weighing past or isolated harsh intent against a more current and prolonged purpose, as in how the Redskins name & image have been intended and read by what would appear a super majority of Americans since rostering in 1932: As a positive for over four generations.

That written, one can’t fully appreciate a logo topic and render informed opinion without seeking out an appreciation for the current sport fans’ perspective on such and how, for many, these symbols enrich the experience. And it’s that perspective and its present-day intents (tribute, strength & charm) that should provide assistance to the jurist who presides over an Indian moniker case.

The wise and, in some cases, the brave Court ruling will result from the adjudicator(s) having gone beyond the requisite application of the facts to the procedural and substantive law. Some might term this a ‘living’ view as opposed to strict construction of the rules as written. In fact, it would be more akin to simply caring about your job performance and becoming well versed on the material at hand.

Just as a judge will in other actions involving any number of underlying subject matters like…say, medicine or automotive repair, often vest herself with the necessary insight on pertinent skills, sense & standards that are concomitant, she too must walk a mile in the moccasins of the sport aficionado to fully vest in the moniker‘s essence, then discover the truth and see that justice is done.

That’s the legend, anyway.

The last thing America needs in 2016 is another reason to conceive hate. But when avarice & arrogance get underneath the covers it’s four sheets to wind and what’s spawned ain’t pretty. Thankfully, the “village” is big with lots ‘o bunks.

Steven Keys
NFL HunchLine
Photo Credit: anti-abortion, Students-for-Life, UoToronto, 11.17.9, wc.cca; Washington Redskins, Chief.Zee-fans, wc, 12.4.11, Katidid213; H.Reid-E.Kagan, wc, OoSHR, 5.12.10; anti-abortion.walk, KX-TN, 1.20.13, wc, B.Stansberry; H.Clinton, wc, 6.10.16, Planned.Parenthood, L.Shaull; iPhone, wc, D.Zanetti; fans, Saints, 9.9.10, wc, USMC-DoD; NFL-symbol, Wikiproject
Posted: 7.26.16 @ 6:56pm, edit 7.27 @ 5:31pm EST; Copyright © 2016

NFL16: Tom Brady’s Grounded, What About Your Quarterback?

“Brady, Brady, Brady!”

“To be or not to be, that is the question
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take (legal) arms against a sea of troubles.”
     Hamlet, Edward de Vere (Shake-a-Spear), 1590s

Barring an unexpected reversal in his pending court case (Deflategate), a turnaround that would be analogous in football to a Herm Edward’s game-winning scoop & score of a Csonka – Pisarcik fumble (11.19.78), Tom Brady’s 4 game suspension for NFL 2016-17 will be implemented.

The starry New England signal-caller will likely make his return in W5 to take the reins from 3rd-year backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo (EIU) in resumption of the starter’s role Tom’s carried out with expertise (172-51) since supplanting the capable Drew Beldsoe in 2001. That would mean Brady’s first foe would be the Browns in our nation’s newest city of champions (See; Cavs (Trump hopes it’s trending (RNC 7.18-21))), his on-field arrival marking the final command performance of NFL 2016’s opening act.

Until Tom takes to the turf it‘s just not the NFL, making one wonder why Roger Goodell and the disciplinary folk are so determined to see their punishment of Brady et al upheld? Answer: Standards, and already having so much loot ($) that giving your top star an extended off-season is a bearable cost if it bolsters appearance of the League‘s blind-justice policy.

With Peyton Manning having decided to hang up his cleats, with little objection from Denver brass whom I suspect showed the legendary QB that proverbial ‘thanks for the Super Bowl win but just retire already’ door, the sure-fire 1st ballot HOF’er foregoing one last shot at a full season and victory tour after one of the most memorable leadership displays on record, it leaves TB as the undisputed face of the League.

A fitting state of affairs given both well decorated AFC field generals are the two most recent to hoist the coveted Lombardi (SB 49 (SEA) & 50 (CAR)).

For the Pats the early schedule will be challenging (@ AZ, MIA, HOU & BUF) but with the W-L result being of only marginal consequence. Criminy, it’s the Patriots, the juggernaut that just keeps on juggering…or nauting.

The New England product that Bill Belichick, Brady, owner Bob Kraft and the rest of the Foxborough folk have built is so sound, self-sustaining and of such stature that even in an AFC East fast becoming one of the League’s best, a rough start (1-3?) can be diluted in the wealth of wins to follow.

And by all appearances Brady, though somewhat pressed by the legal wrangle, still looks to be fit as a fiddle and well grounded for the upcoming NFL season.

Not grounded like Dad & Mom might mete out penance for Junior in those days of youth when he may’ve strayed off the straight & narrow by engaging in a bit o’ tom-foolery and was daffy enough to get caught (Ding-dong ditch-it?).

Nor grounding by a spouse (Gisele Bündchen) with that emotional ball & chain when your much-in-demand hubby is, through sense of obligation, giving too much time to the celebrity gropers seeking to profit from his fame & fortune.

And no worries that Tom’s laidback head coach and matriculator mentor in Bill has decided to ground his QB’s proficient aerial show and revert to the Halas – Lombardi principle: Ground it out with the run attack. Not gonna’ happen.

No siree-Bob. Tom Brady is the good grounded.

Still in the dark? It’s a happening thing, right there with spirituality, awesomeness, pro-biotics, automotive gadgetry (See; Honda, etc.) and gluten-free munchables (Pretzels can be epic, but bread & pasta…Ughsville).

Making sure one of your jumper cables is grounded when giving a car-battery a boost o’ juice is sound, safe procedure, but it’s also becoming a common practice for more & more people seeking to put body & soul in electron harmony with the “spinning world” and its forever flowing invisible field of charged molecules.

Here’s a better description of grounding, a practice in wholeness and well-being that our pre-industrial age ancestors had been engaging in for thousands of years and many humanoids today are now re-discovering the benefits.

“When you are in direct contact with the ground (walking, sitting, or laying down on the earth’s surface) the earth’s electrons are conducted to your body, bringing it to the same electrical potential as the earth. Living in direct contact with the earth grounds your body, inducing favorable physiological and electro-physiological changes that promote optimum health (“The Ultimate Antioxidant” / Dr. Joseph Mercola / 11.4.12).”

Is Tom Brady intentionally grounding, earth-hugging with the holistic crowd?

I’m no groupie nor groper so I couldn’t say for certain but even from afar it’s easy to see the ring-laden QB carries himself with such a confidence, dignity, discernable self-awareness on and off the playing field that if he’s not walking barefoot on his palatial estate to connect with earthy electrons he’s doing something akin to keep it all in balance.

Simply deciding to stay clear of any political convention is sign enough the man’s got both feet firmly planted on terra firma.

Steven Keys
NFL HunchLine
Photo Credit: grounded-girl, C.Giraud, 19c, wc.cca, Dorotheum; T.Brady, wc, 3.30.16, DeanAdams21; Pats-HOF, 10.24.8, Leoparmr, wc; grounded-girl, WA.Bouguereau, wc, 1865; Brady, 8.28.9, K.Allison, wc; NFL-wikiproject
Posted: 7.6.16 @ 1:17am EST; Copyright © 2016

Penguins on Parade & Vision of Vegas Bookend Dicey NHL16

Checks & Balances

Hail the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2015-16 NHL Stanley Cup champions.

Led by their veteran superstar center – captain Sidney Crosby, in his 11th NHL campaign, a member of the Penguins’ 2008-09 title team and winner of this post-season’s MVP – Conn Smythe award, the Steel City skaters bested a plucky but over-matched San Jose Sharks club 4-2 to take Lord Stanley’s vessel for the 4th time in their near 50 year history (1967).

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (Dickens).” Viewing the forest for the trees, the image of an earlier face of the NHL in Crosby making his return to the big stage to hoist another Stanley Cup is just what the doctor ordered for a League feeling a bit nervy in aftermath of its blighted pre-season.

That’s when news of its defending champ Chicago Blackhawks’ star Pat Kane’s rape investigation broke, a sad state that might’ve played out with process due to all interested parties had the story not been enflamed by some in media who were captured by the due but heightened awareness (Rice – Palmer) turned lynch-mob mentality, people who to this day still stubbornly refuse to shoulder their self-righteous ropes.

Viewed up close (trees), retirement appeared the prudent option a few years back when superstar Sidney sustained a concussion that had him out of action for a disconcertingly long period of play.

Two stories to book-end this NHL 2015-16 season, complete with lessons laid out for the learning, on competition, medicine, psychology (patience & resilience), legal process, journalistic integrity, etcetera.

Kudos to a vanquished but worthy opponent from San Jose and congrats to NHL’s best, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

— — —

Absent even the slightest skepticism from what seems a captured media, mainstream and blogisphere alike, on the soundness of NHL’s decision to locate a team in Las Vegas, the hands-on gambling capital of the Milky Way galaxy, it necessitates that somebody explain how the NHL’s decision to expand its franchise pool to Vegas will quite possibly start a process whose end result is one where the key element of trust is completely absent from the professional games whose entertainment and investment values both depend on it.

Symbolism: There was a time when the gaming culture of Vegas downtown, not the general populace, worked a deterrent to owners even considering location in Nevada as Syndicate interests invested in the strip (50s & 60s). But even as a new culture of family, food & fun emerged (80s), overtaking the so-called sin element in revenue rake, gaming remains the indisputable image of Las Vegas.

So when one of the major pro leagues, all of them seemingly stacked with athletes who cheat like it’s a right or at least a duty they owe to, who else, themselves (PEDs), gets cozy with that prevailing image, as plutonic as it may be, it sends a message to players that a new standard of tolerance on gambling has evolved (See; FanDuel & DraftKings). And to that player whose ethics are, as “Johnny Caspar” would’ve termed it, “a little shaky,” it’s nearly an invite to rationalize and roll the dice (game fix).

The greed, arrogance, foolishness expressed by NHL and minions deluding themselves into believing it can effectively control the risk-to-fix by instruction and security measures, or that those measures are wholly unnecessary, a risk if ever realized (shave points) and discovered will most certainly not be laundered in public as the Black Sox were in 1920 (bad for business)), is as greedy, arrogant & foolish as a Ruler (British Raj) in 1930 believing it can forever monopolize “making salt” like they might own & sell the air its subjects breath (See; Gandhi).

And don’t forget, there’s already been a major sport in Vegas, Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels. Big stuff. Just a few bad apples but it only took that program, what, five years at the top before those bobbers took the “soak of the year?”

Steven Keys
MacroSport
Photo Credit: S.Crosby, wc.cca, 12.3.11, M.Miller; M.Miller; dice, M.Morberg, 2.22.9, wc; Stanley-Cup, 1930, wc; Las-Vegas, wc, 4.19.5, D.Vasquez; M.Gandhi, wc, pre-1942; macroecono, lamcasinoroyal, 2011.
Posted: 6.16.16 @ 1:59pm, edit 4:57 EST: Copyright © 2016

NFL16: For Snyder, Post Poll Better Than the Supremes

The wrangle over the Washington Redskins logo took a curious, potentially game-changing turn last week when The Washington Post released results of a nationwide poll they’d conducted gauging opinions of aboriginal Americans on the semi-controversial (2012 >) franchise moniker, as they reported Thursday (“New Poll Finds 9 in 10” / TWP / 5.19.16 / Cox – Clement – Vargas).

Not a surprising turn as the poll’s lop-sided result (9 of 10 do not find the name offensive (Question #2)) is consistent with what the majority of NFL fans, Redskins and otherwise, have been expressing in commentary since the Indian image became a flash-point in 2012, the same year Nike assumed NFL uniform control. A coincidence? If yes it’s a mighty “BIG coincidence (“Elaine Benes“).”

‘Nine out of 10’ has been good enough for toothpaste and Tylenol® buyers for generations, it aughta’ be good enough for Redskins rilers too. So there!

Admittedly, even a pro-Redskins person (moi) could not have expected this resounding result. Maybe 60, even 70% of Indians backing the emblem, but 90% A-okay with it, and then those who answered in the “offensive” couldn’t even rise into the double-digits (9% (1% NO) (Q2)), well, that was eye-opening for all of us.

Numbers can tell tall tales but these digits can’t be mistrusted. On issue of Indian imagery this poll’s not a landslide, it’s downright “world shaking (“Dragline”).” In the current nomenclature, the poll result was a PC smackdown.

Indian America has spoken. Their message: ‘Get out of our tree, charlatans, and get off the reservation, unless you relax, listen & “act naturally (Buck & Ringo).”’

While the significant support respondents gave the historical & artful NFL representation (Q2, 5,6 & 7), or, stated another way, the serious non-support anti-Redskinites suffered by way of respondents’ expressed disinterest in the whole issue (Q4: “NET less important (78%)”), makes a major statement in the battle over speech and PTO politicization, though, ironically, a mere 1% of those queried in the key Q2 had “no opinion.” Generally, 3-5% of pollees will express indifference on the query posed which could mean USA’s Indian population takes this topic more seriously than another question might lead one to believe (See: Q4 % above). The peculiarities of polling.

And what about the “21%” feeling “disrespect(ed)” by the DC logo (Q5)?

Twelve (12%) of the “disrespect(ed)” respondents in Q5 didn’t find it “offensive” in Q2 (9%),” and then 4% (17% (Q6)) of that 21%, added to that 80% who “would not be offended (Q6)” if Redskin word were spoken to them by a non-Indian, would let Harry Reid use it even in a personal greeting:

Harry: ‘Jahé, Redskin!
Indian: ‘Hey, Reidster, how ya’ doing!?’ Got that Water bill proposal in the hopper yet? Times a wasting, friend.’

The results also expose decades of disingenuous efforts by purported advocates, nervy politicos and boards of regents who for years have been ditching beloved mascots across the landscape for the hoards of clawing eagles, toothy panthers and like, and then thousands of social media mavens in 2016, all who claim to be acting in the best interest of Indian representation and a few neo-fascists not infrequently hurling the racist charge in what seems pleasure – pain routine.

Whether the anti-Redskins’ elite in Nancy Pelosi, Reid, Oneida leader & PGA card-holder Ray Halbritter, President Obama, Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton and many sportswriters who made nary a peep on the logo pre-2012 but boarded the anti-Bandwagon as quickly as it hit the road, will heed the resounding statement conveyed is hard to imagine. That kind of change takes constitution, a trait in short supply on both sides of the political aisle in these tense times.

The fact the Post used a diverse sampling, rife with rank & file as opposed to just Council elders who tend towards a ‘whatever‘s good for business‘ tack, appears worded for neutrality and that this effort is probably the closest we will get to achieving a democratically arrived at answer on where the public stand on the meaning of the 80-yr old Redskins name, will likely make little difference in the already publically expressed positions of the above leaders or their minions.

The two biggest boo-boos the anti-crowd could make in response to Post poll:

1) ‘Don’t trust the poll, trust us, instead. And now that we think of it, a vote does sound like a good idea:’ Denial, deceit, desperation; and

2) ‘We respect the Native Americans and their views but I still find Redskins moniker personally objectionable:’ Stubborn, and both roads to Loserville.

And remember, this is the Washington Post, not the GOP-leaning Washington Times. The Post had been bastion of progressiveness, newspaper that brought down the Nixon White House in early 70s in exposing its widespread corruption by way of the Watergate burglary cover-up, its Editor in Ben Bradlee and writers Woodward & Bernstein who all helped right the Constitution ship (All the President’s Men (1974 / ‘76 film)) and yet a Post in recent times took an anti-Redskins stand themselves in print and editorial direction. That same Post.

This poll might re-establish its maker as the leader-in-liberal, not because of the results but because they were willing to engage the effort in the first place, regardless of the torpedoes responses might fire-off at the anti-Redskins ship.

It’s not pure democracy but polls can be good barometers.

Phone polls won’t replace the ballot box but it’s the best we’ll get on this topic. They tried the vote thing in North Dakota (Fighting Sioux) a few years back, for one of the two relevant tribes, then the Council membership on the other chimed in and decided to take matters into their dozen or so hands: Democracy only as needed.

What affect this poll has on the legal fight that plods along in multiple venues is hard to predict even as its collective voice on Redskins meaning is clear.

Apart form the jury vote, our legal system is not one that embraces the spirit of democracy or choosing right over wrong. It is conservative in its caution, prides itself on precedent and strides towards justified results.

But its practitioners are not without their political – personal leanings, even as they interpret and apply our laws and regulations to the facts, laws that theoretically flow from the will of the people. To tune-out such a statement as was made by Indian America in this WP poll could be seen as the biggest affront of all to their persons and heritage.

For Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder this pleasing poll result was manna from heaven. It changes the whole dynamic. Democracy-like insights, when thrown into a mix where they’d before been sorely lacking, always work a dynamo.

The whole gestalt of the poll, the conductor (WP), the form of questions posed, the answers, could make it more satisfying for Dan than were a majority of Robes on the US Supreme Court to side with his case, were they to hear it. Maybe.

Again, its resounding result won’t necessarily direct the outcome of the legal journey he and NFL embarked upon but it does tend to show that sport fans, fair-minded folk and those lacking in fascist tendency will in all likelihood back his effort (90%) and Redskins moniker, if asked to do so.

And oh yeah, the NFL sponsors, don’t forget them. They’re “lovin’ it,” too. And they’re key in this contest. They made the right call staying on board in support of Snyder et al and it’s paid off, so far.

Sometimes a minority, even a small one, holds the answer, the courage to fight for change (desegregation). That ain’t this.

We the people have a right in this democracy to decide collectively the meaning of words & monikers for public or commercial purpose, sometimes over-riding dictionary boards-of-editors that can become politicized, especially when these collectives are supported by rational thought. Sometimes a person(s) objects for whatever reason but then democracy is not about always getting your way. Learning to accept differences and diversity is one really big part of it.

For the niche that is the anti-Redskins contingent, one backed by major media throughout, this Post poll, result, has been their greatest fear: People speak.

Democracy is like eating veggies, they don’t always go down easy but you gotta’ eat ‘em to survive & thrive. To those who’ve purported to speak for aboriginal Americans without ample inquiry or honest reflection, it’s time to dig in.

And there’s still time to ring the dinger and step off that PC bully bandwagon, Ms. Clinton. Don’t make this issue and digging-in on the wrong, blue blood side of it your first defeat as Commander-in-Chief.

A leader can have their faults: Too harsh, too lenient, too corrupt. They can even make a mistake, now and then. But what they cannot be is a hypocrite.

A candidate, President too proud to admit a mistake is unsettling indeed.

Steven Keys
MacroSport
Photo credit: D.Snyder, 11.5.4, wc.cca, J.Wallace; Chief-Wolf-Robe, wc.cca, Cheyenne, BPL, 1898, F.Rinehart; Washington Redskins, wordmark, 1972, wc.cca; Afraid-of-Eagle, 1898, F.Rinehart, Sioux, BPLDC, wc.cca; D.Snyder, 11.16.14, K.Allison, MD, wc.cca; NFL-wikiproject.
Posted: 5.24.16 @ 1:03am, edit 12:47pm EST; Copyright © 2016
The Washington Post Redskins’ poll:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/05/19/National-Politics/Polling/release_424.xml?tid=a_inl

McDonald’s: Sorry French Fries, Love’s Not Enough

Caesarian appetite

All roads lead to our gut, esophageal and metaphysical both.

Our stomach is the coliseum of calories, the place where sugar, fat, carbs and protein all do battle but ultimately succumb to those rippling, duty-bound digestive enzymes to give our body & mind all it needs and more, much more.

El Gastro Gestalt is capital city of our conscious and unconscious minds both.

It’s been that way ever since the Allies crushed the Axis and victors re-directed all that industrious, inventive spirit in armament assembly into the peacetime production of food stuffs on a mass scale the world had never before seen.

While opposite economic ideologies (capitalism v communism) became basis for continued conflict in bullets, A-bomb building & bivouacs (Korea, Indochina, Cuba), the war on hunger became the 2d theater of battle, fighting for the freedom to eat, eat more and then eat again.

After 70 years of bridge building, base construction and salvos of savory & sweet treats fired off by McDonald’s, Nestlé, ADM, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and Yum!, those who write the history of the Hunger War will record that hearts & minds were won over, completely, like the slurp sound found at the bottom of a small shake.

Mission accomplished: The world is addicted to eating.

(Regarding that Axis thing, a small cell was brought back to life in some demonic deed at, of all places, Disney (ESPN), in some joker’s idea to work a motif on, of all things, camera angle. Even the colors have a Third Reichian feel. Gadgetry goofs. Ugh. Walt’s gotta’ be spinning in his grave: ‘I just wanted to make a place for fun (and a little loot to boot)!’ We know, Walt, we know.)

From sun-up to sundown the gobble & guzzle direct much of our day.

A line in a Roger Corman flick, of all mediums, summed up well the power of the emerging super salivary state (X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (‘63)):

Dr. Xavier (Ray Milland): “Is that what you think (that I’m a fraud)?”
Carnie Mom: “I don’t think, I just eat!”

Or these nuggets from the gold-mine that was The King of Queens:

Carrie: “Doug, you once told me you only play poker because it adds excitement to your eating!” Doug: “Well excuse me for embracing life!”

Carrie: “Look, there’s a special on mahi-mahi, you’d like it, tastes just like steak.” Doug (“Sir-Eats-Alot”): I’ll get excited when there’s fish that tastes like Doritos.”

Sometimes it’s the salty urge that draws us in (moi). Others it’s sweet. Nearly always it’s pre-packaged by something or someone else hundreds of miles away who add in only god or a chemist knows what.

Eating is of course a basic need for life, going back to Adam & Eve, the Leakey sloth or Ancient Aliens experiment #1, depending in which school-of-thought you matriculate.

After out-foxing toothier beasts, then fashioning shelter from the elements, eating has been our #1 worry for 99.99999% of our time on this “spinning world.” But while that effort consumed much of the day’s time, the haul was generally compatible and nurturing to our physical and emotional well-being.

Fibrous fruits & vegetables, nuts & seeds, formerly diet mainstays, grown or gathered near home or bought locally for soon-day consumption are still favorites but for only a comparative handful: 1000 to 1.

Seek and you shall find

‘We are what we eat (Brillat-Savarin).’ In 2016 we’re just a bunch of trans-fatties, filled-to-the-gills with triglycerides, traces of barnyard hormones & antibiotics, quarts of high fructose corn syrup, shakers of salt and enough genetically-modified organisms (GMO (corn)), hot (aldehydes) & hydrogenated oils and gluten (wheat) in a year’s consumption to fill a Honda Civic, sans a CD-player.

Unless a maker clearly states on their product it’s organic or gluten-free (See; USDA labeling standards), you can assume you’re getting the whole toxic treatment.

I’ve singled-out McDonald’s but could just as easily have listed Burger King, Kellogg’s, Olive Garden, Taco Bell, Appleby’s, Frito Lay, Cracker Barrel, Hillshire Brands, General Mills, Smithfield, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Mars or any other major player in production or delivery of processed / prepared food stuffs, confectionaries or beverages. Mickey D’s just happens to be the first, the biggest and most recognized of the drive-in joints, a cultural icon in eatery consumerism. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based restaurant also happens to be my favorite when indulging the desire for a fast fill-up.

Ray Kroc’s burger baby was my first family fast-food experience.

Choices were limited in the 60s but we didn’t complain. Returning from a trip or to give Mom a break, we’d pack the Ford station wagon, all eight of us, Dad took the orders, walked inside (no seating then) and returned with cardboard holders in drinks and eats. No Big Macs, Quarter-Pounders, salads, chicken things, McMuffins, just the basics: Single-patty burger, chocolate or vanilla shakes, Coke and fries in one size so small you could’ve fit it in your shirt pocket.

And in that last fun fact (fries) lay Big Issue #2, after the uh-oh ingredients (See; Above), serving size. We eat too much in 2016 by portioning too big.

Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me put the quantity issue right under our noses, tabbing McDonald’s as the fast-food format-doormat.

It’s not easy guarding the gate to our mouth. Our needs must do battle daily, and nightly, with desires that are shaped by marvelous marketing, tantalizing, permanently impressionable tastes and professional placement of product line in grocery aisle and on highway signage.

Insatiable appetite

Our bodies and brains have no natural inclination towards sugar and carbohydrates. But the palate-pleasers developed by food chemists post-World War 2, indoctrinating us from the time we exit the womb, make our mouths sing for “♫ more, more, mooooore (ATC (‘76)) ♫.” One taste and you’re hooked, or, in the nomenclature, it’s love at first bite.

Key players in the fixation: Hydrogenated trans-fats that came onto market in the 1950s, followed by high fructose corn syrup (Clinton Corn Processing and Japan‘s AIST (Takasaki)), first in drinks (70s), now in pretty much in anything that’s processed & packaged.

If you don’t think food is addictive like cigarettes or alcohol, try going off the sweet, savory and wheat-based staples for a week and see how you fare. You’ll be climbing the walls and kicking the family pet if you’re not careful.

We’re not helpless creatures. Will power, lack thereof, plays a role in our oral fixations and face-stuffing routines. But science & psychology play their part.

Food stuffs are packaged with artful, eye-catching flair, labeled in accordance w/USDA but free to finesse (One of the FDA’s sorry-standards: If a food item has trans-fat < 0.4 gram it need not be listed on said label. “Tanks fur nuttin (“Maggie (Caddyshack (‘80)”)!’”). Once the goods hit the grocery or restaurant chain, the strategy-in-placement, whether on shelf & aisle or street location will take command and push a Pavlovian response if you’re hungry or just think so.

Writing as one of those dutiful dogs in dining I can say it’s been alot of fun. Many a tasty, convenient and filling meals have passed these lips. I wouldn’t say inexpensive fun but then convenience does exact a price.

But now some of us are making discoveries about the food and beverages we consume, deciding to break the cycle of addiction. It’s not easy. Making a life change never is.

Spurlock & Co. did a public service, for profit, with their documentary, focusing on the most conspicuous health harm associated with a steady diet in processed – prepared food (weight gain), and a subject most easily solicitous of chuckles.

But there are many potential serious health risks associated with a daily diet in prepared-food that are not directly associated with the scale, i.e., obesity.

Ingesting a mere 1 gram of trans fat, easy to do with federal labeling loophole (< 0.4 gram), found in most pre-packaged, processed food items, can take days to process out of the body. That hidden harm can then potentially be the build-up and tipping point for the bad event: Myocardial infarction, i.e., heart attack.

And don’t expect government to push the food court to find healthier means to feed the world. Understanding that legislators and agency folk work on a quid pro quo basis and are generally captured in 2016 by those they’re entrusted to regulate, the task of getting lots o’ food to the masses, as laden with undesirables as it would seem, has become the only political mandate on the eat-issue.

And it is that same mentality that drove the message behind Soylent Green (Stan Greenberg & Harry Harrison (‘73)): When the sea is farmed-out, the people keep multiplying fruitfully, terra firma loses that precious top soil and pollutants take their toll, you find protein wherever you can. Eek.

♫ Breaking Up Is Hard to Do ♫

Here then are the interlopers in processed food stuffs, those unseemly sorts who were given a key to the place and drove a wedge between health-wise consumers and their former steady (McDonald‘s, etc.), leading the jilted to bid adieu.

Sugar-based beverages (high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sucrose (table sugar) – dextrose mixture)

Flavoring soda pop and other heavily sweetened drinks, sugars regular consumption can lead to insulin resistence, glucose intolerance and metabolic syndrome (diabetes). The neuro-degenerative disorder Alzheimer’s disease is now sometimes being referred to as diabetes of the brain.

Gluten-based bread and emulsifiers

Wheat-protein containing a difficult to digest amino acid is in the bread that houses those hamburgers, hot dogs and sandwiches. Like trans-fat, it will turn to add-on weight, i.e., love handles, and celiac disease in more serious cases.

Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)

The research is ongoing about these engineered foods and the human health risks, short and long-term, are largely unknown which means the safety picture on such altered foods remains blurred. No labeling required in the USA.

Cured or adulterated meats

Taking the form of bacon, sausage, jerky and the like, they are believed to have a possible casual connection to heart disease and some cancers.

Reheated cooking oils

Burgers are boss at McDonald’s but the fries are its calling card. Best in the biz. The cooking oil can be harmful beyond the unhealthy fats. If reheated enough it will create toxic chemicals called aldehydes that collect in the brain and are being linked to neurodegenerative disorders (dementia / Alzheimer’s) and advanced glycation end-products (free radicals) associated with diabetes. Crazy love.

Chemically treated salad greens, vegetables and wheat – corn products

Unless plant parts are identified as organically grown it’s a strong chance they’ve been prepared with any number of chemicals that rinsing will not entirely wash clean. These man-made molecules kill the pests but do no good inside the body.

Antibiotics and hormones in livestock and feed

The livestock that account for most of the processed meals will often receive growth-hormone and drug treatments to fight illness, some that can add considerable bulk to the beast. Humans don’t need animal pharmacology.

Trans-fats and hydrogenated oils

Safflower and cottonseed oil (omega-6) are some of the bad boys that find their way into most processed foods because they emulsify and make it taste good. But these bad fats (good fats include omega-3 (fish oil) and omega-9s (olive oils) are key contributors to heart disease.

We wouldn’t let “Joe Camel” sell cigarettes to kids, why would we let Kellogg’s, KFC, PepsiCo and Kraft sell them on a possible pathway to increased risk for diabetes, heart disease (inflammation & oxidation) and maybe even some cancers as well (immunity deficiency)? Ask your friendly neighborhood legislator, soon.

When Russ Westbrook (Mt-Dew), LeBron James, Bryce Harper and Cam Newton (Gatorade) pitch for PepsiCo and their sugar-based drinks, whether HFCS or the sucrose – dextrose mix, is selling the sweet drinks much different than when John Wayne, Joe DiMaggio and dozens of other stars shilled for the tobacco companies throughout a good part of the prior century? Government’s “strange inconsistency” in regulation may be explained in that there is no 2d-hand heart disease and diabetes can sometimes be manageable (ugh). But cancer is cancer, folks, in all of its deadly forms.

The food conglomerates’ have a good defense: ‘We feed the world,’ a planet with its ever-growing population, no longer checked by world war or global plagues. And with a world-wide energy crisis looming as oil reserves continue to dwindle and alternatives not yet a reality, healthiest foods may become a moot point.

Truth be told, because organic and gluten-free choices are not always available in stores & restaurants, because old habits die hard and one must treat themselves to the emulsified flavors that please the palate so well, my wife and I do continue to purchase some processed foods & beverages for home consumption and travel especially, with digestive supplement (Tolerase®) and handy.

Ultimately, responsibility will rest on the shoulders of every person, parent – guardian where children and dependents are concerned (It‘s never too late to start a healthier lifestyle) and their medical professional to better educate themselves on choices in diet and related habits like exercise, cessations (big portions / excess drink / smoking), stress reduction and supplementation.

Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed and read for yourself what experts are publishing about their findings on the food we eat and who we really are.

Steven Keys
MacroSport
Photo credits: BigMac, 2.4.7, Kici, Japan, wc.cca; McDonalds-Arch, 3.22.6, wc.cca, Toronto, R.Sinn; QuarterPounder, wc.cca, Saalfeld, 8.19.6; McDonald’s-Tokyo, wc.cca, JPN, 9.21.4, A.Fucito; McDonalds-Bangkok, wc.cca, 5.9.6, E.Molina; McDonalds-burger, Kici, 2.4.7, wc.cca, Japan; McDonald’s-Israel, wc.cca, Ingsoc, 2.7.7, Ashqelon; McDonalds-Kiosk, 10.28.5, Shanghai, Shizhao; Coke, bubbles, Spiff, wc; McDonalds-fries, Kici, 10.14.6, Japan; McDonalds-Sydney, Sardaka, wc.cca, 11.5.12; macroecono-lamcasinoroyal, 2011, wc.cca.
Posted: 5.21.16 @ 2:43pm, edit 11:59 EST; Copyright © 2016
The King of Queen quotes: Springfield!-Springfield!

NFL16: Draft Dogs & Ponies, Number Nomens and Write-In Roger Goodell

Nobody primes the pump like the NFL. Even in their off-season they’re on.

Concussion reports, Redskins wrangle, TMZ video drops (Rice), bad boys running amok (“Johnny Trouble”), grudge-holder grumble (Brees) or having your Face (Brady) suffer blemish of discipline (Deflategate), none of it seems to throw the National Football League off its stride.

The League’s bottom-line, top-line and everything in between grows like their assets swim in a pool of Miracle-Gro®.

Behold, NFL Draft16 (April 28 – 30). And note the capital ‘D.’ A big Deal.

First held in Philadelphia in 1936 as a conception of Bert Bell to level the playing field and keep the League fiscally fit, Eagles selected University of Chicago inaugural Heisman winner Jay Berwanger as the first #1 (Never signed with NFL and only 28 of 81 draftees did (Wikipedia)). In decades that followed, the serious football fan would tune into radio, read the hometown daily and then take in their local TV sportscaster who’d list off the names of the new hopefuls.

When draft-day took to cable in the 1980s on Disney (ESPN) it kicked-off in AM and telecast tailed-off soon thereafter. Most followers had a clue on their team’s roster needs and put their trust in their team’s selection. That trust is, for the most part, still afforded but the presentation has, in the words of former Rams / Cowboys’ executive Gil Brandt, succumbed to a clear “overkill” in shill.

Today the Draft is a full-fledged showcase that’s gone primetime on TV, internet and anywhere else sports information gets powerized.

But draft watching is not for every football fan.

Teams must replenish inventory but the valuation of selectees is too amorphous, hazy to vest heavily. But then the whole dog & pony show, from pre- (mock), to DD to post-party analysis seems mired in minutiae, i.e., bores the bejeebers.

One thing I’d like to see in post-draft coverage is that first moxified draftee who negotiates to have his planned digit displayed on his first team jersey, rather than that trite #1. ‘Make me happy, have it ready, Dude.’ If I missed it, kudos.

That upwards of 60% of 1Rs (up it by 5-10% for each next Rd) will have only marginal or zero impact on the NFL operation is a fact not lost on most fans whose curiosity peaks when all’s done and they peruse their own team’s post-draft tally to discover what the Suits & Staffers needed in roster-fill.

Celebrity-watch and fantasy fulfillment will bring in most of the draft viewership. Affirmation by association. Conformity never had it so good.

Even so, nationally unknown Big Men on Campus donning caps & gowns to graduate to their Big Payday (on the cusp, anyway) juxtaposed against the Big Cufflink Roger is harmonious enough but hardly the stuff of “must see TV” for the core element, i.e., fans of ‘tumultuous merriment (sport).’

As long as target-markets in kids, fantasy gamblers and host-City businesses keep cheering the Draft presentation the League can dial-out the static and will keep coming in loud & clear throughout the 50 and beyond (See; London, etc.).

And as the boredom red-lines for those who’d rather watch on-field matriculation than draft day speculation, the event pulls in respectable ratings. Credit NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for much of the show’s success, the whole blooming NFL gestalt, for that matter.

Hoopla and worker-mgmt ménage never resonated with such ♫ harmonious ♫ notes as it does on Draft nite. It’s a win-win for the NFL and getting winner by the year, though, the Nike deal is looking a gobbler (‘These Colors Run’). Goodell carries it off like a pro, better than the 2016 Presidential candidates.

Wavering between maverick and loose-cannon, Mr. Trump exudes arrogance, tapping into voter frustration to further a mission-in-greed while Ms. Clinton cuts many of the same deals with corporations, captured by her own extreme element and jumps any PC Bandwagon rolling by, having made nary a peep about Redskins’ moniker pre-2012 (Nike NFL) in all those years residing in our nation’s capital, DC.

Both leaders could take a lesson in tactic & temper from gridiron Goodell.

Case in point, 2d Circuit’s recent reinstatement of NFL imposed penalty on Tom Brady and his Patriots for their actions in the Deflategate matter, overturning the trial District Court’s prior voidance of the 4-game susp’n and draft pick ding.

If 2d Circuit remains the ruling, Roger wins the legal battle and looks a leader who enforces the law (rules) showing no favorites, even when the offender (Brady) is practically a League logo. If NFL had lost the appeal or Team Brady miraculously gets a reversal (SC), Roger would still win as that result would’ve been good for business yet he’d have given it his best effort: Due diligence.

After ethical grounding, if there’s one character trait a Commissioner, a President, a leader must manifest it is strength, and the wisdom, the heart to exercise it when necessary, regardless of popularity polls. And that’s the lesson.

Though he came under heavy fire during the Rice – Palmer matter, some of it justified for the extremes in penalty imposition, some of it false for its hypocrisy, i.e., his critics variance in reactions to the videos, one wonders with the dearth of top-quality Prez prospects, a void that makes NFL’s sorry signal-caller state seem just so much over-inflated fodder (no pun), whether Goodell may one day throw his own hat into the political ring for the Commander-in-Chief job?

Roger was raised in politics, his father Charles Goodell (1926-87) serving four terms in Congress from the State of New York, leaving that office to fill the vacancy created when Robert Kennedy was assassinated on June 6th, 1968, having been appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fulfill the term (1971). Like Rocky, Charles was one of the last liberal Republicans in Nixon era and lost his bid to keep the Senate seat when the liberal vote was split in benefit to conservative James Buckley (Wikipedia).

The Commissioner is a registered GOP‘er. His stands on abortion, immigration, taxes, economics, jobs & energy, the latter two still suffering the pseudo-silent treatment from the candidates, are unknown to this writer. Whatever position he plays on issues there’s one vote he should count on: DeMaurice Smith (NFLPA).

It’s because of that apparent ability to reach across the aisle to one’s adversary, coupled with the opposite ability to find the strength to sometimes do the necessary but unpopular deed, that Mr. Smith’s support for a theoretical future Goodell candidacy might be reasonably inferred.

No background will fully prepare one for the many difficult duties and mental – physical challenges that the U.S. Presidency presents to its holder day in, day out for at least four years. Too often critical of their performance, when we’re separated from our own self-interests it’s easier to understand the toll that the job takes on the White House occupants (See: Hair-color change).

If any job will provide smidgens of similarity in experience it might be Commissioner of the biggest game in town, the NFL. In peace-time, the major media attention the post and its subject territory (League) receives, and then the often thankless nature of the job where success can be measured by the critics you create, are both states President Obama understands all too well.

To trade-in a $40M a year job to try to become the biggest quarterback on the planet (Chief Executive), a job heavy with headaches and so small pay it’s practically a volunteer position, seems unlikely. But that’s just what might make Roger Goodell well suited to the White House.

Careful what you wish for, Don. Once you’re in this there‘s no walking away.

Steven Keys
NFL HunchLine
Photo credit: R.Goodell, wc, 2.1.9, Sgt.B.Lail; Goodell, wc, 8.30.12, Sgt.T.Wade, USMA; NFL-Draft, wc.cca, 4.22.10, RCMH-NYC, M.O’Leary; Goodell, 7.10.8, wc, Sgt.B.DelVecchio; Afghan; NFL-symbol, wikiproject.
Posted: 5.2.16 @ 3:11pm, edit 5:47 EST; Copyright © 2016

MLB16: Troutonics and the Return of Hamiltonianism

In a time when numerology has become the method by which every editor and marketing director in the land shapes their sport media product, a use that borders on the obsessive and snoozerific, this primordial statistic has somehow become the Rodney Dangerfield (“I don’t get no respect”) of all mathematical rods by which batsmen are measured in 2016: Runs scored.

This, even as runs account for one-half of that most basic of baseball equations: Runs scored in excess (>) of your opponent’s tally = victory. Sport simple.

But simple just won’t cut it today, so the sellers would have us believe.

Succinctness will neither get your sportswriter résumé read nor keep you in that job that requires a wherewithal for the number schemes. The more complicated the better appears the mandate.

A selling strategy that seems to prefer keeping fans mentally-barefoot and in the kitchen-of-confusion, so to speak. Tsk-tsk.

Convoluted calculations will serve the sportician – mortician by separating themselves from we of the unwashed masses, serving as a sort of secret, cliquy code. A club as it were. Whether it truly helps or not in appreciation of players and strategy or prognostication of contests is beside the point. A niche has been carved out. So the consumer overlords see it.

Do sabrmetrics actually help one to master the fantasy game? They certainly haven’t made much of an impact in the general managing profession, not if you aim for pennants (See; B.Beane (OAK ‘98-present))?

They may help one believe they’re an aid and that’s all that matters to make the register ring, cha-ching! Kind of like the philosophy of that great New Yorker, “George Costanza” of Seinfeld lore: “If you believe it’s true then it’s not a lie.”

Where the deep delve into digits can assist the fantasy fan in tangible result lies in simple fact that in crunching all of the calculations it’s just as likely that helpful patterns gleaned from performance stats will have been gotten from elementary totals (runs scored, ERA, etc.) and breakdowns (home / away, lefty v. righty) as from the trendy new acronyms. Unless you sequester your survey from the primes, who’s to say it wasn’t the traditionals that didn’t shape the mind?

And try telling that to a sabrhead. Oh, brother.

Because of this modern numbers myth, the easily discernable, key figures that served box-score connoisseurs and graced the backs of cards for decades in W-L, ERA, home runs, OB%, hits, RBIs, BA, steals, etcetera, are today relegated to the nether regions of TV graphics and sporting prose or neglected altogether, to make room for the new brood of cryptic acronyms (WAR, OPS%, QBR (NFL)) that befall & befuddle most fans every spring and pompously portend to’ve finally quantified the best calculations. Sure, Simon, whatever you say.

One exception where an elementary element is still accorded respect: The home run. Think of it as the Vin Scully of statistics: Resilient and revered.

Since the Bambino began knocking ‘em out with a passion (1919) the round-tripper, the dinger or in former Brewers’ batsman George Scott lexicon, the “tater,” has continued to capture the national attention. And Bud Selig’s Family Fun Show & All-Star Home Run Derby Jamboree week in July has made sure it stays captured.

But there’s a new style of play on the ball diamond.

A man who upon making the major league scene in 2011 showed himself to be a throwback who knows the equation and keeps his eye on the prize: Score runs on the base-path and prevent them with the glove. His name: Mike Trout, centerfielder for the California Angels. I’m a throwback, too.

Trout is what’s known as a Hamiltonian, a rare breed in 2016.

That’s not to be confused with that early American political party named after it’s chief proponent in Alexander Hamilton, born of British West Indies who would become an aid-de-camp to General George Washington, a co-author of the Federalist Papers, our fledgling nation’s first Treasury Secretary and dueling casualty (d.1804) of then Vice President, Aaron Burr.

Alternatively known as Federalism, a view which promoted strong central government in opposition to the Jeffersonians who were anti-elitist, pro-States and individual rights. Oh yeah, tomatoes, too. Tom also touted that lycopene-rich fruit that changed the world (See; cooking & “Michael Dorsey”).

He’s not that kind of Hamiltonian, at least not to my knowledge.

Having led the Junior Circuit in runs for three of his four full seasons in the majors, Trout is on pace to be in league with that greatest of all plate-crossers, the incomparable Billy “Sliding” Hamilton (1888 – 1901) who finished with 1697 total in just 14 seasons, bested the 140 mark six times and still holds the single-season tally of 198 runs scored.

The great Rickey Henderson (1979 – 03) bested Billy by 600 runs, compiling that figure in 25 seasons with his highest season total being 146 (‘85 (143g)).

The percheron-necked slugger from the Garden State, winner of the 2014 AL – MVP, has scored 477 runs in just four full campaigns in Anaheim and the cup of coffee (20g) he had in his first taste. That consistently high run production is even more impressive alongside a strong RBI output (397 (4y)) and nice power stroke where Mike has averaged 33 homers per and topped at 41 in 2015.

Trout’s Achilles heel is lack of bat control in the S-zone.

Attitude today on batter strikeouts is essentially ‘pay no mind,’ even as opportunities are forsaken, as long as RBIs and BA run respectable. On that trend the New Jersey juggernaut runs with the pack, averaging 150+ whiffs per season. He’s in good company as Senior Circuit’s 2015 MVP and runs champ Bryce Harper (131 (118r)) and ROY Kris Bryant (199! (87r)) are free-swingers alike.

Trout: 5yrs: 2448 AB; 647 SO; .304 BA
Hamilton: 14yrs: 6283 AB; 362 SO; .344 BA

You might say, ‘It’s too different a game today to fairly compare.’ Not on making contact, it isn’t. Teams in 2016 who put the ball in play with greater regularity are more likely to win games and titles just as they were in 1894.

The world champion Kansas City Royals were ranked AL tops in fewest team SOs (973 (#1)), 2d in hits (1497 (#2)) and sixth in runs scored (724 (#6)). You need to satisfy other half of that equation (pitch) but KC computed fine there too.

Mike’s anchoring a Los Angeles Angels’ batting lineup short on big names, one of the few being a game but aging superstar in Albert Pujols (36). But Trout is looking to keep his season strikeout trend on downward direction (158 (‘15) / 184 (‘14)), slugging percentage strong (.590 (#1 AL)) and a fielding display that at times is downright thrilling and nearly flawless in routine (428 PO / 7A / 0E (1.000)).

If Mr. Rock Steady can avoid those career-altering injuries and keep his nose pointed to home-plate, when all is said & done he may get fans to take notice of runs again and then find himself in amongst the best of company, the GAT in career runs-scored, including Misters Henderson, Cobb, Aaron, Rose, Hamilton and his teenage sports idol, Derek Jeter. Not ♫ bad company ♫ at all.

Steven Keys
Can o’ Corn
Photo credit: M.Trout-cap, wc.cca, 7.23.11, MD, K.Allison; Trout-fan, wc, K.Allison, 7.24.11, MD; B.Beane-DePodesta, wc, 9.9.11, GabboT; Trout, 7.22.11, wc, MD, K.Allison; B.Hamilton, LoC, B.Edwards, Goodwin, 1887, wc; Trout-gloves, 7.23.11, wc, Allison, MD; A.Pujols, wc, 4.14.12, M.O’Leary; Canned-corn.
Posted: 3.14.16 @ 2:35pm, edit 6:50 Eastern Standard Time; Copyright © 2016