One of the worst days of the year

One of the worst days of the year is inarguably the day Carolina ends its basketball season - if it ends with a loss, that is.

But another of the worst days of the year is the day the NFL season starts in earnest (on a Sunday, like in the old days). This year, recent events and actions make the prospect of football dominating the sport pages even more loathsome than usual.

As some of you know, I stopped following the NFL the year of the big strike, the one when NFL owners eventually fielded replacement players, that strike.  Unlike baseball, which I found out I really missed when it was stopped by misguided owners and labor troubles, I found out I did NOT miss the NFL that much.

I never went back in part because I did not miss football, but also because I was disgusted by the league itself and its' fans.  It's bad enough that the union is so weak that NFL players - abused by a sport so violent that most careers are short (and if you have a long one your body or brain is often severely damaged) - very rarely receive guaranteed contracts from wealthy owners.  Players went on strike in part to push for guaranteed money.    

But what made things worse for me was the average fans' reaction to the games played by replacement players.  Fans showed up to watch those scabs play.  It didn't matter who was playing, violence is violence, football is football.  Once players saw that, the union caved and since then things have gotten worse for players.  Seasons got longer thus more hits were absorbed, the game got more and more violent, and players bodies and minds kept getting abused.

Which of course brings me to the NFL's recent settlement with 4,500 former player who had sued the league over inadequate or callous medical care.  Mike Wise covered most of this ground in an excellent column in The Washington Post on August 29th.  For $650 million the NFL was spared having it's own players, it's former employees, take the stand and testify that coaches and doctors lied to them about concussions and other serious injuries.  

No guaranteed contracts, no lifetime health insurance, no concession that football is such a violent sport that ONE PLAY can ruin someone's body and/or brain for a lifetime.  The NFL is a rouge league that mistreats and lies to it's employees every game. 

I honestly wonder how long that business model will continue.  Last month's settlement bought the NFL some time, but the issue of medical abuses to former and current players will not go away.  

Another thing that probably won't go away is the love of violence and gambling, the twin factors that keep NFL fans glued to their TVs  on Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday, ...).  Besides the banal abuse of the players, that sentence includes the other 3 reasons I don't like the NFL; the trident of gambling, violence and TV that reenforce some of the worst aspects of American culture.  Those three ills are hard to beat, and sports like baseball or hobbies like reading can't seem to compete.  

America is worse for our love of football.

And Carolina is worse, too. In fact, college football is probably worse than the NFL. Professional teams are in it to make money, plain and simple.  But college and universities are supposed to have higher aspirations, which of course is the most naive statement anyone can blog about college sports.

Carolina, of course, should and used to be different.  But the recent scandals there have tarnished a school once known for doing things - everything - the right way, a school that used to take it's cues from Dean Smith.

Now it takes it's cues from ESPN, and in doing so Carolina has acted like just another low-life college whose goal is to fill up stadiums and make money, NOT to educate student athletes.  

I wish Carolina would have had the nerve to drop football for a year completely.  I know, we wouldn't have been able to hire someone named Larry Fedora!, but doing so would have restored Carolina's moral leadership. More importantly, it would have reminded the world that sports are secondary to academics, and restored same balance - at least at one campus.

In addition to chasing dollars, college football probably abuses players even more than the NFL. There are no restrictions on hitting in practice, for instance, and worse medical care.  

However, college football and all its abuses are easy to fix. Two reforms, making freshman ineligible and only playing 8 games a season, with one or two playoff games, would practically solve all the problems with the college game.

For the NFL, hopefully the entire league will go out of business - or MAYBE the league will change or evolve into a flag football league or something. Malcolm Gladwell predicted that in 20 years the physical abuse suffered by NFL players will be deemed socially unacceptable by our civilized society. I just hope a society seemingly dependent on violence, gambling and TV will eventually get there.

Of course, there are other reasons to not like football:

• It's corporate, corporate, corporate. From the NFL playing the Super Bowl in a neutral site so it can cater to fat cats/corporate sponsors not real fans, to the Chic-Fil-A Beef O'Brady's National Bank bowls, to college players banned from profiting when the school sells THEIR jerseys, abusive corporations or cartels are in charge of both the NFL and college football. The bosses make the real money; the workers do not. 
• Football has plays like the blitz. Baseball has plays like the sacrifice. When a game is tied, football has sudden death overtime; baseball has extra innings. The goal of football is use an offensive attack to penetrate the other sides defenses; in baseball, it's to be safe at home (all that is courtesy of George Carlin).
• A team named the Redskins represents the capital of the free world, in 2013. The same team that refused to sign African American players until 17 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier insists on burnishing that racist legacy by keeping the most offensive nickname in sports.  A team owned by a guy who seems completely oblivious about the nickname and that legacy.  
• Ray Lewis.  

Birthplace of our hometown team

Among other things - second largest French-speaking city on the planet, home of poutine - Montreal is the home of the Nationals, the city where our hometown team was born in 1969.

We visited the town where Jackie Robinson played his first season of professaional (white) baseball and Andre Dawson and Gary Carter became Hall of Famers last week, and surprisingly and happily found some lingering Expos love.  And some souvenirs.

One of the first places we visited was the Olympic Stadium, mainly to ride to the top of the tower that holds the roof of the stadium in place for the view. While in the observation deck at the top, Evan and I struck up a conversation with one of the guides there. He wistfully recalled many good times rooting for the Expos, and said Montreal remains a good baseball town with many fans still rooting for the Nats. He thought that most Montreal fans had switched their allegiance to the Blue Jays, but we did run into two local Montreal citizens/fans wearing Nats gear who yelled "Go Nats" when they saw Evan wearing a curly W.

Even though he worked at the Olympic Stadium even he called it a horrible venue for baseball (it hasn't aged well either; the concrete looks worn and crumbly and even the CFL's Alouettes play most of their games at McGill University). As you know, the stadium was built for the 1976 Olympic Games so most of the seats were pretty far from the field. He did say it was loud and had a great echo, so a small crowd could sound huge.

Finally, he knew a lot of the teams' history, both the Expos and the Nats.  He even apologized for the lack of talent that came from Montreal in 2005.  Evan and I defended that team, which after all went 81 and 81, and some of the players.

We expected a lot from our vacation to Montreal, but discussing the merits of Brad Wilkerson and Jose Vidro was not on that list.

Rue Saint Paul is the heart of old Montreal, and features lots of restaurants and tourist shops.  We found a decent amount of Expos gear for sale but all of it was old.  We saw a Gary Carter replica jersey at a few stores, but at each shop they only had 1 small size jersey left.  I was able to find a nameless Expos jersey in my size, a black Expos, and a fitted, authentic New Era hat for Evan. Both hats had been on the shelf so long that the New Era stickers on the bills were hard to remove. And the clerk told me that we bought probably the last, fitted Expos hat he would EVER sell.  He doubted he would ever order any more, or could even order more if he wanted to.  Once their stock is gone, memories of the Expos may disappear, too.

Evan and I wore our new Expos gear the next day, and got a few thumbs up and compliments from folks on the street. We probably had around a dozen Expos interactions with Montrealers if you include seeing 3 or 4 folks we saw on the street wearing their hats or shirts. It was enough to make me feel a little guilty for gaining from their loss

A Few Nats Notes

• The good news: the Nats have won 6 of 10. The bad news: we can't seem to beat the Braves!  What a frustrating series.
• The other good news: we take on the Cubs this week, so a 4-game winning streak may be on the horizon.
• Finally, I don't know what to make of Straburg on Saturday night. I hope he's not hurt, but the way be lost it in the second inning is a concern. He had pin-point control in the first, evidenced by the perfectly placed pitch that hit Justin Upton in the posterior. But in the second he practically beaned the mascot.
• Anyway, we're still 'only' 9 and a half back in the wild card. GO NATS!

162 games in one night

That sound you heard last night was an entire, 162-game season, passing by in one night.  The Nats' 2-3 loss to our new archrival Braves encompassed a season's worth of frustration and sadness - and frustration. Let us count the ways.  

• The game featured another wasted start by Stephen Strasburg. Stras struck out 9 in 7 innings as he had some nasty off speed stuff working.  The Braves tied the game at 1-1 on back to back to back bleeders, and probably had two good swings off of Strasburg all night.  Once again that effort was not good enough thanks to an anemic offense.
• No loss is complete without a wasted key at bat from Jayson Werth. Pinch hitting for Strasburg in the seventh with the go-ahead run on second Werth's strike out was practically pre-ordained. The only surprise is that he went down swinging. Despite being the July Player of the Month Werth and his $14 million-a-year salary is still unreliable in the clutch, and his dramatic game-winning homer in game 4 last year increasingly looks like a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn.
• Last year, Natitude translated into lots of good luck: walk-off wins due to wild pitches; game-winning pinch hits from Chad Tracy or Tyler Moore; Harper taking baseball by the throat, etc. etc. This year's declaration of 'World Series or Bust' broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you have to be humble - or else. Davey Johnson forgot that the greatest sin a human can commit (at least to the ancient Greeks, who have been validated by 3,000 years of history) is hubris. 
• Last year, Natitude also translated into hard hit balls finding gaps and driving in runs. This year, as it was last night, it seems like 90 percent of our line drives find gloves. Case in point is the seventh. Harper hits the ball on the screws right to Heyward. Of course, that line-drive out would have scored the go-ahead run IF Werth had moved the runner to third instead of striking out.  There were numerous line-drive outs last night: Rendon's sacrifice fly could have been a double to the gap; Uggla robs Desmond, etc.
• Last night's loss even featured a bull pen melt down even when Davey made the right move. Clippard has been lights out all season but even he faltered last night, giving up the game-winning homer.  #snakebit. 

I guess to be more precise, I should blog that last night's loss means the passing of the NL East. Catching the Braves, even if we someone sweep the remaining 8 matchups, is unlikely but the wild card is still an option. The Nats are 'only' 7 games back of the Reds and only have to pass one other team, the Diamondbacks, to get there. But as many have said, before the Nats can realistically make ANY run to the playoffs they have to start hitting.  

That brings me to our ray of hope: kudos to Bryce Harper for calling out the team, from the manager on down, last week. Last September he carried us down the stretch and he can do it again. Unless he does, it will be a long, long off season.

Go Nats!

You're Welcome (I think)

It took a few days, and some infuriating losses, but it looks like Natitude may be returning to southwest Washington.  A week after firing Rick Eckstein - 6 hours after I blogged about the need to do just that - the Nats' offense seems to have awaken.

Of course, we also thought that after the Nationals scored 13 runs in support of Stephen Strasburg to finish a four game sweep of the Padres.   So, in the words of the old Negro spiritual:* 'we will see.'

Last week's blog tried to end on an optimistic note, namely that things could change for this team if Bryce Harper got hot and rejuvenated our offense.  Thankfully, that seems to have started happening.  The Nats have won 4 of 5 to reinvograte the team's season, again, and Harper has gone 7 for 16 with two homers, one a walk off to win a must-win game versus the Pirates, and 6 RBIs.

In addition to revisiting last week's blog, I also want to expand on today's Washington Post story by Nats beat writer Adam Kiglore.  The author examines a handful of reasons why this season has been so frustrating and disappointing.

One was the underperformance of the Nationals' left-handed hitters, in particular Adam LaRoche - who to be fair has always been a slow starter and could very well carry the team again as he did in August last season - and Denard Span.  Injuries in general have hurt, in particular to Harper who is also left-handed.

Another reason was the addition of Span turned the team from a bashing, slugging one to a more balanced nine that could manufacture runs with speed and small ball.The common denominator to both diagnoses problems?   No more Michael "Beast Mode" Morse.

Even though he hits from the right side, we do seem to miss his pop, and in hindsight it would have been great to keep him along with Span and not resign an aging LaRoche.  Of course, one can argue that with Zimmerman at third we need a Gold Glove fielder such as LaRoche at first.  And again, LaRoche could get super hot again and save his and our season (though he's 35).

But as much as we may miss the presence of another home run hitter, or if he would be that much better than LaRoche or Span offensively, I think we may actually miss Morse more in the clubhouse.

One other reason Kilgore lays out for the disappointing season is the pressure that comes with being a  'World Series or Bust' favorite.  No one can argue that any of the Nats, with perhaps the exceptions of the stoic Zimmermann and now-stoic Strasburg, and the carefree Gio, have handled that pressure well.   Tight play has defined this squad for most of the season.

One can safely assume that Morse could have helped with that problem. Or solved that problem. Or the personable and likeable and 'Take On Me" loving Morse would have kept that from ever BEING a problem in the first place.  

Beast Mode would have trumped World Series or Bust.

Natitudes and platitudes
* Maybe Mike Rizzo is not a genius.  Regardless of the Morse trade, the descision to not bring back Sean Burnett and rely on Zack Duke as our only lefty in the pen was a mistake. And Kilgore pointed out the the failure to resign Edwin Jackson does not look that good in the rear-view mirror AND cost the team a draft pick.
* Then there is Drew Storen.  Not sure how to assess how any pitcher could come back from the game 5 debacle, but save to say the Nats have not handled him well, and a pitcher who two years ago saved 43 games has regressed all the way to AAA.
*Finally, Kilgore did not mentin the bad ju-ju of picking William Howard Taft as the 5th

The Nats are killing me

As some of you may have noticed via social media, I've been a bit cranky when it comes to our hometown Washington Nationals.  Most of that crankiness was initially aimed at often ridiculous (the violence that pops up all to often during the Presidents race) and sometimes important (the stale and cheap patriotism of a standing ovation to honor convalescing veterans, an ovation that seems to absolve fans of actually helping veterans or thinking about our 13-year odyssey in Afghanistan*) topics.

But my crankiness is now metastasizing into full-on, Carolina losing to Dook after Zeller tipped in one of THEIR shots, depression.

The Nats are killing me.  

Two Sundays ago, Evan and I watched Washington complete a four game sweep of the Padres by scoring 13 runs.  THIRTEEN!  We had won 7 of 10 games, and were only 4 games back of the Braves.  Natitude was back!

But since then we've played our worst baseball of the year.  After this weekend's sweep to the Dodgers the Nats are now 2 and 8 in our last 10 games. Whatever good mojo the Nationals had has been eviscerated.  The Nats are now in 3rd place, half a game behind the Phillies for second in the East, and seven games behind the Braves AND the second wild-card spot.

It's hard to understand how a team that has Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Ryan Zimmerman can be this mediocre, and unable to build up ANY momentum over the course of 100 games.

Injuries is part of the story, especially for the lack of momentum that has kept this squad from ripping off a few 5 or 6-game win streaks.  Two weeks ago the 7 out 10 streak coincided with Harper then Wilson Ramos coming off the disabled list. 

But what gives now?  The big 3 pitchers have been great (despite today's stinker from ZNN), and even Dan Haren (on the hill tomorrow looking to end a 3-game losing streak!) has pitched better since coming off the DL.

It's not news that the offense has been horrible, frustrating, depressing, you name it. Saturday night's game was indicative of one of the biggest issues: driving in runs. The Nats had 12 hits but only scored one run, driven in by pinch hitter Roger Bernadina.  Against the Dodgers the Nats batted .077 with runners in scoring position.  

When a team with so many good players underachieves, who is to blame?  Is it Davey Johnson, his line ups, the way he uses the bull pen?  Is it hitting coach Rick Eckstein?  The Nats rank near to bottom of almost every offensive category.

Is it underachievers like Denard Span or Jayson Werth, who had a great second half last year but is currently making almost $500,000 per RBI this season and is hitting less than .200 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs?

I'll offer two things that could help a now healthy squad play better, maybe catch the Braves, and/or secure one of the two wild card spots.  I'm not going to touch the pitching, which outside of 2 or 3 bad outings from Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano has been generally great.

One is a simple line up change.  I'd go back to the future, and move Werth and Harper back to the top of the order, Zimmerman, then my big move of Desmond at clean up, followed by LaRoche, Rendon, Ramos, and Span (who has played great defense but is simply not getting on base enough).

Werth seems to stink everywhere else, and excelled at lead off last year. The second slot is the new third; you want to put you best hitter there since that spot gets about 15-20 more plate appearances than the 3 hole does a year.

Desmond often rises to the occasion with runners on base, and moving him up two places gets him a few more - important - at bats.  He's a free swinger but drives in runs.  

Two, fire Rick Eckstein for a number of reasons. One is admittedly cosmetic. Do something to get the team's attention/make them feel guilty/light a fire/insert sports cliche here. 

But others are valid.  The team is not hitting, and more importantly their approach to pitchers seems odd and confusing.  

Hitters guess and look for one pitch when they should be aggressive, take pitches when they should be expanding the zone looking for a pitch to drive.  

Or they frequently expand the zone at the wrong times, swinging at first pitches when it's actually time to work the count.  At bats look discombobulated; case in point was Harper Saturday night. He struck out LOOKING, taking all three strikes, when the situation called for looking for a pitch to drive no matter where it was (like Joe DiMaggio** or Tony Gwynn).  As much as I pick on Werth - ask Evan - we can not ignore that Harper has been swinging at too many bad pitches and taking too many 2-strike ones since he came off the DL; his pitch recognition - or approach - needs some improvement.

You can't fire the players so sadly have to fire the hitting coach. Bring in Frank Robinson, or Mrs. Robinson (the nation(als) turn their lonely eyes to you**) but do something.

These changes would work, or are at least worth trying, and I hope the Nats do something soon. It's past time to get hot. Going to last year's line up with Desmond at clean up and Eckstein at home could very well work.

GO NATS!

* One other thing I've been cranky about has been the generally lousy music the Nats play but that has gotten a little better. Positive developments include LaRoche using Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' as his walk up song; LCD Soundsystem's 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' and Stevie Wonder's 'You Haven't Done Nothing' making appearances lately, and Chuck Brown's 'Bustin' Loose' is heard after most homers (but there is still too much modern shlock country, too much AC/DC).
* One ray of hope. Line up change or no line up change, Harper is capable of getting red hot and carrying a team as he did in May and September last season. The big 3 should continue to be awesome. And we play the Braves head to head alot; if we sweep those games we're in!

This Year's Model

Hard to believe this is my first blog, let alone blog about Carolina basketball, in months.  I'll admit that the combination of some lingering ennui about Carolina athletics in the wake of the on-going embarrassment involving the football team and the African-American studies department (perhaps combined with getting older) has kept me off line.

But as is often the case, a win over a rival like NC State has rekindled my enthusiasm.  The switch to a smaller lineup has seemingly resuscitated this year's basketball team AND the Carolina Hellenic Blue blog.

I shouldn't attribute too much to Saturday's nice win over the Pack since the Heels have actually been playing better of late. After getting spanked in Coral Gables by Miami Carolina has outplayed Duke yet lost due to some terrible foul shooting and one Blue Devil run in the second half, scored 93 points versus a tough Virginia team, won on the road at Georgia Tech (which is actually news in the Roy Williams era), before taking down NC State on Saturday.

The wins are justifiably credited to Carolina's new small line up and more specifically to the insertion of PJ Hairston into the starting line up at small forward. More on that move in a minute.

What makes each of those games significant is not only did Carolina play well and win 3 of those 4 contests, but that Carolina finally started doing what every good Carolina team usually does - which is do what they want to do, and impose their will on the game and their opponent.

Against Duke we got shots we wanted and were aggressive, but the win over the Wahoos is the best example.  Virginia likes to control tempo, but the Heels would not allow that to happen. They rebounded, ran the floor and made shots against Virginia's tough, pack-line defense.

That takes talent, but almost more importantly it takes confidence and a faith in your teammates and coach. It took a while for a young team, especially for our freshman point guard, to develop that confidence.

But now it's here, and it's fun to watch.

The interesting this about this year's model is the style of play the Heels are imposing on their opponents.  In a word, that style is very 'un-Carolina.'

For practically 60 years, to the days of Frank Maguire but canonized during the Dean Smith era, Carolina basketball has featured a "big man down low, feed the post first, inside out" offense.  Those big men could often run the floor, and other attributes such as getting shots in transition before the defense gets set have characterized Carolina basketball.


The recent run of powerhouse teams assembled by Roy Williams took that model to a different level with a dominant big man balanced by one or two lights out shooters on the wing and a terrific point guard.

First and foremost, Carolina's offense has always prioritized getting a good - or better yet easy - shot. Logically, the closer a player is to the basket - from either a pass down low or on a fast break or the secondary break - the easier the shot so the Heels have always looked inside first.

This year's team does NOT do that, in fact CAN NOT do that, and therefore makes this year's squad the most un-Carolina-like team since ....when?  Ever?

Even before the recent switch to a four guard lineup, the 2013 Heels were unbalanced and did not fit into the historical arc of Carolina basketball.

This year's team, with four guards and a power forward, is more like a modern NBA line up (or even dare I say recent Duke teams). Folks may have noticed that this year's NBA all star team ballot did not include a category for center; you voted for 2 back court players and 3 in the front court.  The three-point line and in my opinion Magic Johnson and the age of big guys who can handle have completely changed the game of basketball. Instead of going down low first, to a Hansbrough or Sean May or Eric Montross - or to a Kareem or Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain - today's basketball revolves around players who can slash to the rack and drive and dish, or positionless, offensive-polyskilled freaks like LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant (or Michael Jordan for that matter).

You have to give ol' Roy credit for making that work this year (or criticize him, I suppose, for failing to recruit a successor to the May-Hansbrough-Zeller line).

But he does deserve credit. This small line up is starting to believe in itself, and obviously the coach is a big part of that. He's getting defense from a three-point specialist, great rebounding from his small forward, and leadership and savvy from his 150-pound freshman point guard.

And this weekend, this most un-Carolina line up did a great job of playing smart, winning Tar Heels basketball - and winning a rivalry game to boot.*

Go Heels!

 * and got me blogging again!

A Few More Thoughts 

• NC State LOOKS really good, and I wonder why they have struggled at times this year.  They have plus-talent at the one, two, four and five.  Richard Howell is particularly impressive. I guess the easiest explanation is one that came into play on Saturday; C.J. Leslie disappeared at times.  Credit Hairston for some great defense, too.
• It looks  like the ACC will have 5 teams - Carolina, Duke, NC State, Virginia and Miami - in the NCAA tournament, but that's it unless Maryland or FSU run the table in Greensboro.
• Two years ago I was convinced that Tony Bennett was in over his head at Virginia, but I was wrong.  A program seems to be building in Charlottesville.
• Though the Heels are doing well I don't see an first-team all ACC players on the roster.  My first team all-ACC team is Larkin, Plumlee, Howell, Joe Harris, and either Kenny Kadji or Erik Green.  Reggie Bullock and maybe Hairston could be second or third-team members.  

Desperation in College Park

Lots of topics but so little time - or space.  But after watching Carolina defend the ACC's honor on Saturday, I feel compelled to jump start my blogging with Maryland's short-sighted decision to leave the ACC for the Big 10.  

The decision to leave speaks more to desperation even more than it points to money.

The athletic department at Maryland's flagship university has faced severe budget cuts recently, and drastically decided to cut seven Olympic sports in the last year. Cuts included core collegian sports like swimming and track and field. 

The school had hoped that football and basketball would pay the freight for the rest of their athletic department - as it does at the other ACC schools - and expanded the capacity of Byrd Stadium as part of that plan. But those new seats stayed empty even as now-fired Ralph Freidgen reinvigorated the football program.  At the same time, the men's basketball team oddly slid into mediocrity in the wake of the 2002 National Championship, stopped going to the NCAA tourney every year, and as a result attendance - and revenue - dropped.

Much of the cash that did come in was mismanaged, sports were dropped, and the solution was seen as a conference with its own TV network in the Big 10.

Maryland may make more money from the Big 10 Network, but don't forget the ACC has its own network - at least when it comes to basketball.  It's called ESPN, so the TV money will likely be a wash.

But back to mismanagement and the ill-fated decision to expand Byrd Stadium.  Where Maryland will make money is selling out their stadium but with Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan alums instead of Terps fans. The athletic department is probably happy to trade schools like Wake, Duke, BC, and Miami with schools that have large alumni fan bases in DC. Or ones that have fans that travel; the ACC arguably only has one football program with fans who will go anywhere, and that's Virginia Tech.

In that regard, the Terps are replaying a sad and common refrain sung by other DC-area teams - "come watch the other team." The Wizards have done that for years, alienating a grassroots basketball community so much that a recent survey of local sports fans found the Lakers as popular as our hometown team.  For years the Nats did the same, courting Phillies fans to come to DC until a noticeable fan backlash, and an infusion of talent, stopped that noxious ticket-selling strategy.

Unfortunately, instead of getting more competitive – at least in football - Maryland decided to desperately chase the equivalent of Phillies fans to balance the books at the athletic department.  Disapponting and desperate.

A few more Maryland notes:

• Maryland the university and STATE belong in the ACC. The university was a charter member, but culturally and geographically the state is an ACC state. Like Virginia,  the Carolinas, and Georgia it has a tidal coast on one end with mountains at the other. It's early economy was dominated by tobacco (and slavery). It shares the same weather and many of the same demographics as its fellow south of the Mason-Dixon Line brethren.  Now the Free State is mixed up with states like Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota (all great places to play football in October and November).  Good luck recruiting Florida and the southeast!
• Fans of Terps football should get used to winning only 2 to 5 games a year in perpetuity. Why would any player play football there? Maryland could - and did - compete for ACC championships even after FSU and Miami joined.  But does anyone think the Terps will ever compete with Ohio State or Michigan or anyone in football?
• Don't expect basketball to benefit either. Big 10 basketball is NOT as glamorous as the ACC. And big time recruits from the east will likely stay in the area to play at Carolina, Duke, UConn or Syracuse. And why would big-time recruits from Chicago or the Midwest pick Maryland over Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio State or other regional powers?
• Finally, Maryland has become a big time soccer school, for both men's and women's teams. Outside of Indiana, the Big 10 stinks regarding the world’s most popular sport, while the ACC excels.  
• Other than those reasons it's a great move!

Republican Paradise?

One reason most Greek-Americans will likely vote for Barack Obama – again I might add; most surveys from 2008 showed more than 60 percent of Greek-Americans voted for Obama - is the way Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Republicans everywhere compare the Obama Administration’s spending and economic policies to the current crisis in the motherland.

“If the President gets reelected we’ll end up like Greece” they shriek (of course, many of us still think some things in Greece are worthy of emulation, but that’s another matter).

But modern Greece should look like a paradise to Republicans, especially ones like Paul Ryan who idolize Ayn Rand.

As you know, Rand’s central philosophy was that enlightened selfishness and hyper individualism was the best way to build a modern society, and she rejected collective - especially government - action and programs. 

In Rand’s idealized society, it’s every man for himself. Do not help others; they will eventually crawl their way out of the mire, or perish (either way, taxes stay low!).  Small government, anti-tax Republicans love her - even though she was an atheist.

So to the modern Republican Party, ‘Greece’ is shorthand for ‘bad’ and ‘failure’ and Rand is simply fantastic.

But the current situation in Greece is as much a failure of Ayn Rand-like thinking as it is a failure of an over-leveraged nation state.

In Greece, the political and economic elites have always operated under Rand’s central principle of every man for himself.  Consider:

 

• Wealthy Greeks do NOT pay their taxes.  Republicans don’t want to pay taxes, so they’d love Greece.  
• Greek elites such as judges, politicians and regulators always put themselves and their economic self-interest above all else. That’s why bribes are a way of life in Greece. Bribes are seen as a way of increasing your individual wealth rather than seen as weakening the public’s confidence in the nation state or government institutions and accountability.  I got to get mine! Who needs public confidence in the nation state anyway?  Not Republicans. Once again, for the GOP Greece should be the word. 
• Instead of hiring legal, Greek workers, economic elites love to hire and rip off illegal aliens.  Hiring illegal aliens and paying them in cash, off the books and without receipts epitomizes enlightened selfishness. Why pay someone legally, pay taxes and fees on income, or contribute to building a Greek middle class by using union labor when I can save money by hiring (and intimidating) an illegal alien who will work for peanuts?  The bottom line is more important to Ayn Rand Republicans - and Greek business leaders - that building a middle class or certainly unions. 

Those are just 3 examples of why crisis-ridden Greece is a Republican paradise - and the main reasons why Greece is in such trouble.  Maybe the insults will stop. 

Or worse! Maybe folks like Paul Ryan will move to this unbeknown Randian paradise know as modern Greece.

Guns and Cynicism: Two Strains of Anti-Americanism

Today’s most recent outrage involving guns reminds me of one of the greatest ironies in contemporary American life: gun owners claim to be the most patriotic citizens in our nation.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. Only loving one of the Bill of Rights does not make you a patriot, it makes you a cynic - and it makes you un-American.

Here’s why.

One, a functioning democracy is based on trust. Americans trust their fellow citizens to collectively pick our leaders and decision makers every two to four years.  But you have to trust you fellow Americans with that power and authority.

Two, America is an act of faith.  Faith in people’s better nature, faith in your fellow citizens’ ability to choose good leaders, faith that if you work hard you will get ahead no matter where you started.  More importantly, faith that the shared values enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our laws – as opposed to an Old World shared blood, ethnicity or religion – and institutions will result in the kind of society where everyone’s rights are protected and you can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Owning a gun conflicts with both trust and faith (let alone life and happiness). 

Gun owners do not trust their fellow citizens with their own safety. They justify gun ownership, at least hand gun ownership, with the paranoia that they could be attacked by their fellow citizens AT ANY TIME. 

If you don’t trust someone with your day-to-day wellbeing and safety, why would you trust them with the vote or any profound decision making? 

On faith, gun owners have absolutely no faith in American society, ideals and institutions. In addition to needing a gun to protect themselves from their neighbors, gun owners argue that they need protection from the government or other large forces (usually the UN, not Exxon or Monsanto).  Do they really have so little faith in U.S. laws, courts, the press, citizens groups – let alone their elected officials – that their only recourse is to arm themselves?  Are they that cynical about our democratic institutions that they think our elected officials or decision makers are capricious dictators - or kings or despots - who will eventually attack or arrest them?

Institutions like the police or military have often stumbled in our republic’s history; ask any African or Native American.  But in 21^st century America our institutions and democracy are strong, and can be trusted. That’s why gun ownership should be limited to law enforcement and the military; that’s what a mature democracy would look like.

Obviously, especially now with Obama, many right-wing nuts who love guns more than Jesus – who was against violence in any form, by the way – or money no longer think that we have a democracy or rights. 

They have absolutely no faith or trust in America.  Their cynicism toward their country is both sickening and too often deadly.  And it is un-American.