Click images for desktop size: "Fresh Cocktail" by Unknown I have to admit, I feel daunted.
Waiting for the shoe to drop daunted. Not where's my next meal coming from daunted. I mean if you need to feel daunted this is the way to go.
When life threatens to tumble you in some direction you don't want to go, when its apparent that being overwhelmed is just a phone call or an email away we turn to sports!
There its just games. Games that in childhood taught us how to be American. How to socialize, how to excel, how to prosper and survive in a world that made little sense.
As an adult sports form that window where we remember the excellence that was in our grasp, the simple beauty that was unfettered by expectations and was so much better than merely a dream.
Sports are safe, comforting, exciting and brilliant.
I watched the Saints - Vikings game last night. Of course I was stunned by the three brilliant punt returns by Reggie Bush. I was impressed with the Saints in general.
What stunned me was the continued inept officiating. The NFL ref's have been getting worse and worse each year. Last night inept calls again changed the outcome of the game.
In particular Reggie Bush made a good run to the viking 5 when he was flagrantly tackled by the
Click images for desktop size: "Eye" by Unknownface mask! It saved a touchdown and would only have been a 3 yard penalty so it was nasty and fine worthy but not an incredibly stupid penalty.
Since Bush was trying not to have his neck broken he fumbled the ball. No big deal as the penalty would let them keep it. To my horror the refs IGNORED the dangerous personal foul and gave the Vikings the ball.
They rewarded dirty play . . .
Since Sean Peyton has already been fined $15,000 for criticizing the depressing ineptness of the refs he has to keep his mouth shut. Even as he watched one of his star players have his career and life threatened by vicious play. Even as the flagrant foul played relentlessly on the replay boards.
The ref's ignored that. Maybe it was to get even with Peyton for showing them up the last time.
Even in college ranks the officiating has been degrading. I'd like to blame John McCain and George Bush, but it probably has more to do with instant replay.
It used to be that officials were under some pretty extreme pressure to get it right. There a dozens of good reason for this the first being to keep the game fair and safe.
Now none of the football refs are professional full time refs. They're mainly lawyers and executives who use their position on national TV every weekend to promote themselves and their business. It makes no sense to me but that's the way its been and that's the way its going to stay.
They can point to the NFL where there was recently a serious scandal with a crooked professional ref. And they can ignore that there was only one and that in baseball there's never been any . . .
But that's the way its going to be.
It seems to me that instant replay is destroying the football officials need to get it right.
If at your job they suddenly announced that it didn't matter how well you did your gig because they had another guy who was going to double check everything you did so if you made any mistakes, don't worry, he'll catch them.
Its the same way spell checkers have made us a nation of horrendous spellers when we step away from our computers.
There's just a whole lot less pressure, if any, to get it right. Games being lost because of bad officiating is one thing but the rising injury toll in the game is insane and I think its a direct result of
Click images for desktop size: "Purple Hair" by Unknown poor officiating.
The NFL has something the college game doesn't have. They'll go back in and slap massive fines on players for dirty play. They'll even suspend players. Look at the tragic accident that befell Anquin Bolden and the dirty hit on the Saints' TE last night. What's frightening is that neither of those plays were flagged. The ref's depended on instant replay and the "front office" to do their job for them. They get lax and the game gets out of control.
It spills over to the college game too. Which is even sadder. Even though most spectators don't draw the line and realize that 90% of the kids playing the college game are NOT going to the NFL and they are NOT pro athletes, they are just kids and for them to face crippling injury due to an adult not doing his job properly is a sin and a crime.

Well, the second presidential debate is tonight. I'm barely interested.
I hope that Obama shows class and ignores the personal attacks against Obama and his family, the pretty ugly scurrilous attacks of a guy who I still consider a traitor and a liar. Let the Mad Dog roll and talk about how we're going to get out of this mess that McCain and his pals created and nurtured.
How did McCain avoid jail time or get re-elected after confessing to his role in the S&L debacle?
I note that the stock market is still plummeting. Now that its come to light that when Lehman Brothers knew it was going to file the largest BK in history they were funneling all their cash to their top brass.
So it can't be any surprise that with the simple provision of no golden parachutes for banks taking
Click images for desktop size: "Karloff-House Of Frankenstein" by Universal Pictures the federal bail out that the patriotic bankers have decided to let the country go to hell. And John McCain agrees with them.
I still think that these guys deserve hard prison time for defrauding and stealing from the public.
Little nasty slime like Bonnie and Clyde became heroes because they robbed banks and shot bankers.
Its not going to happen but it should. Hang one banker and they'll all rethink their policies a bit clearer. Isn't that their attitude about us? Steal their home, steal their land, steal their life and the next guy won't be so eager to live a decent life.
So I hope Obama doesn't succumb to the scandalous lies of the despicable traitor and stays on course with lining out some sort of future for our country.