Month: December 2013

The Axe Finally Falls

The current coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Greg Schiano. He still has a job, for now.
Greg Schiano the now EX Buccaneers coach.  Feels good to say that, I must admit.

It just broke (a few minutes ago as I type this) that Greg Schiano has been fired as the Tampa Bay Bucs coach.

I was all for it when the Bucs started 0-8, but then they started to win a few games, going 4-1 in one five game stretch.

Losses to San Francisco, St. Louis, and New Orleans to end the 2013 campaign did the coach in. Some of the play calling in the New Orleans game didn’t make a lot of sense.  A fake punt down 21-14 with less than 30 seconds to go in the half, for instance.  Or running the ball on  a 3rd and 1 on their own side of the field down 42-17.

It’s rumored Schiano is heading to Penn State, with Bill O’Brien rumored to be the new coach of the Houston Texans.

May his pro coaching career rest in pieces.

A great final blog entry for 2013.

Coming Wednesday: predictions for 2014.

Christmas Time

1474413_10151787099537466_274003589_nI usually get philosophical over the holidays. I don’t know why, but I usually find the holiday season a good time to take inventory of what’s going on in the world and in my life.

As 2013 winds down, I am beginning to see that the more “better” society tries to make things, in some ways it gets worse. We have new technologies coming to us every day on cell phones, but the new gizmos don’t necessarily enhance our lives. They are more of a distraction than anything else.

I am not signing up for Obamacare until the last day of enrollment on March 31, 2014, provided that their website actually works. If my government wants to fine me, send me the bill, and I’ll do my level best to pay it.

Society is becoming way too divided. The whole “Duck Dynasty” flap proves that. Whatever happened to live and let live? Why is it that if someone defends heterosexuality, they are at risk of losing their place in society? And note how fans of the show got Cracker Barrel restaurants to change their stance. When I lived in Marietta, Georgia in 1996, there was a Cracker Barrel not too far from where I lived. Loved it.

Sooner or later, we have to get to two simple concepts:

Peace on earth.

Good will towards men.  (And women too.)

Merry Christmas!

 

Flashback Friday, Final Christmas Edition: “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby

Next Friday (December 27th), Flashback Friday returns to its normal format.

But I can’t let Christmas go by without playing THE Christmas song by Der Bingle.

One more blog to do before the big day, which I’ll do Monday, Lord willing and if the creek doesn’t rise.

Making Up The Rules As They Go Along

So there’s this widow in Cape Coral who is being thrown out of her home because she doesn’t have electricity or a running water supply.

What is so odd about it all is that international property maintenance code is being cited. Not the codes of our country, but international code!

As I have learned first hand, condos and apartments are pretty pushy when it comes to enforcing their rules on their tenants. They give the majority of the rule breakers a pass, then pick and choose who to make examples of.

Note that the story also mentions that the woman in question has a bit of a record, which is a double edged sword. The fact that she had a record seems to me that this complex in Cape Coral knew exactly what battle they wanted to pick. They wanted to target someone who did not have all the means at their disposal to fight back.

It’s all about maximizing the profits of these property managers. Nothing more, nothing less.

The Golf Cart Parade

So this was my first test at shooting video on an IPhone. And with trials come errors.

First, I learned never to shoot at the normal size ever again…it screwed up the size of the video.

Secondly, I have to watch where I put my hands.  I put my thumb on the bottom of the IPhone, muffling the audio.

Oh well. Can’t make an omelette if you don’t break eggs, I suppose.

As Your Attorney, I Advise You To…

So I watched “Where The Buffalo Roam” on Netflix recently. I had seen it years ago, knowing who Bill Murray was, but at the time not knowing who Hunter S. Thompson was.

If it wasn’t for producing Stan Major’s late night national talk show back in 1991-92, the name still probably wouldn’t ring bells for me.

You have to be a bit of a character to call a late night show, that’s for sure. One of the more unique characters was a lady named Jade. She’d mention Dr. Thompson a few times to me before I put her on with Stanley, and Stan would flirt with her on the air (part of his shtick) and she’d play coy back.

By the fall of 1992, Stan left our network and had gone literally down Ulmerton Road to Sonny Bloch’s IBN. Frank Kinsman had taken over Stan’s spot, and one night one of my co-producers had brought in a guest, which wasn’t too unusual.

And that’s how I wound up meeting Jade. As best as I remember, Jade was a slender built woman with salt and pepper hair, roughly 40. She looked like she had a good share of parties in her day at the point I had met her.

But we in Radio Land tend to be disembodied voices. When faces are inter connected, sometimes the thrill departs. A shame our network didn’t consider hiring Jade, she would have been a good hire if someone taught her how talk radio works.

Good Bye Blackberry, Hello IPhone

Striking a pose with my IPhone.
Striking a pose with my IPhone 4.

After spending every day since September 1, 2011 with a Blackberry, and debating whether or not to switch over to an IPhone a countless number of times, the deed has been done with amazing swiftness.

The phone was ordered on Saturday as a Christmas present, a steal (I thought) for its $199 price. Virgin Mobile said don’t expect the phone for three to four business days.

It got here in a little under 49 hours shipping from Indianapolis. Watching the football games yesterday and seeing all that snow in the Midwest and Northeast, this exceeded my wildest dreams.

I got an IPhone 4, quickly upgrading it to an IOS 7 operating system.  Seems to work well.

The Blackberry will sit in a closet drawer for now. If the IPhone breaks (which I hope doesn’t happen, trust me), I may call on it again.

Needless to say, the IPhone technology is very impressive, even without a Siri to talk to. I just thought that would be a little too awkward for now.

Kudos to Fedex for an amazing job getting it here so quickly. I wished the worker a Merry Christmas. Never too early to do that, I suppose.

Is A Softer Game A Rougher Game?

So I’m watching the Sunday night football game tonight between Carolina and New Orleans.

Ted Ginn Jr. of Carolina is returning a punt, going down the sidelines, when the New Orleans punter (less trained to tackle than a normal player would be) basically bulldogs Ginn down by the facemask, twisting Ginn’s head around in doing so. Such a tackle is considered extremely dangerous, because it could break someone’s neck and kill that someone.

Ron Rivera, the Panthers head coach, screams at the officials for the offending punter not only to be penalized the standard fifteen yards for committing a personal foul, but also lobbies for the New Orleans punter, Thomas Morstead, to be ejected.

Coach Rivera had an excellent point, but the officiating crew declines Rivera’s offer, mainly because NFL teams carry two players who can kick, three at the most. New Orleans going down to just one player handling kicking and punting might put them at a competitive disadvantage.

My question: are NFL players getting to the point where they don’t give a damn if they commit penalties? Are all these rules to protect the players having an opposite effect?

If a defensive back is about to launch himself at a wide receiver, is that DB thinking he’d better knock his opponent out of the game to make the fifteen yard penalty he’s about to get “worth it” on some level?

Just a thought.