Film Inventory from memory:
1. Gremlins
2. The Goonies
3. The Incredibles
4. Into the Wild
5. There Will be Blood
6. Les Quatres Cents Coups
7. I’m Not There

Food stuffs Inventory from memory:
1. Three Meals Ready to Eat – MREs – purchased surplus from an Army base somewhere in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, LA
2. Smokehouse Almonds
3. Carnation Instant Breakfast
4. Three bags of candy for the kids

Sundry Items:
1. Disposable razors, toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving cream
2. Leatherman tool
3. Machete
4. Sleeping bag
5. Tent (9′x8′)
6. Mosquito net
7. Nalgene water bottle
8. Magnetic audio tape of native Twi speakers
9. Cipro (antibiotic)
10. Mefloquine (malaria)
11. Classical guitar
12. Rayban Avaitors
13. Q-tips
14. Dove soap for silky smooth skin
15. Windows XP Home and Professional and Office
16. MACBOOK
17. A/C voltage converter

Come Saturday night, that warm glee that washed over me in expectation of my day of football intensifies. I have trouble sleeping. I typically try to fix this with beer. The excitement is turning into panic. I bolt awake gasping for air. The room is bright, it’s a new day. It’s 1:30PM. Dammit, missed checking 1PM starters for fantasy. No matter there is the 4:15, Sunday and Monday Nighters. NFL Football is on TV right now!

My Game of Some Considerable Note in Week 3:

The San Fransisco 49ers with head coach Mike Singletary at the helm narrowly lost a battle of 2-0 teams to Brett Favre and the Vikings. I say ‘Favre and the Vikes ‘ not ‘Adrian Peterson and the Vikes’ with the benefit of having seen the game. Favre won the game in classic gunslinger fashion. As a result the broadcasting grandfathers of Bristol, ESPN HQ, are and will continue fussing over Favre and his childlike zeal for football like Grandpa Simpson and his Retirement Castle compadres fuss over Matlock and his zeal for “putting young people behind bars where they belong”. I say out with the old and in with the news!

Mike Singeltary who famously made his name in Chicago is a bit more newsworthy than Brett Favre. The former Bears LB led the Monster of the Midway with intense and intelligent play from the moment he walked onto the field his rookie year. Now the legendary player is trying to train, manage, organize, motivate, mentor and lead offensive and defensive units out onto the field 16 weeks in the Fall to get one of 6 spots in the NFC playoffs. This is the first season he has started as head coach after taking over interim head coaching duties last year when the fashionable Mike Nolan was fired after starting out 2-5. Singletary made a splash – I mean, hell, he is a legend. Of course he is going to get something going and it’s probably going to grab attention. After getting the team into a competitive state of mind, Singletary found men to lead his offensive and defensive squads: QB Shaun Hill and LB Patrick Willis.

Hill made a name for himself under center with the Maryland Terrapins and even though he wasn’t drafted, he was signed by an NFL team – the Minnesota Vikings. Oh the irony! He rode pine in Minnesota, but tired of that and so flew to Amsterdam and signed up to play QB in NFL Europe. In 2008 after a year of throwing passes in the Netherlands, Hill found himself on the SF Niners, a franchise with some history at QB, with a chance to prove himself to a legendary football player come head coach. And he did! To cap off an impressive nine games as starter, he led the team to a victory in the season finale with cool-headed late game signal calling against the Redskins.

His arm is nothing to scoff at either. In this Sunday’s heartbreaking loss Hill slid a pretty TD throw through a vanishing window to TE Vernon Davis who was running a very quick route. Accurate and precise throwing means throwing the ball at a very small physical and temporal target. Samurai would likely make good quarterbacks. Hill probably wouldn’t make a good samurai. But he did have his team up 24-20 with that pass with 8 minutes in the 4th quarter.

Stopping the run requires similar accuracy and precision. Understand what the offensive blocking scheme is, compare it to your run stopping scheme, and fill the gap quickly while still keeping your balance to make the tackle. LB Patrick Willis has been doing this very effectively for the past two years as the leader of the Niners defense. Butkus Award Winner, AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, two time Pro-Bowler – all since 2006. He had 10 tackles this game, 8 solo, and held the brutality of Adrian Peterson to 85 yards on 19 carries. His defense had hit Favre 6 times, sacked him twice and INT’d him once. Willis can be trusted with a 4th quarter lead.

This is what Singletary is thinking as the Vikings begin a drive with 3:26 left on the clock. Willis and his men deliver the ball on downs. With their star running back, Frank Gore, out after a 1st quarter injury, the Niners must run the ball with Glen Coffee, the talented rookie back out of Alabama. The run the ball three straight times, even on 3rd and 6th, in order to play if safe. They punt the ball back to the Vikes after burning on 20 seconds off the clock, giving the inestimably unpredictable Brett Favre a chance. Trust in our defense.

Favre led the Vikes 80 yards in 10 plays, 7 of them from the shotgun. The drive was capped off by an off-balance 32-yard TD toss from Favre as he was being hit to a tightly covered Greg Lewis, the Vikes 5th or 6th receiver. Not much the Niners DEF could have done about it. With only 2 seconds left on the clock, there was nothing the offense could do either.

Singletary is leading the Niners well, but can he lead them to Championships if he makes the mistake of letting Brett Favre beat him? It’s not that Favre has actual magic, despite what the ghosts of football past in Bristol have to say. He improvises well and is therefore unpredictable, hard to defend. He will take risks down field which with time running out is exactly what you have to have the stomach and vision to do so.

Hill and Willis can and will give this team the ability to win. I think the Niners are a very good team. Contenders! I think that Mike Singletary will see this as an opportunity to preach more aggressive play and play calling, especially with the game on the line. I don’t want to belabor the point, but burning just 20 seconds off the clock when you have the ball and the lead with less than 2 minutes left? That’s a mistake. The Niners will be news late in the season for a few years to come. On the other hand, Brett Favre’s news making days are coming to the close, hopefully its more of what we say today.

For example, Mwelde Moore caught a pass in the flat for a short 5 yard first down. Madden, may he rest in peace (I know he’s not dead), would have gone on and on about Mwelde and how tough and smart of a player he is. Fine, great…I think Mwelde Moore is a pretty good football player and am impressed he continues to play. Nevertheless, the interesting part of the play was the Titans were blitzing and the Steelers line picked it up brilliantly. Not only that, but the prescient play calling of the Steelers offensive coordinator, 16 year veteran Bruce Arians, pulled the dangerous DE Kyle Vanden Bosch out into coverage on Moore.

Collinsworth managed to break all of that down for us in all of 5-7 seconds. And that’s what he does every play. Thank the NFL Football Gods. Too bad I won’t be in the country to enjoy it all season.

As my own futile rebellion against this destruction of the Midsummer Classic, I cannot even watch the Home Run Derby with sound without going insane, is to subject the two readers of this blog to a simple analysis of MLB’s Rule 4 and 5 draft and how it relates to football (which on this blog is used instead of soccer). Since, most people don’t know about either of these rules or football, I also see this as a public service – rebel with a cause if you will.

Let’s start with baseball before getting into third rail of sports commentary. The Rule 4 draft in June of amateurs – high school and college – is the straightforward acquisition of young talent. Most draftees are signed to minor league contracts and placed in the minors to develop their abilities, with a very select few signing major league contracts immediately. The Rule 5 draft in December consists of teams picking minor leaguers not on a team’s 40 man roster. The 40 man roster is the 40 guys that have a major league contact with the team, as opposed to a minor league contract. The club can only have 25 men up at the Major league level at a time, with the other 15 in the minors, typically Triple A. Because these 15 reservist have a major league contract, which provides them certain rights over a minor league contract, the team can quickly bring them up to the majors, as needed.

Players selected in the December Rule 5 draft must serve on the 25 man roster for a minimum of 90 days which is a lot given baseball players get maybe 5 days off a month. There are a few more rules concerning releasing players to waivers, etc. but you can read more about that here. The purpose of the Rule 5 draft is to create a market for younger players who are not amateurs and not on a 40 man roster (everyone on the ‘teh Interwebs’ says Rule 5 prevents teams from hoarding younger players, the size of the roster and the need to perform every year prevent that, Rule 5 is creating a market just as Rule 4 does with amateurs).

Essentially, its a way for players to get up to the majors if they’ve hit a glass ceiling in their current organization, for teams to fill out any offseason needs before they start planning for the Rule 4 – typically pitching, defense and speed – and for Major League Baseball to stay competitive at both the major and minor league levels – people do go to see minor league games, who can afford a $1250 Yankees ticket.

In football, on the other hand, there is an open market for players during a league ‘transfer windows’. There are preseason and mid-season transfer windows by country/league association. During these times, clubs can purchase a player from a team for a transfer fee, which in many high profile cases, exceeds the value of the new contract that player signs with the purchasing club.

Interestingly, the players contract from the club he is leaving is terminated and a new contract is drawn up with the purchasing club – not the case in MLB and I believe all US sporting associations. The transfer fees are not always paid in cash at the time of transfer, for example they may be paid as a percentage of future transfer fees received if the purchasing club sends the player off to another club or via a friendly match where the selling club books all ticket receipts. Footballers are scouted and signed into training clubs, which are somewhat like minor league clubs, and until they are 18, their transfer is made difficult by FIFA regulations but still entirely possible. Once they turn 18, the player may be transferred between clubs in the UK, EU, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and South America. All the while clubs that have contributed to the footballers training and football education are compensated through clear FIFA regulations.

Basically, the clubs are compensating each other for the time they have put into the player and theoretically for the future value of the player – meaning the player isn’t getting paid fair price for his athletic contribution, the equivalent of his high school coach is cashing his checks. On top of this, player protections are few and far between as far as my research can tell. “An established professional [footballer] who has, in the course of the season, appeared in fewer than ten per cent of the offi cial matches in which his club has been involved may terminate his contract prematurely on the ground of sporting just cause.” What the hell does ‘established’ mean? It’s not defined in set of regulations where I found it (here.)

It seems pretty clear to me that footballers are poorly compensated and receive few rights which entitle them to the playing time they deserve. The clubs that find and train them are well compensated and done so promptly – no later than 30 days after a player registers with a new club does that new club have to pay training compensation to the players former club(s). This system will keep the current structure of a few top teams, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Milan, Inter, etc. – let’s call them the aristocrats – while supporting but never giving any upward mobility to the smaller clubs – let’s call them Parisian waiters.

Rule 4 and 5 don’t give power to the players, teams still have a lot of the bargaining power and can ultimately just drop a player to waivers. Worst case, with a Rule 5 draftee where they must pay the team they are drafting the player from a $50k fee, if player clears waivers (meaning no team added the player to their 25 man roster) then the original team gets the player back for $25k. Not a lot of risk, but risk management is kinda what Rule 5 is all about. That said, the Rule 5 ball players end up on a major league roster, playing in the big leagues in a big league ball park. Once they complete their 1 year mandatory service they are free agents deciding their own fate. Far better than being shipped around the globe like cattle.

FIFA needs to work on creating more fluid markets for the world’s footballing talent. This transfer system is aristocratic, old world trickery. The world seems ok with this, but football is getting big in America and “we don’t tolerate that type of shit in America, sir!” I suggest starting with eliminating the transfer system by allowing something like the Rule 5 draft with tiered and structured ‘transfer’ payments depending on the age of the player. I’d like to see players get a chance to prove their worth on the pitch and I’d definitely like to see some wizardly general management putting together competitive teams to face off against the sexy CR9 and Kaka who are sure to dominate in Real Madrid.

By the way, great book on the topic of Baseball and Football(soccer) is National Pastime by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist.

Saw this video, the intro for the Banana Splits Adventure Hour, on Boomerang, sing-a-long form and much better quality, but alas I don’t have access to old TV archives like Cartoon Network people. Anyway, this makes me extremely happy, I hope it makes you happy too.

Hello,

It’s painful to watch what’s happening.

I don’t want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.

I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don’t even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they’ve asked everyone to stay and help–I’m sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They’ve put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of “the bunches who are less than dirt” (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds)

This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people’s complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.

I hope that taking the time to recognize you in the first post on my blog will augur well for this project. You have always taught me to be well-rounded and this well-roundedness will make what I have to say unique and worth reading. While you are not the inspiration for this blog – the wonderous international cultural that has sprung up in the past 250 years I have to thank for that – you are a driving force. Too many of your lessons and words of advice are running through my mind right now as I write for me to tell you how important you have been to me. (You and Shaan screaming at the TV every time the Eagles make a big play or score a TD is also making it hard to organize my thoughts. 42-3 with 8:11 left in the 3rd quarter – screw you Cowboys!)

I know that Shaan will say the same thing when he gets older (if that suck up hasn’t already).

Happy Birthday Momma!