a couple of thoughts

Is this saying; I am throwing money away paying for parking?


Are the fruits of our labor, more labor?

Another story and a few comments beforehand

Well good day to you all…… beautiful almost fall weather here in North Texas.  I will be starting another story today and once you start reading you will realize I want to finish this one fast. There is somewhat of a deadline to meet because of certain events.

First though the better half and I were watching the last debate the other night and she shocked me. She and I (as you know) are vehemently against both candidates yet we still watch hoping beyond hope that one of them will make us feel better about what might happen after they are sworn in and based on the last debate, to no avail. My better half has been trying, really trying, to at least accept Ms. Clinton and yet she despises her. I mean, real I do not like that woman feeling.   And Mr. Trump is just going nowhere in both of our minds.

Everyone already knows my thoughts and I won’t go into hers, suffice to say we are very wary of the future. And yet… about thirty minutes after the debate ended my wife says to me: I think it is about time I took a class on guns and got a license to carry. This is a drop jaw to floor moment. My wife has never wanted a gun, never liked them, and has been against us having one for decades. She fears them. And now after viewing the third debate there is this sudden about face.  To me that says much. This doesn’t help any good feelings about the future possibilities.

Anyway, on to the story. A couple weeks ago I had an idea for another story and yet after the last debate and this past week this idea has consumed me. I haven’t done any prep like I always do for my blog stories. I will write in the moment. I do have the ones I work on a bit more, but trying to get those published. The story today is just this idea and it is based on recent events. And this would normally fall under one of my paranoid blog posts instead I decided to turn it into a short story. You will recognize immediately where the idea for this story came about and why I want to finish it fast. At some point, though someone needs to carry this craziness to its illogical paranoid conclusion before it might actually happen. So here comes the high stress paranoid story… and remember it is fiction and I hope it stays that way.  Let us see how far I get today before I need to perform other chores.

No working title right now

Four days before the election another set of emails were released showing much more disdain for the opposition candidate and distrust. That was the first headline. No shock emerged from this headline.

Later in the day more information came forth that created more talk of the election being rigged. Some ambiguous statements in a few of the emails, yet for the people who believed all the hype about a rigged election; It read like a bonfire of information.

The candidate’s surrogates for the past two weeks worked furiously to keep this idea in the press. Many people were caught up in the frenzy and hype. Much chatter amongst the followers of the candidate and they blogged, tweeted, added posts to news stories at every chance. And for some reason many governors, current officials in Washington even the military did not give this much credence. After all everyone said the candidate was whining, a sore loser so these comments appeared as hot noise.

The surrogates kept at it day and night, encouraging more and more the ardent followers to prepare. The accusations flew and the followers digested this idea like a dying man drinking water in the desert. Consumption did not describe how they soaked in this crazy idea. The actual thought this was true ran through the veins turning rational people into fear crazed maniacs. They simmered for the first week after the last debate. The second week they boiled and now with four days to go they obtained proof it was the end of the world.

No one really knew where the plans and preparation developed, or to many they did not know. Yet the surrogates were ready.  And was it planned all the time or did it happen because of circumstances? We will never know.

At first the chatter talked of going to the inner cities, watching polls, and more normal political activity of getting out their voters. Four days before the election though, posts wrote what type of supplies might be needed to spend all day in the inner cities watching polls, what to watch for, how to approach the regular poll watchers with their suspicions, who to contact in the campaign when they saw irregularities because to the inner campaign and surrogates’ fraud was a reality. And they wanted to make sure they caught it. There would be no questions by the general public once they started proving how rigged the vote.

And unbeknownst to many in the government certain elements of the military and homeland security supported and wanted a new leader. One they could relate and respect. Their preparations coincided with the campaign. They were instrumental in contacting certain militia groups around the country and preparing them where needed. Communication lines of normal military and state national guards were being severed. Trusted units, and there were a few, quietly heard instructions about what they need to do once the riots start on or after election day. The officials worked to create statements to use once the riots started. Yes, once the riots started. They prepared well. They too, like the supporters of the candidate yet for different reasons, tired of the usual Government inaction and incompetency. People needed leadership and they knew their candidate. Their time had come and their excitement hid from themselves the truth of what they wanted.

Two days before the election a quiet mobilization began. The innocent and unfortunately misled followers of the candidates prepared to vote early then head to certain polling areas. Somehow they received specific instructions on where to go. They knew exactly what was expected of them and as good patriots they went, not knowing the true end result.

The candidate wanted to win. The candidate felt winning solved the problems and the campaign’s success begins the change everyone wanted. The military and bureaucratic leadership already in government did not feel the same optimism. They knew the truth yet they knew they needed to take charge and save the country. If the early exit polling did not show a fighting chance to win, mobilization begins. Plans called for the poll watchers, the average citizens to start the protests. The press needed to think a groundswell of support arose, not a top down action. This supported the notion that military and national guard intervention protected the people. Little did the press know only certain parts of the military would intervene. And then there were the meth fueled paramilitary individuals, their whereabouts known and their instructions given. This creates scapegoat for the press, yet tools of the established leadership. “Right wing nuts” so to speak whose actions set up a series of steps in the first few days where some may be sacrificed and some hidden immediately for use later if needed. Not all of them were meth addicts, but enough to help the cause. Their madness tools, only tools in the eyes of the leadership. They were the front-line soldier that in any war becomes the first casualties.

Election Day:

Surprisingly a large turnout arose. The hatred of each candidates’ supporters of the other candidate fueled a much larger turnout than expected. Third party candidates received a larger turnout also. This created long lines even early in the morning. The established leadership hesitated early on since they did not want to upset the results if their candidate actually did start winning. Then knew this would backfire on them.  They felt confident their candidate would not, yet now they wanted to make sure. Luckily for them, the normal followers of their candidate did get up early, hours before the polls opened becoming first in line. They voted and moved quickly to their assigned areas.

This immediately created friction between these unauthorized poll watchers, the people in line and the authorized polling officials. People knew right away this wasn’t going to be good in some areas.  A couple of Governors immediately called their State National Guard into play. Not knowing the specifics well of mobilizing them, they did not realize the groups they wanted to call up, were not receiving the message.

The established leadership knew these attempts failed and prepared their alternate call ups so the Governors would not get suspicious if no one showed up. Of course, any paramilitary groups arrived first. They hoped this would cause the first riots. They communicated with these groups where to go and to wait for further instruction.

Lines grew all over the country. This information caused some more hesitation in immediate action by the established leadership. If large crowds of the general public perceived some irregularities, all this may backfire. They knew many of their candidate’s followers were not going to be involved and could fall back and not remove themselves from the situation. This might create a much larger fight and give time for the regular National Guard units to get involved. Their side would be outnumbered quickly if this happened. They needed surprise and swift action so they could establish martial law and then assign these troops to “protect everyone” with curfews, restricted movement, and communication links of the media and public cut. They needed all information coming from them right away. Any delay and people might start choosing and merging sides. This definitely did not help.

Around noon they started receiving the information they wanted and their candidate jumped on social media and began his firestorm of comments about the election being rigged. Exit polling was showing the other candidate coming out ahead not by sizeable margins, yet by enough that the media began calling the election. This became the first huge mistake.

All over the country the unauthorized poll watchers began seeing all sorts of irregularities. There were none. Their anger of hearing the election rigged comments called them to action. They immediately confronted people in line about voting. Fights broke out on the streets. It quickly turned to fire fights. The unauthorized poll watchers had guns on the supply list and they didn’t hesitate to use them. Riots broke out as people watched their friends shot. The regular poll watchers tried to call in local authorities, yet certain lines of communication jammed quickly. The system overloaded fast. Partly because of the actual problems in the cities and partly because the preparation plans already disabled some areas.

The established leaders knew the potential volatile areas. The paramilitary groups arrived there first. Hyped up on a twisted motivation, meth, ignorance, and easily misled they jumped into the inner-city riots and began shooting up any and every one. Even good followers of their candidate were shot in the melee. This worked. The press now being fed information from DC reported specific yet unknowing misinformation so even more riots broke out in the inner cities and now spreading to the suburbs. Other members of the military, national law enforcement etc not involved followed suit as expected. Their orders seemed rational due to the fast rising violence all over the country.

National guard units were ordered up all over the country. Martial law was being announced by certain leaders so others did not question. One tiny problem, the sitting President seemed to disappear. Per released reports the government moved him to an unspecified location for his protection.

And he tried greatly to communicate with leaders he trusted, he received instructions to wait till the day settled down. He knew the danger, yet felt hopeless surrounded by the very people paid to protect him, now his prison guards.

The candidate in question spoke to the nation. Not elected, no results announced, yet under instruction from the established leadership, it became their candidate who spoke first to the nation. The candidate’s appearance first created the impression the established leaders wanted. Their candidate’s image appearing as the person in charge, the leader now, and where information about the country originates. They cut the media off, established control of communication and everyone followed suit. The day went off to their best of dreams.

The day after the election:

Fighting raged all throughout the country, not since the Civil War had Americans fought amongst themselves with this much anger and vigor. Unfortunately, there were too many sides fighting not against the establishment that took charge or their candidate. Too many sides developed. Fighting amongst various groups continued. Outside of the established leadership, no one had the ability to coordinate and work with different groups to put together yesterday’s events.  Groups did not trust each other, yet the groups that fought each other were the ones needing to communicate.

The plan worked of the country dividing quickly so many people just wanted stability and followed the orders of the National Guard and leadership on TV all the while not knowing they were being controlled. Democracy fell within the week, fighting raged on for months, and in January at the normally scheduled date at noon, the candidate who called the election rigged was sworn in. No one ever knew the final vote tally.

Overall it took about 6 months for normal day to day living to come back into play for the majority of the country. There were pockets still holed up; some in the inner cities where the law knew they would have to go in building to building to root it out; some in distant rural areas and a bit of irony, the bunkers the paramilitary people had built up in the play war games became the home of some the more philosophical dissidents who cried about and fought against the demise of the Republic; others fled the country hoping to build up enough support to go back and retake the government. Unfortunately, none of these groups ever coordinated, nor even if they did, it probably wasn’t enough to mount a real fight.

The majority of the country eventually went back to work, grateful the madness dissipated, and supported the new government because they were told the USA had survived an upheaval against the Constitution and the new leader was the greatest protector of the rights of the people anyone would ever know.

True standards of living diminished for many Americans, the rich got richer, or most of them, a few had fought and for some reason their businesses and wealth quickly disappeared, then they did. Overall though most people were told and believed the lies now being fed through the new media outlets that managed to “survive” the upheaval and everyone should be grateful that freedom of the press continued, freedom of speech and all the rights guaranteed still existed. Yet no one seemed to notice that there was no dissidence to counter argument to the new leader and new Congress reelected every two and four years. They were too busy trying to feed their families and keep their jobs. They took what pay they received and well didn’t complain about it. You never knew when your job might be shipped overseas by the Wall Street consortium of corporations, yet again, the ones that survived the consolidations kept getting richer.

There just wasn’t any opposition party of any consequence. A few crazy fringe parties marginally existed and campaigned, yet no matter how much support they might start to achieve come election day they were beat in landslides. So, the people continued to speak and support the current government day after day, year after year, and now decade after decade.  The Candidate had won, and the new party grew. At least a small group of people were true believers the USA was now the greatest country it had ever been. Everyone else grew up taught that.

And if you ever want another idea, I still have my 2012 fictitious party platform you can always read, just in case you want to make real change.

Some quips and comments

Irony is bringing donuts to the gym

If you really want to make America great again, start by changing some of the programming on daytime TV

Can someone please tell me what happened to the Texas Rangers other than the Toronto Blue Jays is a good team?

Are you ready for Tony vs Dak? Dallas sports media is already hyping the question.

We have spent decades staring over the edge of the cliff with incompetent politics. This year both parties have decided to push us over.

I will start work on another story soon. I have a vague idea for one. Same as before, just write it down when I sit to write it down, no editing and hopefully not much thought in advance. Think of it as traveling and forgetting to bring the map. It good be a great trip or you could drive off a cliff.  My brakes don’t seem to work well.

Why is it people will tell you how to raise your kids and then you go and listen?

Some friends came by for the weekend, had a great time, went to the State Fair,,, (still in play for another week or so, don’t miss out) and then to the Cowboys game against the Bengals. It was a great weekend.  Monday was a bit rough in many ways. Gotta start listening to people about what I eat.

Still feels like summer most days in North Texas and I love it and yet some fall weather does sound good.

The Ultimate Fart

I am talking about the Libertarian Party and more specifically the brain farts Gary Johnson seems to be passing.

I am sure you are all aware of Mr. Johnson’s lack of foreign affairs knowledge by now. The mainstream media overall and Stephen Colbert this week have done a pretty good job of disseminating that information. And yes I know I am piling on.

It is a shame that such a great opportunity for a fringe party to attract a mainstream audience in this election has been squandered. I do not believe in much of their platform and I know some of their platform would like to get us out of many foreign entanglements, yet at some point you have to know what is the reality of the world stage. Basically he has turned this opportunity into one small noise that will drift into the atmosphere of political history like a whiff of gas passes us by then disappears.

And it goes back to one of my incessant points that we need new mainstream parties to make a difference in the future of our country.

One quick point about the Clintonians and Mr. Trump. Other than they are just as blind to her faults as Mr. Trump supporters are to his, they do not see that he has a good grasp of populist vocabulary or at least some type of modern populism. He will never implement it and even the few ideas he has come close to articulating will take a flood of election change in Congress to get passed.

I ask you: how many of you believe that Mr. Trump could walk into DC and get import tariffs on companies’ products that have taken jobs overseas and sell products back to us actually passed this current Congress? Those headquarters are still here hiring the same lobbyists. This is just one reason I see nothing Mr. Trump says will ever be or even truly attempted to be implemented. This just goes back to the gas problem mentioned previously.

 So Mr. Trump can speak the language of populism well, unfortunately none of his supporters realize it is all vocabulary. And none of the Clintonians realize how this verbiage plays well in Peoria.

Not about the debates, but it is sad and mad time…

…sad and mad time.

I know that the media has and will give us debate overkill here in the next few days so I will let you sort through your thoughts. You do not need my little bit of arrogant thinking to distract you from whatever is about to happen. The only pre debate or debate comment for now is:

Nowadays, it seems logic and common sense are four letter words in our society and words that no one wants to utter or practice.

So why the big gloom here on the early first debate eve you may ask. Well two reasons and one involves this blog. It has come to my attention and I do not know all the details, but some porn sites are feeding off clicks to this site or are redirecting to something else. As I have confessed many times I am a tech neophyte even to this day so I do not know how all the ins and outs work on setting up social media or whatever else you call my blogging. I just know somehow someway this blog has something that I have no idea how to correct or rid.  This seems to be on the google version of the blog. I do not think wordpress or tumblr is experiencing the same problem. Or nothing has been brought to my attention.

If any of you that read this blog and have an idea of what might be happening I would definitely appreciate some feedback or info of what you have run across. I do not think everyone is being redirected and I have no idea why porn sites are attaching or redirecting to me. That seems weird to me. Instead of going to hell viewing porn, they are being sent to blog hell coming here. Ha ha ha

Anyway I hope you are not misdirected here or there and hopefully maybe it was a fluke that someone ran across. Again, any info to help out is seriously appreciated.

The second sad and mad is a common complaint among either casual sports fans or non-rich sports fans. Yes, I am talking about the disaster in trying to buy tickets to a sporting event, if you do not know magically in advance the one day before the season starts that you may go to a game. There just seems to be one day where a fan can get regular priced tickets before the season starts for the actual event without having to go through ticket vendors or ticket exchanges once that day has passed and all the tickets are bought.

I know the teams love the vendors since it helps them sell out tickets so they get their revenue. Yet the casual fan or someone who cannot afford season tickets get stuck having to purchase tickets at a premium and then whatever system you are on tacks on a service fee. I wish I had a good answer to remedy this situation. Sometimes if the team isn’t doing well or for sports like baseball or basketball where there are enough games that sometimes last minute prices come down you get lucky. If you want to get football tickets to any popular or winning team you can forget about it. Prices are up significantly and wildly different from seat to seat.

In any case though all sports exist because of the fan, yet corporate American prefers to shove down our throats how they want to do something versus helping out their customers and in this case fans.  Sad, but true the one people who really matter the most when it comes to sports are treated the least. I know many of you are probably already well aware of the problem, but today I had to vent. Actually I have been wanting to vent for a week. We have friends who are serious fans coming in town and one of my offspring is having a birthday so it was a perfect time to decide to go to a game yet to buy five tickets to sit next to the moon and watch the game was still extremely burdensome financially. Well at least for those of us who live in “the middle class”. 

I hope your experiences are better and if you watch the debate feel free to add your thoughts to this post or any post for that matter or email me. I am really curious to what the rest of the world thinks about tonight other than the media talking heads, who like the two political parties haven’t said anything new in decades. You can also vent about sports or even concert ticket prices, too.

And this evening it was actually a tad chilly here in North Texas. It will not last long, but for right now a nice refreshing break from the humidity and heat. Change is coming eventually though.     Salud

Some sports comments (mostly Dallas)

If people want to know why Americans drink, then they are unaware of College allegiants and then watching games like the California-Texas game.  Sheesh 68 points in the first half then none in the third quarter.  Those two turnovers are killing Texas.  Still watching this game so may have an update before I finish this post.

Well, all the Dallas teams are about to be playing at the same time.

First of all I am a fan of soccer so it surprises me that I do not follow FC Dallas more. I know they do well, yet I just do not keep track. I watch the World Cup (men’s and women’s); Premier league games on occasion; and the Mexican league, but just do not tune into the Dallas team. And I am such a homer for home teams it really amazes me I have no idea exactly how they are doing. I do know they tied tonight only because their score came across the bottom banner on ESPN while watching Texas. Shame on me.

Also same for Stars. I have a rudimentary understanding of hockey, but only keep track of them if they make the playoffs. And my understanding is they have a good chance of doing well this year.

So let’s get to what I have some understanding about and first of all that will be the Texas Rangers. I am a bit worried even though their record is so strong. I saw an article in the local press that mentioned and showed the stats how well they have done against the Houston Astros and this actually makes a difference. If the overall record had been a bit more equal Texas would not be in contention for the best record in the AL.  Overall this could affect how well they do in the playoffs. If they aren’t the best team in the AL then they are more susceptible in the playoffs which may mean an early exit that some people will not understand. I think they can still make the World Series but they need to play their best every game to have a chance. The last couple of games does not bode well. As you head into the playoffs you need to be hitting on all cylinders and first Cole Hamels struggled two nights ago and they just go blown out this past evening. I am hoping this is just one of those situations where they slipped a bit since the other team is out of the race.

Well the Cowboys should have beat the Giants. I went to Mass so missed much of the game, however, based on sports coverage and what I saw they should have won. I am still optimistic even with a rookie quarterback. And some how the defense held up some of their own against Eli so they really should have won. Dak is impressive, yet he has much to learn so any close games must be won. 

Tony Romo is probably done. I know they want to bring him back and I think he can still play and throw, but after all these injuries he is just too fragile. We have to have Dak come through on a regular basis because he is not the future, he is looking like the present and the future. He looks good so let us hope he grows up fast and becomes what we need. Zeke is the perfect compliment to him as a young runner so we can be optimistic. The offensive line is still a beast so can the defensive line become comparable. It is still a young season, but this game against Washington is important and almost a must win.

Everyone talks about the Mavericks needing to rebuild. I think they have snuck rebuilding in this year under the radar. For the last five years they have relied on bringing in seasoned veterans hoping to find a strong mix with Dirk and it has just been a tease. They say they want to stay competitive for Dirk and overall they have had some success. The Rajon trade could have been something, but turned out to be a disaster against Houston in the playoffs. Last year was just another one of those years where we needed more especially health and it fell apart at the end of the year. This year though there are some changes that could make a huge difference now and in the future. And it has only a little to do with Barnes signing and everything to do with Barnes signing.

Okay just for a moment think about a starting line up for the Mavs where there is no one anywhere near 30 years old.   Yes no where near 30.  Seriously you say. This would mean a true rebuilding year.  And right now we are almost there even with Dwill, Bogut, and Dirk in the starting line up.  

I am not saying they are about to win a championship with youth, but think about this situation. They have a second round draft pick at center the Mavs say should have been a first round pick. Justin Anderson is in his second year and had improved well in his first year. The other Curry has played three years technically, yet…. Dwight Powell may not be a starter, but how much potential is there. Barnes is 24. Wes Matthews is under 30. All of a sudden Dallas is one or two young superstars away from making the post Dirk transition and building a whole new team and with the current pieces a damn good transition. Barnes may become a superstar, Matthews is a proven talent so if he is 100%, Anderson and Curry could become serious up and coming players and finally that second round center AJ Hammons if he develops all of a sudden we have a very young team that has super potential. By themselves maybe not enough, but add a strong piece or two and this team has a very strong future.

And for this year, heck if this youth develops now, Dirk may have his best team in years. Bogut is definitely a strong center (health is the issue); if DWill stays consistent and healthy:  and if Dirk has a reasonably good year this team could surprise many.  If Carlisle manages minutes well for the older three starters and keeps them healthy, I am very optimistic.

Texas just loss and it sucked bad since there were many mistakes made by Texas, Cal had a great receiver who blew us up, and the last non touchdown should have been Texas ball.

This is somewhat old news, but I have to comment. There are now more sports players starting to chime in by sitting down or kneeling for the national anthem and Kaepernick is the poster boy for dissonance.  I know many people who have served our country are upset with him. What I want to say is that Kaepernick has a right to sit down or kneel or whatever. If he honestly thinks we can do better he has a right to find a way to make a statement. I prefer other ways and if you read me regularly you know I try to find ideas to make us better. This does not say he can’t kneel. What I want to say is to all who have served, it is your right to be upset at him, yet I want you to stand taller because he does kneel. Why you may ask? I say because what makes us great is our ability to say we want to be better. Whether you feel he is right or wrong is important, but what is more important is you have served for the Constitutional right for people to speak their mind. No where else on this planet does this happen. So for all who have served whether you agree with him or not, please stand a bit taller today because you have done more for our country and our planet to allow him to disagree or protest. You have done more to protect our Constitution when he can protest and yes be proud. Disagree if you want, but stand proud and tall because you have done your job which allows all of us to have an opinion. Making our country better takes much work and most of the time there will be disagreement, but that disagreement is one of the primary reasons our country is great.

More about the Press (and sports press)

My thoughts on the press from my post I wrote the other day didn’t stop there. I have been thinking more and more about our wonderful fourth estate and the conclusions just aren’t favorable.

In fact, I have come to the conclusion the sports press does a much better job of following a story, following up to a story, and addressing and attacking an issue when necessary. And this is about tone, content, and quality.

There may be as many words or more on a webpage or piece of paper about the Presidential election as any sports issue such as deflate gate, yet the actual depth of the story is found much more in the sports section. Yes, there is tons of fluff in the sports world and maybe more fluff overall, but when a real story hits, the sports press is significantly more thorough.

For example, today is Saturday and there is a plethora of college football games being played and many on TV. It is possible for a mistake a 19-year old might make to get more in depth coverage than any of Mr. Trump’s or Ms. Clinton’s actual policy issues will for the whole week.  And right now, who knows how much coverage is going to be produced about the mistake the officials made in the Oklahoma State game. Probably since the game ended I have spent five minutes watching TV and thirty reading on the internet and there are more stories on this one call than I saw last month on actual policy discussions of what Mr. Trump or Ms. Clinton have proposed. Okay okay, maybe bad comparison since I was on vacation for two weeks. I think you get my drift.

And I am not talking about all the noise Mr. Trump receives over his tax returns or the Florida AG political donation or Ms. Clinton’s email scandal or whatever you want to call it. I am talking some kind of idea what these two people will do as President. And I have already criticized the one chance last week where Matt Lauer apparently blew that opportunity. Does anybody actually know what either will do as President? Anyone other than the campaign staff? And do they? This is what I am talking about. The press should be hot and heavy every day drilling down on the issues and this should be at least front page news if not headlines every day. They are going to be President. Yet the Oklahoma State coach has to admit he made a mistake by not properly running the clock out on the last play and this is going to be overanalyzed and over criticized all evening on the Sports Channels. One play! One play will get more noise than any true law and order policy from Mr. Trump or free college discussion from Ms. Clinton this whole weekend. Absolutely crazy and just goes to empirically prove one of my fears: we seriously got our priorities back end backwards.

There was a story on sex trafficking this week, truly one of the worst ways to degrade another human being, yet there is no noise from either candidate about this issue; even from Mr. anti-immigration himself, Mr. Trump. Think about it, people are brought here illegally for the perverse pleasure of a few yet he has said nothing about this horrible form of immigration. The press should be pounding him on the issue.  I cannot think of a comparable issue off the top of my head for Ms. Clinton right now, but I know there are many where we need more information from her. Or maybe we just haven’t heard enough of any policy ideas from her to even have a clue as to where to start. So….maybe the work really needs to begin.

And to be honest I love sports and will try and catch some more college scores and highlights before the evening ends, but there is a markedly different scale of effort being made between what the sports press will do to get to the bottom of a story versus what our national press has been doing on the campaign trail so far. Let us hope the debates produce much better work.

And on a side sports note and this probably won’t matter a hill of beans to you, but the Texas A&M announcer just ticked me off disproportionately to what truly matters in the world. I only listened to the last part of the game since I was running around all day, but heard this part on the radio while driving around. Yet…. I have to get it off my chest. Texas A&M is up 67-0 and there is 1:40 left in the game. Prairie View just got clobbered with a safety so you know they really want to go home. They punt to give A&M the ball. Instead of taking three or four knees to end the game (Sportsmanship here, adding points to a 67 score is not style points anymore for AP or Coach’s poll voting, it is running up the score) A&M decides to run some plays. Now it is up to Prairie View to stop A&M. Basically the Aggies are making Prairie View play the whole 60 minutes of the game. A bit much if you ask me in this situation. The Aggies even threw a pass one play which really isn’t the best way to run out the clock. And kind of smells like trying to do something.

The third play A&M fumbles so Prairie View gets the ball back with five seconds so they have time for one play. And normally I would say okay take the knee and go home because well, just well. Now back to the announcer, the whole time he was okay with the Aggies running plays and carrying on about the game. Did not once mention, take the four knees and end the game. Yet when Prairie View gets the ball he was like they should take the knee and end the game. So this got me mad. I was like throw the bomb Prairie View. I was hoping they would score. They did run a pass play and it ended the game. I don’t know why he got me so mad, but I got the feeling it was okay for his team up by 67 points to make the other team play the full 60 minutes, but didn’t think his team needed to when the other team had the ball and his team WAS UP BY 67 POINTS. Sheesh! The Aggies should have kneeled, but he had no right to say Prairie View should have kneeled when the Aggies didn’t. Again probably matters to no one, but that ticked me off so much I am still spitting and spouting about it.