Occasionally however, we, the viewers, can take in the authenticity and honesty of a television play-by-play announcer, color analyst, athlete, or coach, who will react to what he/she sees during the course of competition and/or respond to an obviously stupid question.  Look no further than Brent Musberger’s now famous and for some ridiculous reason, controversial statement when first he set his eyes upon Katherine Webb, the stunningly beautiful girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, during this year’s BCS National Championship game.  Musburger simply voiced what every heterosexual male was thinking and vocally averring when they too, caught a glance of Ms. Webb!  What the hell was so wrong with acknowledging the physical attractiveness of a woman?  Apparently, there are too many media-types that are disciples of Martha Burke and her ilk; very sad!

Fortunately for us, there are major television, radio, and print types who toss the political correctness baby AND bath water out the proverbial window, and don’t care if their peers (or employers) don’t like their actions.  Like them or loathe them, Charles Barkley, Jim Rome, Gary McCord, and Keith Olbermann are a few that immediately come to mind.  Admit it; these guys are refreshing, and the media needs more of their independent thinking and commentary.

Which leads me to plea to all interviewees for the sake of the average viewer:  going forward for the duration of the tournament, even just once in a while, can you please be candid and honest with your thoughts and share them with us when asked a question that we already know your answer to?  I’ll expound on a few examples of what I’d like to hear, because I KNOW it’s what you are thinking:

~Ohio State’s Aaron Craft nailed a three-point jumper with 0.2 second left in the game to knock-off Iowa State and boost the Buckeyes into the Sweet Sixteen.  Tracy Wolfson asked Craft how he felt after making such a clutch shot.  Here is what he should have said:

“Nothing better than nailing a game-winning shot, Tracy!  I’m gonna party like crazy tonight!  Now if you’ll excuse me, I just received a wiggle and a wink from every single Buckeye cheerleader and I’m going to spend time with each and every one them starting right now!  By the way, what time are you done working tonight?”

~Florida Gulf Coast University coach Andy Enfield,responding to the question of what his plans were that evening following the Eagles second consecutive upset and reaching the Sweet Sixteen:  “Dude, have you seen my wife?  What the hell do you think my post-game plans are this evening?  Are you really that stupid and unoriginal in your line of thinking?  How did you get your job????”

~University of Minnesota Coach Tubby Smith, upon learning he’d been fired by the Gophers after six seasons despite a winning percentage of over .600, taking the team to three NCAA tournaments, an NIT appearance, and knocking off UCLA in the first round of this year’s NCAA’s:   “Obviously, running a clean program, graduating players on time, and competing and winning at the highest level of college basketball isn’t good enough for this asylum, err, institution.  Elwood, err, Norwood Teague is a first-class asshole and he can kiss my ass!  Think you can find someone who can do better at this second-tier Big 10 school, Elwood?  Good luck amigo!  Even your main man, Shaka Smart won’t come here!  Good riddance!”

~Steve Alford, University of New Mexico,following his team’s embarrassing defeat by Harvard in the first round: “This one is on me.  Not the players, not the assistant coaches, not the AD; it’s on me!  I was too stubborn to go “small” and prevent those guys from burying us with three’s!  Everyone in attendance and who watched the game on TV saw what was happening, except me!  I’m an idiot! Hell, I heard Doug Gottlieb plead with me from press row to go “small”  Good thing Coach Knight isn’t here, or he’d slap my ass and throw a chair at me, then send me home!”

~Jamal Franklin, San Diego State junior forward, asked if this was his final collegiate game after the Aztecs loss to Florida Gulf Coast, and if he was planning to make himself eligible for the NBA draft:  “Of course this is my last game, dufus!  You think I’m gonna stick around Montezuma Mesa and twiddle my thumbs in class for another year when I have a great chance to make millions instead? Even if I go undrafted, I can go play in Europe or South America, make serious bank, chase some international tail, and come back to play in the NBA in a couple of years!  Duh!  From what institution of higher learning did you obtain your journalism degree, Simpleton State?”

Is this really too much to ask?  Lords of political correctness, I beseech thee!  I pray you hear my plea for truth and unedited commentary!  Somebody give me a microphone and the fun will really begin!

 

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the
president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe
the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. … My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

In fact, that 47% turned out to be well over 50% by November, and that is a sad indictment on the mind-set of too many US citizens!  Such a philosophy is not what this
country was founded upon, and certainly not what made it the greatest country on earth over the past two hundred years!  Should this twisted perception continue to fester, we will soon enough witness the circus that is currently on display in Europe:   there will be a revolt by this same group of electorate when, and I mean “when”, not “if”, this same electorate of “takers” revolts against thevery hand that feeds them when our Treasury becomes insolvent.

I’ve been
wracking my brain in an attempt to determine why as a country we have deviated
from the sweat, spit, and swearing of self-sufficiency and brotherhood that
made the United States so great.  I believe the main source of this trend starts with President Lyndon Johnson’s “War
on Poverty”.  A number of programs to help the poor, including Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Head Start, passed Congress during Johnson’s watch.  Coupled with each successive President and Congress turning a blind eye to illegal immigration, in return we have the recipe for our current shit sandwich of majority electorate!  I foresee no near-term change, which has left me very concerned with the personal and professional future of our kids.

As my blogs have illustrated, I’m a big honk of music
and find inspiration, solace, and comfort in lyrics.  I found those in the song, “Give It Up”, by 70’s British power pop band Badfinger, to be an ominous theme of our country’s
philosophical state of disrepair.

“We live in
hope of love and wait to die.

Sadness all
around us makes for crying.

Feelings
that once meant so much are left to dry and turn to dust and ashes.

We learn to
wheel and deal and say good-bye.

Madness all
around us makes for dying.

Young
deceivers soon turn old, are left to die amongst their gold and cashes.

We drive a
million miles to see the sun, hoping we are not too late for saving.

The Lord
will smile on you today, and give you love that you can trade….for matches, and
TV’s, movie stars and driving cars is catching…………

Give it up,
or we’ll end on the rocks!

Give it up;
give yourself time.

Give it up,
your Savior’s in shock!

Give it
up…………”

Me?  I’m a lyric guy; always have been.  I enjoy story-tellers, the singers and song-writers who specialize in ballads.  No matter the topic, I’m attracted to a song that sucks me into a saga.  Generationally, I’m without prejudice; it can be a tune from any place in time.  YouTube has been a treasure in it’s vast collection of such classics, and it’s inspired me to blow the dust of some of my old vinyl albums and listen to the crackle from my turn-table; yes, it still works magnificently!  Just thought I’d share some of my favorite lines from my library of memorable tunes.

~‘You smoked me like a cigarette.  I was burned, I was cast aside’

“You Can’t Put A Price On Love”/The Knack

~‘I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast….never meant to last’

“A Pirate Looks At Forty”/Jimmy Buffett

Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music

~‘Some expressions in your eyes, always took me by surprise’

“Oh Yeah”/Roxy Music

~‘He was a hard-headed man; he was brutally handsome.  And she was terminally pretty.’

“Life In The Fast Lane”/Eagles

~‘Last time I saw Marie, she’s waving me good-bye.  With hurry-home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eye’

Chuck Berry

“Memphis”/Chuck Berry

~‘You can hide beneath your covers and study your pain.  Make crosses from your lovers; throw roses in the rain’

“Thunder Road”/Bruce Springsteen

~‘Look for the girl with the broken smile.  Ask her if she wants to stay a while.’

“She Will Be Loved”/Maroon 5

~’Though there’s grinning and madolin-ing in sunny Italy, the beginning has just begun when the sun goes down!’

“On An Evening in Roma”/Dean Martin

~‘Memories may be beautiful, and yet……what’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget’

“The Way We Were”/Barbra Streisand

Badfinger

~‘We live in hope of love and wait to die…….and sadness all around us makes for crying.   And feelings that once meant so much, are left to dry and turn to dust…….and ashes’

“Give It Up”/Badfinger

~‘There’s a fire softly burning; supper’s on the stove.  But it’s the light in your eyes that makes him warm’

“Back Home Again”/John Denver

~‘Another fella told me he had a sister who looked just fine.  Instead of being my deliverance, she had a strange resemblance to a cat named Frankenstein’

“Another Saturday Night”/Sam Cooke

~‘You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.  You don’t spit into the wind.  You don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim’

“You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”/Jim Croce

Jim Croce

And I’ll leave you with this gem……………

~‘You are the sun; I am the moon.  You are the words; I am the tune.  Play me….’

“Play Me”/Neil Diamond
 

An emotional Bubba Watson and his mother following his sudden-death play-off victory at the 2012 Masters

Augusta National Golf Club, host of The Masters golf championship, is once again in the cross-hairs of the politically-correct media and feminist radicals.  This year, a truly classic finish and the subsequent crowning of an “All-American Boy” champion in the person of Bubba Watson was  unfortunately muted by the sideshow of the never-ending question of if/when Augusta National will grant membership to the first female in its storied, 78-year history.

Allow me to remind you again that Augusta National is a private
establishment and need not amend its policies to any person or
group so long as the entity doesn’t break any laws, which it hasn’t.  Why all the fuss and pressure for club chairman Billy Payne to add women to the membership?  Are these PC-sensitive media dopes so lathered in their left-wing favoritism and latest “cause du jour” that they don’t recall the failed, colossal crash-and-burn attempt for the same cause ten years ago led by Martha Burk?  Burk’s full-court press strategy aimed at then-club chairman Hootie Johnson included the successful pressuring of major sponsors and television broadcasters to boycott The Masters.

No problem.  As a private club, Johnson and Augusta subsidized the event primarily through in-house funding sources, and The Masters went on with its usual glitz and success.  Burke’s handful of on-site protesters who
originally picketed in front of the gates of Augusta National, were ordered off the private property by police and allowed to take their pathetic circus of characters to a nearby vacant lot, where they garnered little attention.  It was also during this time that Hootie Johnson elicited this now epic explanation in response to the media’s incessant questions regarding the exclusivity rules of the club:

“Our membership is single gender just as many other
organizations and clubs all across America. These would include junior Leagues,sororities, fraternities, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and countless others. And we all have a moral and legal right to organize our clubs the way we wish.”

Former Augusta National Chairman, Hootie Johnson

How can any true-blooded American argue against that statement, which is in essence a founding principle of our Constitution?  In classic summary,
Johnson followed up with the position that Augusta would not be pressured or
bullied to change it’s policies “by point of bayonet.”

Give it a rest already!  Augusta for decades refused membership and playing privileges to blacks.  Eventually, and on their own accord, Augusta National invited Lee Elder, who in 1975 became the first such minority to play
in The Masters.  Billy Payne and the Augusta National board will one day allow female membership.  But so long as the lights, cameras, and
resentful rhetoric from self-centered attention-seekers continue their
in-your-face demands of this private club, the longer it will be until that day
finally arrives.

Why?  Richards was appointed to enforce the state of
California’s fish and game laws and ensure that the health of such populations
continue to thrive.  From all accounts, he is performing his job admirably.  What
legal hobbies Mr. Richards chooses to enjoy outside of the state are his
business; not those of Hueso, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, who is also a leading
town-crier for Richards’ firing, or anyone else!

I’d like to defend Commissioner Richards and on his behalf, volunteer my time to campaign for the resignations of Hueso and Newsom for their very public, professional shortcomings.  The charges with regard to their collective
morally/ethically-challenged voting records and personal life choices are so
numerous I’d have enough blogging fodder for a year, so I’ll list just a few of
their more politically-charged digressions.

I’ll start with the Hueso.  The former undistinguished San Diego City Council member has made himself right at home on the left-tilted couches
in Sacramento.  Consider his “yea” votes: allowing university financial aid for illegal immigrants; repeal of the fingerprinting requirement for CalFresh applicants; pro-affirmative action in college/university admission selection; eliminating the requirement that at DUI inspection checkpoints, law enforcement impound cars from those drivers who cannot provide a valid drivers license; and denying state funding of any public project which does not include a Project Labor Agreement (PLA).  Quite a liberal list of accomplishments attained in less than one year!

Then there’sthe self-proclaimed “Gavinator”, who’s blatant disregard for state law and personal character flaws are already legendary. In early 2004, Newsom gained national attention when he directed the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in violation of the current state law. The California Supreme Court annulled the marriages in August of the same year, much to Newsome’s chagrin. In January 2007, it was revealed that Newsom had had a romantic relationship in mid-2005 with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his former deputy chief of staff and then campaign manager, Alex Tourk. Way to keep your “affairs” in-house, Mr. Newsom!  Tourk filed for
divorce shortly after the revelation and left Newsom’s campaign and administration.  Perhaps most despicably, Newsom in 2009 came
under attack for the City of San Francisco’s policy of illegally harboring
juvenile criminal aliens. The city was circumventing Immigration and Customs
Enforcement by harboring or sending the aliens back to their own native
countries.  There were several well-publicized murders of American citizens carried out by the very criminalsNewsom so ardently and illegally protected in “The City!”

And there you have it!
Two high-ranking state politicians who find the best use of their time to
be spent on protecting the rights of illegal immigrants/criminals and the
ouster of an innocent, law-abiding Fish & Game Commissioner, rather than
correct the impending financial insolvency of California! Makes me want to grab
my guitar and wail the lyrics from Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘’Mrs. Robinson”………..’where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you…………………..’

~Is there any media marathon more meaningless and exhausting that the Presidential primary season?  We all know Obama and Romney will be on the ballot in November.  I wish the media would mothball the lights, cameras, and laptops and stop reporting until August. 

~If Greece goes into insolvency, and it’s a very real possibility, what happens next? Does the European Union take over the government, or just the financial arm of the country?  Does Germany, which is Greece’s largest creditor, get the upper-hand in how and to whom Greece’s debt is re-paid?  What effect would it have on the world economy?  Could this spell the end of the Euro?  There are huge ramifications involved in this mess!

~So the California state Democrats held their state party in San Diego over the week-end.  That would explain why my wallet seems lighter again!  Among the guest speakers was that relic of a Senator, Dianne Feinstein, who bills herself as a “moderate” Democrat, yet made this noxious statement during the festivities at the Convention Center:

“Just think of the damage a Gingrich or a Romney or a Santorum would do if they reach the White House or if the Tea Party takes over Congress.  It would be no healthcare reform.  It would be no job program.  No financial regulation.  No effort to deal with climate change.  No stem cell research.  No reform of a broken immigration system.  No woman’s right to choose.  And a meat ax to Medicare and Social Security.”

Honestly. Senator, with your comment in mind, I’m thinking this country would be much better off than it is now!  The quote from Winston Churchill below summarizes the damage your party has been inflicting upon our state and country now for decades:

“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.”
Winston Churchill

~My over/under on the number of days until President Assad of Syria resigns and voluntarily takes his billions into exile is 90.

~Last night, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings skated in his 1,550^th game, setting a National Hockey League record for most games played by a player who spent his entire career with one team.   Considering the impact of free agency, the millions of dollars spent by teams, and the physical toll exacted on the body, Lidstrom’s accomplishment is astonishing!

~I’m just about done completing my 2011 tax return.  There are few things in life more depressing than viewing on paper the amount of money the government takes from you, and the minimal amount of services received in return.  And it gets worse every year!

~Let’s see…..we bought our current home with a conventional mortgage during the height of the housing boom, never took out any equity, re-financed to a lower interest rate two years ago, and have always paid our mortgage on time every month.  Where’s my reward/rebate from the banks, Mr. Obama?

~Any truth to the rumor that the captain of the Costa Concordia went to the same nautical training class as the captain of the Exxon Valdez?

~Our boys have an up-coming four-day week-end with respect to President’s Day.  They just came off a two-week Christmas/New Year’s break, had Martin Luther King Day off, and another day off for “semester break”.  And the teachers unions have the audacity to claim that they need yet another raise (at tax-payer expense) when they continue to work less every year!  Furthermore, if Jerry Brown’s November tax-increase ballot measure is shot down by the voters of California, the threat of another five days chopped off the school year is possible!  But hey, it’s all about the children, right teachers?

~“I feel sorry for those folks who don’t drink, because that’s as good as they’re gonna  feel all day!”            Dean Martin

~Growing up in Michigan, it was usually about this time of year that I listened to Jimmy Buffett constantly, in particular, the song “Boat Drinks”.  Those lyrics were the only comfort and solace I’d get when looking at snow, temperatures in the single-digits, and summer still four months away!

I’m checking out and heading to Margaritaville.  See ya later!

San Diego Association of God Help Us!!

With thanks to California Senate Bill 10 of 2007, sponsored by none other than long-time local bureaucrat-hack Christine Kehoe (who is way over-due to be put out to political pasture; she did extensive damage to the people of San Diego when serving on the City Council), SANDAG was tasked with “improving the regional airport system” within San Diego County.  The AMAP is to “identify surface transportation infrastructure needs associated with future airport expansion,” while an accompanying “Regional Aviation Strategic Plan” (RASP) “will identify the airport infrastructure needed to meet future aviation demand.”  Still with me?  These two grand volumes of government gas roll-up into a master-piece entitled, “The 2050 Regional Transportation Plan” (RTP).  That is correct; this ridiculous exercise makes absurd assumptions of projected passenger and cargo air traffic needs 38 years in our future!  Ever heard the line “this is an enigma wrapped in a riddle surrounded by a mystery?”  Look no further!

It gets better, folks!  Guess what current and proposed publicly-funded assets are expected to play starring roles in this futuristic extravaganza?  Well, front and center is a cross-border partnership with Tijuana International Airport!  Yes indeed, U.S. citizens are expected to flock to Rodriguez International in order to relieve pressure at San Diego Lindbergh Field.  Like that will happen; San Diegans won’t even cross the border for a couple of hours to enjoy lobster in Puerto Nuevo anymore due to the fear of crime in Baja!  Co-starring in the passenger shuttle portion of the RTP is Jerry Brown and Barack Obama’s pet stimulus project, high speed rail!  Yes indeed, bullet trains are going to whisk the business and vacation traveler amongst a host of airports throughout San Diego County, as well as Orange County, Ontario, Long Beach, Burbank and LAX!  Confused?  Me, too!  Proponents of high-speed rail insist it will ease future air traffic pressure on airports, since travellers will find it more convenient and cost-competitive with the major airlines.  So why the need for the RASP?  Meanwhile, political and big-business supporters of a replacement for “out-dated” Lindbergh Field and its single runway insist a new airport is an absolutely necessary catalyst to enhance economic growth in the region.  If true, then why the need for high-speed rail?  I’d just as soon SANDAG work on a “Jetson’s” type of transportation plan instead of this nonsense! 

This means of travel has better potential of happening than high-speed rail!

There’s no point in me diving any deeper into the depths of this bureaucratic delusion, is there?  If you’re a sadist, go ahead and beat yourself up with details on SANDAG’s website. Perhaps unbeknownst to the government stakeholders in all of this, there are competing contradictions all over these reports; too many to even begin documenting here.  Naturally, public funding for all of this manure is unknown.  What I read into this entire dreamscape more than anything is yet another sequel of one government entity, in this case, the state Senate, providing a useless task to keep a cousin, in this case SANDAG, busy for a few more years in order to safeguard jobs for fellow bureaucrats…..at tax-payer expense.  Frankly, I’m surprised that the AMAP, RASP, and RTP didn’t include space travel as part of their study!  Or is that project up next?

Nearly all companies have down-sized staff over the past three years, with most of the employees eliminated being in support areas of the organization.  As a result, exempt supervisors and managers have had to absorb the responsibilities of the dearly departed support staff.  Pressures of their own job deliverables make a recipe for bad decision-making when formerly subordinate responsibilities are added to the mix.  For example, it’s much easier to quickly acquiesce to the demands and placate a customer threatening to drop you as a vendor than to become enmeshed in the inevitable escalation to upper management.  Don’t think for a moment that your customers aren’t aware of this dilemma, because they are!  They face the same challenge with their clients, too!

A key element in avoiding these types of customer entrapments is simple:  time.  A former boss of mine coached me on an effective process.  First, allow the client to initially describe (or in many cases, rant) on the requirements of you as a vendor.  Take notes on key points of the client dissertation.  When you believe the client has completed the request, allow permission to provide him/her a verbal bullet-point summary of the service-performance expectation and associated price.  Upon agreement from the customer that you have accurately described their needs, tell the client you will validate the conversation/service level expectation in an email to him/her, and that you will need a few days to determine the proper benchmarking criteria with which to later provide them for success-tracking.  Next, sit down with the stake-holders in your company and calculate the added cost of the customer service request and determine if the overall vendor-client relationship is in fact a profitable one.  Obviously, consider other intrinsic value as “soft revenue benefit” when making a final decision to either accept or decline the customer request.

 If your firm’s response back to the customer request is denied or has been modified, do not be surprised if the relationship is retained.  Squeezing vendors during trying economic times has been and always will be en vogue.   Having the composure to take a step back and determine if the “value add” expectation is both reasonable and profitable is not for the squeamish!  Nor is the gamble of telling a customer, especially a key customer, “no” and risk losing them!  Only you as the business decision-maker can weigh the greater gain of lost revenue vs. improved margin percentage.  Don’t delay in being prepared!