Still crazy after all these years

Merry Christmas!

They may need Dr. Phil While many Pittsburgh Steeler fans are calling their team a "Jekyl and Hyde" outfit, one that performs very well one week and putridly the next, the use of that word is not fair to author Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson created these two (or one) character(s). He wrote "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" more as a statement about morality than about the inner turmoil of woeful/wonderful athletic teams.  However, the root of that story focuses on the idea of a split personality, which psychiatrists call "dissociative identity disorder." Since I know little about psychiatry or about Sigmund Freud, I can try to talk about the Steelers in laymen's terms of that split personality instead of dissociative identity disorder. First, teams really do not have a personality. Perhaps a "peoplenality," but not a person. They adopt a peoplenality because they have so many individuals on a team. However, teams do

I will root for the Penn State Nittany Lions, who are struggling, against the Temple Owls, and for the Pitt Panthers, who are also struggling, against the North Carolina Tarheels this weekend. However, the number one team in the NCAA Div. I right now is the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have never been in that spot prior to this season. They have to face the despicable Crimson Tide of Alabama. Many Alabama fans are looking for their team to overwhelm the Bulldogs. I will root for the new guys on the block to demonstrate that they deserve the number one spot. In my life, I have never rooted for a Mississippi team, so this a first. Maybe they are overrated, but we will know tomorrow.

Just the BCS with four teams instead of two This whole scenario in which four teams will play off for the NCAA Div. I football championship is not much better than the previous idea. Since four teams are involved, many people seem to be excited about it. To me, it sounds just like the BCS with some glitter on it.  If the final field is like the one that was released this week,  can you imagine the uproar that would have ensued if the field included just one SEC team? The four teams in the college playoff selection committee are listed below. The interesting part of this is that only Mississippi State is from the SEC. Yes, the SEC would be outraged with this group.  The field is balanced with one SEC team, one from the PAC-12, one from the ACC, and one from the Big 12. Alabama is not included in this group, but Mississippi State has to travel to Alabama to face the Tide this weekend. This may tell the tale of whether or not they are overrated, as some, especially Cri

So, Johnny Football was going to save the Cleveland Browns franchise, transforming it from its perennial spot in the AFC-North cellar.  Guess what? The Browns are in first place in the AFC-N after the Steelers' debacle against the Jets. Even more interesting, Manziel is not listed among the top 40 QBs in the league.  Cleveland QB Brian Hoyer has been impressive and is ranked 14th (2,212 yds) in the NFL rankings, and other rookies like Blake Bortles (22, 1,921 yds.), Derek Carr (23, 1,903 yds), and Teddy Bridgewater (31, 1,321 yds.) are ranked among the top 40, but no Johnny Football. How much are the Browns paying him?  How many Browns fans wasted their money on a Manziel jersey? 

I am going to post a melange on topics on this blog. I hope to be more regular than I have been in weeks. Here is the first of them: Charlie is trading Snoopy? Loving the saga of Charlie Brown right now in GoComics.com. Here is the gist of it.  Peppermint Patty has offered Charlie five baseball players from her successful team for his woeful team if he will part company with and trade his faithful dog, Snoopy. Charlie's team is one that is a perennial loser, and he will do anything to win some games -- or just a game.  Not sure how this is going to end, but how could Charlie trade his dog, who has been his close friend and companion?  Charlie Schultz was a genius in analyzing human nature. Maybe he can figure out the Steelers.

Pope Francis, who has been a very popular pontiff in his first two years, initiated his change in the U.S. this week by naming Bishop Blase Cupich to the influential post as the new archbishop of Chicago. according to the AP on Sept. 20. .  This is a major change since he replaces Cardinal Francis George, who was a very conservative and often divisive figure.  Cupich, who is the bishop of Spokane, is considered to be a moderate and a member of the Catholic Church's progressive wing, according to Religious News Service. In fact, the RNS wrote that the appointment was very upsetting to conservatives. "It indicated that the appointment "could upend decades of the American hierarchy." The Associated Press indicated that this appointment shows the direction that he is going to take with the U.S. church. " Cupich is Pope Francis' first major appointment in the U.S. and the clearest indication yet of the direction he wants to steer American church lea

                              The 'burgh was not another Ferguson   Last night, looking for something to watch after the Pirates game, I ran into a program on one of the stations used by the NBC affiliate (39) in Pittsburgh. On this program, two lawyers  were discussing with a host the arrests of two Pittsburgh Steeler doofuses who were nailed last Thursday for possession of marijuana, with one glassy-eyed player arrested for a DUI.  The one lawyer was trying to argue that the police had no reason to stop the two doofuses and their female companion. He argued that the doofuses were stopped because they were black.  That does take place, but in this case, if the lawyers and the host had expended any energy scouring the Internet -- as I did -- they would have discovered why this had occurred, and that the police officer indeed had probable cause to make a stop. I thought the same thing when I first read about the arrest on Thursday. How would a policeman in a cruise

                                                     Democrats need more than one candidate for '16 The Democrats must realize something that is vital for the 2016 presidential election: They need more than one candidate for president. Ironically, Hillary Clinton herself has given Democrats a reason to rethink their one-candidate strategy. Clinton criticized Obama's foreign policy today, which means that she is now charting a path that is closer to John McCain than to Barack Obama. http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/hillary-clinton-steps-away-from-obama-on-foreign-policy-20140317 Many Democrats have been clamoring for Sen. Elizabeth Warren to enter the race, and one reason that they favor Warren is how close Clinton is to Wall Street. Warren is a Harvard professor who has Wall Street running scared. If Hillary runs against Mitt Romney in 2016 -- or any other right-wing candidate -- will there really be any difference in terms of financial policy? Rememb

                                           Use of military should be the last resort                                                       Obama read the wrong book I have written previously that President Barack Obama chose the wrong reading list when deciding upon how he should govern in the White House. While Doris Kearns Goodwin's treatise on Abraham Lincoln, "Team of Rivals," is an excellent work, Obama should have studied a 20th Century leader who had a spine of steel as he faced down his most significant opponent in the Cold War. When America U-2 planes discovered that the Soviet Union was placing missiles in Cuba that could carry nuclear weapons in 1963, President John F. Kennedy put together a group to advise him that on the confrontation. It was later dubbed Ex-Comm. These included some cabinet members and military and national security advisers. These men were advisors, and the one with whom JFK felt the least affinity was Gen. Curtis LeMay, who was c

                                           the latest Paterno to sue Penn State Jay said in today's lawsuit that the taint of the Sandusky scandal that occurred after the Freeh Report ruined his reputation,, effectively ending his career.  Really? Here is the problem Jay, and Charlie Thompson of the Patriot-News explains it well.  " But here's the rub.  Seven of the assistant coaches on Joe Paterno's last staff - all of whom presumably suffered the same Sandusky taint -  are still working in college football, and most of them at major Division I collegiate programs. Even Jay Paterno's co-plaintiff, Kenney, has since been hired on the football staff at Western Michigan University, which competes in the Mid-American Conference." The problem, Jay, is that you would never have coached at the Div. I level were it not for nepotism. Joe hired his son, even though he did not have the skills to hold the job. Eventually, the players on the team hat

Tweet: Will Bill O'Brien become 2014's successful Chip Kelly? Hardly, he has not experienced the kind of success that Ck had at Oregon. http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/07/17/2014-nfl-training-camp-storylines-peyton-manning More: O'Brien had fawning press at Penn State over two years, but I am not convinced he is head NFL coach material. We will see. Tweet: "Word Crimes" by Weird Al Yankovic.  For those of you who want to communicate effectively, Weird Al identifies those areas that are problematic.  Thanks to Anna Elias for this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDcvPoDc&app=desktop Funny, albeit true. This story was a woeful attempt at journalism:  Tweet: Sorry Graham Spanier, a somewhat flattering profile is not going to undo the damage that the Sandusky case has wrought upon a major university. You need to go through a penitential process, and that occur will the upcoming trial of the "PS Three."  The qu

The 2016 Race Some unsolicited advice to Texas Gov. Rick Perry: Even a comedian can see through your glasses shtick. Andy Borowitz nails you. Here is the message. Nothing can work to try and make the Republican voters remember how you flamed out in 2011-12. You actually looked better without the glasses.  Perhaps some wire rims could change their minds? No, too late.  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/07/how-to-look-smarter.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(102)

Thank you, Ted Kennedy, for leading the charge to keeping Robert Bork off the Supreme Court.  If Bork was on the court right now, he would make Antonin Scalia, one of the most reactionary justices in history, look like a moderate. To think that we needed just four votes to kill the candidacy of Clarence Thomas.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/ted-kennedy-robert-bork_n_2332730.html On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Kennedy said, "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, Blacks would sit in segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizen's doors in midnight raids, and school children could not be taught about evolution, and writers and artists would be censured at the whim of government." http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/12/19/167645600/robert-borks-supreme-court-nomination-changed-everything-maybe-forever

Politico lowers itself to the pits (can they go any lower?)  by interviewing the Cheney family. perhaps the most despicable group of people on the planet.  Suddenly, reality strikes when a woman has who has handcuffs and is seeking to arrest the worst of the family and is seeking the "war criminal."  Why do people in the media talk to these #$$@$% ? http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/14/dick-cheney-interview-interrupted-when-protester-with-handcuffs-attempts-to-arrest-him-video/

My favorite social comedian, Andy Borowitz, has a great column about the despicable majority members of the U.S. Supreme Court -- featuring one of them: Churches in the Sixth Century had more modern views about rights of women than Justice Antonin Scalia.  Right on, Andy! He is really pathetic. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/07/church-founded-in-sixth-century-has-more-modern-views-on-women-than-scalia.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(101)

The quote that is a game-changer:  "After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps. I am having trouble with going to everyone but the person involved. I would be more comfortable meeting with the person and tell them about the information we received and tell them we are aware of the first situation."   Athletic Director Tim Curley, 2001, CNN. The Paterno Family who survive the late coach Joe Paterno is fighting very hard to force Penn State to incur thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- of dollars in debt in their current lawsuit against the NCAA and PSU.  According to an Associated Press story released on July 9, Penn State wants to limit the legal discovery that the Paterno family desires in the case. The Family is attempting to force both the NCAA and Penn State to submit tens of thousands of documents to it such as e-mails

                                                                "Jesus was not white" While I do not think that the KKK is humorous in any way, a recent interview of a Pa. Klan leader was funny because the guy was so -- I cannot find another word for political correctness -- stupid.  This interview done by liberal radio host Alan Colmes was downright hilarious. Colmes interviewed the "Grand Dragon" of the "East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire," a group that is "affiliated" with the KKK.  What started this line of questioning was that William Walters said that his group was "Christian." What had precipitated the interview was the fact that Walters was removed from his Neighborhood Crime Watch because of his affiliation with the Klan.  Walters said the he was a "conservative Republican" and had been Grand Dragon for six years. "We do believe in law and order, and we are not a hate group," Walters t

                                                                                                Message: Stay out of Iraq! After becoming president in 1961, John F. Kennedy was faced with a problem that was left by the previous president. The CIA and the military had devised a plan to eliminate Fidel Castro from power in Cuba, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had a reputable career as a general in World War II, declined to take part in it.  Unfortunately, Kennedy, who believed that eliminating Castro was a good idea, listened to the military leaders  and the CIA    who said that it was figuratively a "slam dunk." Once these expatriates reached shore, the Cuban people would rise up with them and overthrow Castro, they told the young president. This led to a debacle known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. While that was a horrible experience on every level, it taught JFK a lesson that would help him in his greatest foreign policy victory a short time later in the