The above title must be sung by every reader to the tune of the wicked old witch in the Wizard of Oz. Even those of you non-sports fans MUST sing this to read any further--I demand it. On the other hand, only those interested in the sports section down below need to have more information.
Moving on. As regular readers(are there any?)know, I have sworn off TV yakkers. But on the day after the killings in Arizona, Barbara was watching Rachael Maddow and I dropped by. The main point that I got and that I believe is important is that words do matter. That cross hairs(as in aim your gun here)shown on a map matter. That talk, language, words matter and they especially matter to people who are susceptible to external direction fueled by vitriol. Then you have facts like Arizona was the last state to designate MLK Day as a holiday; that Arizona is the center of all things anti-immigration; and that their murder rate per capita is almost 10 times higher than here (even though ours is high enough)partly due to the ease of purchasing guns. All of that matters and sets a tone.
It supposedly should give us all pride and pleasure that we in Mass.virtually have universal health coverage and that the President has acknowledged us for that. I want to take pride in that and other laws which make this state different. But unlike the same sex marriage law(which I am proud of),this coverage primarily via Medicaid actually costs tons of money. There will be more budget cuts coming up this July. There are very few places to cut and those of you in the non profit and/or public sector know that. Yet all the insurers and the big hospital groups continue to be cash cows. It is wonderful to have world class hospitals but if you have had the unhappy experience of being in one, you know that you are paying for medical students, interns, residents, fellows, and the actual "real" doctor. That costs money. I am not sure what the answer is but part of it lies in managing the care better and forcing more people to go through primary care physicians or health centers before they even approach those big ER's. This is one area where I am glad I am not King of the Universe in spite of wishing for that role in most other instances.
I am glad Vicki Kennedy is not going to run against Scott Brown. I think it has to be someone who is willing to get ugly and dirty and mean and go after that sucker. She seems too nice and almost too proper for that kind of fight. I blew it the last time with Coakley and I am determined not to do that again. It is un-fucking believable to me that Alan Khazei is considering another run. It is a loser's bet and he should just stay on the sidelines and maybe hope for an appointment as something or other. Big Poobah with LARGE ideas maybe.
The intractability of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict continues to depress me. Have no other words or insight. And it seems to worsen regularly.
Obama is making a nice comeback and all of us need to hope the economy continues its slow improvement. As someone said(perhaps James Carville),it is the economy stupid. If it is better by November 2012, he may actually prevail.
SPORTS TALK
First a book recommendation. I don't read much non-fiction but I have two sports books to suggest. George Dohrman, an SI writer, spent about 8 years following a young African American basketball player starting when he was an 10 year old phenom. He got complete access from his AAU coach if he did not write anything until the kid went to college/left high school. It is called "They Played Their Hearts Out". It is about the ugly relationships between coaches, sneaker companies, the AAU and pushy parents. Most of the kids are African American and most of everyone else is white. It is very unpleasant but just excellent journalism. Second, I had heard about the "Sports Guy" but never read anything by him. I have begun his 700 page book on the NBA (I forget the title) and it is both insightful and hilarious--but it is 700 pages.
So RichRod has been kicked to the curb. I was wrong--Michigan paid West Virginia 2.5million(not 1 million)when they bought out his contract. Those would be two public universities. I wonder how the CPA's booked those dollars. He left the program in tatters and it will take a while to rebuild. He deserves no sympathy because by breaking his contract, Michigan had to pay him another buyout. Just disgusting.
If I had written this 24 hours ago, I would have been full of optimism and braggadocio. Now, not only have I sworn off socio-political talk shows, I am swearing off sports talk shows. The Pats simply sucked. I had not seen Brady look so befuddled all year. Since I believe at this level 90% of the game is played from the neck up, the Pats were ill prepared in terms of intensity/concentration/other intangibles. No mas.
With Garnett back, tonight could be both a good and an important game for the Celts against the Magic. They got beat down there in the South on Xmas and owe them one.
To Philly on Friday. Skype seems like science fiction but actually works/helps. Think you can get a Philly cheese steak hold the cheese?
That's it.
Sayonara
Monday, January 17, 2011
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