This is one of the best trades in the NFL's 21st Century. Randy Moss has 90 Touchdowns and is a constant threat to catch the ball for a big play on every down.
The Vikings made a massive mistake in letting him go...or did they? Perhaps, given that he's a seven-year veteran and has been injured, the Vikings may feel that he's seen his best years.
I personally doubt it.
I've always believed that Randy Moss was never placed in an offense that fully showcased his abilities. The Raiders have the chance to draw up a new set of plays to isolate him against defensive backs and (yes) linebackers.
But if the Raiders can't stop anyone, then the trade's value from an organizational success perspective is lessened.
More on this later.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Jerry Brown's Disservice to Oakland - Part 1
I had to write this, or at least get it started, while it's on my mind. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown has failed his city. Jerry has used the City to bring attention only to himself, and has no real notable victories to crow about.
I write this because the San Francisco Bay Area media gives him a free pass. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle had an extensive interview on him in the middle of last year. But it only focused on the issue of crime and how the rate of crime had decreased. I don't credit Jerry for that. I say he's the happy receipient of changing demographics: an overall older population that's less likely to go out and cause trouble than was the case of the 80s. Plus, Oakland, like every part of the Bay Area, is more expensive to live in, squeezing out the less fortunate who are more likely to commit violent public crimes. It's also more diverse, and the rate of black on black crime, the main problem in Oakland, has decreased as poor African Americans have moved out and more moneyed blacks and Asians and whites and Latinos have come in over the past 10 years.
The Chronicle didn't ask Jerry about the failure to redevelop Oakland's downtown. Or the overall lack of revenue generators to fill government coffers and close the city's massive budget deficit. Or the terrible morale of workers in the City of Oakland. None of that hit the article, making it one of the worst I've ever seen in my years in the Bay Area.
So, Jerry gets away with murder. Literally the murder of the city's image as he uses the crime issue to bolster his campaign for California Attorney General. See the connection? Oakland comes off looking like this bad city he tried to save, but it's too hard to do so, and so he takes off from the City to be a state official locking up the bad people. Right. Meanwhile, he leaves a lot of undone and unfinished work. Foremost is Oakland's image.
When Jerry was campaigning in 1998, someone said he would do this: come into the office and really not do much. Some Oaklanders are so blinded by his celebrity they can't think straight.
In my next post, I'll explain why Jerry came into power and the vast set of mistakes he's made while here.
I'll bet this: if he's elected AG, he'll leave Oakland. A carpetbagger who does not care about Oakland. That's typical of our city. We give the most respect to those who care the least.
Geez.
I write this because the San Francisco Bay Area media gives him a free pass. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle had an extensive interview on him in the middle of last year. But it only focused on the issue of crime and how the rate of crime had decreased. I don't credit Jerry for that. I say he's the happy receipient of changing demographics: an overall older population that's less likely to go out and cause trouble than was the case of the 80s. Plus, Oakland, like every part of the Bay Area, is more expensive to live in, squeezing out the less fortunate who are more likely to commit violent public crimes. It's also more diverse, and the rate of black on black crime, the main problem in Oakland, has decreased as poor African Americans have moved out and more moneyed blacks and Asians and whites and Latinos have come in over the past 10 years.
The Chronicle didn't ask Jerry about the failure to redevelop Oakland's downtown. Or the overall lack of revenue generators to fill government coffers and close the city's massive budget deficit. Or the terrible morale of workers in the City of Oakland. None of that hit the article, making it one of the worst I've ever seen in my years in the Bay Area.
So, Jerry gets away with murder. Literally the murder of the city's image as he uses the crime issue to bolster his campaign for California Attorney General. See the connection? Oakland comes off looking like this bad city he tried to save, but it's too hard to do so, and so he takes off from the City to be a state official locking up the bad people. Right. Meanwhile, he leaves a lot of undone and unfinished work. Foremost is Oakland's image.
When Jerry was campaigning in 1998, someone said he would do this: come into the office and really not do much. Some Oaklanders are so blinded by his celebrity they can't think straight.
In my next post, I'll explain why Jerry came into power and the vast set of mistakes he's made while here.
I'll bet this: if he's elected AG, he'll leave Oakland. A carpetbagger who does not care about Oakland. That's typical of our city. We give the most respect to those who care the least.
Geez.
Paris Hilton's Personal Info Stolen - Why?
According to this CNN article Paris' Hilton's personal information, including cell phone numbers, was stolen and then posted on the web.
My question is why? Why would I want to have the phone numbers of entertainers that don't want to talk to me? This is -- in my view -- entirely different than the Associated Press reporter who managed to send out his phone numbers of every notable sports person in the World.
If you're a sports writer, that's of value. Plus, many of the numbers (which I saw) were office phone digits, so one could call and set an interview on a topic.
This is different. I feel sorry for Paris, in that she's been filmed, sued, and now violated, and really for what reason? Still we live in what seems to be an ever increasingly nutty world, so it's good to be careful. In other words, don't put your numbers of friends on a public server.
My question is why? Why would I want to have the phone numbers of entertainers that don't want to talk to me? This is -- in my view -- entirely different than the Associated Press reporter who managed to send out his phone numbers of every notable sports person in the World.
If you're a sports writer, that's of value. Plus, many of the numbers (which I saw) were office phone digits, so one could call and set an interview on a topic.
This is different. I feel sorry for Paris, in that she's been filmed, sued, and now violated, and really for what reason? Still we live in what seems to be an ever increasingly nutty world, so it's good to be careful. In other words, don't put your numbers of friends on a public server.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
GANNONGATE - A SPECULATION
Today, CNN's Carol Lin said that Bloggers are less than credible. But actually Blogging is replacing investigative journalism, which has been removed from the mainstream media by the explaination of "budget cutting." This started with CBS News President Van Gorton Sauter in 1981 and continues today.
So, with information technology at our fingertips, more and more people can ask questions, research, interview, write, and report. That's what journalists do, and that's what bloggers do.
Journalist also provide opinion and speculation, as do Bloggers. Here's my speculation about the story of Jeff Gannon or Jeff Gukkert, and how he gained access to the White House Press Corp. Remember, it's speculation, but I think it should be explored as no one seems to have an explaination. It may be possible he traded sexual favors for access. Hey, check it out, if only to refute it. Remember, he's alledgedly a -- or was a -- Gay escort. So, if a woman can get close to the President or one of his aides by being his straight mistress, why not a man as a Gay escort?
The questions are: "Who grants access to the White House Press Corp?", "How did they come to learn about Mr. Gannon", and "Have they hired Mr. Gannon for sexual services?"
Well, those are the questions. It's time to go to work.
So, with information technology at our fingertips, more and more people can ask questions, research, interview, write, and report. That's what journalists do, and that's what bloggers do.
Journalist also provide opinion and speculation, as do Bloggers. Here's my speculation about the story of Jeff Gannon or Jeff Gukkert, and how he gained access to the White House Press Corp. Remember, it's speculation, but I think it should be explored as no one seems to have an explaination. It may be possible he traded sexual favors for access. Hey, check it out, if only to refute it. Remember, he's alledgedly a -- or was a -- Gay escort. So, if a woman can get close to the President or one of his aides by being his straight mistress, why not a man as a Gay escort?
The questions are: "Who grants access to the White House Press Corp?", "How did they come to learn about Mr. Gannon", and "Have they hired Mr. Gannon for sexual services?"
Well, those are the questions. It's time to go to work.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
"Lord of The Rings" Peter Jackson Remakes King Kong - Where Are The Black Folks?
Hey, I was checking out the videos reporting the progress of the production of Lord of The Rings Director Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong and came away quite impressed with everything from the way they're recreating the New York of the 1930s, to the development of an environment totally devoid of African English, African American, or just plain black folks.
Before you -- if you're White (or black, but such is rare) and are about to scream "race card" please don't -- get into a defensive stance to protect Jackson, consider this question:
Weren't there blacks in New York in the 1930s? It's just a question.
Look at the site: http://www.kongisking.net/index.shtml
Click around and tell me if you can count more than five blacks? I counted zero. I do hope that all of "us" (blacks) are not going to be relegated to playing natives on Skull Island. GEEZ!
Look, what's the answer? For blacks to go out and make movies with just blacks? No.
I think this, and I'll write it: people who think in "racist" or "race-exclusion" terms are automatically less than intelligent. Why? Because to think this way means that the person can't see in detail, and thinks in boundaries. It also means that person is not insightful because insight requires that they think beyond their own mental boundaries.
A person who sees diversity wants to recreate the New York of the 1930s as it was, representing the mix of people that continues today. Blacks held a number of jobs in the New York of the 1930s.
Hey, will someone pass this on to Peter and tell him to faithfully represent America. Tell him that America and the New York of the 1930s was more than just white.
We've got to stop this crap, otherwise we'll raise a generation of people with weird and skewed views of history.
What? We're doing that already? Well, all the better reason to sound the alarm!!!
Before you -- if you're White (or black, but such is rare) and are about to scream "race card" please don't -- get into a defensive stance to protect Jackson, consider this question:
Weren't there blacks in New York in the 1930s? It's just a question.
Look at the site: http://www.kongisking.net/index.shtml
Click around and tell me if you can count more than five blacks? I counted zero. I do hope that all of "us" (blacks) are not going to be relegated to playing natives on Skull Island. GEEZ!
Look, what's the answer? For blacks to go out and make movies with just blacks? No.
I think this, and I'll write it: people who think in "racist" or "race-exclusion" terms are automatically less than intelligent. Why? Because to think this way means that the person can't see in detail, and thinks in boundaries. It also means that person is not insightful because insight requires that they think beyond their own mental boundaries.
A person who sees diversity wants to recreate the New York of the 1930s as it was, representing the mix of people that continues today. Blacks held a number of jobs in the New York of the 1930s.
Hey, will someone pass this on to Peter and tell him to faithfully represent America. Tell him that America and the New York of the 1930s was more than just white.
We've got to stop this crap, otherwise we'll raise a generation of people with weird and skewed views of history.
What? We're doing that already? Well, all the better reason to sound the alarm!!!
Friday, February 18, 2005
James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon - White House Reporter Scandal Still Going
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Just How Bad Was Jacksonville As Super Bowl Host City? Well...
My good friend Beth Schnitzer and her brothers, my friends Steve and Rayzin, were thoughtful enough to write down the events of their trip to Jacksonville for me, and trying to see it as a competiting Super Bowl Bid head (me) would have looked at it.
Below is what Steve sent to me today, formatted cursorily to preserve his chatty writing style. But some notes, before you start: "Jayville," is of course, Jacksonville. And they stayed on one of the cruise ships that were brought in to double as hotels, so there are references to their stay on it.
Ok, here you go!
zen thanks for everything.
We had a great time with beth even though:
1. we couldn't buy a thing on the ship except meals because they were goverened by customs or some maritime agcy
2. nobody did the homework to figure out that...
3. the ships were too tall to get under the bridges, so they put us in outer port space. (fox got under the bridge and set up right downtown and that was great)
4. so we need a shuttle to get from the ship to a holding tent where you
5. had to get another shuttle (additional $45) to town or a free shuttle to the parking lot (which cost an extr $55 with mailing)
6. ok for that, but secutity all along the way ship, shuttle, and central tent with airline xray screeners.
7. ok th port of jayville looks like shit so they spent 3-4hunge
gr to move around the empty cargo containers to build a fort or fence and put some colored spots on them to look like a movie opening.
Plus, to get to the port you had to go past the worst homes in town which they covered them and the crummy repair shops with some sort of semi transparent sheet that stretched like a 'cristo wrap the town' sculpture.
What else?
1. No friggin taxis so any schmuck with a car or van would pick you up for a $20+
2. the subway worked, but nobody knew where it went, and there were alot of pukers on that at all times (stunk)
3. The venues were so stretched out that it was almost impossible to get from one to the other without having a car or limo. (the beach was nice though)
4. everyone was super nice and helpful but they didn't coordinate with one another ex:
5. on checking the people at one table didn't know that the shuttle wristbands were being sold 20 ft. away.
6. also it took 2 days for people to figure out that they sold newspapers 40 ft. away.
7. THE GAME besides the fact that they funneled all people with or without tickets down the same packed st, we got there intact.
8. However they ran out of food at the half no more hotdogs! and the stadium had really bad seats (way too tiny for football fans, but probably ok for ballet goers).
9. After the game getting out of the stadium was a pain. egress was way over taxed.(the collaseum in rome was better).
10. And once you got out NOBODY knew where to go, and there were not enough cops and security (that is where you
needed them, and not around the rich and docile ocean liner guests) finding a shuttle to get home amongst pissed off eagle fans, drunken pats pukers, and thousands of lost patrons was a sight for sore eyes. (why i didn't where
my running/hiking shoes was a bad error).
Everything else was cool EXCEPT FOR THE LAST 3 HOURS.
1. at 5AM (yeah AM) this hated ding, diing, diiing (in
escalating octaves) to wake us up and tell us that we had to get out by 8-8:45AM so that they could get to ft. lauderdale for another cruise to the Bahamas. (ok so i put a pillow over my head and tried to get back to sleep)
But the cursed ding, diing, diiing at 6AM, them 7AM. ray and i got up and thought about breakfast, but they screwed us on that the last day (should have been included) and we had to pay incidentals (by the way, they put on an added $10/day/person gratuity, but enough people bitched, so they took it off. the nerve!) now let me say, i have been to quite a few superbowls and this was probably as bad as the Atl. mess with the ridiculous ice storm, and the transportation mess there.
But, jayville did have an incredible staff of smiling helpers to go around, great crabcakes and gulf shrimp (but N.O.
is still the best for food), a pretty good game (even though i lost on the point spread , taking the pats, with that last bogus eagle's td), the beers were colder and more plentiful here than any other, and the souvenirs went half price, quickly, the day after the game (that helped with the army of cooks i had to buy for).
So all in all i ranked it a c maybe a c-. no more…don't know how that will stack up to motor city (Detroit), but there is plenty of room to take over the bottom slot.
later steven schnitzer
Below is what Steve sent to me today, formatted cursorily to preserve his chatty writing style. But some notes, before you start: "Jayville," is of course, Jacksonville. And they stayed on one of the cruise ships that were brought in to double as hotels, so there are references to their stay on it.
Ok, here you go!
zen thanks for everything.
We had a great time with beth even though:
1. we couldn't buy a thing on the ship except meals because they were goverened by customs or some maritime agcy
2. nobody did the homework to figure out that...
3. the ships were too tall to get under the bridges, so they put us in outer port space. (fox got under the bridge and set up right downtown and that was great)
4. so we need a shuttle to get from the ship to a holding tent where you
5. had to get another shuttle (additional $45) to town or a free shuttle to the parking lot (which cost an extr $55 with mailing)
6. ok for that, but secutity all along the way ship, shuttle, and central tent with airline xray screeners.
7. ok th port of jayville looks like shit so they spent 3-4hunge
gr to move around the empty cargo containers to build a fort or fence and put some colored spots on them to look like a movie opening.
Plus, to get to the port you had to go past the worst homes in town which they covered them and the crummy repair shops with some sort of semi transparent sheet that stretched like a 'cristo wrap the town' sculpture.
What else?
1. No friggin taxis so any schmuck with a car or van would pick you up for a $20+
2. the subway worked, but nobody knew where it went, and there were alot of pukers on that at all times (stunk)
3. The venues were so stretched out that it was almost impossible to get from one to the other without having a car or limo. (the beach was nice though)
4. everyone was super nice and helpful but they didn't coordinate with one another ex:
5. on checking the people at one table didn't know that the shuttle wristbands were being sold 20 ft. away.
6. also it took 2 days for people to figure out that they sold newspapers 40 ft. away.
7. THE GAME besides the fact that they funneled all people with or without tickets down the same packed st, we got there intact.
8. However they ran out of food at the half no more hotdogs! and the stadium had really bad seats (way too tiny for football fans, but probably ok for ballet goers).
9. After the game getting out of the stadium was a pain. egress was way over taxed.(the collaseum in rome was better).
10. And once you got out NOBODY knew where to go, and there were not enough cops and security (that is where you
needed them, and not around the rich and docile ocean liner guests) finding a shuttle to get home amongst pissed off eagle fans, drunken pats pukers, and thousands of lost patrons was a sight for sore eyes. (why i didn't where
my running/hiking shoes was a bad error).
Everything else was cool EXCEPT FOR THE LAST 3 HOURS.
1. at 5AM (yeah AM) this hated ding, diing, diiing (in
escalating octaves) to wake us up and tell us that we had to get out by 8-8:45AM so that they could get to ft. lauderdale for another cruise to the Bahamas. (ok so i put a pillow over my head and tried to get back to sleep)
But the cursed ding, diing, diiing at 6AM, them 7AM. ray and i got up and thought about breakfast, but they screwed us on that the last day (should have been included) and we had to pay incidentals (by the way, they put on an added $10/day/person gratuity, but enough people bitched, so they took it off. the nerve!) now let me say, i have been to quite a few superbowls and this was probably as bad as the Atl. mess with the ridiculous ice storm, and the transportation mess there.
But, jayville did have an incredible staff of smiling helpers to go around, great crabcakes and gulf shrimp (but N.O.
is still the best for food), a pretty good game (even though i lost on the point spread , taking the pats, with that last bogus eagle's td), the beers were colder and more plentiful here than any other, and the souvenirs went half price, quickly, the day after the game (that helped with the army of cooks i had to buy for).
So all in all i ranked it a c maybe a c-. no more…don't know how that will stack up to motor city (Detroit), but there is plenty of room to take over the bottom slot.
later steven schnitzer
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