A friend is dropping by shortly to watch the Packers-Vikings game. I don’t follow the Packers or football in general as closely as I once did, but I’m not expecting great things from my hometown team this season. If I had to predict (and it’s almost impossible to resist predictions when discussing team sports), the Pack will 7-9 at best.
And I’m okay with that, as long as they beat Minnesota tonight. And here I have to insert the obligatory Vikings Suck!
The Paralympics got underway yesterday in Beijing, but the U.S. team is competing under a cloud of litigation. A few Paralympians are suing the United States Olympic Committee for discrimination, claiming that the U.S.O.C. fails to provide the same level of financial support to Paralympic athletes compared to other Olympians. The plaintiffs argue that they receive substantially lower stipends than Olympians, which limits their ability to train and be competitive. They point out that other countries are much more generous with their support of Paralympic athletes, resulting in more medals for those nations.
While it’s true that the Olympics generate far more revenue, the U.S.O.C. has never shown much interest in cultivating a wider audience for the Paralympics. If the games can’t be watched on television, people aren’t going to care and corporations aren’t going to be interested in being official Paralympic sponsors. If ESPN can market the X Games, I’m not sure why the same can’t be done with the Paralympics. And why can’t the Paralympics be part of the Olympic Games? That alone would increase viewership. The additional logistics should be manageable, given the already extensive preparations required for a modern Olympics event.
In a barnstormer of a speech, Biden calls out the Republicans for failing to offer any substantive policy ideas at their convention. The problem for the GOP is that it’s being trying to re-brand itself without making any fundamental alterations to its core ingredients. That may work if you’re trying to sell laundry detergent, but it’s less effective if you’re trying to win an election. The Republicans show little willingness to do the necessary self-examination to determine how it can speak to voters who worry about the economy, health care, and other pocketbook issues. Instead, the party bosses think it’s clever to mock community organizers.
And what is up with that, anyway? Wasn’t this the same party once clamoring for federal money to faith-based entities? Entities that do plenty of community organizing and outreach? Or has “community organizer” suddenly become code for anyone who dares help poor and disenfranchised people make their voices heard?
The lawyers will probably shut this down before long, but here’s an impressive collection of music videos from the 80s. And some pretty obscure ones to boot. If you have a hankering for Debarge or Kim Carnes, your fix is just a click away. I’m going to kick back here at my desk, indulge in a little nostalgia, and wonder if the girls of my youth would’ve liked me more if I’d feathered my bangs.
I noticed this fellow giving me the eye as I was passing through Mears Park in downtown St. Paul today. He said he was from India and I’m guessing that he wasn’t in town for the RNC. According to him, I’m very courageous for venturing out. Honestly, I’m not sure what he meant. Sure, I disagree with Republicans on plenty of issues, but I’m certainly not afraid to mingle with them and engage in civil dialogue. I’d even pay for drinks.
Speaking of civil dialogue, I won’t be sorry to see the anarchists leave town. Hey, angry white kids, your parents still love you. Just tell them you’re sorry for running up their cell phone bills and they’ll probably let you have your old rooms back.
The Daily Show is taping in the History Theater in St. Paul, just across the street from my office. I took a couple hours off this afternoon to camp out in the standby line to see if I could get in to watch a taping. Unfortunately, my efforts were for naught. The show was overbooked and not even all the ticketholders were able to get in. I guess I’ll have to schlep it to New York if I want to be in the audience. My only other option is to become a moderately noteworthy blogger or author and get invited on as a guest. Which means I’d better start thinking of clever things to write.
To the RNC delegate whom I was trying to get by because she and her friends were standing in the middle of the sidewalk on 7th Street: I’m sure you’re a very nice lady, but you don’t get to call me “honey”, “sweetheart”, and stroke my arm until we’ve been properly introduced. Because despite what most people think, I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy and I like to take things slow.
Summer’s over already? But I’m just starting to get a good tan going. And I haven’t gotten through even half of the books on my summer reading list. Not to mention the fact that my fancy linen pants are barely broken in.
I’m going to have to drag my sweaters out of storage in a few weeks, aren’t I?
Suck.
Overheard as I passed a group of RNC delegates who were standing outside the Graves 601 Hotel:
“Oh my God, I forgot my cigars!”
I was smiling the rest of the way home.
The convention hasn’t even started yet, but the parades are already underway here in downtown Minneapolis. Today’s post-modern political parade can be a frustrating thing to watch if you’re expecting a consistent, unified message. It’s best just to take in the spectacle and not try to make sense of it. To illustrate my point, here’s a sampling of what I saw at today’s parade on Nicollet Mall: