Sarah Palin the Desperation Pick

This is a desperation move. Sorry, no disrespect to Sarah Palin, I’ll get to reading up on her this weekend. But does John McCain think that he’s going to somehow steal away some “Hillary Democrats” by simply putting a female on his ticket? A little-known, inexperienced, not-ready-for-prime-time, first term Governor from Alaska? Really? Does he think that women are so shallow and gullible that they will simply go vote for whichever ticket has the female V.P.?

Of course he made sure she was Pro-Life so that it would garner approval from his base (the last 20% that approve of Bush, combined with the 20% that are misinformed skeptics of elitist Muslim candidates). But he wanted to attract the alleged indepents/conservative-centrist Democrats. But how? A well known cheesy looking business guy like Mitt Romney? A former Dem and current Jew like Joe Lieberman? A young Indian-American “rising star” politician like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal? Or, how bout…. A WOMAN!! Hey, Good for Palin, good for progress and babysteps and equality and all that. But this is a shallow, desperate move by a guy who sees the New America pulling out of the station with a head full of steam and this old warrior can do nothing but run after it waving and screaming “wait for me!”

Again, with apologies to Gov. Palin… this is window dressing. This is Bush in the flight suit with the Mission Accomplished banner behind him. So now McCain gets to play Cheney Warman and Palin gets to be the aw-shucks Puppet? That’s cute.

Sure, this might get everyone talking and might change the subject away from the Democrats successful convention and Obama’s great acceptance speech. But that conversation will clearly end up being about who really gets it and is ready to not just play Leader-Guy but to actually lead all of us in fixing this country.

UPDATE:

Just watched her introduction speech. She was solid and professional and I think she did a good job.

That said, she used to stand up against big oil and special interests and inefficient bureaucracy and wasteful spending. now she's standing WITH all that stuff, wearing all black and a large flag pin, and playing the P.O.W. card and then praising Hillary Clinton in an obvious suck-up ploy for female votes.

Olympic Logo Looks Like Cigarettes

Why does the Olympic logo look just like a pack of cigarettes?? You see it on the polo shirts of TV commentators and everywhere else. It's like a subliminal Marlboro add or something. Maybe it's for population control? I don't know... You think Michael Phelps would have all those Gold Medals and a DVD if he smoked cigarettes?

Art Monk Finally Gets Call to Hall

For years I'd felt that one of the great sports injustices was the exclusion of Washington Redskins WR Art Monk from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I'd even sent emails to the voters about it. Seriously. So this year I'm thrilled that Monk was finally voted in.

And in a strange twist of cruel irony... I wont be able to watch the festivities Saturday evening because I'll be at the wedding of my good friend. A Cowboys fan....

Anyway, congratulations to Art Monk. Here's a copy of the email I sent to HOF voters:

I’m writing in reference to Art Monk and his Hall of Fame candidacy. With all the coverage that goes to the likes of Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson (and Michael Irvin’s induction for that matter), this would be an appropriate year to enlighten the younger generation on a class act like Art Monk. Of course, he also has HOF-worthy stats, including 3 Super Bowl rings (with 3 different QB's).

I know you can access the necessary stats of Monk compared to current HOF WR's, but I've included them at the bottom of this email for your convenience. Please check them out, and remember that Monk played in a run-oriented attack that also threw to TE’s and always had other dangerous WR’s.

Last year, I sent emails to most of you, and only heard back from Woody Paige (who supports Monk) and he said maybe all the letters turn the voters off. Huh? Perhaps the volume of letters speaks to the injustice of Monk’s exclusion from the Hall. What else can we do? And, allegedly (according to Peter King’s interview on ESPN Radio regarding Irvin’s numerous drug offenses), the voters only consider what happened on the field, so I can't imagine that us letter-writing fans have been keeping Monk out of the Hall.

I’ve also heard the argument that most opposing Defensive Coordinators were more concerned with stopping Gary Clark and/or Ricky Sanders. Well, based on that Redskins team’s success, apparently they were keying on the wrong guy.

While I have included Monk’s stats below, I know a lot of folks say “It’s not all about the numbers.” Since it's more than just numbers.... what is it? Carrying yourself with class? Check. Being a team player? Check. Winning? Check. Championships? Check.

Art Monk’s name on the ballot? CHECK.

940 catches
12721 yards
13.5 avg per catch
68 touchdowns.

3 Pro Bowls. 3 Super Bowls.

Playoffs/SuperBowls:
69 catches, 1062 yards, 7 TD's

Comparing Art Monk to Hall of Fame wide receivers
Name / Rec / Yds / TDs
Art Monk / 940/ 12,721/ 68
Charlie Joiner / 750 / 12,146/ 65
Don Maynard /633 / 11,834 /88
Raymond Berry /631/ 9,275 /68
Fred Biletnikoff /589 / 8,964/ 76
Lance Alworth / 542/ 10,266/ 85
Tommy McDonald/495 / 8,410/ 84
Don Hutson / 488 / 7,991 / 99
Paul Warfield / 427 / 8,565/ 85
Tom Fears /400 /5,397 /38

Thank you for your time and consideration