Interesting.., the Sport of choice for the urban poor is Basketball, maintenance level employees, Blue Collar is Candlepin bowling, Front line workers Football, Supervisors Baseball, Middle management Tennis, and corporate Exec. Golf. Seems the higher up you go the smaller the "Balls" become.-- In D.C. they must be shooting Marbles!
George's Carlin "Baseball vs. Football" bit (from 1984) was insightful in pointing out the metaphor for war that football was, and is. What wasn't apparent back then was how much the NFL, like the DOD, has come to dominate our lives.
Sports books, year-round replays of past games on cable channels; offshoot leagues (with lower caliber players); and the anticipation and near giddiness of getting tickets to attend training camps.
I agree watching games can be exciting. The athletic ability of the players is remarkable.
But there's something very wrong with a society that believes it is great by having new stadiums in NFL cities - while those cities have underfunded libraries and schools, and failing infrastructure.
Maybe 50 years ago it was still about the love of the game and kids' dreams Now it's just another distraction to keep the idle masses occupied year round with sports. To keep them from thinking about what's really going on in the world and the downfall of this nation. Much as what the gladiators' purpose were at the end of the Roman Empire. Frankly, I could give two s*^ts about the draft and sports in general anymore and at one time as a kid in the 60s I loved baseball and me and my friends would get together on most days in the summer and get a game up. How times have changed!!!
Amen! Well written Bill! The NFL draft is an example of extreme escapism with or without alcohol. The use of mind-a mind well wasted-a mind used to escape higher priorities in a completely frivolous manufactured reality. Spot the waste of mind-the escapism as Bill wisely tries attends to it.
This video should have wide exposure in the US because the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank could not happen WITHOUT US complicity, weapons and Diplomatic support:
No, it's not from this ancient Scripture of Isaiah 46:4;
'And until old age I am the same, and until you turn gray I will carry; I have made and I will bear and I will carry and deliver.'
It's much more recent History from way back in the Old Testament!
The poem is self-explanatory, and it would not be happening but for the American Peoples SILENCE.
The picture accompanying it is so relevant to the Israeli-US Genocide, as the blood stained Mother carries her 2 young boys, both having a leg amputated because of incessant Israeli bombing day and night to add to the Fear.
As I wrote to Prime Minister Carney Easter Sunday, "You Are Complicit! The UN Genocide Convention (Article III) condemns not just killers, but enablers. Your silence while your NATO ally the U.S. arms Israel enabling the Genocide makes Canada complicit in the atrocities." If you are a Christian of Faith and not just a ritual Religious, Almighty God called me to draw your attention to these words in your Bible; as they apply to Israel TODAY...............................
NOW the Poem:
For nine months
I carried you,
like an answered prayer,
as you grew and turned
in my proud womb.
And when I gave birth to you,
no labour, no strain, no pain
could lessen the joy and wonder
of holding you in my arms,
of nursing you at my breast.
From the day you were born,
I carried you until you were able
to stand and walk by yourself,
And even then, always I carried you
in my thoughts, my worries, my fears
that you might return to me
bruised, beaten, bloody and broken,
or dead from a bullet to the head,
that you would never come home,
and never again would I hear you
calling, Mama, Mama!
I carried you when you held up your arms to me,
I carried you to bed when you were drowsy,
I carried you when you woke from a bad dream,
I carried you when you were sick with fever,
I carried you when you fell and hurt yourself,
I carried you when you could not run
fast enough and were afraid.
Now, through this genocide
that has taken one of your legs,
I carry you, one boy under each arm.
Battered, blood-spattered and widowed,
I carry you over rubble and ruins,
I carry you past gaping craters and rotting garbage,
I carry you down crooked, choked streets,
I carry you down roads strewn with corpses.
I carry you through shell fire,
drone attacks, bomb blasts.
Day and night, I carry you
no matter how hungry, how thirsty,
how weary, how lost I am,
no matter how heavy you become
I carry you, no burden to me,
across this wasteland
in search of a safe place,
in search of home.
Until this hell on earth is over,
I will carry you through wind, rain and fire,
I will carry you, if I must, over mountains,
I will carry you across the desert,
I will carry you over water.
On my hands and knees, I will crawl
when I cannot take another step,
and carry you on my back.
When, at the end of this long journey,
my arms are too weak and slack,
my legs too stiff and sore,
my feet blistered and bloody,
my back bent and broken,
I will carry you in my heart
to my grave and never once let go.
Watching from CanaDa what the American Goliath does, not just what it says, Americans cannot remain SILENT as US MSM Propaganda magnifies apartment blocks still standing with few People being killed in Ukraine while Gaza is totally destroyed, with Israeli DEATH and DESTRUCTION raining down on Palestinian women and children in tents and US MSM and US Politicians don't hype it for what it is! A Genocide that would not be happening without US support and weaponry.
"Bread and circuses" is precisely what it is. NBA likewise holds a draft that is treated like the most important news story for agonizing days on end. I guess ditto for MLB? (I follow that the least.) What's next, pro golf?? I have hated (yeah, strong word, but I don't pull punches) for decades all the attention this stupid game gets, and this predates the age of Trump the Cheater (on his scorecard). So there it is.
"Call it a guilty pleasure, something that gets my mind off atrocities and all the other violent excesses of America."
For me, baseball has been a refuge, even if the game is just an audio backdrop to whatever else I've got going. Two and a half glorious hours away from the chaos. (And today, my Seattle Mariners are leading their division, if only for a cup of coffee.)
Realistically, Historically, Gene, it's not unlike the Bread and Circuses of the Gladiators killing each other just for the blood sport, as the Roman Empire was already going through the death throes in the Common Era of Christ!
How about the US Draft picking out who will serve Time in El Salvador's Super Max prison the US is leasing, because Super Max US prisons like this one in Florida, and many other States are FULL because of the MAGA obsession of locking up indefinitely in El Salvador or the US, ordinary people whose only crime was walking so far from their impoverished Countries, just wanting a taste of The American Dream now turning out to be a Nightmare!
Interesting.., the Sport of choice for the urban poor is Basketball, maintenance level employees, Blue Collar is Candlepin bowling, Front line workers Football, Supervisors Baseball, Middle management Tennis, and corporate Exec. Golf. Seems the higher up you go the smaller the "Balls" become.-- In D.C. they must be shooting Marbles!
The golden BB ...
Appreciate you, Fireman 1110, for subscribing to all the comments I make in many different sites and articles on Substack!
George's Carlin "Baseball vs. Football" bit (from 1984) was insightful in pointing out the metaphor for war that football was, and is. What wasn't apparent back then was how much the NFL, like the DOD, has come to dominate our lives.
Sports books, year-round replays of past games on cable channels; offshoot leagues (with lower caliber players); and the anticipation and near giddiness of getting tickets to attend training camps.
I agree watching games can be exciting. The athletic ability of the players is remarkable.
But there's something very wrong with a society that believes it is great by having new stadiums in NFL cities - while those cities have underfunded libraries and schools, and failing infrastructure.
Maybe 50 years ago it was still about the love of the game and kids' dreams Now it's just another distraction to keep the idle masses occupied year round with sports. To keep them from thinking about what's really going on in the world and the downfall of this nation. Much as what the gladiators' purpose were at the end of the Roman Empire. Frankly, I could give two s*^ts about the draft and sports in general anymore and at one time as a kid in the 60s I loved baseball and me and my friends would get together on most days in the summer and get a game up. How times have changed!!!
Amen! Well written Bill! The NFL draft is an example of extreme escapism with or without alcohol. The use of mind-a mind well wasted-a mind used to escape higher priorities in a completely frivolous manufactured reality. Spot the waste of mind-the escapism as Bill wisely tries attends to it.
As Bill wisely attends to it.
I have coached at the high school level and used to enjoy sports but the brazen displays of militarism have driven me away completely.
This video should have wide exposure in the US because the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank could not happen WITHOUT US complicity, weapons and Diplomatic support:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqXvc_wL8Xg
The problem is the US-Western MSM covers the Israeli-US Genocide of Palestinians like this:
https://rayjc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/msm-and-contrast-jew-and-palestinian.jpg
A poem to contemplate, 'I WILL CARRY YOU'
No, it's not from this ancient Scripture of Isaiah 46:4;
'And until old age I am the same, and until you turn gray I will carry; I have made and I will bear and I will carry and deliver.'
It's much more recent History from way back in the Old Testament!
The poem is self-explanatory, and it would not be happening but for the American Peoples SILENCE.
The picture accompanying it is so relevant to the Israeli-US Genocide, as the blood stained Mother carries her 2 young boys, both having a leg amputated because of incessant Israeli bombing day and night to add to the Fear.
As I wrote to Prime Minister Carney Easter Sunday, "You Are Complicit! The UN Genocide Convention (Article III) condemns not just killers, but enablers. Your silence while your NATO ally the U.S. arms Israel enabling the Genocide makes Canada complicit in the atrocities." If you are a Christian of Faith and not just a ritual Religious, Almighty God called me to draw your attention to these words in your Bible; as they apply to Israel TODAY...............................
NOW the Poem:
For nine months
I carried you,
like an answered prayer,
as you grew and turned
in my proud womb.
And when I gave birth to you,
no labour, no strain, no pain
could lessen the joy and wonder
of holding you in my arms,
of nursing you at my breast.
From the day you were born,
I carried you until you were able
to stand and walk by yourself,
And even then, always I carried you
in my thoughts, my worries, my fears
that you might return to me
bruised, beaten, bloody and broken,
or dead from a bullet to the head,
that you would never come home,
and never again would I hear you
calling, Mama, Mama!
I carried you when you held up your arms to me,
I carried you to bed when you were drowsy,
I carried you when you woke from a bad dream,
I carried you when you were sick with fever,
I carried you when you fell and hurt yourself,
I carried you when you could not run
fast enough and were afraid.
Now, through this genocide
that has taken one of your legs,
I carry you, one boy under each arm.
Battered, blood-spattered and widowed,
I carry you over rubble and ruins,
I carry you past gaping craters and rotting garbage,
I carry you down crooked, choked streets,
I carry you down roads strewn with corpses.
I carry you through shell fire,
drone attacks, bomb blasts.
Day and night, I carry you
no matter how hungry, how thirsty,
how weary, how lost I am,
no matter how heavy you become
I carry you, no burden to me,
across this wasteland
in search of a safe place,
in search of home.
Until this hell on earth is over,
I will carry you through wind, rain and fire,
I will carry you, if I must, over mountains,
I will carry you across the desert,
I will carry you over water.
On my hands and knees, I will crawl
when I cannot take another step,
and carry you on my back.
When, at the end of this long journey,
my arms are too weak and slack,
my legs too stiff and sore,
my feet blistered and bloody,
my back bent and broken,
I will carry you in my heart
to my grave and never once let go.
Watching from CanaDa what the American Goliath does, not just what it says, Americans cannot remain SILENT as US MSM Propaganda magnifies apartment blocks still standing with few People being killed in Ukraine while Gaza is totally destroyed, with Israeli DEATH and DESTRUCTION raining down on Palestinian women and children in tents and US MSM and US Politicians don't hype it for what it is! A Genocide that would not be happening without US support and weaponry.
"Bread and circuses" is precisely what it is. NBA likewise holds a draft that is treated like the most important news story for agonizing days on end. I guess ditto for MLB? (I follow that the least.) What's next, pro golf?? I have hated (yeah, strong word, but I don't pull punches) for decades all the attention this stupid game gets, and this predates the age of Trump the Cheater (on his scorecard). So there it is.
"Call it a guilty pleasure, something that gets my mind off atrocities and all the other violent excesses of America."
For me, baseball has been a refuge, even if the game is just an audio backdrop to whatever else I've got going. Two and a half glorious hours away from the chaos. (And today, my Seattle Mariners are leading their division, if only for a cup of coffee.)
Realistically, Historically, Gene, it's not unlike the Bread and Circuses of the Gladiators killing each other just for the blood sport, as the Roman Empire was already going through the death throes in the Common Era of Christ!
Never mind the NFL Draft!
How about the US Draft picking out who will serve Time in El Salvador's Super Max prison the US is leasing, because Super Max US prisons like this one in Florida, and many other States are FULL because of the MAGA obsession of locking up indefinitely in El Salvador or the US, ordinary people whose only crime was walking so far from their impoverished Countries, just wanting a taste of The American Dream now turning out to be a Nightmare!
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A1FH84/an-aerial-view-of-krome-detention-camp-outside-of-miami-florida-A1FH84.jpg
I call them all Sportzball(™), though I've noticed the ball comes in at least 3 shapes/sizes/colors.
"(A flyover? For the draft?)". This sickens me. All the money and attention spent on this, while crimes against humanity go unreported.