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The parties responsible for the People'sChoice Credit Union's "Fee Bandit" ad gathered on Friday, to say "sorry" and claim they just didn't realize what they did was wrong.
Per usual, the offending parties all come together, hear from the Jewish community why this was offensive, act contrite, say the right things and everyone goes back to their own way of operating. It reminds me of being back in school and being pulled into the principal's office for breaking one of the rules of the school, or violating some statute in the student conduct code—you knew what you were supposed to say and how to act—then you went back and laughed about it with your friends.
I found a bit more on the incident over the weekend. Catalyst News Network, brought to you by the same people behind PunkVoter and Militaryfreezone, weigh in on Friday's "summit," as does Dan Kennedy, at Media Nation.
Incidents like this always produce a certain amount of hand-wringing and vows not to let it happen again, but the damage has already been done. The ad is out there and the image and the stereotype has been perpetuated, not to mention that thousands, if not tens of thousands of readers are now familiar with the image, which clearly is that of a Hasidic Jew.
So, when I hear that everyone's apologized and all parties are satisfied, I'm not so sure that anything's changed. Let me be as clear as I can here. This wasn't a case that "Some people felt the photo resembled a Hasidic Jew and drew on painful stereotypes," as David Hench's article in the Press Herald reported on Friday. The obvious intention of this ad was to "plug in" to and draw upon reader stereotypes, associated with Jewish people, stereotypes that portray them as lenders and bankers, with a propensity to get the better of any transaction. How the hell else would the ad have worked?
In 2007, to claim that you didn't know better in choosing to clearly draw upon a centuries-old image that would clearly "grab" the reader, in my opinion, was not some accident, or mistake, but a clearly well-thought out means to a creative end.
For all our posturing and insistence that we are an enlightened state, Maine still has pockets of ugliness and ignorance and I think they're much larger than many care to think about. How else do you explain most of these comments? Yeah, right folks—this whole fiasco is just another case of political correctness run amok. Good lord—evolve cretins!!
Monday, February 19, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Maine's largest newspaper's anti-semetic leanings
The Portland Press Herald once was Maine’s “newspaper of record,” back when newspapers were the primary source of news for Mainers. With the advent of alternative news sources, particularly blogs, podcasts and other online news sites, newspaper circulation numbers continue their sharp, southward decline. Newspapers, like the Press Herald, continue to try to adapt, but appears to have totally lost their way. With declining circulation, comes declining ad revenue. The loss of revenue means that you lay off quality people and as a result, your staff, trying to put out news with too few staff and too many young graduates just out of journalism school, lacks maturity and even competence to warrant its former place of prominence.
Current executive editor, Jeanine Guttman, a woman with a documented history of not understanding journalism's role, continues to regale readers with her regular Sunday column, where she continually acts as apologist for her paper’s policies and tries to justify their move to dumbed-down content, masquerading as news and their latest embrace of the journalistic flavor of the month.
Apparently, their newest schtick as a paper is to become the state’s anti-Semitic source of news. On Wednesday, Maine’s largest newspaper ran an ad for PeoplesChoice Credit Union of Biddeford, which was designed to simulate the Old West “wanted” posters from the 19th century. Included in the “poster” was a photo of a man with a striking resemblance to what critics have characterized as having stereotypical features, which evoke the image of Jews as usurers and unethical money lenders.
Interestingly, the ad refers to the man as “The Fee Bandit” and describes him as “charming and polite,” and someone who “smiles as he takes your money in ways big and small.” (see the link for The Forcaster, to view the ad.)
Several national Jewish groups, including Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center have criticized the paper’s second blatent ad, with its obvious anti-Jewish overtones. The fact that this has now happend twice within the past month, has obviously become a cause for alarm. Stating that the ad, which was designed by Kimberly McCall Advertising, of Freeport, is “overtly anti-Semitic” in content, the group calls into question the newspaper’s intent. Is this the new policy of the paper—to regularly insult Jews in Maine?
This second anti-Jewish ad follows on the heels of a February 3rd advertisement, which ran in the Religion and Values section of the paper and announced a sermon by a South Portland Baptist minister titled, “The Only Way to Destroy the Jewish Race.” This ad drew immediate criticism from the local Jewish community and resulted in written apologies from the offending minister, as well as the advertising director, Rob Blethen, who amazingly, as far as I know, still has a job. While I'm not certain, I would surmise that Blethen is some relation to the family that now owns the Blethen Maine Newspapers. Ah, the sweet smell of nepotism—a wonderful way to ensure competence and quality. While the paper insisted that safeguards were now in place to prevent another incident, they obviously still aren't stringent enough.
Instead, along comes arguably, an even more offensive ad, which should cause any thinking person to incredulous shake their head, upon actually seeing it. As Rabbi Alice Dubinsky of Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland was quoted as saying, “One time is a mistake,” she said, “Two times is a policy.” I would have to agree. To publish two ads that anyone with any ethnic and cultural sensibility should have caught, exposes the gross incompetence at the highest levels of this newspaper.
Rabbi Hillel Katzir, of Auburn, is quoted in Friday’s Sun Journal side article on the incident. Hillel says that the ad has “clear stereotypes associated with Jews in a negative way.”
Hillel adds insight into why the add is so offensive when he says, “Given the fact that most people don’t read all the fine print in newspaper ads, what many readers will come away with is an impression of a money-grubbing Jew as the bad guy,” he said.
While Hillel absolved the advertiser of any intent towards malice, I’m not so inclined to be so kind to both the paper and the ad creator.
Kimberly McCall, of Kimberly McCall Advertising, bills herself as the “The Marketing Angel.” At one time, she had a regular column in Mainebiz, where her insights on marketing were offered to Maine’s business leaders, who read the state’s only statewide business publication. She’s also had a regular gig with Entrepreneur Magazine and had articles published in Women’sWallStreet to name a few other publications that have been charmed by her articles on how to market your product or service. Obviously, she’s no neophyte when it comes to advertising and marketing and as such, should have had the professional acumen and savvy to recognize why “The Fee Bandit” ad would be perceived as offensive—unfortunately, she did not.
In the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t the first “bone to pick” I’ve had with Ms. McCall, as I took her to task for her treatment of a young entrepreneur, who I though she was being unduly harsh towards, when McCall was still writing for Mainebiz. At the time, I thought she exhibited a “nasty” side in her trashing of a young woman who was offering some neat t-shirts, with catchy slogans, utilizing a t-shirt company with a good reputation for being anti-sweatshop and donating her proceeds to community causes, like Habitat for Humanity.
At that time, I was probably a bit “over-the-top” in my characterizations of McCall on a former blog site and she called me on it. I did issue her an email apology and offered to buy her a cup of coffee and chat, as a gesture of good will. She accepted the apology, but declined to meet and I lost the opportunity to glean some sense of her as a person. This time, however, I don’t see any real excuse for being critical—the criticism being lodged by members of the Jewish community, in my opinion, is warranted. If you are going to engage in self-promotion and trumpet your expertise, then it seems to me that you should be able to recognize when your creativity crosses the line of good taste and becomes offensive to a group of people who deserve much better. This isn’t 1950, when stereotypical advertising and being able to have fun at the expense of certain ethnic groups was accepted. As an “expert” in your profession, you should know better.
While the story has received prominent coverage in the Lewiston Sun Journal, Friday's story, actually originated with the paper’s sister publication, The Forcaster and was bylined to Kate Bucklin, a longtime staffwriter for the solid community-based weekly. I am also not unaware of the fact that the Sun Journal is a major competitor of the Press Herald. Still, having some fun at a competitor’s expense, or not, the implications ought to be talked about, particularly in a state with very little objective journalism being practiced.
When publications like The Casco Bay Weekly went away and prior to their heyday, the muckraking Maine Times found it impossible to stay afloat, Maine no longer has a repository of hardline, “get them in our sites and blast ‘em” investigative sources of journalism. Because of that, businesses like the Blethen Maine Newspapers, corporate bad guys and political cronyism tends to receive free passes, or a few haphazard articles here and there and are allowed to do as they please in a state that in some ways, even with its few cosmopolitan flashes and semblance of entering the 21st century, still mirrors the rural backwater that was Maine for much of its history.
Current executive editor, Jeanine Guttman, a woman with a documented history of not understanding journalism's role, continues to regale readers with her regular Sunday column, where she continually acts as apologist for her paper’s policies and tries to justify their move to dumbed-down content, masquerading as news and their latest embrace of the journalistic flavor of the month.
Apparently, their newest schtick as a paper is to become the state’s anti-Semitic source of news. On Wednesday, Maine’s largest newspaper ran an ad for PeoplesChoice Credit Union of Biddeford, which was designed to simulate the Old West “wanted” posters from the 19th century. Included in the “poster” was a photo of a man with a striking resemblance to what critics have characterized as having stereotypical features, which evoke the image of Jews as usurers and unethical money lenders.
Interestingly, the ad refers to the man as “The Fee Bandit” and describes him as “charming and polite,” and someone who “smiles as he takes your money in ways big and small.” (see the link for The Forcaster, to view the ad.)
Several national Jewish groups, including Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center have criticized the paper’s second blatent ad, with its obvious anti-Jewish overtones. The fact that this has now happend twice within the past month, has obviously become a cause for alarm. Stating that the ad, which was designed by Kimberly McCall Advertising, of Freeport, is “overtly anti-Semitic” in content, the group calls into question the newspaper’s intent. Is this the new policy of the paper—to regularly insult Jews in Maine?
This second anti-Jewish ad follows on the heels of a February 3rd advertisement, which ran in the Religion and Values section of the paper and announced a sermon by a South Portland Baptist minister titled, “The Only Way to Destroy the Jewish Race.” This ad drew immediate criticism from the local Jewish community and resulted in written apologies from the offending minister, as well as the advertising director, Rob Blethen, who amazingly, as far as I know, still has a job. While I'm not certain, I would surmise that Blethen is some relation to the family that now owns the Blethen Maine Newspapers. Ah, the sweet smell of nepotism—a wonderful way to ensure competence and quality. While the paper insisted that safeguards were now in place to prevent another incident, they obviously still aren't stringent enough.
Instead, along comes arguably, an even more offensive ad, which should cause any thinking person to incredulous shake their head, upon actually seeing it. As Rabbi Alice Dubinsky of Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland was quoted as saying, “One time is a mistake,” she said, “Two times is a policy.” I would have to agree. To publish two ads that anyone with any ethnic and cultural sensibility should have caught, exposes the gross incompetence at the highest levels of this newspaper.
Rabbi Hillel Katzir, of Auburn, is quoted in Friday’s Sun Journal side article on the incident. Hillel says that the ad has “clear stereotypes associated with Jews in a negative way.”
Hillel adds insight into why the add is so offensive when he says, “Given the fact that most people don’t read all the fine print in newspaper ads, what many readers will come away with is an impression of a money-grubbing Jew as the bad guy,” he said.
While Hillel absolved the advertiser of any intent towards malice, I’m not so inclined to be so kind to both the paper and the ad creator.
Kimberly McCall, of Kimberly McCall Advertising, bills herself as the “The Marketing Angel.” At one time, she had a regular column in Mainebiz, where her insights on marketing were offered to Maine’s business leaders, who read the state’s only statewide business publication. She’s also had a regular gig with Entrepreneur Magazine and had articles published in Women’sWallStreet to name a few other publications that have been charmed by her articles on how to market your product or service. Obviously, she’s no neophyte when it comes to advertising and marketing and as such, should have had the professional acumen and savvy to recognize why “The Fee Bandit” ad would be perceived as offensive—unfortunately, she did not.
In the interest of full disclosure, this isn’t the first “bone to pick” I’ve had with Ms. McCall, as I took her to task for her treatment of a young entrepreneur, who I though she was being unduly harsh towards, when McCall was still writing for Mainebiz. At the time, I thought she exhibited a “nasty” side in her trashing of a young woman who was offering some neat t-shirts, with catchy slogans, utilizing a t-shirt company with a good reputation for being anti-sweatshop and donating her proceeds to community causes, like Habitat for Humanity.
At that time, I was probably a bit “over-the-top” in my characterizations of McCall on a former blog site and she called me on it. I did issue her an email apology and offered to buy her a cup of coffee and chat, as a gesture of good will. She accepted the apology, but declined to meet and I lost the opportunity to glean some sense of her as a person. This time, however, I don’t see any real excuse for being critical—the criticism being lodged by members of the Jewish community, in my opinion, is warranted. If you are going to engage in self-promotion and trumpet your expertise, then it seems to me that you should be able to recognize when your creativity crosses the line of good taste and becomes offensive to a group of people who deserve much better. This isn’t 1950, when stereotypical advertising and being able to have fun at the expense of certain ethnic groups was accepted. As an “expert” in your profession, you should know better.
While the story has received prominent coverage in the Lewiston Sun Journal, Friday's story, actually originated with the paper’s sister publication, The Forcaster and was bylined to Kate Bucklin, a longtime staffwriter for the solid community-based weekly. I am also not unaware of the fact that the Sun Journal is a major competitor of the Press Herald. Still, having some fun at a competitor’s expense, or not, the implications ought to be talked about, particularly in a state with very little objective journalism being practiced.
When publications like The Casco Bay Weekly went away and prior to their heyday, the muckraking Maine Times found it impossible to stay afloat, Maine no longer has a repository of hardline, “get them in our sites and blast ‘em” investigative sources of journalism. Because of that, businesses like the Blethen Maine Newspapers, corporate bad guys and political cronyism tends to receive free passes, or a few haphazard articles here and there and are allowed to do as they please in a state that in some ways, even with its few cosmopolitan flashes and semblance of entering the 21st century, still mirrors the rural backwater that was Maine for much of its history.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
School Consolidation Sham Endangers Rural Schools
It’s amazing what happens to politicians when they no longer have to worry about being re-elected—they throw caution to the wind and become downright visionary.
Take our governor—no longer constrained by having to worry about another run for the Blaine House, he has an opportunity to portray himself as fiscally responsible and determined to give the people what they want, in this case, lower taxes, or rather, he can talk about his plan to lower the costs associated with educating tomorrow’s workers.
You see, since all he has left is legacy building, now is the time for our governor to throw caution to the wind, put his cards on the table and get creative. Or, maybe its now the right time to roll forward with one of his favorite canards—Maine’s education costs are too high because we have too many school districts and consequently, too many school administrators. If we shrink the number of school administrative districts from 152 to 26 regional school districts, this will apparently save the state $250 million in the first three years of implementation. If it were only that simple. I don't know what math he's using to come up with that number. If you take the salaries of all of Maine's superintendents, that figure is only $13 million. For the life of me, I don't know where the other $207 million is coming from.
Consolidation has been trotted out as the solution to all our education maladies for over 100 years. Any time educators (or politicians) are at a loss of what to do, they begin closing rural (community-based) schools, in favor of centralized fortresses that resemble the modern, urban school, with all its inherent dysfunction.
I found a critique of a book titled, Leadership for Rural Schools: Lessons for All Educators (Scarecrow Education, 2002), where several educators from across the country, presented issues encountered by rural schools.
I found the following, which apparently comes from the book’s third chapter, interestingly making an ode to Yogi Berra that great school reformer, himself. From the chapter called, “It's Deja Vu All Over Again': The Rural School Problem Revisited,” Penny Smith provides a detailed and comprehensive review of the criticisms that have been made of rural schooling since the nineteenth century. She notes, the list of ways in which rural schools have failed their students [according to their critics] has remained remarkably unchanged over most of the last two centuries" (p. 27). The solution to "the rural school problem" has also remained unchanged: Close and consolidate smaller community schools so that rural schools can more nearly approximate larger urban schools. Smith's historical review of rural educational reform is both scholarly and accessible. She notes that the rural school problem was "discovered" in the late nineteenth century when educational reformers started to view "the rural components of their state school systems as defective and were arguing that one reason for those defects was the rural environment in which they operated"(p. 30).
While Governor Baldacci is being lauded by those who would cheer anything a fellow Democrat does, he also has quieted some of his critics on the other side of the aisle. Certainly, one must give credit where credit’s due—he hasn’t found much to unite the state’s political forces, but school consolidation might be the only thing that leaves him with a legacy that curries favor with those in the state with short memories (or lack of historical perspective). However, for those willing to do a bit of research, or who have some sense of perspective, the Sinclair Act might be an area worth revisiting.
In 1957, some 50 years ago, the state began a systematic consolidation of rural schools under this particular piece of legislation. The primary onus for this push, was—you guessed it—efficiency Drawing on the industrial model, the idea behind consolidation was (and still is) that bigger “factories” can turn out product at less cost per unit. While some might argue that the Sinclair Act helped address some of the quality issues, at least initially, it certainly did nothing to alleviate annual increases in school spending, which have been trending upward (when adjusted for inflation) for five decades. (See Barbara Merrill's solution from her book, the section on community schools and the graph on school spending)
While the justification for the Baldacci plan continues to fly the flag of tax savings as its modus operandi, there are numerous critics around the state, primarily from the rural areas, who insist this is nothing but a “power grab,” and another example of government usurping local control.
From the February 8th issue of The Capital Weekly, came this assessment from Mike Cormier, representing MSAD 9, from the Farmington area, who said that “…the details of the governor’s plan are not flushed out and there are no models to show what the impact will be. He said that the property-tax burden would likely be shifted from the state to local level.”
John Nutting (D-Leeds), a political veteran and senator with the same affiliation as the governor, urged the Maine Small Schools Coalition to become better organized and characterized the Baldacci plan as a “draconian” plan for rural Maine.
In many of Maine's rural communities, the only anchor left is the local school. Contrary to the opinions of most bureaucrats, who rarely leave their political ivory towers, many of these schools do a great job, while operating efficiently and consistently score well in comparison to the larger education "factories" that came from Maine's first wave of consolidation in the 60s and 70s.
While there are ways to consolidate some of the basic services, closing rural schools and bussing students two hours to school isn't in the best interest of the students, the communities, or the future workforce they represent.
Take our governor—no longer constrained by having to worry about another run for the Blaine House, he has an opportunity to portray himself as fiscally responsible and determined to give the people what they want, in this case, lower taxes, or rather, he can talk about his plan to lower the costs associated with educating tomorrow’s workers.
You see, since all he has left is legacy building, now is the time for our governor to throw caution to the wind, put his cards on the table and get creative. Or, maybe its now the right time to roll forward with one of his favorite canards—Maine’s education costs are too high because we have too many school districts and consequently, too many school administrators. If we shrink the number of school administrative districts from 152 to 26 regional school districts, this will apparently save the state $250 million in the first three years of implementation. If it were only that simple. I don't know what math he's using to come up with that number. If you take the salaries of all of Maine's superintendents, that figure is only $13 million. For the life of me, I don't know where the other $207 million is coming from.
Consolidation has been trotted out as the solution to all our education maladies for over 100 years. Any time educators (or politicians) are at a loss of what to do, they begin closing rural (community-based) schools, in favor of centralized fortresses that resemble the modern, urban school, with all its inherent dysfunction.
I found a critique of a book titled, Leadership for Rural Schools: Lessons for All Educators (Scarecrow Education, 2002), where several educators from across the country, presented issues encountered by rural schools.
I found the following, which apparently comes from the book’s third chapter, interestingly making an ode to Yogi Berra that great school reformer, himself. From the chapter called, “It's Deja Vu All Over Again': The Rural School Problem Revisited,” Penny Smith provides a detailed and comprehensive review of the criticisms that have been made of rural schooling since the nineteenth century. She notes, the list of ways in which rural schools have failed their students [according to their critics] has remained remarkably unchanged over most of the last two centuries" (p. 27). The solution to "the rural school problem" has also remained unchanged: Close and consolidate smaller community schools so that rural schools can more nearly approximate larger urban schools. Smith's historical review of rural educational reform is both scholarly and accessible. She notes that the rural school problem was "discovered" in the late nineteenth century when educational reformers started to view "the rural components of their state school systems as defective and were arguing that one reason for those defects was the rural environment in which they operated"(p. 30).
While Governor Baldacci is being lauded by those who would cheer anything a fellow Democrat does, he also has quieted some of his critics on the other side of the aisle. Certainly, one must give credit where credit’s due—he hasn’t found much to unite the state’s political forces, but school consolidation might be the only thing that leaves him with a legacy that curries favor with those in the state with short memories (or lack of historical perspective). However, for those willing to do a bit of research, or who have some sense of perspective, the Sinclair Act might be an area worth revisiting.
In 1957, some 50 years ago, the state began a systematic consolidation of rural schools under this particular piece of legislation. The primary onus for this push, was—you guessed it—efficiency Drawing on the industrial model, the idea behind consolidation was (and still is) that bigger “factories” can turn out product at less cost per unit. While some might argue that the Sinclair Act helped address some of the quality issues, at least initially, it certainly did nothing to alleviate annual increases in school spending, which have been trending upward (when adjusted for inflation) for five decades. (See Barbara Merrill's solution from her book, the section on community schools and the graph on school spending)
While the justification for the Baldacci plan continues to fly the flag of tax savings as its modus operandi, there are numerous critics around the state, primarily from the rural areas, who insist this is nothing but a “power grab,” and another example of government usurping local control.
From the February 8th issue of The Capital Weekly, came this assessment from Mike Cormier, representing MSAD 9, from the Farmington area, who said that “…the details of the governor’s plan are not flushed out and there are no models to show what the impact will be. He said that the property-tax burden would likely be shifted from the state to local level.”
John Nutting (D-Leeds), a political veteran and senator with the same affiliation as the governor, urged the Maine Small Schools Coalition to become better organized and characterized the Baldacci plan as a “draconian” plan for rural Maine.
In many of Maine's rural communities, the only anchor left is the local school. Contrary to the opinions of most bureaucrats, who rarely leave their political ivory towers, many of these schools do a great job, while operating efficiently and consistently score well in comparison to the larger education "factories" that came from Maine's first wave of consolidation in the 60s and 70s.
While there are ways to consolidate some of the basic services, closing rural schools and bussing students two hours to school isn't in the best interest of the students, the communities, or the future workforce they represent.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
In Boston, winning no longer matters
The older you get, the more you become aware of shifts, some glaringly obvious, some more subtle and some that you are aware of, but can’t pinpoint when they occurred. The world of sports is definitely one of those places where changes of seismic proportions have occurred.
When I began adopting teams to bequeath my affection upon, many of these were local. I mostly knew the players and never for the life of me did I ever pour my heart and energy into these surrogates, wishing they would lose. Later, when I started to follow professional sports, I never recall rushing to the kitchen table to scan the previous night’s results in search of the boxscore of my favorite team and I know I never felt joy and happiness wash over me when I saw that they were on the losing end of the tilt with their opponent.
Apparently, however, not only has the world of sports been turned on its head by the large amounts of cashish showered on even marginal talents, but fans no longer grasp that following a team means that you harbor hope (even when it's not reasonable from a mere intellectual standpoint) that they’ll come away with a victory.
While this winter’s version of Boston’s pro basketball team is one of the worst in recent memory, rather than pine for a victory to break a losing string stretching back to just after New Year’s Day, fans, writers and analysts are almost giddy with each mounting loss. I’m sitting here, listening to the drivel that passes as sports talk and even, dare I say, sports journalism and I’m scratching my head—when did it suddenly become fashionable to hope that your team would be a loser? When was the big “L” etched on your forehead a badge of honor and not some equivalent to sport’s scarlet letter?
The sports community, at least in places like Boston and Memphis are no longer interested in seeing elite players named Gasol, or Pierce, carry their teams to victory. They’re not even interested that burgeoning talents like Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Rajon Rondo, or even Rudy Gay, learn what it takes to win in the world’s elite basketball league, which by the way, is much more intense and difficult than even the top Division I ball played at the college level. Dominating the competition in the Big Ten, or Big 12 doesn’t automatically translate into being able to stop a Shaq, or Koby, or Agent Zero.
Hoping your team will lose, or that your multi-million dollar superstar doesn’t play, so some ping pong ball comes up Celtics' Green is absolutely stupid. I do recognize that some people who follow sports aren’t terribly bright and even some in the sports media also are lacking in intellectual acumen, but enough is enough!
In Boston, at least, Danny Ainge needs to have a strategy beyond accumulating youthful chips with potential and start assembling a team that can compete. The Eastern Conference is weak and a general manager worth his salary would have had a team in place by now that was able to compete and even win 55, or 60 percent of its games in a very weak conference. Instead, we have to witness a debacle like last night’s (which due to FSNE’s ineptness, I missed large portions of, which isn’t the first time—more to follow) loss to a team that was ripe for the picking and should have resulted in being the end to the Celtics’ losing streak. Instead, players were standing around, missing assignments and relying on Paul Pierce, playing his first game in nearly two months. Was Ainge at the game? Is he so inept a general manager, like he was a professional baseball player that he can’t see that he doesn’t have anyone that can carry this team past even weak NBA opponents?
Maybe Boston’s recent championship success has changed the sports landscape in a town that used to hunger for wins. I guess getting off the snide in baseball, as well as the Patriots’ three Super Bowl titles has made losing easier to take. When the media trumpets Boston’s sports pedigree and superior knowledge about whatever sport is being featured, apparently they are just blowing smoke, or relying on a community that no longer exists—that being a cavalcade of knowledgeable sports fans.
Personally, I'm sick of hearing that Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and the rest of the Celtic brain trust deserve a free pass. While the Celtics have had a significantly large number of injuries of late, injuries are part of sports and championship caliber teams don’t allow themselves a "get out of jail free" card on this front. They make deals, sign players off the waiver wire and use creativity to get their teams over the hump. The Celtics, in my opinion, have more than their fair share of young players that have been slower than expected to develop and play key roles. Ainge's strategy of going with youth has failed miserably. He needs to stop this foolish charade. He is an inept GM, in my opinion—a good role player who continues to ride what little sheen is left from the luster of the 80s Celtics' dynasty.
I know I’m in the minority, but I’m glad that Pierce is coming back. While last night’s re-entry was oh-so-painful to see, as "The Truth" was obviously sucking wind and had no legs under him, which explains the 4-16 night shooting the rock. Here’s a superstar, who obviously is hungry to play, when he could easily collect his cake, while holing up in his high-end Boston pad and no one would think less of him. To me, it’s refreshing that Boston has a player who cares and is thinking in terms of his team and finding a way to help them. As today’s article in The Herald indicates, reporting on last night’s game, Paul's decision to play is part of a strategy, one that should be lauded, but instead, will only draw even more criticism from the hacks that make up most of Boston’s sports scribes.
“I decided (to return yesterday) morning,” said Pierce, who felt good at the team’s shoot around. “I wasn’t going to go until (tomorrow against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis), but I just got anxious. I just have to use these games to get back into shape, because the practices are so few with the All-Star break and the West Coast trip coming up. I thought these last three games (before the break) would be good for me to start getting a rhythm before we go out west.”
Rather than merely being content to count his cash, catalog his bling, or run with his posse, here’s a superstar who actually has a focus for the future—it's Pierce indicating to Celtic Nation that "I’m paid to play and I want to get ready and see if I can help my club turn it around and maybe build for the next year."
Oden or Durant aren’t guaranteed, lottery odds, or not. Even if they were locks, there is no assurance that having one of them will mean a season that’s better than a .500 finish and another one-and-out playoff appearance.
I know that whatever I write will have little influence on the mindset that now values ping pong balls and lottery slots over the heart of a lion. The fact that the Celtic brass aren’t doing anything to counter that, by coming out and publicly stating in no uncertain terms that they are going to do their best to win as many of the remaining games as they can, is beginning to make me wish that maybe Pierce could be dealt to a place where heart and winning is all important, so this worthy superstar can win the championship ring he deserves.
Note:
For what has become a regular feature of FSNE’s Celtics’ coverage, problems with the feed resulted in large blacked-out portions of last night’s game with New Jersey. This has occurred during every game for the past two weeks, where segments of the game went black, apparently caused by problems with the live feed. What made it even worse for me was the lack availability of the Celtics' radio broadcast, as neither WJAB (Pirates’ hockey games supercede the Celtics), or WRKO, was carrying the game.
Professional sports coverage used to assure that broadcast integrity could be counted on—apparently, even that is becoming a thing of the past.
When I began adopting teams to bequeath my affection upon, many of these were local. I mostly knew the players and never for the life of me did I ever pour my heart and energy into these surrogates, wishing they would lose. Later, when I started to follow professional sports, I never recall rushing to the kitchen table to scan the previous night’s results in search of the boxscore of my favorite team and I know I never felt joy and happiness wash over me when I saw that they were on the losing end of the tilt with their opponent.
Apparently, however, not only has the world of sports been turned on its head by the large amounts of cashish showered on even marginal talents, but fans no longer grasp that following a team means that you harbor hope (even when it's not reasonable from a mere intellectual standpoint) that they’ll come away with a victory.
While this winter’s version of Boston’s pro basketball team is one of the worst in recent memory, rather than pine for a victory to break a losing string stretching back to just after New Year’s Day, fans, writers and analysts are almost giddy with each mounting loss. I’m sitting here, listening to the drivel that passes as sports talk and even, dare I say, sports journalism and I’m scratching my head—when did it suddenly become fashionable to hope that your team would be a loser? When was the big “L” etched on your forehead a badge of honor and not some equivalent to sport’s scarlet letter?
The sports community, at least in places like Boston and Memphis are no longer interested in seeing elite players named Gasol, or Pierce, carry their teams to victory. They’re not even interested that burgeoning talents like Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Rajon Rondo, or even Rudy Gay, learn what it takes to win in the world’s elite basketball league, which by the way, is much more intense and difficult than even the top Division I ball played at the college level. Dominating the competition in the Big Ten, or Big 12 doesn’t automatically translate into being able to stop a Shaq, or Koby, or Agent Zero.
Hoping your team will lose, or that your multi-million dollar superstar doesn’t play, so some ping pong ball comes up Celtics' Green is absolutely stupid. I do recognize that some people who follow sports aren’t terribly bright and even some in the sports media also are lacking in intellectual acumen, but enough is enough!
In Boston, at least, Danny Ainge needs to have a strategy beyond accumulating youthful chips with potential and start assembling a team that can compete. The Eastern Conference is weak and a general manager worth his salary would have had a team in place by now that was able to compete and even win 55, or 60 percent of its games in a very weak conference. Instead, we have to witness a debacle like last night’s (which due to FSNE’s ineptness, I missed large portions of, which isn’t the first time—more to follow) loss to a team that was ripe for the picking and should have resulted in being the end to the Celtics’ losing streak. Instead, players were standing around, missing assignments and relying on Paul Pierce, playing his first game in nearly two months. Was Ainge at the game? Is he so inept a general manager, like he was a professional baseball player that he can’t see that he doesn’t have anyone that can carry this team past even weak NBA opponents?
Maybe Boston’s recent championship success has changed the sports landscape in a town that used to hunger for wins. I guess getting off the snide in baseball, as well as the Patriots’ three Super Bowl titles has made losing easier to take. When the media trumpets Boston’s sports pedigree and superior knowledge about whatever sport is being featured, apparently they are just blowing smoke, or relying on a community that no longer exists—that being a cavalcade of knowledgeable sports fans.
Personally, I'm sick of hearing that Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and the rest of the Celtic brain trust deserve a free pass. While the Celtics have had a significantly large number of injuries of late, injuries are part of sports and championship caliber teams don’t allow themselves a "get out of jail free" card on this front. They make deals, sign players off the waiver wire and use creativity to get their teams over the hump. The Celtics, in my opinion, have more than their fair share of young players that have been slower than expected to develop and play key roles. Ainge's strategy of going with youth has failed miserably. He needs to stop this foolish charade. He is an inept GM, in my opinion—a good role player who continues to ride what little sheen is left from the luster of the 80s Celtics' dynasty.
I know I’m in the minority, but I’m glad that Pierce is coming back. While last night’s re-entry was oh-so-painful to see, as "The Truth" was obviously sucking wind and had no legs under him, which explains the 4-16 night shooting the rock. Here’s a superstar, who obviously is hungry to play, when he could easily collect his cake, while holing up in his high-end Boston pad and no one would think less of him. To me, it’s refreshing that Boston has a player who cares and is thinking in terms of his team and finding a way to help them. As today’s article in The Herald indicates, reporting on last night’s game, Paul's decision to play is part of a strategy, one that should be lauded, but instead, will only draw even more criticism from the hacks that make up most of Boston’s sports scribes.
“I decided (to return yesterday) morning,” said Pierce, who felt good at the team’s shoot around. “I wasn’t going to go until (tomorrow against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis), but I just got anxious. I just have to use these games to get back into shape, because the practices are so few with the All-Star break and the West Coast trip coming up. I thought these last three games (before the break) would be good for me to start getting a rhythm before we go out west.”
Rather than merely being content to count his cash, catalog his bling, or run with his posse, here’s a superstar who actually has a focus for the future—it's Pierce indicating to Celtic Nation that "I’m paid to play and I want to get ready and see if I can help my club turn it around and maybe build for the next year."
Oden or Durant aren’t guaranteed, lottery odds, or not. Even if they were locks, there is no assurance that having one of them will mean a season that’s better than a .500 finish and another one-and-out playoff appearance.
I know that whatever I write will have little influence on the mindset that now values ping pong balls and lottery slots over the heart of a lion. The fact that the Celtic brass aren’t doing anything to counter that, by coming out and publicly stating in no uncertain terms that they are going to do their best to win as many of the remaining games as they can, is beginning to make me wish that maybe Pierce could be dealt to a place where heart and winning is all important, so this worthy superstar can win the championship ring he deserves.
Note:
For what has become a regular feature of FSNE’s Celtics’ coverage, problems with the feed resulted in large blacked-out portions of last night’s game with New Jersey. This has occurred during every game for the past two weeks, where segments of the game went black, apparently caused by problems with the live feed. What made it even worse for me was the lack availability of the Celtics' radio broadcast, as neither WJAB (Pirates’ hockey games supercede the Celtics), or WRKO, was carrying the game.
Professional sports coverage used to assure that broadcast integrity could be counted on—apparently, even that is becoming a thing of the past.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Show some leadership, or just shut up!
See Nancy—leader of the party that should have been an opposition, but instead, acted as water-carriers for the war party. Now Nancy, in a seat of power, says her airplane is too small and abuses power, because we all know that power corrupts, but in your case, you were already corrupted.
For years, your party should have spoken truth to power, but instead, just acquiesced. Duped liberal lemmings think somehow that your party, derived from Jefferson and Jackson, can really make a difference? Not a dime’s worth of difference, because when your party should have been speaking truth to power, you just acquiesced. Still you insist that your privileged queen somehow is wronged by false reports. Shame on you!!
Now, talking out both sides of your mouth, you say that the war is unjustified, although you’ve voted to support it and send billions to another land, when we have needs unmet, here at home.
Don’t talk to me about two-party systems and save your pseudo-journalistic breath with your liberal vs. conservative BS—I’m not buying no mo’.
Liberal spin-machine soft-pedals and justifies what they demonize for their foes--just politics as usual inside the beltway.
For years, your party should have spoken truth to power, but instead, just acquiesced. Duped liberal lemmings think somehow that your party, derived from Jefferson and Jackson, can really make a difference? Not a dime’s worth of difference, because when your party should have been speaking truth to power, you just acquiesced. Still you insist that your privileged queen somehow is wronged by false reports. Shame on you!!
Now, talking out both sides of your mouth, you say that the war is unjustified, although you’ve voted to support it and send billions to another land, when we have needs unmet, here at home.
Don’t talk to me about two-party systems and save your pseudo-journalistic breath with your liberal vs. conservative BS—I’m not buying no mo’.
Liberal spin-machine soft-pedals and justifies what they demonize for their foes--just politics as usual inside the beltway.
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