Cam Newton, a new daddy

Becoming a parent is something special. Becoming a parent for the first time is especially special.

Kia (Hazel) Proctor and Cam Newton with Kia Proctor

So, with this in mind, we congratulate National Football League quarterback  Cam Newton and his girlfriend, Kia Proctor on the birth of their son. Yes, folks, being rich and famous has its advantages. How rich is rich? $22 million a year should cover it. While most of us will never grasp the concept of the hurricane of bucks sweeping through his financial landscape, we will immitate him as much as possible. This story has been reported as "Cam Newton and his long time girlfriend, Kia Proctor...." Long time? Less than two years is a long time? Maybe to a multi-million dollar quarterback and to a stripper.

 Look folks, who really cares? Why am I bothering to write about this?

 Here's why. The message is being sent and is being etched into our culture, today and every day. It's OK, guys, to run around and knock up your girlfriend of any girl who has trouble keeping her knees together! If you're an obscenely overpaid professional athlete, it'll work out! If you're a non-skilled out-of-work nobody, social services will pick up the tab and you'll be free to, eh, continue.

 I've included a picture of the proud parents. It's not a recent picture...but it's less than two years old.

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Welker Not Fine With Fine

I wouldn't pay the fine!

The NFL has fined Wes Welker of the New England Patriots $10,000 for wearing an "unauthorized hat" to a post-game interview. Advertised on the hat is "Bonk Breakers." - an energy bar - in which he has a financial interest. Normally I don't eat this type of crap, but, I may have to give it a try. I am told that they come in a variety of flavors. Here is a link to Bonk Breakers site.
(Wes didn't have to pay me for the link. I'm just happy to do my small part in righting this wrong!)

I can translate this for you. The NFL is afraid that someone other than the NFL is going to make any money. This is nothing new.

To Mr. Welker: Don't pay the fine! Talk to your attorney.

Rush Bounced From NFL Deal

I could start this by asking when things got so screwed up in this country. Actually I think that it's an evolution. Things get more screwed up as we go along. One of the reasons and the chief motivation for this blog is to point out the modern ironies of humanity, and occasionally posting pictures of pretty women. Today's subject is the NFL. The NFL is a billion dollar business. Many of its visible stars are convicted felons. Do you want me to name names? Enter Rush Limbaugh. He's the most successful radio talk show host in America. He wants to buy a chunk of the St. Louis Rams. The way the Rams are playing this season, you would think that some "new blood" within its ownership would be welcome! Limbaugh is a real football fan. His passion for the game would do nothing but help the team and the league. But he's one of "those conservatives." You know, (gulp) a Republican conservative...one of those guys who thinks that taking money from the rich is a bad thing. People who don't listen to him, hate him, so they don't listen to his radio program. I say, if you don't listen to his show, how would you know if you disagree with him? HEY! I'm just asking.

Some people say that if Limbaugh became part owner of the St, Louis Rams that some of the players would boycott the team and owner. I say that the way the Rams are playing, who would miss them? What would happen if you boycotted your boss?

My advice to Rush would be to forget about the whole thing. Take the high road and continue to do what you do best. I am reminded of a Groucho Marx line. He was explaining why he did not belong to a country club, "Any club that would have me as a member, I don't want anything to do with." While dealing with the current subject, the line would be altered to "Any company that will not accept me for who I am, I want nothing to do with."

Rush, buy a race horse.

Frozen Tundra Will Be...Well, Frozen

Always one to look ahead, I see that the National Weather Service is calling for mostly sunny skies in Green Bay and in Foxboro for Sunday's NFL Conference Championship games. At Lambeau Field the mercury should rise to +7F while the Patriot faithful at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro should be enjoying a balmy 20 degree day.
This is all subject to change

Now, If The NFL Really Wants To Make Some Money!

Like many American men, and more and more women, I watch a lot of football on Sunday. Not just any football, the NFL! I've noticed that it takes more than 3 hours to play a game. A game with 4 fifteen minute quarters! So for each game thet we watch, we are seeing 2 hours of stuff that we did not tune-in to see. Most of it is commercials. Now, I know the importance of commercials. They bring money to the commercial networks so they can afford to pay the NFL for the rights to carry the games. This is free enterprise at its best! Or is it?

The NFL has its own network, right? Many of us can't see it because our cable companies are too cheap to fork over the money to the NFL to carry the network. This is a side issue and it can take care of itself.

What the NFL should do is broadcast all of its games on it's own network. This eliminates the networks, who in this case are simply "middlemen." Therefore we can cut the commercial time within the football broadcast so that a game will last, say 2 1/2 hours instead of 3+ hours. Schedule two games a day, one at 6PM EST and the next at 8:30 or 9PM EST, Monday thru Friday. This makes 10 games during the week. The other six games would be broadcast as tripleheaders on Saturday & Sunday. This way it would be possible for NFL fans to see every game. The NFL makes more money - each game is nationally televised - and we don't have to watch reruns. So many people would be watching the NFL network on a daily basis that it could be made available to any cable company for little or no charge at all! As for the teams, with games being played every day, it might even be possible for teams to have more than 6 days to recuperate and prepare between games.

Like the idea, NFL? You can use it - for free. Well, OK, if you must compensate me, I'll settle for a sandwich to be named after me. Available at all NFL venues "The General Tom" - a toasted baloney and cheese sandwich. The way you guys charge for food you could easily get 8 bucks a pop!