Wednesday, March 28, 2012

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26 comments:

  1. Good fookin' grief ... the LA Lakers are now "Los Lakers" ...? Why not just rename them the La Raza Lakers?

    Tell me this is a joke. Or sumpin'.

    For the record the only thing I care less about than the speed of lichen growth under the glaciers on Mt Everest .... is basketball, of any kind, anywhere. For me, that game is equivalent to Secobarbital (aka "Reds") in sleep inducing power.

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  2. Phoenix did this a couple of years ago. Disgusting.

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    1. For the Lakers it is just a cheap & phony publicity ploy, removing the word "Angeles" to give the faux-latino image. Like how many average or low income Latinos, or blacks for that matter, can even afford NBA tickets, even SRO?

      No, this if for the preening white guilt trippers of some wealth ... no hypocrisy there at all, eh?

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    2. Correction: The Lakers didn't remove "Angeles", they added "Los". Their regular uniforms just said "Lakers." IMO that's even more egregious and pandering...to a population that can't afford tickets anyway, so it's not about promotion of the game, but the *benevolent* image so prized in touchy-feely-dom.

      The "we be de wurld" meme is false ... no you not all that dioverse, sucker, you're nothing but a bunch of sweaty over grown guys who play a game where not scoring is unusual ... e.g., you can get 95% of the determinant action in a game by watching the last 3 minutes. Sorta like de futbol( aka soccer) where scoring IS unusual, but you can still get the main moments by watching the last 3 minutes. And,say hey, both basketball and soccer have perfected the art of "flopping" to a tee.

      Wanders off.

      PS: I am an equal opportunity bigot about sports these days ... I'm all done watching or even paying any attention to college football, due to the obviously known and covered up pedophilia at Penn State. No way it wasn't know throughout the Penn State system, and in my opinion, very likely known and ignored throughout Div 1A football. The character of the game is gone, poof. Nothing short of complete shut down of athletics at Penn State for a full year, and football in particular for 3 years, will remove even part of the vile stink. All existing student athletes, such as they are, could be given extended eligibility by the NCAA and go to other schools not infected with the Penn State disease. I was quite close to a Big 10 football side of the athletic program at my college and how facilities & personnel were/are managed ... there is NO way Penn State did not know of Sandusky's conduct, and no way they didn't knowingly sweep it under the carpet. F' them.

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  3. First I gave up watching pro baseball. Then basketball. Then football. Pro sports is a racket, like the mob. It's sleazy and corrupt. It's populated by spoiled, whiny athletes and greedy owners; I don't want any part of it.

    Aridog, I'm also sick and disgusted by the despicable conduct of Penn State. Not only them, but every team who DIDN'T hire the skittering cockroach Sandusky HAD to have been tipped off about his evil proclivities. They all knew, and they all kept their mouths shut. It's filthy and disgusting.

    I continue to cheer for and support the Hogs. I'd like to think that what happened at Penn State couldn't happen here. I know, I know...

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    1. I pretty much just watch March Madness and then only the teams I'm rooting for. I gave up on the thug league (NBA) years ago and didn't even care when the Sonics left Seattle.

      After seeing Jourdan's graphic, it took me a while but I finally found that these jerseys were created for some teams (Arizona and Miami, as lewy mentions) last year:

      Those “Los Lakers” jerseys from the NBA’s Latin Nights promotion have been strong sellers since debuting in the 2006-07 season, and the league is about to capitalize again while promoting Hispanic heritage.

      The Lakers will wear “Los Lakers” jerseys against Miami (El Heat) on March 10 and against Dallas (Los Mavs) on March 31. Both games are televised by TNT
      .


      Well, I'm sure the Mexican soccer teams have special jerseys for their "American Nights" week and will wear them to promote American heritage.

      Oh, wait...

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    2. I hatehatehatehate Penn State now. Hate.

      Everyone knew what was happening. And that shitty Ginger who saw a child being raped and *closed the door and walked away* is going to have quite a lot to explain when he meets his maker. Or when he meets that child's parents. Or that child.

      Disgusting. And I like Aridog's idea for Penn State, too.

      As for giving up on pro sports... MMA is a pro-sport! And young enough to be less corrupted than the "big" sports. I love boxing, but I have to include it in the corrupted category, too. There's something very satisfyingly primal about watching two well trained and well honed guys going at it in a scientific approach (well, except Leonard Garcia, who pretty much just loses his mind and looks like a helicopter).

      Tim Kennedy is going to be fighting for the Strikeforce middleweight title in a few - he's incredible. You MUST watch him here:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEvmpl37bCQ

      Also - we've spent the last two and a half year spending at least five days a week (multiple hours per day) in a fighting gym. Those guys there, while they definitely have their own issues - just like everyone in the world, have been some of the most supportive people I've ever met. Never once did Soldier's Angels or Sew Much Comfort need to gather items for troops that I wasn't allowed to put up a donation box. And the fighters there practically adopted my kids as younger siblings while their Dad was deployed. That may not sound like a big deal, but to a 7 year-old who is the only boy in the house, having that male attention and role model is vitally important.

      So. I'm just saying. If you *are* looking for a sport to watch, try it. It's a family affair for us - we all go to the fights. And with local fights being about 20 bucks a pop for tickets, it's pretty much on par with a night at the movies, but a hell of a lot more exciting.

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    1. What I want to know is who the hell is deciding if "Lakers' or "Heat" is masculine or feminine?!?

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    2. Las Lakers. Las Heat. Las Suns. Las LMAO!

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    3. I was explaining how the Lakers came by their name to my son just last week. When he understood what I was telling him he said: "Oh, I get it. So THAT's why they are the Utah Jazz. I mean, there's no jazz in Utah."

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    4. I guess that should be La Heat. Heat is singular. ;p

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    5. I really hate those kind of names for sports teams. A member of the Lakers is a Laker.

      What does one call a member of the Heat?

      A hot?

      I'm VERY happy the NHL has dumped this after a few terrible names like "Wild," and returned to proper names like the Blue Jackets or, YES, the Jets.

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  5. I always miss our friend Solus during these discussions.

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    1. Amen to that. I always envied him his ability to detach himself from it emotionally and view it as an interesting phenomena.

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    2. Me too florrie. I think of him often, and miss him always.

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  6. I always envied him his ability to detach himself from it emotionally and view it as an interesting phenomena.

    Exactly! I couldn't find the right words but that was one of his traits I so wished I had.

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    1. I think that some of that came from the fact that he was from elsewhere. For example, I find myself able to discuss Canadian events on a completely different wavelength than American, because, even though I deeply love my cousin nation to the north, at root it's not my country, nor are they my people, so I'm not viscerally (sp?) affected by nonesense or idiotic developments.

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  7. As Florrie has said, these PC names on Jerseys were done for promotional reasons in demographic areas where there is a large Hispanic population. BUT ... that is NOT why it was done per se ... it was done to give the white touchy feely assholes a moment to feel all warm and fuzzy ...Re: "some of our best friends at Hispanic" ... et al ad nauseum. Total Bullshit.

    Next time you watch an NBA game, count the Hispanic ordinary folk you find in the audience. Same for ordinary black folks. You will be able to count them on one hand.

    NBA fans, eh? ...

    imgw:"http://www.brokencountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/illegal_aliens-giving-finger.jpg"

    imgw:"http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSMyVPSZ8Ma5U8qzPO_yyjgkINU_LRSaNvcr-b0tH2AeTnJO78-77geG67a"

    imgw:"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SFzYUBdt5xA/Tf-fl4blnCI/AAAAAAAAE1E/1-Ph0c4LoVs/s1600/large_MigrantWorkersA.jpg"

    On the latter photo, it is about g-d damned time we establish sufficient "O" series visas for migrant farm workers, just as we do for fookin' pro baseball players. [H/T: Wall Street Journal this week] We're such hypocrite on illegal immigration when we seem to encourage it by default ... for commercial reasons no less.

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  8. There's NO excuse why we haven't come up with better immigration solutions.

    Oh, wait. There is one. I don't think the reason is commercial, though. I think it is bureaucratic. I think an awful lot of bureaucrats have their livelihood based on endlessly processing unnecessary paperwork. They don't do *real* jobs, they *process* papers so that it can go to whomever needs to actually see the paper. I'll hazard a guess that it is probably 70% of the actual government workforce that has no real job other than "processing."

    I have an example which is unrelated to immigration, but I think still illustrates the point.

    In order to ship my animals to Africa with us, I need a health certificate signed by a USDA-qualified vet. But I must ALSO get that certificate stamped by a USDA official for my state/region, which in this case happens to be THREE HOURS AWAY. The official does nothing but look at my already USDA approved and vet signed form and stamp it. And take up six hours of round trip driving time, as the health cert. must be done 10 days or less before travel and must be signed in that same 10 day period.

    Someone is probably getting GS14 or 15 pay to stamp a piece of paperwork that is already USDA approved and signed by an official who is already USDA approved to make it even more USDA approved for export.

    I kid you not. How fun.

    Our tax dollars at work.

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    1. AFW ... rethink that "not commercial though" concept. Baseball players were added to the list of O series visa (temporary non-immigrant work visas) categories (which includes scientists, artists, et al) by dint of pressure from Major League Baseball. Originally they weren't part of the designation. They were added for the very commercial reasons of MLB. There is much less red tape for a baseball player than for ordinary tourist visas.

      Re: your tribulations with the bureaucracy vis a vis your dog ... sounds familiar to me. I hope returning with your dog(s) etc. is less frustrating ... but don't bet on it. I can only imagine the scrum involved in bringing a dog back from Africa to the USA.

      Now as to that GS-14 or 15 who must stamp your paperwork ... I'd bet it is a rubber stamp of the senior grade's signature, applied by a GS-07 clerk. See, that way it is at least a "two-fer" maybe a "three-fer" if a GS-05 clerk must read your paperwork first. Enjoy.

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    2. AFW said: They don't do *real* jobs, they *process* papers so that it can go to whomever needs to actually see the paper

      One of these days I will expound on my experience with this phenomena, from the inside, when I'm certain my words won't jam up good people I left behind (my "nick" is well known there, and is part of my email address). For now, suffice it to say, the problem is even bigger than you can imagine, starting with the entire Senior Executive Service (SES)on down. Desk clearing is an art form for senior grades, period ...e.g., dumping even the simplest work down on subordinates, the lower the better, when that said "work" could be done in 5 minutes by the senior person ... IF they had a clue about the subject matter and wit one regarding the software on all of the computers. They have neither ... it's a job requirement not to IMO.

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    3. I'm sure you're right about the commercial component, Ari.

      I mean, lord knows we need more sports players to be able to get here quickly. Right?

      Sheesh.

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    4. Oh, my yes ... those millionaires are necessary for our survival. Actually, I don't care if they do play here, among other things, it is a positive "exposure" of the USA to others, who may have influence in their homelands. I just rankle at the logic that these millionaires are more important than those who would pick our fruits and vegetables. For me, I can do with out baseball long before I can do without strawberries, oranges, pears, cherries, lettuce, sugar, and so on. Guess I'm weird, eh?

      Now migrant farm workers are equally important, to our economy as well as theirs when they can freely go home and return seasonally. I've heard all the "taking jobs away" arguments and the "raise the pay so Americans will take them" points. Those arguments have NOT proven out as few Americans will take the jobs for any amount of pay. Just how high would pay need to be raised to encourage it? It's butt breaking work ... maybe $25 per hour or so ... and that, have fun at the grocery buying fruits and veggies for similar rates per pound.

      And forget the idea that some of the most unemployed Americans are black, so they could take the jobs ... never happen, and I do NOT blame them, given the early history of African Americans vis a vis "employment." Even other legal residnet immigrants can't really do the work, since they need year round employment ...e.g., they don't go home to their native lands annually.

      In Michigan, where we've had a flourishing truck produce and fruit industry for my entire life, we also had migrant farm workers to work the fields and trees. When the availability of the migrant workers was curtailed to below market levels, machine had to be invented and deployed to do the work ... at least where they could do it. Products that can't be machine harvested were/are given up, gone forever here. Local Michigan residents, of any ilk, did not flock to the jobs ... they are seasonal and do not support permanent residents well if at all.

      We need to do something rather than bury our heads in sand and curse illegal migrants per se ... because they are not all the same. We need some of them. It seems the height of arrogance to presume that the men and women who work farm fields don't want to also go home at season end. Maybe that's my old "liberal" side showing, I donno.

      PS: I tried to include a couple WSJ links, but blogger would not accept them, said "http" is not allowed. WTF? Probably no matter here, as I'm not sure non-subscribers can read WSJ stuff anyway.

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    5. Minor correction ... where I said "I do NOT blame them, given the early history of African Americans vis a vis "employment" ... it should have read "agricultural employment."

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