Tough Stretch for Minnesota Sports Fans -- Torii Hunter, Flip Saunders and Jerry Kill Say Goodbye

Torii Hunter and Flip Saunders are related in my mind because they took moribund franchises who had sucked for the better part of 10 years and turned them around into consistent playoff teams.  Jerry Kill was attempting to do the same thing at the University of Minnesota, and I guess the next 20 Gopher games will tell us whether he succeeded in doing so, or simply just couldn't quite get over the hump.

I will take the three guys in the reverse order of my fondness for them:

3.  Flip Saunders -- Philip Daniel Saunders was (I am told, I was 9 and living in western NY) an excellent point guard at the University of Minnesota.  He became a coach and was a successful coach on every level (college, CBA, NBA).  He was particularly good at offensive basketball.  The Wolves during Flip's first run were able to run sets that simply baffled opponents and resulted in good shots virtually every time down the floor.

Flip is regarded as a great guy by those who knew him well.  Oddly, despite the fact that I have been a Timberwolves season ticket holder for 26 years, I never met or talked to Flip.  Never once.  I saw him speak.  I know people who know him.  But I never shook his hand or had a conversation with him.  Even in my times around him or in listening to him speak to the media, his charm as an individual never really shined through to me.

As a coach, Flip was a huge upgrade from what we had with the Timberwolves (Jimmy Rodgers, Sidney Lowe, Bill Blair) but I cannot help but wonder why Kevin Garnett could go to Boston at roughly 75% of his Wolves Ability and win a title immediately and (but for injury) would have won two in a row.  Flip had Garnett at a point in time where he was a top 4 NBA player (Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Garnett were the best 4) and certainly the most versatile player in the NBA.  However, KG in Minnesota won only 2 playoff series (both in 2003-04).  You can blame the organization or you can blame Flip, but I think there is enough blame to go around.

Flip in Detroit had great veteran teams -- never won anything.  In Washington, the Wiz actually got BETTER when they fired Flip and went to Randy Wittman.  Yikes.  I never felt Flip's teams were very tough - physically or mentally.

Anyway, you may wonder why there was not an immediate Flip tribute on the Blog.  I have always had really mixed feelings about Flip.  And I never was able to experience the greatness of his personality that everyone else described.  But it is safe to say that many, many people loved him and he reached a high level of success in everything he ever did.  So he will be greatly missed by Minnesota sports fans.

2.  Torii Hunter -- what I am most upset by regarding Torii's retirement is the number of people saying we should not honor Torii because he is anti-gay rights and make other comments that stated he was uncomfortable around gay people.  Look, he was a black kid who grew up in Arkansas and then spent his later formative years around professional baseball players.  Do you think with that upbringing and history that he will be a liberal?  I hate to tell everyone, but for people who are 40+ years old and from the South, being against gay marriage and generally anti-gay does not make you an outlier.

Here is what I do know about Torii Hunter - 1) he was a terrible hitter who made himself a very good hitter who amassed almost 2,500 hits along with decent power; 2) he was a multiple Gold Glove winner; 3) he was good in the clubhouse and cared for younger players; 4) he wasn't constantly in the training room or on the disabled list, his ass was available to play; 5) his teams generally won more than they lost; and 6) he cared a LOT about the Twins and the State of Minnesota and worked his ass off to promote the team and the state.

Democrats (and I am one) who promote "diversity" and "tolerance" are willing to go on Twitter and say that a man who reached the top 5-10% of his chosen field should not be honored AT ALL upon his retirement because he doesn't believe gay people should be married and has made anti-gay statements. That sucks.  I am glad that everyone is so perfect and has never said or done anything that would call into question their own character.  I have a number of Republican friends who believe stuff that I deem to be ridiculous.  They are still my friends because I recognize good things in them that I feel make them, on the whole, a good person.  We all have flaws.  But as Del Griffith once said, "It must be nice to be so perfect AND odor-free."

Again, I never met Torii, but his personality did come across to me as someone who cared a great deal for people (OK, at least most people) and his profession and who worked hard and wanted to win.  I will miss Torii.


1) Jerry Kill -- when I heard that Jerry Kill retired, I cried.  The primary reason for that is my daughter has epilepsy, and I had always held Jerry Kill up to her as an example of someone who could be a public figure and an important person and do his very difficult job despite epilepsy.  But the epilepsy and the job just could not co-exist.

A major side effect of epilepsy medication is drowsiness. My daughter struggles to make it through a day without 10 hours of sleep.  If you don't want to be drowsy all of the time, you can take less medication.  Of course, taking less medication puts you at risk of seizures.  How do you know the level of medication you can take and not have a seizure?  "Trial and Error." Great.  Imagine walking a tight rope and being told you can use a shorter balance pole.  OK, great, how much shorter?  Eh, get up there and we will see.

Now imagine that you have a job where working 12-18 hours a day is not unusual.  But you need 10 hours of sleep to feel good.  So you go to your doctor - "Well, you could take 20% less medication."  And then I will feel better?  Maybe, but you also may have a seizure.  And if you have a seizure, for example, while driving, you could die and/or kill someone else.  If you have a seizure at home while lying in bed with a doctor and a nurse there to monitor you, you will be OK, but you are not supposed to drive until you are 6 months seizure free.    OK, great. 

Kill has basically stated that when his team started to struggle in 2015 that he cut back on his exercise, dropped his dosage of medication, and began to work ridiculous hours.  People reported seeing him leaving the facility at 2AM and returning at 6AM.  He started to have seizures.  He was basically killing himself.

Listening to Jerry Kill's press conference, even setting to one side my personal experience with my daughter's epilepsy, my heart was breaking.  Imagine a man who came from little or nothing, chose a career in which he started out making little or nothing, excelled at that career for 30 years despite suffering from cancer and epilepsy....and then what he knows is all taken away at age 54.  He literally has never held any other job.  Truly sad.

The positive note with Jerry Kill is that he is still alive.  And he can be productive working (most likely) in a 9-5 job where he raises funds for the University.  He can find a way to get sleep and exercise and see his family.  He has the same opportunity you used to see portrayed in old films like "Baby Boom" and "Regarding Henry."   He has the opportunity to change his life and find a way forward that is far different from what he imagined, but. perhaps, far better in certain ways.

I am rooting for Jerry Kill. but I will miss him as a symbol for Minnesota and, more importantly, for my daughter.

Tough week.

Ben Carson -- For a Company Who He Had No Idea Was Using His Image

Look, the answer is "Yeah, I thought they were a good company. I enjoyed their products. I had no idea what was going on with them deceiving the public." Don't lie and say, "If they used my image on their Web site I had no idea!"

My Early Goodbye to Lamar Odom

What I read tells me that Lamar Odom will not survive, and if by some miracle he happens to survive he will never be close to the same person again.  So, an early goodbye and tribute to Lamar Odom.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/odomla01.html

Lamar Odom was a great high school player who went to Rhode Island and was very good, but really never was the player there that most expected.  He then was drafted #4 overall in the NBA and, well, again, wasn't quite the star player that everyone expected him to be.  That said, the primary deficiency in Odom's game was that he was never a 20+ ppg scorer.  He was an excellent all-around player and he has a lifetime Defensive Rating of 104, which is excellent.

Lamar Odom had 8 seasons were he accounted for at least 3.0 Defensive WS, tied for 20th best all-time among non-centers.  In addition, his 41 career DWS ranks him 36th among non-centers.

In the 6 seasons 2005-06 through 2010-11, Odom rolled up roughly 48 of his career 77 Win Shares.  It is believed by most in today's game that 7.0 WS in a season is a border line all-star level of play.  Odom averaged 8 over his 6 best years.  Remarkably, however, he never played in an all-star game.  His only NBA award, other than 6th Man of the Year, was being all-rookie 1st team, 

Lamar was a very key cog in the Lakers teams who went to the finals 3 times and won twice during that period.   As stated above, he won 6th Man of the Year in 2010-11.

Odom was a perfect player to play with Kobe and Pau Gasol - he didn't need, or necessarily even want, to be a star.  His skills were sharpest as a passer, ball handler and defender.  In fact, if you review Odom's versatility by looking for seasons of 14-7-3 and 3 DWS, you see that Odom had 5 such seasons, the same as Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen.   http://bkref.com/tiny/oEfR1    In the 3 Laker title appearance seasons, Odom contributed 6.4 playoff WS, which, if you follow this blog, you know is rare for a supporting player.  (Any team would be very happy to have its 3rd best guy getting 2+ WS over a playoff season.)

Once his nearly $9,000,000 contract was unloaded to Dallas for a #1 pick, Odom's career and life fell apart.  Fans of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" heard all sorts of reports of Odom's drug taking and late night partying.  I have no idea what Lamar did or what caused it, but from a distance it almost appeared as if his heart was broken.  He was a key cog on a world championship team and once they stopped being world champions (being swept by Dallas in 2011) the Lakers dumped Lamar.  Again, this is pure speculation, but I think the decision by the Lakers to abandon him resulted in a downward spiral from which he never recovered.

Similar players from a statistical standpoint include Larry Johnson and Chris Webber and Terry Cummings.  So Lamar Odom was a very, very good player, a cog on two title teams, and most people seemed to think he was a good guy, before his trade to Dallas and ultimate downfall.

 Goodbye, Lamar. 

Ten Least Productive Players 2010-11 to 2014-15 Seasons (Min. 8000 MP)

http://bkref.com/tiny/dZ6EP

These are guys who have actually played a lot the past 5 years combined (minimum 8000 minutes) and have contributed the least (based upon being bottom 10 in WS, poor WS/48 and PER).

I give 10 points for being the worst in a category (WS. PER, WS/48) down to 1 point for being the 10th worst.

Here goes:

10th worst -- Vasquez (8 points)

9th Worst -- O.J. Mayo (10 points, wins tiebreaker due to more WS than....)

8th Worst -- Luke Ridnour (10)

7th worst Kirk Hinrich (15)

6th worst -- Al-Farooq Aminu (15, fewer WS than Hinrich, but more WS than....)

5th Worst -- Mo Williams (15 points, loses the tiebreaker due to fewer WS than the guys in 7th and 6th)

4th worst -- Brandon Knight (16 points)

3rd Worst -- Evan Turner (22 points)

2nd Worst -- John Salmons (25 points)

And, the least productive guy to play 8,000 minutes or more the past 5 years.....

#1 -- Wes Johnson (28 points, the fewest WS, the worst WS/48, and the 3rd worst PER of the group).


Congrats!

10 Statistically Best NBA Players 2000-01 to 2009-10 seasons

http://bkref.com/tiny/OmTZg

Cut off the list at top 10 Win Share performers so long as they did at least 15 PER and .15 WS/48.

Your answer:

10th best -- Ray Allen (5.5 points)

9 - Shawn Marion (7.5)

8 - Paul Pierce (9)

7 - Steve Nash (13)

6th best -- Chauncey Billups (13, beats Nash on total Win Shares)

5 -- Kobe (18)

4 -- KG (23)

3 -- LeBron James (24)

2 -- Tim Duncan (26, 2nd in WS, 3rd in WS/48, 2nd in PER)


1st -- Dirk Nowitzki (27 points, 1st in WS, 1st in WS/48, 4th in PER).


What we learned -- there are some REALLY good players 6-10, but they don't match up at all to the top 5. 

Also, Kobe does not match up to the top 4 guys statistically during this period.

Dirk has had an amazing career.

10 Statistically Best NBA Players of the 2010s

I sorted the stats so that exactly the top 10 Win Shares guys appear if they have a PER of at least 15 (league average) and a WS/48 of over .15 (a very good player on a per minute basis).

I wonder why Dwight Howard is not spit out as a result, but I can look that up. 

Then I gave one point for a 10th place finish in a category, up to 10 points for winning each category (WS, PER, WS/48).

Ten Best Guys
#10th best guy -- Marc Gasol (4 points)

#9 - Tyson Chandler (8.5 points)

#8 - Russell Westbrook (12.5 points, loses tie on total WS to....)

#7 Blake Griffin (12.5 points, wins tie over Russ)

#6 Stephon Curry (14 points)

#5 Kevin Love (15.5 points)

#4 James Harden (18 points)

#3 Kevin Durant (25 points)

#2 Chris Paul (26.5 points)

#1 LeBron James (29.5 points)

OKC had the ##3, 4, and 8 guys on the same team!

http://bkref.com/tiny/yj8Fq

What Can We Reasonably Expect From a 19 Year Old Tyus Jones? History Says Not Much.

I am not sure why I am getting so few results, but of smaller rookie guards in their teens, the Basketball reference search engine spits out only 6 guys:  http://bkref.com/tiny/FalHS

3.7 Win Shares by Stephon Marbury is BY FAR the best output of a rookie 19 year old guard under 6'3" tall.  Dajuan Wagner and (I had forgotten him) Eric Money registered positive Win Shares as 19 year olds, but just barely.

I suppose I should expand the search to 20 year olds - maybe guys graduate high school closer to 19?  So, we do that and............http://bkref.com/tiny/12wNS  Yep, that is the ticket.  Guys generally are 20 years old in their first NBA season.  Tyus will not be 20 until May 10, so he will play the entire season at age 19.

The five best young small point guards 20 and under have been Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Brandon Jennings, Stephon Marbury, and Gilbert Arenas.  Three of the five have been all-NBA in their career. 

For Tyus - assuming that he is not Chris Paul (interesting note - the lovers of Tyus always compare him to Chris Paul) -- what is a fair expectation?  Maybe the 20th best season of all-time, so, 0.4 Win Shares?   That is pretty awful for a team that is trying to win games.  So as a Wolves fan I hope Tyus is top 10, but that would mean he would have a better rookie campaign than Russell Westbrook.  Hardly a "reasonable expectation." 

Best wishes to Tyus, but history teaches us that a 19 year old small PG contributing a fair level of wins has not been done since Stephon Marbury -- maybe it is time to make it a Timberwolves tradition? 

Jeb Bush -- My Brother Was a Liberal

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/10/06/jebs_take_on_george_w_conservative_lite.html


Jeb (oh, I am sorry, he wants to be referred to as "Jeb!" complete with exclamation point) is trying  desperately to locate himself on the scale somewhere near the "severely conservative" Mitt Romney (whom everyone knew was just a flimflam man trying to get elected -- witness his 1st and 3rd debate with Obama where he basically espoused Democratic Party policies and often would just say "I agree with the President.") 

But the bigger concern that I have with this story is the statement that a recent poll found that 73% of people who identify as conservative have a favorable view of George W. Bush!!!

 In my lifetime, George W. Bush is the worst President, probably 10% worse than Jimmy Carter, who was second worst by a mile.  GWB did almost nothing well and almost everything extremely poorly.  Keeping us safe?  More dead of terrorism in the U.S. than any President.

Foreign policy?  Spent a trillion dollars on unnecessary Iraq War despite warnings that the war would destabilize the region (which it did).

Economics - led us into a stock market collapse and almost a second Great Depression.  This is true even though he took a balanced budget from Clinton and immediately ballooned it by huge tax cuts coupled with spending on programs like the military, wars and Medicare Part D, 

Foreign relations - everyone hated us.

Rule of Law -- no respect for the rule of law, set up torture sites, tortured, set up Guantanamo Bay detention area.

The guy was the absolute worst President of at least the past 70 years, and probably back to Harding (1920).  Clearly among the 10 worst Presidents in U.S. history, and battling hard for the bottom 5.  (I would imagine that guys like Zachary Taylor, Pierce, Buchanan, Harding, were worse, but I don't think you could locate 6 other guys who even are arguable worse.  Maybe Coolidge, maybe Hoover, maybe Andrew Johnson.  But I would not put those guys below GWB - I think he is probably 5th worst.

But honest to God, if conservative Republicans are so stupid that they cannot concede that GWB was a terrible President (and only 27% of them appear to have seriously qualms about him) then where does that leave us as a country?  We have basically reached a point where people live in their own private reality as defined by whether they watch Fox News or not. 

As a Democrat, I recognize that Jimmy Carter was an awful President (great guy, smart guy, has done very well later in life, but an awful President).  I also recognize that Reagan was a good President and Nixon, while a criminal, did a good job in most of his Presidential duties.  It really , really bothers me that 73% of conservatives feel GWB was a good President.  It is as if 73% of Vikings fans felt Spergon Wynn was a good quarterback or if 73% of Bears fans felt having Jimmy Clausen as a backup was good insurance in case Cutler got injured.  I mean, that would be a form of mental illness. 

But anyway -- I am glad that Jeb! Bush is now able to identify that his brother sucked.  Sadly, it appears that he is fighting uphill against a GOP primary voter who saw absolutely nothing wrong with GWB's performance and who will probably be a little hurt that Jeb! is going after him.

Right Wing Fears

This just about says it all.

John Boehner -- Quitter

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/john-boehner-to-resign-as-speaker-leave-house-129845772731.html

He will not be missed.  He was SUPER ineffectual and allowed Ted Cruz to become the de facto Speaker of the House.  Probably the worst decision made by Boehner was to effectively remove earmarks for money to individual districts, thus allowing Congressmen to thumb their noses at him with no threat of reprisal.

Ted Cruz - Natural Born Citizen?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/the-ted-cruz-problem-is-t_b_8167272.html

The most hilarious thing about the whole deal is the Republicans were TRYING to claim Obama was born outside the U.S. to one U.S. citizen - his mom.  We KNOW that Ted Cruz was born outside of the U.S. to one citizen - him mom.  That is his official statement of his citizenship!

So, summary, Obama = black skinned = non-citizen.  Cruz = lighter skinned = citizen.

George W. Bush v. Hillary Clinton

1) Intelligence failure and refusal to act upon threat of airplane-based terrorist actions results in the death of 2,600 people on 9/11/01.

GOP Reaction -- "George W. Bush, he kept us safe".   http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/17/1422216/-Jeb-Bush-My-brother-kept-us-safe


2) Intelligence failure and failure to see warning signs causes 4 deaths at Benghazi.

GOP Reaction -- "Criminal act by Clinton.  Disqualifies her from office; their blood is on her hands."


That is all you need to know.

RIP Moses Malone

As stated elsewhere in the Blog:

1) My #16 best player of all-time.


2) One of 8 guys to win 3+ regular season MVPs and a title.

(The 8 are, in order, based upon my rankings:  Jordan(1), Wilt(2), Kareem(3), LeBron(4), Magic(6), Russell(8), Bird (13) and Moses (16).


-- Was once tossed out of a high school all-star camp for being too good (no one could compete against him).

-- First player in modern era to go from high school to pros (ABA Utah Stars).

-- 13 time all-star selection

-- 4X first-team all-NBA, 4X second team all-NBA as a center, 2X first-team all-defense


NBA/ABA Combined List top 10s

2nd in made and total free throws, 1st in offensive rebounds, 5th in defensive rebounds, 3rd in total rebounds, 7th in points, #2 in offensive rebound percentage, 5th in total rebound percentage.

Despite having only one title, is one of 25 players listed at basketball-reference.com as having a 100% Hall of Fame likelihood.

Caused of Death -- high blood pressure and being big, old and overweight -- died in his sleep at age 60.

RIP big fella.

Why I Believe Tom Brady Will Eventually Lose On Appeal

The recent victory for Tom Brady provided by Judge Richard M. Berman, begins its legal analysis with this quotation:

"Although judicial scrutiny of arbitration awards necessarily is limited, such review is

sufficient to ensure that arbitrators comply with the requirements of the statute at issue." Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Com., Ill S. Ct. 1647, 1655 (1991) (quoting Shearson/Am. Express Inc. v. McMahon, 107 S. Ct. 2332, 2340 (1987)). "The deference due an arbitrator does not extend so far as to require a district court to countenance, much less confirm, an award obtained without the requisites of fairness or due process." Kaplan v. Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc., No.  96 Civ. 259 (JFK), 1996 WL 640901, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 4, 1996)."


It is rather clear that the good judge stated how he wanted the result to turn out and then instructed his clerk to find ANY case law (even 20-25 years old) that supported that ruling.  As recently as 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court in Oxford Health v. Sutter explained that an arbitrator's ruling should almost never be overturned:

So long as an arbitrator "makes a good faith attempt" to interpret a contract, "even serious errors of law or fact will not subject his award to vacatur."

Under the FAA, courts may vacate an arbitrator’s decision "only in very unusual circumstances." That limited judicial review, we have explained, "maintain[s] arbitration’s essential virtue of resolving disputes straightaway." If parties could take"full-bore legal and evidentiary appeals," arbitration would become "merely a prelude to a more cumbersome and time consuming judicial review process."  Here, Oxford invokes §10(a)(4) of the Act, which authorizes a federal court to set aside an arbitral award "where the arbitrator[] exceeded [his] powers." A party seeking relief under that provision bears a heavy burden. "It is not enough . . . to show that the [arbitrator] committed an error—or even a serious error." Because the parties "bargained for the arbitrator’s construction of their agreement," an arbitral decision "even arguably construing or applying the contract" must stand, regardless of a court’s view of its (de)merits.

So, the real question for the Second Circuit on appeal is whether there are two sets of standards for arbitration -- one for football arbitration and one for every other type of arbitration.  All arbitrators will get the benefit of the doubt, even if clearly wrong.....unless that arbitrator is Roger Goodell.

The fact of the matter is that the NFLPA bargained for arbitration.  Arbitration, by its very nature, allows a lot of terrible decisions to stand.  That is the entire theory of arbitration -- you agree on someone or some panel of people to tell you what your legal rights are.  They may be wildly wrong, but a court isn't going to overturn that result so long as the arbitrator tried to be fair.  As the Supreme Court added, arbitrator decisions generally get upheld whether "good, bad, or ugly."  If this isn't the rule for NFL players, then the courts should simply say that is the case - when they agree to allow The Commissioner to be an arbitrator they can still say he decided wrong. 

I would imagine that if  the NFL just simply argues the proper legal standard to the Second Circuit that the NFL will prevail. 
 
 

Threat Level Midnight Trailer

Gun Control As Viewed Outside America

Interesting TV Comment Regarding Republican Politics

I saw a guy on TV the other day (I do not recall his name, sorry) who was a big GOP operative and he stated that for the GOP to grow the party that they have to NOT try to reach out to women and minorities, but, rather, they need to be less about the rich and more about the working man.

The theory went as follows -- when there is something that will help the American working man, be for it, whether it is increased minimum wage or unionization or supporting Obama Care.  If you truly want the middle class to be Republicans, then your platform should be that you will help the middle class.

As I have said before, it USED to be that a thinking man who was making $35,000 a year in a union job could look 5-10-20 years down the road and say, "Well, some day I will be making $100,000 a year.  I ought to vote Republican because they won't tax me as much."  And when we had labor unions and basically lifetime employment, we had a lot of happy people who just wanted to live in a law and order society where they could safely raise their kids (key American values which have always been a big pitch of the GOP -- anticrime, protect the kids from strange liberal thinkers).

"Reagan Democrats" were a lot of union folks; blue collar workers who felt that Reagan would be a strong leader who would let them live their lives while Carter was a weak-need leader who insisted that everyone turn down the heat to 65 degrees and drive 55. 

The problem with being a Republican nowadays is that they stand for 3 things:  1) tax cuts for the wealthy; 2) going to war with everyone; and 3) hating minorities.  If you are some guy getting out of high school and you have a couple gay friends, know a bunch of Hispanic guys and really don't want to go to war with everyone, the Republican Party offers you nothing.  It used to be that a guy in Dundee, New York who graduated in 1955 could leave high school, get a union job, work for 40 years, retire at 58 and live on a pension.  He never had to worry about money and he never will.  How do I know this?  Because my father attended his 40 year HS reunion and learned this, "These guys were not even good high school students - they all have very good lives.".  That same graduating student in 2015 won't make $75,000 a year some day.  He won't have a pension.  He won't ever make enough that he ever pays federal income tax.  When he retires, he needs Social Security and Medicare.  He will probably be a Democrat.

Interestingly, this same guy will probably be very happy if illegal immigration slows.  He will have fewer competitors for his job.  His employer might actually have to pay him more to work. 

Just a thought.

Trump Comes Out In Favor of Taxing Rich Hedge Fund Managers

http://news.yahoo.com/trump-says-tax-code-letting-hedge-funds-away-155930927--sector.html#

Trump, of course, is right.  People who make $300,000 a year should NOT get taxed at 39.6% while hedge fund managers make $300,000,000 and get taxed at 23.8%. 

That said, Trump better HOPE to God that one of three things happens:  1) he starts to decline in the polls; 2) he "evolves" on this position; or 3) he decides that he was misunderstood.  Because if none of these three things happens, I honestly fear for Donald Trump's life.  There is nothing more that Republican power brokers hate than a guy who will raise taxes on the wealthy.  If Trump is on his way to getting the GOP nomination and he is serious about increasing taxes on the wealthy.....desperate times call for desperate measures....  GOP power brokers do not give a fuck about social issues - they use the issues for votes.  Their daughters get abortions.  Their gay kids and relatives get married and they attend.  They love the cheap labor created by illegal immigrants.  But you start asking them to pay taxes?  Oh boy.

I am, in no way, advocating violence toward Mr. Trump -- as I have said, I agree with him.  But Jack Kennedy took on the mob and tried to cut off their sources of untaxed income.  Didn't end well for him.

NFL's Tom Brady Brief

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/08/14/tom-brady-legal-team-goes-after-roger-goodell-nfl/BBeEwwq8fINaU4oIvNrKPI/story.html

Go toward the bottom.

Summary -- 1) arbitrator is entitled to great deference; 2) court cannot reevaluate the findings of fact; 3) there is no such thing as "law of the shop"; 4) Brady did it, or at least there was enough evidence for Goodell to find that Brady did it.

The most interesting thing about the brief:

-- Brady's destruction of his cell phone was not known to the Wells Report folks, but instead the Union presented that piece of information in pursuing the appeal.  (Ooops).

-- Brady was asked for all texts or emails about the deflation of footballs at any time to anyone.  That is why he didn't want to produce the phone -- he was texting someone ELSE about football deflation.

-- Brady could not produce his phone since it was his standard practice to destroy his phones -- except he still had the phone from BEFORE the destroyed one.  Again, oops.  "Well, it is my standard practice.....this one time."

The union has argued "evident partiality" by Goodell.  Yeah, sure. 

Jared Fogle -- My Lord

http://news.yahoo.com/tv-report-ex-subway-pitchman-admit-child-porn-054612244--finance.html#

For those of you so outraged with Adrian Peterson's whipping of his child -- those of you who wanted him basically banned from ever working again and thrown in prison -- how do you feel about the fact that Fogle will only see 5-14 1/2 years in prison?

Isn't this the sort of behavior (systematic child porn, violations of privacy for personal and pecuniary benefit actually soliciting and engaging in sex with minors) that should result in life in prison?  Just because Fogle has $1.4M to give victims, does this mean he shouldn't be put away forever?

Disgusting.  Al S. - I know you have thoughts.