In Belgium, I could do a round trip to Brussels in half an hour when the World Cup was on. At first, I thought a neutron bomb must've landed and I'd been granted divine immunity from extermination.
Hi Kristofarian. I clicked your link and, as this ballady, slow ballad thing started, I was constrained to go mute Gerry Rafferty, who, in his lifetime, I have to tell you, was no easy man to mute. At one level - theirs namely - you could have argued Gerry wasn't on mute and Jackson had played before the silencing operation was even done. But Mr Rafferty duly silenced, up came Browne and, I'll tell you, Browne is staunchly Stateside in his mood, manner and meaning, but I think he and Gerry would've gotten on well together. The test of that would be: does Browne lead a lifelong campaign against the industry that makes him rich and therefore take upon it the full right, and title to control his life? I like this Jackson Browne: you preach a good word, Kris.
I understand how important it is for professional sports to compete and challenge, and I also understand how touchy most people are about challenging the necessity for these teams to even exist. But I am frankly tired of the fact of their importance in our society, I guess.
I basically have always just mostly kept my mouth shut around all of the rabid fans of these basically meaningless pretend wars, where thankfully no one gets killed. I guess it’s a good outlet for our aggression? Who knows?
However, we still declare wars on each other all the time and there are those who seem quite comfortable with murder and feel justified in brutalizing their fellow human beings. And there are many who feel quite strongly about their right to overcome the opposition and conquer whomever stands in their way, for the sake of money and power or for what ever reason. So let’s face it, sports events and the hundreds of billions we as a society pour into these players and their stadiums don’t seem to be a very adequate deterrent or outlet for avoiding any of these realities or tendencies in our society.
It seems most pro sports are shining tributes to our God given right to have an enemy, trample them before they kick our ass, and still find a way to make a windfall profit! Good clean fun!
In professional sport, the aim is to win. As we say, “to bring home the silver”, even if we want gold. It takes dedication and training and early mornings and lots of milk shakes. Sportspersons engage the services of coaches, who endeavour to instil in their wards a “killer spirit”. Clint Eastwood would have said, “Go, get ‘em, Floyd.”
In contact sports, like football (association football isn’t actually meant to be a contact sport, but there’s a lot of mud around) and more especially rugby or American football, tempers flare, men shout at opponents and at the ref. Red cards and fisticuffs. That’s when the killer spirit erupts into a desire to kill. It’s the same instinct that regimental sergeant majors try to instil into recruits. Mild, meek, barely-shaven (in all senses) recruits, who’re shoved a rifle in their hands and told to “Go, get ‘em, Floyd.”
The most contact of contact sports is boxing. Here is a picture of a boxing knock-out, and it’s not doctored, it’s just extremely well timed. Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. What it shows is that winning can still be about playing to the rules, even if a killer spirit is loose on the canvas. To win at boxing, a boxer must not just think “knock him out”, he has to think “kill him”. Because that’s what the other guy is thinking. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Lord Queensbury. In fact, very few sports (those that attract sponsorship, at least) have got in their rules, “The winner is the player who demonstrates the greatest killer spirit”, yet we instil a killer spirit in order to get our protégés to win. Playing by the rules is not enough to win, even if you have to win by playing by the rules.
And that’s why sport doesn’t make sense, because the killer spirit instilled in professionals has filtered down to the Under XIV’s squads and pre-teen tennis stars. How you win is to kill. And killing is just a question of luck, unless you have a system that ensures you kill the other guy and he doesn’t kill you, which can be clever, or just cheating.
It’s like bingo, but it’s fixed. People like bingo, but not when it’s fixed. And sport makes plenty of sense, if you’re doing the fixing and killing.
Your comment stirred my need to comment again. There will always be the need to compete in humans. Without it, we might not survive at all. But I think we are still highly connected to the need to see people inflicting pain on others. Such things as boxing, cage fighting and football are not much different than throwing fighting cocks or pit bulls together. Who can inflict the most damage. As you say, who can "kill it".
American football is an interesting parallel to American politics right now. The game is framed as a competition of certain skills. But the game really is about how brutal we can be. We don't have to have sports or politics like that. But we are apparently still working out our most dark and primitive urges.
There are dozens of sports where the competitive drive can be developed alongside a rigorous skill set - without involving combat. Why we can't settle for them speaks volumes about how un-evolved we still are. Sadly, I don't think there is enough time left for that to happen.
Anger that can’t be let go of turns into rage and is carried forward even when the original cause is long forgotten.
We don’t know how to process or to truly let go of our past frustrations or pent up angers or guilt. What we know how to do is lash out and punish. Punishment doesn’t bring about understanding or sorrow for our actions. It brings hatred that’s buried below the surface.
Judgments dumped upon each other whose root cause has sometimes little to do with what’s going on in the here and now, just pile up into fury. It starts as children. All the unfair things that seem to happen primarily from ignorance and misunderstanding; all the punishment, bullying, and double-bind predicaments we find ourselves in; and all the hurt and pain we dump on each other seemingly for no apparent reason, seem to compound over the years. The generations of frustration are passed on to new generations as we perpetuate this forward and perform the same judgments and punishment as deterrents into others.
Children are not taught how to process feelings—we are not encouraged or taught how to truly feel and let go without harm. We aren’t even taught how to take responsibility for our actions without being punished. But we are taught how to judge, hate, and seek retribution.
Without letting go of pent up emotions humanity merely pounds on each other into submission, mainly our own, until we die.
I don't say you're wrong. It's a view, but one I cannot find myself in. With respect well meant.
I never knew my maternal grandfather. He died before I was born. But I was told much about him by my mother, and she greatly admired him. Spiritually, I feel he is someone who I am now closer to than anyone else who is living, although I never knew him in life. You need to be of a certain disposition to appreciate that.
Everyone, but everyone, got the benefit of his doubt. No one was unworthy. But, once faith was broken with him, then he had no further regard for them. He bore no rancour, no grudge, and yet no prejudice. All were innocent, until they proved themselves guilty. At which point he served them the rod they had made for their own back.
He was a highly respected wharfinger on Glasgow's docks, where you need never look far for a shady character, and had the thorny task of managing a team of stevedores, who were under his authority, in a trade where smuggling was commonplace and theft rife. He was respected by sea captains of fame and by the great and the good of the Merchant City. He had no enemies, nobody had a bad word to say about Henry Canning. In Old Dumbarton Road, I would be greeted by shopkeepers who I had never met as "Oh, Mrs Canning's grandson."
Those who incurred my grandfather's disdain were well aware of why they'd done so. He bore them no grudge, and they bore him none either.
Characters like that are so rare these days, sometimes we need to reach back in time for them. But their example is indelible.
At school, I excelled at field. I'm big and burly, running isn't for me. Shot, discus, javelin.
A shot is, literally, a cannonball. Try to put it without grunting, and you will lose. It is a sport of technique, high technique, millimetre precision. Rules. A millimetre wins. And costs a grunt. If, in that moment, you haven't imagined a ship on the high seas, from Spain, headed to England, your put will fail.
At university, I became adept at backgammon and contract bridge. In backgammon, tactics is everything. They're not in the rules. He with tactical knowledge will beat him who lacks it. Tactics is legitimate cheating.
In bridge, you must know what you have and divine what others have. Together, you all have everything. But where is what? You must find that out without revealing what you have. And then gamble on what you think you know. It is commerce pure. Nothing delights more than finding your opponent and his partner have overbid. The cards are dealt "by chance".
Sad, Sad Fact of the matter is they also pay NO (Zero) Income Tax on those Franchises and are typically Tax Abated by their Localities & States. Wouldn't it be really nice to own such a business and everything's FREE. Way, way past Time to TAX the NFL!
Just today the Canadian military shot down one of their own, crazy flying object that is. But so far this one poses a different dilemma. No one can identify what it is or more appropriately what it was. Reports are coming in that the pilots in the attack aircraft, whose job it was to shoot this thing down, saw no means of propulsion or no evidence of how in the hell it stayed at the elevation where it was spotted. There are a couple of answers that need questioning. What was it if professional pilots can't identify the thing? They said it was no balloon. Ok, I can understand that but the rest baffles me. If this object could maintain a high-altitude flight path with no visible means of why it was even up there, leaves me to wonder why an attempt to acquire it intact wasn't made. To me, it had some level of technology we might have been interested in, that is before governments blew it to pieces. Wouldn't it be terrible to contemplate a first-contact effort by a benevolent advanced race from some distant galaxy attempting to just say Hi, as we destroyed their emissary? Only one chance to make a first impression. Anyway, good shooting guys.
All I have heard was that it was a "cylindrical object" (via CBC Radio 1). Anyhow it was shot down and a recovery mission is underway to secure the remains.
You do remember, way back when, that in response to the commie socialist cheeseheads, the NFL prohibited public ownership of football teams. No property taxes in Green Bay. The team profits pay all city infrastructure and opperating expenses.
"So, instead of spending billions on extravagant stadiums, we should be investing taxpayer money in things that improve the lives of everyone — not just the bottom lines of profitable sports teams and their owners."
Love the Green Bay concept. {Hate the quarterback.} The Pach is the exception that by rights should be the rule. .
In 1980, the NFL adopted new stipulations that did not allow teams to have more than 32 owners encompassing team ownership. Furthermore, the owner had to maintain at least a 30% minimum ownership of the team.
In 1980, Oakland, Calif. filed an eminent domain action to take the Oakland Raiders, in order to prevent them from moving to Los Angeles. Two years later, that case reached the California Supreme Court. While it did not rule in favor of the city and sent the case back to a lower court, the California Supreme Court did hold that “providing access to recreation to its residents in the form of spectator sports is an appropriate function of city government.”
When Baltimore tried to prevent the Colts from leaving, the court found that the state was too late -- waited until the team was already moved.
I remember the trauma when the New York baseball teams left for California. IMHO the fans suffered an actionable harm. measured in pain and suffering. I don't know whether Robert was a Raiders fan but.....
Daniel, it seems fans are not considered at all, even when admission prices are raised beyond what a lot of people can afford. Most fans don't even know what goes on behinds the scenes related to financing. They just know the prices are high and the teams are always wanting new stadiums and arenas. The NFL has far too much power, and the fans have none.
The fans have the ultimate power....money from their pockets, or refusal to spend money from their pockets. It's called boycott. Americans, especially men, are so hornswoggled into believing the very core of their being depends on "their" pro teams winning that they lose sight of the fact that it is the attention they give provides sponsorship dollars and, to a lesser degree, the tickets they buy is what makes the teams viable. If the fans turn their back on a team that abuses them, the billionaire owners would have to pay ttheir own way. It will never happen.
If it did consider DC. Ownership is deaf. To be passive aggressive, more Dallas Cowboy fans in the DC Black community than the team formerly known as the Redskins.
They still buy into the NFL.
In my old office some had relatives who played in the NFL...they said they'd leave money on the table to avoid playing for Dan Snyder.
In all likelihood, private ownership of sports franchises will continue--could we not push for a hefty tax that requires funds go to building sports facilities in neighborhoods in the cities and states where that franchise exists? Those facilities would provide places for young people to have access to all kinds of sports and recreation, especially in neighborhoods where no such facilities exist.
This has long been a dream of mine when I watched kids play basketball with makeshift hoops, saw boys playing football on a vacant lot, or parents working hard to keep soccer fields open. Why not let a share of the profits of professional teams support the growth and development of facilities for youth! After all, it's in their best interest to develop the talent of the future. American cities would then benefit from the presence of these stadiums by having more facilities for youth in neighbors throughout the state. By buying a ticket to a professional game, you are also supporting your local sports activities. The billionaires who own these teams might become interested in the young people who are growing up in these places where they own a team.
Like I said, I think eminent domain principles can be applied. When I practiced law a million years ago my brother and I had a huge reverse takings case, where a redevelopment authority told owners they would take their properties but didn't. The court found that it was a de-facto taking. In essence the owners lost the benefits of ownership.
When owners allege they are raising public funds to "benefit the fans", they should be held accountable.
But Californians certainly approved of the move by the Giants & Dodgers! Before that there were 3 baseball teams in the New York metropolitan area & none in the western half of the country. They did have their own professional baseball league though. Something like the Pacific League, I think. See if I can remember any of their teams. It was already disbanded before I followed baseball. I'm guessing on some of these, but I'm sure you can correct me on any I miss. Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, Portland Beavers, Seattle Seals? Was Los Angeles the Angels? I suppose San Diego had a team, maybe San Jose & Fresno?
The fans on the west coast were not vested, and in fact there were negotiations to install new teams. There was the threat of a third league and the Angels were created in large part to stop it.
Once upon a time there was a threat that a third league would open and all the major cities on the west coast were in the bidding. The Continental League was introduced...and eventually teams like the Mets were developed as a result.
The first attempt at expansion was by the 8-team Pacific Coast League, which in the mid-fifties was reclassified from AAA to Open. The PCL hoped to work its way up to major status, and in fact the majority of its cities did become major league eventually (Los Angeles + Hollywood, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Seattle). The Pacific Coast dream died when the Giants and Dodgers moved west, taking the PCL's two best markets.
But the removal of New York's two NL teams in 1958 led to a reaction on the East Coast. A committee was formed to get National League ball back in NYC; it was run by a lawyer named William Shea (as in Shea Stadium). Under pressure from Congress, Commissioner Ford Frick had made public the criteria for the admission of expansion cities to the majors, such as population, stadium capacity, etc. The wording of Frick's announcement made it clear he was thinking of baseball adding another league, not just individual teams. William Shea got together with community leaders in other baseball-hungry towns and formed the Continental League. It was formally announced on July 27, 1959 at a press conference in New York. Five cities were represented, with another dozen seen as potential candidates.
The league needed a respected public figure to lead it, and they chose Branch Rickey. With the Cardinals, Rickey had invented baseball's farm system. With the Dodgers, he had broken baseball's color line. From there he went to the Pirates, laying the foundations for the team that would soon be World Champions. In his 70's, Rickey was still dynamic and full of ideas. Rickey told the press that the Continentals would be ready in a few years to compete with the AL & NL in a round-robin World Series.
Of the eight Continental League locations, only Buffalo has not received an expansion team.
At that time cities like Havana, Cuba, were in the running. I wrote a novel, Pitching Cuba, about that era.
Baseball, Football, Basketball. Bread and Circus. The Romams figured out long ago how to keep the plebes happy while they looted the world. They even created a church to scare the the desired territories into submission.....
Hey Daniel, being an old lefty, the cheese was the only team I could get behind. Even growing up in Redwood City where all the niners lived and practiced at the jr. high field down the street.
Ransom, I like the system Green Bay has and would love it to be more widespread. It would be great if a city owned the team and benefited from the stadium or arena the team used. The city could hire the team and those who manage it. It could work. Cities do love and come together for their teams.
can you imagine a world where cities like detroit had real income not state right wing reactionary imposed bankruptcy and white flight subsidised by racist redline economic policies
You might want to follow Heather Cox Richardson, as well as Professor Reich. They help keep it all in context and Dr. Richardsons expertise fills in all the cracks in U.S. history.
Isa, yes, wouldn't it be great if the people in cities were treated with half the concern and courtesy the suburban and gentrified urban people were! A city a mile from me is about to be bankrupt while the city supports a university, a professional soccer stadium, a teaching hospital, and a large casino. The tax base is mainly poor and minority so there is rarely money for any of the services the town needs. Most of the hiring is done outside the city. It is the friendliest place I have lived, yet the people don't realize it and the hopelessness is palpable. The state should step in to help, not to take over. They took over our school district and it has been a disaster. This would never be permitted if the town were mostly white folks. That's racism pure and simple.
my comment that seems to have dısappeared was that cıtıes are bankrupt by desıgn.
the GI Bill created white suburbs b y design giving interest free, no down payment loans to white folk but not black veterans and giving college degrees to white folk but not to black veterans. rhe department of agriculture systematically took farms from black families and gave them to white corporations. redlining laws denied bank loans to non-whites. sunset laws denied black homes in suburban communities.
the GI Bill denied college education to black people.
white flight collapsed property values leaving rust belt cities bankrupt segregating education in the north even more than the south
impoverishment of americans of color was by design and their concentration in cities with collapsing infratstructure and eisenhower's road system investment was by design making white all white suburbs feasible
Isa, you are right on every point regarding the way Black Americans were systematically denied rights, had property stolen, been cheated and more. It is disgraceful and needs to be repaired systematically and ongoing.
nothing less than reparations ever make us whole. i just watched the movie Harriet last night. reminding myself of what was done to all of us. we all are americans and capitalism is just the institutionalization of the atlantic slave trade
white people as a term did not exist before the 17th century in any European language and it's sole purpose [we have the legislative records of its origins in denying workers their rights] the only 'white' people are dead bloodless cadavers.
it's ok to be 'white' if you want to be a cadaver.
from early childhood i simply refused to be white.
putting people in boxes is like pinning specimens into a display. they are dead.
nobody is a white or black or any other color. first nations americans considered 'red' to mean on the correct way the 'red' way the aspiration to be fully human. a 'red' person was a person developing their full humanity based on giving, caring for others, tolerance, equality, rights of the poor. an honorable person was a giver. not a taker, and having less and less was more.
we're all red blooded.
in some cultures, white is the color of death and one wore white when losing a loved on.
nobody is a color. humans since the end of neanderthal and denizovan who live on in all of us. we are one and only one human species. one family.
capitalism is the atlantic slave trade's heritage.
so being white, is a lie, a fabrication by which we sell ourselves to the capitalist in return for our bread and butter we ourselves made. it's not ok to be white because it is a lie used to kill and enslave others and ourselves together.
the us supreme court ruled unanimously that only 'white' people have any capability to be human in dred scott v sanford, thereby dividing the human family into owner and property so now we all sel ourselves to corporations which keep the ownership and get rid of the remaining humanity. corporations are the undead just like the tv program The Last of Us.
first nations and everybody are We the People not corporations and the us is a union of the people, 13th 14th 15th amendments writing in Supreme Court 1817n McCulloch v Maryland into the constitution and ordering congress to do whatever it takes to preserve and protect our humanity, our welfare, our union of the people
corporations paid bribes to 5 judges in Bush v Gore to deny the constitution and rule of law and give politicians the right to finagle elections and that supreme court since dec 12, 2000 there has been a systematic erosion of the union of the people and the right to vote and the right for your vote to be counted.
when you can label categories of people and deny them as a category, then everyone is denied their humanity and we become chattel pieces to be moved along on the monopoly board
since first grade i have refused to be white. now 70 plus years ago it was visceral, not philosophical and it's taken 70 years to find the words, words which did not exist in the 1940s but now are being coined by race deniers, lovers of truth, science, humanity
in first grade the bus driver said i could not sit with family in the back of the bus. i come from a multi-ethnic family although i am a dual swiss ny citizen ... i knew race was not anything real viscerally and told the bus driver, no! we all paid the same five cents we all sit where we want. eventually everybody shouted the driver down so he sat down and drove on ... i was lucky
so property values in cities collapsed leaving cities bankrupt throughout the rust belt and setting up an all white mıddle class - by deliberate desıgn
actually, no, i don't. all franchises should be publicly owned since the money comes from us. a brilliant idea: if the franchise lives in a public stadium at public expense, it should be public
Don't forget about my favorite...Residents paying taxes on buildings that no longer exist. In NJ, I think that we have a few more years to go to pay for the old Giants Stadium, which was demolished over 10 years ago.
Jason, U must be joking ! Something /someone must be siphoning that money off for another public property. I’ve always wondered why tolls placed on roads & bridges never disappear or get stamped “paid off?” They just go on forever as a good way to collect tax money.
We don’t patronize stadiums or music venues I guess because we like to avoid crowds, traffic & parking issues. Even when we were younger I can only count on one hand the number of times we attended an event @ our Rupp Arena & never attended any ball games there or at Kroger Stadium where the UK football team plays! I don’t know if a billionaire initially funded either one of these venues to get their name slapped on it but I wouldn’t doubt it & that shouldn’t be a a problem as long as the billionaire doesn’t EXPECT Tax Advantages. When they do, that becomes a quid pro quo & should be illegal. Deal makers provide the incentive for tax evasion that permeates our society & that’s what’s wrong!
Didn’t it used to be that a millionaire or billionaire was satisfied with the publicity & name recognition for giving away their fortunes for the public good? Now they demand to be paid for doing what should be just sharing their wealth & good fortune to have earned it! More & more greed ! I believe that’s the biggest reason for it & a sad fact of life for our present society. It might just be the cause of our demise in the future along with climate change catastrophes. Another worry for us grandparents! Their future no longer seems guaranteed to be better than ours!!! That’s what’s truly sad.
Shirley, heck, I would be pleased if our children coming up would have a life as good as what we had, hard as it was. That's not looking too good right now and bad financial decisions on the part of our governments has something to do with that.
kdsherpa, I agree with you that it is disgusting. Part of any stadium/arena contract must state that if a facility is no longer being used for the sport it was built for or demolished, no more payments for it will be made. How did states/communities get stuck with such outrageous charges when they are paying for something that no longer exists? New Jersey should default and say, "we're done with this insanity."
I think this points to the larger issue regarding America's supposed brilliance when it comes to business, innovation, profitability, etc. It seems like it takes minimal effort to start peeling back the story of any billionaire, high-flying tech firm, or scary-talented thinker-of-tomorrow...and underneath we find the true story is one of exploited workers, heavy-handed lobbyists who successfully crush competition or win favorable trade agreements, or sketchy schemes to siphon the public's tax dollars into private pockets. But our lack of real media means these stories don't get uncovered or covered at all when the truth comes out, so this myth that America is filled with profitable Wall St. and tech-bro geniuses and multi-talented billionaires continues.
I agree Ian. We, Americans, are our own worst enemy. We allow ourselves to be fooled by even the most obvious flimflam, then we wring our hands and ask daddy to make it right. Not only have we lost the ability for critical analysis in others, we don't even analyze our selves. Yes I am painting with broad strokes here, many of us do see the problems, we either lack the where with all or knowledge to now how to adequately attack. One of the many reasons why I'm grateful to Substack.
We could stop buying tickets, but the owners would still make out like the bandits they are because of the massive TV deals that the NFL makes with the networks. Most of us can't afford to go to an NFL game anyway and certainly not the Super Bowl.
The owners of the professional leagues are playing us like a fiddle! They know people will keep either paying these ridiculous prices to go to the games or @ least continue to watch on TV. I stopped watching professional sports about 4 years ago. The player salaries are unbelievable!
I have switched to the minors and I’m very satisfied with the quality.
I switched to watching local games, everything from preschool to local college ones. So much more fun, less stupid hype and I can support local schools and and organizations.
The TV deals are so people who are hooked on football can see the games. Same with soccer in Europe. Most people see the games on TV, so immense stadia are not necessary.
Yes, exactly. I followed sports when I was a kid because I didn’t know any better. As a thinking adult it is clear that sports are used as a form of mass social influencing and control by oligarchs.
Unfortunately there’s little chance of that! It’s a great idea but these fans are so hooked on the game I don’t believe they can pry themselves away from this addiction!
Keith, the problem, as Prof. Reich mentioned, the sports teams are one of the few ways we have these days to bring people together in a mostly positive way, so people will go to games to feel that belonging. We need to make the corrections at the top with the leagues and the owners and improve contracts between communities and the teams.
Bravo! Telling it like it is. I fell out of love with the NFL years ago, after having been a commissioner in a fantasy football league pre-internet, when I really had to stay connected for statistics and results. I just can’t watch a sport that is basically gladiatorial. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is an inconvenient truth, it’s real, and a whole country is in denial. Your comments apply to all the major sports, though, and I commend you for them. Maybe you’ll comment on the military plane flyovers and the connections the Pentagon likes to keep making with sports?
Right Bill. There was enough money & time spent by our family just supporting our own kids desires to play soccer or baseball, never football, the marching bands & recitals for dance or piano! Those were the biggest crowds I desired to be around! And those extra activities for kids didn’t benefit any rich person of any stature. But I’m sure one day some money greedy person will design a get rich quick scheme to benefit off of kid’s enrichment experiences!
I just heard on MSNBC news today that some guy thinks people will pay more attention to politics if they can bet on the outcome. Can u believe this nonsense. He was showing a sample of a website using pennies to vote for the candidates listed. I guess he thinks politics should be like EBay where u bid on ur fave candidate as if they were horses, dogs or jocks! People will do anything to get money involved or gamble on an outcome. Don’t u think Citizens United has corrupted our political system enough already that people get so disgusted & refuse to vote playing right into the hands of fascist autocrats just waiting to take over control of our entire lives!
The Seattle Kraken, a NHL francise, is an example of the opposite. The ownership of the team never lobbied or asked for a penny of tax payers $$ to build/remodel the old Key Center into the Clinate Pledge Arena. They deserve to be acknowledged for their funding of the project and leaving the tax payers out of the equation. Jay Lucas
I agree Ellen, Reich's audience is outside the culture core. Barnum and Baily's Greatest Show on Earth was replace by football. If I remember right, during tfg's impeachment hearing the tiny gallery wasn't even full, but millions were glued to a Super Bowl. Barnum, like tfg, was known as a hoaxer. We Americans would rather be hoaxed and entertained than support good government. If this were not true these rascals would all be lathered with peanut butter and jelly and left out for the birds to eat.
I don’t care, it’s incredibly boring and so slow. You could play 4 World Cup matches in the time it takes for this one came and all the hype! The commercials are relentless! I do not get it, it’s so boring!
My husband only keeps track of football games because it's good to know when the hardware stores won't be crowded.
In Belgium, I could do a round trip to Brussels in half an hour when the World Cup was on. At first, I thought a neutron bomb must've landed and I'd been granted divine immunity from extermination.
Hahaha!
"At first, I thought a neutron bomb must've landed and I'd been granted divine immunity from extermination."
.
speakimg of Immunity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfF0x8e38Kg&ab_channel=JacksonBrowne-Topic
Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge
.
Now let the music keep our spirits high
And let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
By and by...
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky
--Jackson Browne
Hi Kristofarian. I clicked your link and, as this ballady, slow ballad thing started, I was constrained to go mute Gerry Rafferty, who, in his lifetime, I have to tell you, was no easy man to mute. At one level - theirs namely - you could have argued Gerry wasn't on mute and Jackson had played before the silencing operation was even done. But Mr Rafferty duly silenced, up came Browne and, I'll tell you, Browne is staunchly Stateside in his mood, manner and meaning, but I think he and Gerry would've gotten on well together. The test of that would be: does Browne lead a lifelong campaign against the industry that makes him rich and therefore take upon it the full right, and title to control his life? I like this Jackson Browne: you preach a good word, Kris.
I timed my visits to the gym to coincide with the Super Bowl & other big events like that.
I understand how important it is for professional sports to compete and challenge, and I also understand how touchy most people are about challenging the necessity for these teams to even exist. But I am frankly tired of the fact of their importance in our society, I guess.
I basically have always just mostly kept my mouth shut around all of the rabid fans of these basically meaningless pretend wars, where thankfully no one gets killed. I guess it’s a good outlet for our aggression? Who knows?
However, we still declare wars on each other all the time and there are those who seem quite comfortable with murder and feel justified in brutalizing their fellow human beings. And there are many who feel quite strongly about their right to overcome the opposition and conquer whomever stands in their way, for the sake of money and power or for what ever reason. So let’s face it, sports events and the hundreds of billions we as a society pour into these players and their stadiums don’t seem to be a very adequate deterrent or outlet for avoiding any of these realities or tendencies in our society.
It seems most pro sports are shining tributes to our God given right to have an enemy, trample them before they kick our ass, and still find a way to make a windfall profit! Good clean fun!
if only we were presented our Politics
with the fervor of our (mostly) bloodless
National (Football!) Sport we might have
a Planet habitable for All of its Inhabitants
.
& not just for the most Clever and Cunning.
Unfortunately, we humans are rapidly making the planet uninhabitable for the most clever and cunning---the non-human animals.
Bingo. and we're largely
being led by Profiteers
beholden SOLELY to
Shareholders & next
Quarter's Profits &
by Propagandists
most Excellent at
their Games of
Persuasion.
Our National Pastime used to be baseball, a much more peaceful sport. Sign of the times, I guess.
precisely.
.
the nfl paid
Top Dollar for it
and now the M.I.C.
hosts our Pentagon's Flyovers
& we all feel a Whole lot Better about
blowing our Enemies* to Smithereens. whew!
.
* and our Friends' Enemies
and our Enemies' enemies
War is just Good Business
& WMDs just make Sense
Wow! Outstanding comment, G.P.!
Concussions in a Colosseum. I liked it better when there were lions.
I fee the same about churches.
Dear G.P. Baltimore, you touch on a matter that is the subject of something I wrote elsewhere on this portal: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/sport-makes-no-sense-and-yes-i-can
In full:
In professional sport, the aim is to win. As we say, “to bring home the silver”, even if we want gold. It takes dedication and training and early mornings and lots of milk shakes. Sportspersons engage the services of coaches, who endeavour to instil in their wards a “killer spirit”. Clint Eastwood would have said, “Go, get ‘em, Floyd.”
In contact sports, like football (association football isn’t actually meant to be a contact sport, but there’s a lot of mud around) and more especially rugby or American football, tempers flare, men shout at opponents and at the ref. Red cards and fisticuffs. That’s when the killer spirit erupts into a desire to kill. It’s the same instinct that regimental sergeant majors try to instil into recruits. Mild, meek, barely-shaven (in all senses) recruits, who’re shoved a rifle in their hands and told to “Go, get ‘em, Floyd.”
The most contact of contact sports is boxing. Here is a picture of a boxing knock-out, and it’s not doctored, it’s just extremely well timed. Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. What it shows is that winning can still be about playing to the rules, even if a killer spirit is loose on the canvas. To win at boxing, a boxer must not just think “knock him out”, he has to think “kill him”. Because that’s what the other guy is thinking. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Lord Queensbury. In fact, very few sports (those that attract sponsorship, at least) have got in their rules, “The winner is the player who demonstrates the greatest killer spirit”, yet we instil a killer spirit in order to get our protégés to win. Playing by the rules is not enough to win, even if you have to win by playing by the rules.
And that’s why sport doesn’t make sense, because the killer spirit instilled in professionals has filtered down to the Under XIV’s squads and pre-teen tennis stars. How you win is to kill. And killing is just a question of luck, unless you have a system that ensures you kill the other guy and he doesn’t kill you, which can be clever, or just cheating.
It’s like bingo, but it’s fixed. People like bingo, but not when it’s fixed. And sport makes plenty of sense, if you’re doing the fixing and killing.
"And that’s why sport doesn’t make sense."
Your comment stirred my need to comment again. There will always be the need to compete in humans. Without it, we might not survive at all. But I think we are still highly connected to the need to see people inflicting pain on others. Such things as boxing, cage fighting and football are not much different than throwing fighting cocks or pit bulls together. Who can inflict the most damage. As you say, who can "kill it".
American football is an interesting parallel to American politics right now. The game is framed as a competition of certain skills. But the game really is about how brutal we can be. We don't have to have sports or politics like that. But we are apparently still working out our most dark and primitive urges.
There are dozens of sports where the competitive drive can be developed alongside a rigorous skill set - without involving combat. Why we can't settle for them speaks volumes about how un-evolved we still are. Sadly, I don't think there is enough time left for that to happen.
Anger that can’t be let go of turns into rage and is carried forward even when the original cause is long forgotten.
We don’t know how to process or to truly let go of our past frustrations or pent up angers or guilt. What we know how to do is lash out and punish. Punishment doesn’t bring about understanding or sorrow for our actions. It brings hatred that’s buried below the surface.
Judgments dumped upon each other whose root cause has sometimes little to do with what’s going on in the here and now, just pile up into fury. It starts as children. All the unfair things that seem to happen primarily from ignorance and misunderstanding; all the punishment, bullying, and double-bind predicaments we find ourselves in; and all the hurt and pain we dump on each other seemingly for no apparent reason, seem to compound over the years. The generations of frustration are passed on to new generations as we perpetuate this forward and perform the same judgments and punishment as deterrents into others.
Children are not taught how to process feelings—we are not encouraged or taught how to truly feel and let go without harm. We aren’t even taught how to take responsibility for our actions without being punished. But we are taught how to judge, hate, and seek retribution.
Without letting go of pent up emotions humanity merely pounds on each other into submission, mainly our own, until we die.
I don't say you're wrong. It's a view, but one I cannot find myself in. With respect well meant.
I never knew my maternal grandfather. He died before I was born. But I was told much about him by my mother, and she greatly admired him. Spiritually, I feel he is someone who I am now closer to than anyone else who is living, although I never knew him in life. You need to be of a certain disposition to appreciate that.
Everyone, but everyone, got the benefit of his doubt. No one was unworthy. But, once faith was broken with him, then he had no further regard for them. He bore no rancour, no grudge, and yet no prejudice. All were innocent, until they proved themselves guilty. At which point he served them the rod they had made for their own back.
He was a highly respected wharfinger on Glasgow's docks, where you need never look far for a shady character, and had the thorny task of managing a team of stevedores, who were under his authority, in a trade where smuggling was commonplace and theft rife. He was respected by sea captains of fame and by the great and the good of the Merchant City. He had no enemies, nobody had a bad word to say about Henry Canning. In Old Dumbarton Road, I would be greeted by shopkeepers who I had never met as "Oh, Mrs Canning's grandson."
Those who incurred my grandfather's disdain were well aware of why they'd done so. He bore them no grudge, and they bore him none either.
Characters like that are so rare these days, sometimes we need to reach back in time for them. But their example is indelible.
Brilliant Comment G.P.
.
this is an EXCELLENT
place to Begin.
I want to agree. I so want to agree.
At school, I excelled at field. I'm big and burly, running isn't for me. Shot, discus, javelin.
A shot is, literally, a cannonball. Try to put it without grunting, and you will lose. It is a sport of technique, high technique, millimetre precision. Rules. A millimetre wins. And costs a grunt. If, in that moment, you haven't imagined a ship on the high seas, from Spain, headed to England, your put will fail.
At university, I became adept at backgammon and contract bridge. In backgammon, tactics is everything. They're not in the rules. He with tactical knowledge will beat him who lacks it. Tactics is legitimate cheating.
In bridge, you must know what you have and divine what others have. Together, you all have everything. But where is what? You must find that out without revealing what you have. And then gamble on what you think you know. It is commerce pure. Nothing delights more than finding your opponent and his partner have overbid. The cards are dealt "by chance".
Do I agree? I still am not sure.
My husband said to me today, but the revenue they bring to these cities!!!
Hummm?
Revenue for who? The homeless? The hospital workers? The K-12 school teachers? Day care facilities?
With all due respect, he drank the Kool Aid.
And my grocery store will be empty. And that's when I avoid bars totally.
Lucky! You have a husband who can do useful work!
OR, he loves the shopping part. I offer as evidence our garage, which holds no vehicles.
one can store aLotta crap
in one's two-car garage.
Sad, Sad Fact of the matter is they also pay NO (Zero) Income Tax on those Franchises and are typically Tax Abated by their Localities & States. Wouldn't it be really nice to own such a business and everything's FREE. Way, way past Time to TAX the NFL!
And tax the billionaire owners?!
Way, ‘way past time to tax the NFL. Amen.
not to Mention
'Prosperity Jesus'
'Churches' as well.
Who knows.
Donald Hodgins <silencenotbad@gmail.com>
7:45 PM (0 minutes ago)
Just today the Canadian military shot down one of their own, crazy flying object that is. But so far this one poses a different dilemma. No one can identify what it is or more appropriately what it was. Reports are coming in that the pilots in the attack aircraft, whose job it was to shoot this thing down, saw no means of propulsion or no evidence of how in the hell it stayed at the elevation where it was spotted. There are a couple of answers that need questioning. What was it if professional pilots can't identify the thing? They said it was no balloon. Ok, I can understand that but the rest baffles me. If this object could maintain a high-altitude flight path with no visible means of why it was even up there, leaves me to wonder why an attempt to acquire it intact wasn't made. To me, it had some level of technology we might have been interested in, that is before governments blew it to pieces. Wouldn't it be terrible to contemplate a first-contact effort by a benevolent advanced race from some distant galaxy attempting to just say Hi, as we destroyed their emissary? Only one chance to make a first impression. Anyway, good shooting guys.
All I have heard was that it was a "cylindrical object" (via CBC Radio 1). Anyhow it was shot down and a recovery mission is underway to secure the remains.
Sounds like something they should do with Santos.
If it were "cube" shaped, it might have been the Borg Collective from Star Trek!
I loved those episodes where the Borg were running around ignoring almost everything they weren't interested in. Great Sci-Fi all the way around.
Ah... you've hit a good point, Donald. It reminds me of like the rich ignoring the cries of the poor.
They can always eat cake.
what was it? it was a talking point containing less dense (hot?) air. leading to hot hair.
You do remember, way back when, that in response to the commie socialist cheeseheads, the NFL prohibited public ownership of football teams. No property taxes in Green Bay. The team profits pay all city infrastructure and opperating expenses.
What a concept.....
"So, instead of spending billions on extravagant stadiums, we should be investing taxpayer money in things that improve the lives of everyone — not just the bottom lines of profitable sports teams and their owners."
Love the Green Bay concept. {Hate the quarterback.} The Pach is the exception that by rights should be the rule. .
In 1980, the NFL adopted new stipulations that did not allow teams to have more than 32 owners encompassing team ownership. Furthermore, the owner had to maintain at least a 30% minimum ownership of the team.
IMHO this is an antitrust violation. The entire reason for success of the NFL is popularity and public support. The public buys tickets and ancillary products including TV and advertising revenue. The NFL owners precluded competition in many areas. And dealings with the players association is like plantation owners - trading slaves. Although they finance the enterprise, fans have no rights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radovich_v._National_Football_League#:~:text=While%20the%20NFL%20has%20secured,the%20subsequent%20history%20of%20football.
In 1980, Oakland, Calif. filed an eminent domain action to take the Oakland Raiders, in order to prevent them from moving to Los Angeles. Two years later, that case reached the California Supreme Court. While it did not rule in favor of the city and sent the case back to a lower court, the California Supreme Court did hold that “providing access to recreation to its residents in the form of spectator sports is an appropriate function of city government.”
When Baltimore tried to prevent the Colts from leaving, the court found that the state was too late -- waited until the team was already moved.
I remember the trauma when the New York baseball teams left for California. IMHO the fans suffered an actionable harm. measured in pain and suffering. I don't know whether Robert was a Raiders fan but.....
Daniel, it seems fans are not considered at all, even when admission prices are raised beyond what a lot of people can afford. Most fans don't even know what goes on behinds the scenes related to financing. They just know the prices are high and the teams are always wanting new stadiums and arenas. The NFL has far too much power, and the fans have none.
The fans have the ultimate power....money from their pockets, or refusal to spend money from their pockets. It's called boycott. Americans, especially men, are so hornswoggled into believing the very core of their being depends on "their" pro teams winning that they lose sight of the fact that it is the attention they give provides sponsorship dollars and, to a lesser degree, the tickets they buy is what makes the teams viable. If the fans turn their back on a team that abuses them, the billionaire owners would have to pay ttheir own way. It will never happen.
Not gonna happen.
If it did consider DC. Ownership is deaf. To be passive aggressive, more Dallas Cowboy fans in the DC Black community than the team formerly known as the Redskins.
They still buy into the NFL.
In my old office some had relatives who played in the NFL...they said they'd leave money on the table to avoid playing for Dan Snyder.
In all likelihood, private ownership of sports franchises will continue--could we not push for a hefty tax that requires funds go to building sports facilities in neighborhoods in the cities and states where that franchise exists? Those facilities would provide places for young people to have access to all kinds of sports and recreation, especially in neighborhoods where no such facilities exist.
This has long been a dream of mine when I watched kids play basketball with makeshift hoops, saw boys playing football on a vacant lot, or parents working hard to keep soccer fields open. Why not let a share of the profits of professional teams support the growth and development of facilities for youth! After all, it's in their best interest to develop the talent of the future. American cities would then benefit from the presence of these stadiums by having more facilities for youth in neighbors throughout the state. By buying a ticket to a professional game, you are also supporting your local sports activities. The billionaires who own these teams might become interested in the young people who are growing up in these places where they own a team.
There are municipally owned minor league teams. https://ilsr.org/rule/sports/2789-2/
Like I said, I think eminent domain principles can be applied. When I practiced law a million years ago my brother and I had a huge reverse takings case, where a redevelopment authority told owners they would take their properties but didn't. The court found that it was a de-facto taking. In essence the owners lost the benefits of ownership.
When owners allege they are raising public funds to "benefit the fans", they should be held accountable.
But Californians certainly approved of the move by the Giants & Dodgers! Before that there were 3 baseball teams in the New York metropolitan area & none in the western half of the country. They did have their own professional baseball league though. Something like the Pacific League, I think. See if I can remember any of their teams. It was already disbanded before I followed baseball. I'm guessing on some of these, but I'm sure you can correct me on any I miss. Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, Portland Beavers, Seattle Seals? Was Los Angeles the Angels? I suppose San Diego had a team, maybe San Jose & Fresno?
San Francisco Seals managed by Lefty O’Doul. The Giants played in Seals Stadium until Candlestick was built.
Yep...
San Francisco Seals. Pacific Coast League. My Dad took me to Seals Stadium often when I was a little kid. Old copper green stained wooden stadium.
Yes, thanks!
The fans on the west coast were not vested, and in fact there were negotiations to install new teams. There was the threat of a third league and the Angels were created in large part to stop it.
Once upon a time there was a threat that a third league would open and all the major cities on the west coast were in the bidding. The Continental League was introduced...and eventually teams like the Mets were developed as a result.
The first attempt at expansion was by the 8-team Pacific Coast League, which in the mid-fifties was reclassified from AAA to Open. The PCL hoped to work its way up to major status, and in fact the majority of its cities did become major league eventually (Los Angeles + Hollywood, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, and Seattle). The Pacific Coast dream died when the Giants and Dodgers moved west, taking the PCL's two best markets.
But the removal of New York's two NL teams in 1958 led to a reaction on the East Coast. A committee was formed to get National League ball back in NYC; it was run by a lawyer named William Shea (as in Shea Stadium). Under pressure from Congress, Commissioner Ford Frick had made public the criteria for the admission of expansion cities to the majors, such as population, stadium capacity, etc. The wording of Frick's announcement made it clear he was thinking of baseball adding another league, not just individual teams. William Shea got together with community leaders in other baseball-hungry towns and formed the Continental League. It was formally announced on July 27, 1959 at a press conference in New York. Five cities were represented, with another dozen seen as potential candidates.
The league needed a respected public figure to lead it, and they chose Branch Rickey. With the Cardinals, Rickey had invented baseball's farm system. With the Dodgers, he had broken baseball's color line. From there he went to the Pirates, laying the foundations for the team that would soon be World Champions. In his 70's, Rickey was still dynamic and full of ideas. Rickey told the press that the Continentals would be ready in a few years to compete with the AL & NL in a round-robin World Series.
Of the eight Continental League locations, only Buffalo has not received an expansion team.
At that time cities like Havana, Cuba, were in the running. I wrote a novel, Pitching Cuba, about that era.
Branch Rickey was the president of the league....never came to pass. https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/rickey-reshaped-baseballs-future-via-continental-league
i agree wholeheartedly thanks. as a new yorker i remember the heart break all to well. monopolies hurt people.
Baseball, Football, Basketball. Bread and Circus. The Romams figured out long ago how to keep the plebes happy while they looted the world. They even created a church to scare the the desired territories into submission.....
Throw in television and the lord of them all, the internet and the plebes become completely hypnotized and powerless.
Bidness has taken the Joy
outta "sports" and replaced it
with Profiteering and Tribalism
.
if only our Corporateers
might Inform the
Citizenry as well
as the NFL.
Hey Daniel, being an old lefty, the cheese was the only team I could get behind. Even growing up in Redwood City where all the niners lived and practiced at the jr. high field down the street.
Ransom, I like the system Green Bay has and would love it to be more widespread. It would be great if a city owned the team and benefited from the stadium or arena the team used. The city could hire the team and those who manage it. It could work. Cities do love and come together for their teams.
Each resident of Green Bay is a share holder/owner of the team.
can you imagine a world where cities like detroit had real income not state right wing reactionary imposed bankruptcy and white flight subsidised by racist redline economic policies
You might want to follow Heather Cox Richardson, as well as Professor Reich. They help keep it all in context and Dr. Richardsons expertise fills in all the cracks in U.S. history.
Ransom, you are right about both Profs. Reich and Richardson. They write clearly and to the point and Prof. Richardson cites sources to check out too.
Isa, yes, wouldn't it be great if the people in cities were treated with half the concern and courtesy the suburban and gentrified urban people were! A city a mile from me is about to be bankrupt while the city supports a university, a professional soccer stadium, a teaching hospital, and a large casino. The tax base is mainly poor and minority so there is rarely money for any of the services the town needs. Most of the hiring is done outside the city. It is the friendliest place I have lived, yet the people don't realize it and the hopelessness is palpable. The state should step in to help, not to take over. They took over our school district and it has been a disaster. This would never be permitted if the town were mostly white folks. That's racism pure and simple.
my comment that seems to have dısappeared was that cıtıes are bankrupt by desıgn.
the GI Bill created white suburbs b y design giving interest free, no down payment loans to white folk but not black veterans and giving college degrees to white folk but not to black veterans. rhe department of agriculture systematically took farms from black families and gave them to white corporations. redlining laws denied bank loans to non-whites. sunset laws denied black homes in suburban communities.
the GI Bill denied college education to black people.
white flight collapsed property values leaving rust belt cities bankrupt segregating education in the north even more than the south
impoverishment of americans of color was by design and their concentration in cities with collapsing infratstructure and eisenhower's road system investment was by design making white all white suburbs feasible
Isa, you are right on every point regarding the way Black Americans were systematically denied rights, had property stolen, been cheated and more. It is disgraceful and needs to be repaired systematically and ongoing.
nothing less than reparations ever make us whole. i just watched the movie Harriet last night. reminding myself of what was done to all of us. we all are americans and capitalism is just the institutionalization of the atlantic slave trade
white people as a term did not exist before the 17th century in any European language and it's sole purpose [we have the legislative records of its origins in denying workers their rights] the only 'white' people are dead bloodless cadavers.
it's ok to be 'white' if you want to be a cadaver.
from early childhood i simply refused to be white.
putting people in boxes is like pinning specimens into a display. they are dead.
nobody is a white or black or any other color. first nations americans considered 'red' to mean on the correct way the 'red' way the aspiration to be fully human. a 'red' person was a person developing their full humanity based on giving, caring for others, tolerance, equality, rights of the poor. an honorable person was a giver. not a taker, and having less and less was more.
we're all red blooded.
in some cultures, white is the color of death and one wore white when losing a loved on.
nobody is a color. humans since the end of neanderthal and denizovan who live on in all of us. we are one and only one human species. one family.
capitalism is the atlantic slave trade's heritage.
so being white, is a lie, a fabrication by which we sell ourselves to the capitalist in return for our bread and butter we ourselves made. it's not ok to be white because it is a lie used to kill and enslave others and ourselves together.
the us supreme court ruled unanimously that only 'white' people have any capability to be human in dred scott v sanford, thereby dividing the human family into owner and property so now we all sel ourselves to corporations which keep the ownership and get rid of the remaining humanity. corporations are the undead just like the tv program The Last of Us.
first nations and everybody are We the People not corporations and the us is a union of the people, 13th 14th 15th amendments writing in Supreme Court 1817n McCulloch v Maryland into the constitution and ordering congress to do whatever it takes to preserve and protect our humanity, our welfare, our union of the people
corporations paid bribes to 5 judges in Bush v Gore to deny the constitution and rule of law and give politicians the right to finagle elections and that supreme court since dec 12, 2000 there has been a systematic erosion of the union of the people and the right to vote and the right for your vote to be counted.
when you can label categories of people and deny them as a category, then everyone is denied their humanity and we become chattel pieces to be moved along on the monopoly board
since first grade i have refused to be white. now 70 plus years ago it was visceral, not philosophical and it's taken 70 years to find the words, words which did not exist in the 1940s but now are being coined by race deniers, lovers of truth, science, humanity
in first grade the bus driver said i could not sit with family in the back of the bus. i come from a multi-ethnic family although i am a dual swiss ny citizen ... i knew race was not anything real viscerally and told the bus driver, no! we all paid the same five cents we all sit where we want. eventually everybody shouted the driver down so he sat down and drove on ... i was lucky
so property values in cities collapsed leaving cities bankrupt throughout the rust belt and setting up an all white mıddle class - by deliberate desıgn
my entıre post just dısappeared
Welcome aboard Isa. Let the fun and learning become your fun and purpose.
i don't have a clue what you mean here
amen
actually, no, i don't. all franchises should be publicly owned since the money comes from us. a brilliant idea: if the franchise lives in a public stadium at public expense, it should be public
Wow! This needs to get out more.
Absolutely! Also, consider the NFL was a non-profit until a few years ago..
Most hospitals and health insurance companys were too.
Don't forget about my favorite...Residents paying taxes on buildings that no longer exist. In NJ, I think that we have a few more years to go to pay for the old Giants Stadium, which was demolished over 10 years ago.
Jason, U must be joking ! Something /someone must be siphoning that money off for another public property. I’ve always wondered why tolls placed on roads & bridges never disappear or get stamped “paid off?” They just go on forever as a good way to collect tax money.
We don’t patronize stadiums or music venues I guess because we like to avoid crowds, traffic & parking issues. Even when we were younger I can only count on one hand the number of times we attended an event @ our Rupp Arena & never attended any ball games there or at Kroger Stadium where the UK football team plays! I don’t know if a billionaire initially funded either one of these venues to get their name slapped on it but I wouldn’t doubt it & that shouldn’t be a a problem as long as the billionaire doesn’t EXPECT Tax Advantages. When they do, that becomes a quid pro quo & should be illegal. Deal makers provide the incentive for tax evasion that permeates our society & that’s what’s wrong!
Didn’t it used to be that a millionaire or billionaire was satisfied with the publicity & name recognition for giving away their fortunes for the public good? Now they demand to be paid for doing what should be just sharing their wealth & good fortune to have earned it! More & more greed ! I believe that’s the biggest reason for it & a sad fact of life for our present society. It might just be the cause of our demise in the future along with climate change catastrophes. Another worry for us grandparents! Their future no longer seems guaranteed to be better than ours!!! That’s what’s truly sad.
At first I thought you'd written "a sad fact of life for our peasant society". That's getting very close to the edge of what is happening currently.
Indeed !!
Shirley, heck, I would be pleased if our children coming up would have a life as good as what we had, hard as it was. That's not looking too good right now and bad financial decisions on the part of our governments has something to do with that.
They no longer collect tolls on the paid-off Bluegrass Parkway in your home state of Kentucky.
I realize that. I was actually talking about all the roads & bridges in FL THAT HAVE TOLLS ON THEM!
What?!!
Yup. Here's an article about it from over 12 years ago. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html
This is astounding! And absolutely disgusting.
kdsherpa, I agree with you that it is disgusting. Part of any stadium/arena contract must state that if a facility is no longer being used for the sport it was built for or demolished, no more payments for it will be made. How did states/communities get stuck with such outrageous charges when they are paying for something that no longer exists? New Jersey should default and say, "we're done with this insanity."
That’s criminal!
I think this points to the larger issue regarding America's supposed brilliance when it comes to business, innovation, profitability, etc. It seems like it takes minimal effort to start peeling back the story of any billionaire, high-flying tech firm, or scary-talented thinker-of-tomorrow...and underneath we find the true story is one of exploited workers, heavy-handed lobbyists who successfully crush competition or win favorable trade agreements, or sketchy schemes to siphon the public's tax dollars into private pockets. But our lack of real media means these stories don't get uncovered or covered at all when the truth comes out, so this myth that America is filled with profitable Wall St. and tech-bro geniuses and multi-talented billionaires continues.
I agree Ian. We, Americans, are our own worst enemy. We allow ourselves to be fooled by even the most obvious flimflam, then we wring our hands and ask daddy to make it right. Not only have we lost the ability for critical analysis in others, we don't even analyze our selves. Yes I am painting with broad strokes here, many of us do see the problems, we either lack the where with all or knowledge to now how to adequately attack. One of the many reasons why I'm grateful to Substack.
If Americans really want to send a message to these oligarchs stop purchasing game tickets!
We could stop buying tickets, but the owners would still make out like the bandits they are because of the massive TV deals that the NFL makes with the networks. Most of us can't afford to go to an NFL game anyway and certainly not the Super Bowl.
The owners of the professional leagues are playing us like a fiddle! They know people will keep either paying these ridiculous prices to go to the games or @ least continue to watch on TV. I stopped watching professional sports about 4 years ago. The player salaries are unbelievable!
I have switched to the minors and I’m very satisfied with the quality.
I switched to watching local games, everything from preschool to local college ones. So much more fun, less stupid hype and I can support local schools and and organizations.
The TV deals are so people who are hooked on football can see the games. Same with soccer in Europe. Most people see the games on TV, so immense stadia are not necessary.
Yes, exactly. I followed sports when I was a kid because I didn’t know any better. As a thinking adult it is clear that sports are used as a form of mass social influencing and control by oligarchs.
Unfortunately there’s little chance of that! It’s a great idea but these fans are so hooked on the game I don’t believe they can pry themselves away from this addiction!
Keith, the problem, as Prof. Reich mentioned, the sports teams are one of the few ways we have these days to bring people together in a mostly positive way, so people will go to games to feel that belonging. We need to make the corrections at the top with the leagues and the owners and improve contracts between communities and the teams.
Marketing is part of our collective addictions. . . Need more be said??
Bravo! Telling it like it is. I fell out of love with the NFL years ago, after having been a commissioner in a fantasy football league pre-internet, when I really had to stay connected for statistics and results. I just can’t watch a sport that is basically gladiatorial. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is an inconvenient truth, it’s real, and a whole country is in denial. Your comments apply to all the major sports, though, and I commend you for them. Maybe you’ll comment on the military plane flyovers and the connections the Pentagon likes to keep making with sports?
Right, another freebie.
Shhh!! Your not supposed the be able to know such stuff !!!
All NFL teams should be owned by fans, similar to the Green Bay Packers model.
Time for NFL owners to pay taxes on their teams.
AND pay to build their own stadiums! AND pay taxes on those stadiums!
Football zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Usually turn on football if I’m looking to nap.
Baseball games are great for inducing naps, too. Listen to a leisurely game on the radio & slip blissfully off to dreamland.
Haha! However, don’t they count you as a fan if you tune in?
I guess I am crazy, but I can’t fathom why people pay so much money for sports in the first place.
Right Bill. There was enough money & time spent by our family just supporting our own kids desires to play soccer or baseball, never football, the marching bands & recitals for dance or piano! Those were the biggest crowds I desired to be around! And those extra activities for kids didn’t benefit any rich person of any stature. But I’m sure one day some money greedy person will design a get rich quick scheme to benefit off of kid’s enrichment experiences!
I just heard on MSNBC news today that some guy thinks people will pay more attention to politics if they can bet on the outcome. Can u believe this nonsense. He was showing a sample of a website using pennies to vote for the candidates listed. I guess he thinks politics should be like EBay where u bid on ur fave candidate as if they were horses, dogs or jocks! People will do anything to get money involved or gamble on an outcome. Don’t u think Citizens United has corrupted our political system enough already that people get so disgusted & refuse to vote playing right into the hands of fascist autocrats just waiting to take over control of our entire lives!
Ah Yes . . .Addiction at it's most profittable. Ain't Greed wonerfill???
The Seattle Kraken, a NHL francise, is an example of the opposite. The ownership of the team never lobbied or asked for a penny of tax payers $$ to build/remodel the old Key Center into the Clinate Pledge Arena. They deserve to be acknowledged for their funding of the project and leaving the tax payers out of the equation. Jay Lucas
Wow, another reason to love watching the NHL.
We are at the core of American culture, which, say what you want, seems to be an intense pleasure for men in violence.
I agree Ellen, Reich's audience is outside the culture core. Barnum and Baily's Greatest Show on Earth was replace by football. If I remember right, during tfg's impeachment hearing the tiny gallery wasn't even full, but millions were glued to a Super Bowl. Barnum, like tfg, was known as a hoaxer. We Americans would rather be hoaxed and entertained than support good government. If this were not true these rascals would all be lathered with peanut butter and jelly and left out for the birds to eat.
“With tomorrow’s Super Bowl demanding our attention...”
Is it? Until seeing that sentence I was completely unaware it was happening tomorrow.
Guess they aren’t doing a very god job demanding my attention. (Or you’ve fallen into their trap of presuming everyone cares.)
I don’t care, it’s incredibly boring and so slow. You could play 4 World Cup matches in the time it takes for this one came and all the hype! The commercials are relentless! I do not get it, it’s so boring!
Indeed !!!!
LOL! Ditto.
I was oblivious to it until I read it in a comment. Just not a priority with me
Thank you for this exposé.
I thought it was appropriate to share this on Super Bowl weekend-- so, that’s what I did.