STARTING FIVE
There’s a new sheriff in town
1. From Guns to Radar Guns
Remember that scene in Hoosiers where Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) kindly informs the townie to hand him the basketball and that his help will no longer be needed? That’s kind of what took place yesterday in Ferguson, Mo., as Governor Jay Nixon announced that the Missouri Highway Patrol would, at least for the time being, replace the local police.
Some interesting info on Ferguson first and the militarization of police departments in general:
First, in 1970 Ferguson was 99% white and 1% African-American. Today it is 29% white and 67% African-American. However, 50 of the 53 police officers in the department are white, as is the police chief. You decide how that plays into the fact that 85% of the people arrested are black.
One suggestion going forward: If you’re not actually a minority, exploit that. There should be more blacks on the police force and in local government. They have the numbers to make that happen. That would effect change.
Second, and I got this off CNN while the TV was on “Mute” (although my remote also has a “Moot” button), but it said that militarized equipment given to police departments in the USA totaled $1 million in 1990. Last year it totaled $450 million. Thanks, Osama Bin Laden. Nothing like good old-fashioned unwarranted panic to stoke the profits of the MIC.
2. Another Bronx Beauty
The former Betty Joan Perske landed her first role, opposite Bogey, at the age of 20
Like Phyllis, Lauren Bacall was born in the Bronx and then married a dark and handsome fella who made his few words count. Unlike Phyllis, she was 20 and he was 45 when they wed –and her husband, Humphrey Bogart, was already married.
Bacall was more than just a pretty face. She played characters who were a little salty, who possessed just enough cynicism to be challenging without being crass. “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve?” she tells Bogart in To Have and Have Not. “You just put your lips together and…blow.”
(Although, technically, that’s bad information. You sort of pucker your lips and blow. This is why I was not allowed on the set. That and my parents were at least a dozen years away from meeting.)
Here she is in 1952 giving marriage advice to Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable in How To Marry a Millionaire.
3. Hurry-Up Offense
Kyle Wilson said he joined Tinder because he “didn’t want anything too easy,” which is like moving to Chicago for the climate
Tinder is to Match.com what Chip Kelly is to Nick Saban. More plays with less time in between each one. So it’s sort of funny to learn that some of the New York Jets are using the speed-dating app while embedded (hello!) at training camp in upstate New York.
Two thoughts: 1) “Love” is not what these Jets are looking for, and 2) The ladies of the Finger Lakes region are thinking, Oh, sure, now that Tebow and Sanchize are gone, NOW they discover TInder.
4. Football! Football! Football!
Medium Happy’s pick for national champion. Show me a team that came close, is hungry, and has one of the nation’s top 3 QBs.
Here’s Sports Illustrated’s preseason Top 25 and The Big Lead’s Top 50 football players –as penned by Tyler Duffy (“Go Blue!”), which may have something to do with that dude at No. 50 (and no one from a school about 4 hours to the southwest being on the list). But, you can kinda see that.
You can always quibble with such lists –I’d have included Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly and Notre Dame’s Jaylon Smith –but there are no egregious omissions.
This list, though, of the “50 Best College Towns,” is indefensible. Austin, Tex., arguably the best college town in the country is not included. And Athens and Eugene, both of which are in my top 10 (and most others’), fail to crack the top 35.
5. Great Jones
C’mon, who does he look like? A l’il bit, as Robert DeNiro might say, a l’il bit. Hint: He’s from Chicago and wears No. 23 (but only because that’s the uniform that fit). This is Pierce Jones of the Jackie Robinson West All-Stars out of Chicago. Yesterday he jacked three home runs and a triple –in the first four innings–as his team won their LLWS opener, 12-2.
And then you have Mo’Ne Davis, the female flamethrower out of Taney Little League in Philadelphia (the local favorite). There are eight U.S. teams in the 16-team bracket in Williamsport, and while Mo’Ne and Pierce are not immediately on one another’s schedule, they could wind up meeting in either the winners’ or losers’ bracket in a few days.
Who do you see as the OTHER 3 teams in the Playoff?
Also, Justice jdubs, when & where are you going to pass down your Decision (can’t get away from that word this summer!) on the POWER 5 & the impact of the O’Bannon verdict on college sports? BTW, wasn’t it just a few months ago that the head of the B1G conference said there was NEVER gonna be any “student athlete” paid on HIS watch? Is he retiring? Going on to “spend more time with the fam”? Or just hoping no one remembers? Unless all the old comments were lost after the hack, there is a comment written several months ago by a certain female (AHEM) who stated the big, power conferences were going to get together & start setting some of their own rules…
Meanwhile, about last night. I rush home to turn on the TV & scan hopefully for the SEC Network. Not there. I call COMCAST (because I have a masochistic streak), two “reps” & 20 minutes later it is determined that since I am in MD (part of the ‘Northeast quadrant’ – what?!), I will not get that channel till tonight – 8/15. “BUT”, I said, “it starts TONIGHT 8/14/14 – ESPN’s been advertising for weeks!” Neither rep had heard of the channel or knew of the “SEC”. I say to the 2nd guy – “YOU don’t watch college football, do you?” He pled guilty. Question – would YOU believe anything a guy tells you if he’s never heard of the SEC? And no, he didn’t think it was a business network dedicated to busting stock market fraudsters either. If it turns out the SEC Network is part of some “extra” sports package with Comcast, I will not be able to watch sweet Timmy. One MORE reason I HATE the NFL the past 16 months.