"Missed it by that Much..."

On this week's HBO’s Real Sports, Donovan McNabb the Philadelphia Eagle quarterback who also happens to be black, said that race plays a part in the public perception of quarterbacks in the NFL. Here’s what he told interviewer James Brown:

"There's not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra. Because the percentage of us playing this position, which people didn't want us to play ... is low, so we do a little extra. I pass for 300 yards, our team wins by seven, 'Ah, he could've made this throw, they would have scored if he did this.'"

Of course, this tune is different than the one he was singing some 4-5 years ago in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh/ESPN dust-up when he was wondering why people always had to make an issue of race.

But, you know, that’s not even what we want to focus on – that’s not the reason for this post. This post is to acknowledge a missed opportunity on the part of Beers with Demo and an even bigger missed opportunity on the part of the broadcast crew of Monday Night Football.

Last night, we debated posting on this but declined because it was getting late and there were many ships to be built early the following day and, etc., etc., lame excuses all considering McNabb’s HBO comments which were made public the following day. A perfect opportunity to get out ahead of the curve was blown for want of getting a good night sleep. Sheesh.

Anyway, this post now being a day late and a dollar short was to be on the subject of what WASN’T addressed in that broadcast booth. During the 3rd quarter of last night’s highly un-entertaining game between the Eagles and Redskins, Charles Barkley (Sir Charles!), joined Ron Jaworski, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico. As everyone knows Charles is never afraid to speak his mind and it’s this candor that makes the TNT studio show for their NBA games the greatest studio show of all-time.

The 4 of them were in kibbutz mode and the subject happened to be Philly fans and specifically how rough they could be on their own sports stars. Precise to this was what was perceived as harsh treatment of Donovan McNabb who is coming off a serious knee injury last year and who has not played well in the Eagles first two games which have both been losses. This situation is compounded by the fact that after he went down with the injury last year, back-up Jeff Garcia who is white (Garcia, white? O.K., Hispanic… but he looks Irish, dammit!) went 6-1 with the team and led them to the playoffs.

Later in the conversation, it was noted that the Philly fans love(d) Ron Jaworski (white) but had a contentious relationship with Charles Barkley (black). Barkley then said something to the effect that Indianapolis fans loved Peyton Manning (white) even before winning the Super Bowl last year much more than Philly fans loved McNabb (black) even though in Barkley’s opinion, McNabb had been the more accomplished quarterback to that point.

“So.. why do you think this is…?” “Uhh, oh”, was our thought. Oh-boy… Are they going to go there? Oh no they’re not. Careful fellas. Its all set up for them. Its all right there.

The camera showed the 4 of them… they were looking at the monitors silently, staring down at their feet and shifting their weight back and forth somewhat uncomfortably. At one point, it even looked like Kornheiser snuck a glance at Barkley as if to say, “So, Chuck... are you doing this or am I?” One could cut the tension with a knife. At that point, we’re nearly screaming at the T.V. “Do it….! Somebody please do it…! For the love of all that is right, somebody please roll that grenade out there and then… let’s see who jumps on it! Pleeeeeease…!”.

And then as slowly as the momentum and tension had built it dissipated just that quickly as one of the 4 (can’t remember who) saved all of sports-talk listening America from hearing about this 24/7 for the next week by saying, “… well, you know, those Philly fans are just really tough”, followed by an extremely relieved chorus of “… yeah, yeah… boy, you’re right, they sure are tough on their own.”

Wow. Potential meltdown narrowly averted. The opportunity to call out the fans of an entire major metropolitan city as a bunch of racists had just gone by the boards. Whew. That was close... We now return you to your regularly-scheduled bland, boring NFL football game.... As we said, missed opportunities all around last night.

Oh well. Its late. Time for bed.

The Solution in Search of a Problem

The 3 leading Democratic Presidential candidates continue to play dueling universal health care plans as Hillary unveiled her own $110 billion/year plan in Iowa today (one would think even the good people of Iowa are sick of the campaigning as it appears all the candidates from both parties have been there en masse for the past 6 months and don’t have any designs on leaving until after the Iowa Caucus in January).

In case, though, any of you free-market types out there were worried that this is just the top of the slippery slope to socialized medicine…. relax… Hillary says it isn’t going to be a government run program. Clinton was quoted as saying, “This is not government-run.” See.

Similar to John Edward’s program, Clinton is being gracious enough to grant voluntary participation if you are happy with your current plan. But also similar to Edward’s plan, choosing not to participate in any plan is simply not an option.

So, if its not government-run, how will enrollment compliance be enforced, you may ask? Well, you would be getting way ahead of yourself as Clinton advisor Laurie Rubiner said that a specific compliance mechanism would be worked out once the health care plan was passed. This is reminiscent of John Kerry’s secret plan to straighten-out the Iraq situation: Vote for me and then I’ll tell you.

Besides, you’d be focusing the whole enforcement question on the wrong end of the equation. We actually believe half of Clinton’s claim that it won’t be a government-run program… there will not be any actual accountability or oversight for enforcing enrollment in this or any other health plan.

However, the means to generate the revenue for her plan will be via rigorous government participation and enforcement. There is this branch of the government…perhaps you’ve heard of them… its this outfit called the IRS that will make sure you are holding up your end of the deal in insuring the 47 million of your fellow Americans who are without health insurance.

So when one breaks down the concerns a typical conservative would have with this plan: 1) Is it Government-run? 2) Do I have to enroll? 3) Do I have to pay for this thing, regardless? And its done in a mathematical fashion, one would have to be pretty pleased with the 2/3rds favorable rating. Shoot, you can’t have everything, so just be a good little American and quit griping about it.

"Why am I smiling? Because I'm not Charlie Weiss"

We only got half our wish yesterday as Michigan embarrassed Notre Dame, 38-0, but Ohio State beat Washington, 33-14. Even in the loss, its apparent that Washington is on the right track. They’ve got athletes and play-makers on both sides of the ball. They were beat by some dumb freshman mistakes by quarterback Jake Locker as much as anything else. Locker, is the real deal though – he’ll learn from those mistakes.

There’s an old adage about teams not being as good as they look in a win or as bad as they look in a loss. Michigan epitomizes this as they faced a perfect storm in starting the season against two fast, spread-option running teams with athletic quarterbacks in App. State and Oregon. Michigan’s defensive personnel is completely unsuited to defend this style of offense. They were much more at home playing a fellow, plodding Midwest team in Notre Dame. Combine that with the fact that it was just Notre Dame and, voila… 38-0.

Charlie Weiss claimed after the game the he was not even going to watch the game film or show it to his players. Good call, Chuck. Can’t imagine there is anything remotely positive that can be gained from watching it. Domer fans who were flipping back and forth between this game and the Washington game had to be scratching their heads and wondering, "O.K., the ass-kicking is one thing... but where are our athletes... where are our play-makers? Weiss was brought in to recruit NFL-caliber talent to compete with the USCs, Floridas and LSUs. Where is it?"

A friend commented that last night’s USC/Nebraska game had the feel of a typical USC game of the last few years where the Trojans would appear to be going through the motions in the first half, allow the opponent to stay close, go into the locker room at half-time, make adjustments and then come out and blow the opponent off the field in the 2nd half. SC didn’t wait for half-time against the Huskers, though, as they separated themselves from their opponent in the 2nd quarter.

The crowds at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln are renowned for their gracious behavior towards the opposing team. There have been stories of the fans there actually applauding the opposing team after the game if that opponent had proved itself to be a worthy adversary. So we can only assume that Bill Callahan took the cue and extended this middle-American hospitality to Pete Carroll by going completely away from the short passing game in the 2nd quarter that was keeping the Trojan D off balance in the 1st quarter. No half-time adjustments necessary – thanks, Bill.

As encouraging as the successful running game was, the passing game was that disappointing. John David Booty did not look to be on the same page as his receivers and though Stafon Johnson may have run his way into a starting position at tailback, his greatest advantage last night may have been to be fortunate enough to have his number called on the plays where SC’s offensive line was opening up holes one could drive an SUV through.

And in its first real test of the season Florida, in what was supposed to be somewhat of a rebuilding year, pummeled Tennessee 59-20 and in doing so elevated themselves to real players in the BCS title hunt. If Florida can hold serve against Ole Miss and Auburn and then beat LSU in Baton Rouge, we will be prepared to confer “evil” status upon Gator head ball coach, Urban Meyer.

Week 3.... "..But will you be an 'Evil' coach?"

Some thoughts on the college matchups today….

Its mid-September and USC begins its season in earnest against Nebraska this evening in Lincoln after a Labor Day weekend scrimmage against Idaho preceding a bye week last week. This is mentioned only because in USC’s two national championship seasons under Pete Carroll (’03 and ’04), they opened up the season with impressive road victories over Auburn and Virginia Tech respectively. Limited data points to be sure but something worth noting just the same.

This game is being touted as one of those “barometer” games for the Nebraska program that has been rebuilding and transforming from the run-oriented I-back offense that dates to the Triassic period to the pass-oriented West-Coast offense under head coach, Bill Callahan.

To a lesser degree, this is a “barometer” game for the USC program as well. Despite the #1 ranking and the “best defense in the nation” status conferred by many, we have some doubts about this Trojan team, mostly on the offensive side of the football. As posted before, we hate… absolutely detest the running back by committee that SC employed last year and the game against Idaho did not reveal any frontrunner for that position. Also, the receiving corps though talented is young and will face its first real test after the departures of Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith.

It will be interesting to see then, how the stockpiling of all this 5-star talent and the soon-becoming-legendary “competition Tuesday” Trojan practices will handle the hostile environment of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. In fact, this game has the feel of the USC-Notre Dame game of two years ago in South Bend. A proud program on the rebound, pulling out all the stops at home in a highly-charged and emotional prime-time affair to see if they could knock off the Goliaths from the West Coast.

…and speaking of Notre Dame… we are on our knees to the football gods for a Michigan victory over the Irish and a Washington Husky victory over Ohio St. in Seattle. That would of course leave ND at 0-3 and Washington, coached by previous Irish coach Ty Willingham, at an improbable 3-0. (If nothing else, it will prove that the Huskies are back and that football in the Pacific Northwest is back, and that is a good thing).

For years, Notre Dame has supposedly been this beacon of virtue putting academics and ethics above mere mortal football wins and losses. Of course, its all been B.S. (you mean to say that Notre Dame was the only place Lou Holtz ever coached at that was not penalized in some form by the NCAA?) as epitomized by the institution’s unceremonious dumping of Ty Willingham for the glitter and allure of the fat man, Charlie Weiss. We do like Michigan in this one. For the first time this year, they won’t be facing a quick team with a dynamic quarterback that is running the spread offense.

Tennessee at Florida… we like Florida in this one. In fact we like Florida to cover the 8 points they are giving. This just in… Urban Meyer can coach. In fact, we suspect a little “evil” in him. If trends continue as they have, we are looking forward to a nice little silent rivalry between USC and Florida in years to come. One can sense that since Meyer took over in Gainesville, the two programs have been eyeing each other, seeing what the other is up to. The locales, the coaches, the talent pools in which they reside… its all there. Stay tuned.

Florida St. at Colorado… This is the sort of intersectional road show that put FSU on the map 25-30 years ago. We’re still not sure what the hell has happened down there in Tallahassee. It has become the place where 5-star high school recruits go to disappear. They still get the athletes so its gotta be the coaching, right?

Hawaii at UNLV… The Colt Brennan Heisman Trophy show hits the mainland. As noted here at this site, Mr. Brennan can’t afford any slip-ups in his quest for the honor.

Enjoy the games!

Red...? Is That You?

(…. back from the Great Beyond… more specifically a remote Mormon hide-away deep in the Utah back country where we were advising the Romney campaign. Before we get back (fully) in the saddle, want to express heatfelt thanks and gratitude to B-Daddy for his excellent work in filling-in as the lead this past week and a half…)

Not merely content to be viewed as an on-field (or on-court) dynasty in New England as the Celtics of the 60s, 70s and 80s were, the New England Patriots have adopted a similar off-field image and persona as those great Celtic teams.

The secretiveness of this Patriot team is reminiscent of those old Celtic teams where, from the outside, it appeared as more a coven than a sports franchise. It has been no mystery that the Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick was not pleased at all when one of his former lieutenants, Eric Mangini, took the Jet’s head coaching job before last season. Belichick’s handling of the weekly injury report has been a study in coyness and subterfuge. And now that Patriot-gate is in full-swing, reports are coming out from around the league about other suspected shenanigans being played by the Patriots against their opponents much like the Celtics back in the day.

And even Belichick himself seems to be a New England football re-incarnation of the late Red Auerbach… an excellent, detail-oriented tactician who also happened to be a smug and arrogant S.O.B.

(if nothing else, this gives an opportunity to share a story from back in the old AFL when the Raiders and Jets had a healthy rivalry going in the late 60s. Weeb Ewbank, the Jet’s coach, was obsessed with the notion of the Raider's Al Davis, spying on the Jets. At half-time in the locker room of one particular game where the Raiders were soundly beating the Jets, Ewbank was shaking with rage, clearly convinced that Davis and the Raiders had obtained their half-time lead by ill-begotten means, perhaps by bugging the Jet locker room. With the team gathered around him for the half-time talk, Ewbank looked up at the ceiling, shook his fist and shrieked, “Davis, g-d-d#$it, I know you’re up there!” Imagine the looks on the players’ faces who had no idea of Ewbank’s suspicions but merely see their enraged head coach looking skyward and cursing-out Al Davis).

Got a full-dose of talk radio during the drive back on the subject of the Pat’s videotaping the Jets during their game last Sunday and think all the angles were covered but still…. something is just not printing out… something about this whole thing is not adding up.

If the Patriot’s wanted to steal the Jet’s defensive signals, it would seem there are numerous other and more clandestine ways of doing it. Having one of the Patriot employees standing right there on the sidelines, camera in hand, is the most blatant and hamfisted way of doing it, though, and that is why none of this is making any sense.

The Patriots were warned about this before and despite Belichick’s “apology” there is nothing in the NFL rule that specifically prohibits video-taping the opponents bench that could possibly be “misinterpreted”.

One is left to wonder then if Belichik was doing this out of some perverse sense of spite… against Eric Mangini… against the NFL itself…. Not really sure. After having a few days to digest this, though, one thing is certain: only a massively out-sized ego like that possessed by Bill Belichick would try a stunt this bold and audacious. Red would be proud. Hope he chokes on it Sunday.

O.J. Who?

Once again defying parody, OJ Simpson has been named as a suspect in a criminal investigation. There was a joke at the time of his indictment, for which he was later acquitted (this comment inserted to protect Dean from legal action), that went like this:

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
O.J.
O.J. who?
You're on the jury.

As he continues his flagrant disregard for law and established authority, as he can't help but stay in the limelight of press attention, I want a stinking apology. I want at least an acknowledgment that those of us who thought he might have been somehow involved in the deaths of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman were not part of some vast racist conspiracy. There that felt good, and hopefully is on the list of 100 things.

Honey, My pay got docked a half a mil

When I first read the rumor that the Patriots had used a video camera to steal defensive signals from the Jets, I thought, what's the big deal? Isn't that routinely done in baseball? I didn't know there were specific rules for this activity; so I say good for the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell. As previously posted in this column, the integrity of the sport is key to maintaining the fan base.

Relatedly, that much needed wardrobe upgrade Bill Belichik had been planning is probably on hold. By the way, I saw 49er coach Mike Nolan in suit and tie on the sidelines in their victory over the Cardinals. I know that the classic coaches like Halas and Lombardi did that; but it looked a little off to me. Further research answered the mystery; the suit was designed by Reebock, not Armani or some other Italian. But I have digressed into a "Queer Eye" moment.

Back to the issue of the fine, imagine having to explain to the Mrs. that your pay got docked by half a million for cheating. The coach's exact pay is not known, so hard to say how much this hurts. But I just can't imagine him having that kind of cash sitting in the freezer; even Congressman only have 90 large on hand or so.

Anyway, go Chargers, maybe all this distraction works to there advantage as they visit the Pats this weekend.

National Holiday? I Think Not

Yesterday, I heard Oprah Winfrey call for September 11th to be made a national holiday. Who does she think we are, Serbs? (The most glorious Serbian holiday, Vidovdan, or St. Vitus' day, celebrates their military disaster while fighting the Turks in Kosovo, or defending Christian Europe as they like to put it.) Hey, we're Americans and we celebrate victory and success. December 7th, a far worse battlefield defeat in terms of its implications for the nation is not a national holiday and for good reason.

Take a look at some of our holidays. The 4th of July celebrates the triumph of individual liberty and rights. Veterans Day originally celebrated the end of World War I, also a victory. The birthdays of Washington and Lincoln are especially instructive. Washington is revered for the determination he brought in bringing those ideals to fruition. Lincoln saved the Union and in so doing enshrined the idea that our nation was dedicated to the freedom and liberty of all peoples. (More specifically, it was unacceptable to break the compact of the constitution in order to perpetuate injustice.) Memorial day celebrates sacrifice of our service men and women, but not defeat.

We celebrate that which gives meaning to our nation. Ours is not a nation of a single ethnic or racial composition, not even of a single language, but a "nation conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." We celebrate the triumph of our ideals on our national holidays. And on those days where we experience temporary defeat, we pause, mourn and reflect, never forgetting what we stand for.

Some Football, Please......

Since we've been ensconsed in the little house on the prarie here in Colorado, we've been catching up with family and weren't able to watch a whole lot of football but watched enough to have a few thoughts:

By Saturday night, it looked like USC picked the wrong week for a bye. The thinking being that the latest "beauty contest" on Saturday before the first BCS poll comes out would put LSU and maybe Oklahoma over USC because of their impressive performances against Virginia Tech and Miami respectively. Was not to be, however. USC remains atop the AP poll that came out on Sunday.

Michigan..... good Lord. Don't even know what to make of this spectacle. The conventional wisdom is that the game has passed Michigan and Lloyd Carr by..... the program has not recruited well enough to keep up with the speed and the spread offense that has become the rage of the college game. All that is plausible. We've been proponents of the theory that 'speed kills' for many years now, particularly at the college level. But c'mon.... this is Michigan, one of the winningest programs in the history of college football - despite the losses on defense and any shortcomings regarding recruiting philosophy, its not like they are suiting-up chumps out there. A 4-game losing streak is one thing but to be losing in the manner that Michigan is defies description.

(Need to amend post on college coaches winning a national championship within first 3 years and never winning it again. Carr, who won the championship in his 3rd season, would make that the 7th such occurrence in the past 19 years)

Which brings us of course to Notre Dame. These two programs, as a snap-shot in time, appear to be stuck in the same spot and stuck in the figurative mud of not keeping up with the changing face of the game. The situation is different, though, in that Notre Dame has hitched its wagon to Charlie Weiss for better or worse, winning season or losing while Michigan is not contractually bound, at least, to the same committment to Lloyd Carr. Here is the thing with the Domers, though. They ran Ty Willingham out of town after a 6-6 record in just his 3rd year. Record-wise, the Domers are probably going to fare worse this year. The time of the evening and length of the post will not allow us to get into the racial aspect of this.... that'll be saved for a later time. If not for Ty Willingham, then for Charlie Weiss, year 3 is still early and he has some lee-way to get things turned around but it is obvious that Notre Dame fell under the spell of having a former pro coach/coordinator (a la Pete Caroll at USC) come in as the quick fix and savior at the expense of a near-life time college guy. If Notre Dame's performances the past 2 games (4, if you count the gut kicks against USC and LSU last year) are any indication, then he isn't anywhere close. Thank Touchdown Jesus for 10 yr. contracts.

Speaking of 2 similar programs... Georgia and Auburn are identical twins. Two ball clubs led by two bright relatively young head coaches at the heads of powerhouse programs with an abundance of talent all over the field that have not quite got over the hump nationally. There is a sneaking suspicion of underachievement lately at these two schools. Also, both teams lost on Saturday as favorites.

Dumb commentator comment of the week: Commentator for the Oregon/Michigan game said that Oregon's thrashing of Michigan takes some of the luster off of App. State's win. Hardly. Even if Michigan goes winless, that victory will still stand apart as one of the greatest upsets in college football history if for nothing more than the names of the schools involved.

Back out on the road again tomorrow. B-Daddy has the con.

So, What Ever Happened to that Guy?

A good friend of ours (hint: guest blogger in the past) is about as fine and upstanding patriotic American as one will find. An unabashed flag waver with an excellent grasp of this nation's history and struggles against the forces of tyranny abroad. He also happens to be a registered Democrat.

This is mentioned only as an introduction to an excellent piece from Andrew Sullivan's blog (author is a guest blogger but the content of Sullivan's site would never be confused for "conservative") lamenting the demise of the anti-authoritarian Left.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/08/whither-the-ant.html

There was a time when the guiding principles of the Democratic Party were rooted in this anti-authoritarian sense of human justice. When one looks back at most of the major military conflicts this nation embroiled itself in during the 20th century and who was the Commander-in-Chief, it becomes apparent that it was done as much for this principle as any tactical or strategic means to national security ends.

This nation's war efforts in World War I, the European theater of WWII and the Vietnam War were led by highly ambitious and highly idealistic men in the persons of Woodrow Wilson, FDR and JFK, Democrats all, who grasped the strategic AND moral obligation this country had in combatting this country's (and freedom's) enemies in each respective conflict.

....something happened, though, during the late 60s and early 70s that purged the Democratic Party of this principle. Well, that "something" was the hi-jacking of the Party by the McGovern wing and to this day, it is clear the residing philosophy contained therein is the M.O. of the Party.

Think about it: When was the last time you heard a leading Democrat talk about "freedom" or "liberty" in the context of foreign policy? Hell, when was the last time you heard a leading Democrat talk about the same at all except in the context of some as yet undetected Constitutional right to abortion on demand?

It appears that since the 60s, they've been too busy cozying-up to dictators from Ho Chi Minh to Daniel Ortega or being apologists for Soviet leaders and even Sadaam Hussein to be bothered with all this freedom and liberty talk. This talk has become exclusively the domain of the Republicans and it shouldn't or needn't be that way. As B-Daddy has pointed out in the previous post, the West as a whole should not be ashamed of promoting and advertising the concepts of freedom and liberty... they work... all else is pure folly.

The latest video of UBL betrays the liberal-Left, again. At the same time they slam Bush for taking his "eye off the ball" in not capturing the man ultimately behind 9/11, they find UBL's "talking points" all a little too familiar and too close to home and now Bush is blamed for making UBL this larger-than-life figure and which has contributed to an exaggeration of the threat of terrorism and to a "climate of fear" in this nation. And worse, because it appears he has been doing quite a bit of reading from the DailyKos and Huffington Post, they now paint UBL as some sort unhinged, crazed lune who is no longer a threat to us or anyone else. Sorry, can't have it both ways.

A big, fat..... "...whatever..." to these people. Here is to my friend, a good liberal and more importantly, a good and patriotic American and to the hopes that he can take his own Party back.

The Continuation of Politics by Other Means

Carl von Clausewitz, 19th century military historian, famously said that "War is politics carried on by other means." ("Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln") It has become clear to me in these times, that terrorism, too, is politics continued by other means. Consider recent statements from the left wing extremist pictured here. (Need to ask Dean if that is on the list of 100 things?) In a rambling 25 minute video, he takes the American people to task for re-electing George Bush, and goes on to trash the Democrats for not forcing an American withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. ABC news has a summary here. He also rails at the concept of democracy in general, which I find heartening. Politically, being against free elections is a long term losing position throughout the world, and if we were smart, we could exploit UBL's foolishness. He mentions our failure to sign the Kyoto accords, as if he really cares. He also rants against capitalism, and then perversely, recommends conversion to Islam to provide relief against high taxes. "There are no taxes in Islam, but rather there is a limited Zakaat [alms] totaling 2.5 percent." (quoted from the linked ABC article.) Who knew he was also a "supply-sider?" But praising Noam Chomsky, fellow left wing extremist, in the same tape is a real puzzler. But wait, it isn't. He has no coherent theory to offer the world, only his own supposed holiness, so he uses whatever facts appear convenient at the time.
In a better world, our leaders would see that the political dimension of the war on terror is as important as the military one. The western democracies have a great story to tell. Democracy, human rights, prosperity... What's not to like? But we do such a bad job of selling that story and we undermine our own cause by not keeping the pressure on our supposed allies in the Mideast to democratize. The same resolve that won the Cold War will win this war as well. Even though it had its military dimension, what broke the game wide open in the Cold War was the embarrassment of the Soviet leadership over their constant need for repression. Glasnost followed, and the rest, as they say is history. Clearly, we have to embarrass our current enemies and it is so easy. Teaching children to kill, blowing up fellow Muslims on pilgrimages, killing children... the other side has so much to be ashamed of. We need to do a better job of publicizing that.