Now, THIS is the type of 'Boycott' we can all get behind.

We’re not Catholic… but we’ve got many Catholic friends so it has caused us no small degree of shame and embarrassment over the behavior displayed in this row up in San Francisco right now.

There is a street fair in the City called the Folsom Steet Fair which is an unabashed leather/fetish happening and which is sponsored in part by Miller Brewing Co. What has a particular Catholic group upset is a poster for the event that depicts leather-clad males and females sitting around a table, Last Supper-style, with sex toys littered around the same table. And just to make sure the less-savory wings of the Catholic Church were properly offended… Jesus is black. (This follows a theme in many of the “alternative” Christ stories. The only one that beats black Jesus is Jesus having relations with Mary Magdalene. It seems every single one of them, from the Last Temptation of Christ to the DaVinci Code, can’t seem to drop their lurid fascination of Jesus having sex with a prostitute.)

This group, the Catholic League, is calling for Miller to pull their sponsorship of the event and short of that they are calling for a boycott of all Miller products. A boycott? Ohhhh…. no .. anything but a boycott.

Are they serious? A boycott?. Honestly, what a bunch of wusses. Message to the Catholic League: If you want some reaction… if you want some justice… if you want to be taken seriously as a player and have newspaper editorial staffs and legislative bodies the world over roll over to your demands and the President of the world’s most powerful nation fall all over himself extolling the virtues of your religion then get serious!

Torch some cars… throw rocks through storefront windows…. declare some fatwas....be-head some infidels….! Show that you are a true believer! Demonstrate to the planet that your religion is not to be trifled with and that your religion really is a tolerant and peaceful one… until someone says it isn’t. Make me BELIEVE!

Short of all that, don’t waste our time… we don’t drink any of Miller’s swill anyway.

Future Programming Alert... and our 100th Post!

Triple digits, y'all... And they said it would never last.

B-Daddy will take the reins for the weekend as we will be visiting family up in the OC. He did bang-up work in his first substitute effort a few weeks back when we were visiting other members of the family in Colorado (some of whom can be seen to the right), so we look forward to seeing what depths will be plumbed this time around. Please give him your support.

And speaking of visiting family members... we hope whatever it is that is planned, at 1230 PDT Saturday, we will be planted squarely in front of the tube to watch what is on paper the match-up of the season thus far. Of course, we're talking about Cal-Oregon up in Eugene.

And this weekend, we are going to start a little competition to see what host family unit is most respectful of our college football-watching jones. Our kinfolk in Colorado, clocked a very impressive 8.5 (on a scale of 10) so it will be interesting to see what the OC contingent can do to top that. We've been told that the Godson and nieces are no longer nap-takers so that 8.5 looms quite large indeed.

We want to thank everyone who has encouraged us to undertake this endeavor and want to extend our gratitude to those that actively participate with this site.

He's got Jesus in his Heart... and the Chronic in his Lungs.

As you are probably aware by now, Michael Vick failed a drug test by testing positive for marijuana earlier this month. On top of the state dog fighting charges he now faces, he gets to deal with this. The downward spiral continues. Read Sports Illustrated article here.

We had some thoughts last month on Vick's somewhat dubious spiritual awakening here.

While watching the Tennessee Titans wallop the New Orleans Saints this past Monday, we noted the commentators praising Titan QB, Vince Young for his poise and maturity in leading not only the offense but the entire team in that victory.

Indeed, Young’s play was to be commended. He directed the offense efficiently using his amazing athleticism only in spots as for the most part he managed the game plan putting his team in favorable down and distance situations throughout the night.

(And one person who does not seem to get enough credit for Young’s development is the offensive coordinator, Norm Chow. Chow essentially reintroduced the forward pass to the college game while at BYU back in the late 70s and 80s and it was our thought that Chow would not be a good fit for a team and organization that since Jeff Fisher took over as coach was primarily run-oriented. So the guy deserves a lot of credit for swallowing some pride, scaling back the play book a bit and bringing Young along slowly to allow him to grow into this role as an on and off the field leader.)

But back to the commentating. What struck us about the deserved compliments was that they were all eerily similar to what we were hearing about Michael Vick some 5-6 years ago when he first broke into the league and was the Atlanta Falcon starting QB.

We recall a story about Michael Vick’s first year as starting QB and which took place immediately after an exciting last-minute victory by the Falcons that put them in the playoffs. Someone in the Falcon marketing department got the idea to have Vick tape a message right there on the field and have that message sent to the home phones of all the Falcon season ticket holders.

Gee… would something like this work? Would Vick, charged with emotion while being physically drained, be up for this stunt? One of the staffers nervously approached Vick and before he could get half-way through the explanation, Vick snatched the tape recorder from the guy’s hand and started speaking into the recorder something to the effect of: “Hey, this is Michael Vick. What a great game today, huh? I just wanted to call and thank you for your support and thank you for being a season ticket holder. I’ll try to give you a call during the playoffs. Bye.”

THAT’s what Falcon fans had waiting for them when they got home. THAT’s who was calling just to say “Hi”. It was no wonder then why the Falcons were so high on Vick (oh, yes I did) and why he was viewed not only as the face of the Falcon franchise but also as an ambassador for the city of Atlanta.

Now, are we in any way suggesting that Vince Young is like Michael Vick the person? Certainly not. We bring all this up only because we were struck by the similarities in the two situations: two young, athletic, black quarterbacks in the NFL who are on the verge of super-stardom who because of their relative early success are showered with praise and adulation by the fans and the media. That…. AND the expectations, both on and off the field, that Michael Vick failed to live up to which are now Vince Young’s expectations.

We’re pulling for Vince Young. He got into a little dutch in the preseason by violating some team rules. We hope it was an isolated incident. His teammates appear to think so as they voted him to one of the team captain positions. And we hope the Norm Chow “slow and steady” model of progression for his development as an NFL QB is the model for his human development as well.

Photo above is courtesy the cut-throats over at Kissing Suzy Kolber.

..... SQUISH.....

Of course there is no way to ever definitively prove this but we couldn’t help but feel that a particular set of people in this country were pretty tickled that Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was going to be speaking at both Columbia U. and in front of the U.N. General Assembly. Afterall, he hates Bush… they hate Bush. He hates the Western ideals of freedom and liberty… they (secretly) hate the Western ideals of freedom and liberty, etc., etc.

Its reminiscent of the free pass that Communism got back in the 20s and 30s in this country from the very same socio-economic set because it offered an alternate path to the wage-enslavement of capitalism. That, and it wasn’t Nazi fascism. Yes, there was a time when being against anti-Semitism was quite fashionable.

Anyway, his talk at the U. was pro-forma for dictators (transcript can be read here) wanting to leverage audience dissatisfaction here with the current elected leadership… lots of make-nice relativism, veiled swipes at U.S. foreign policy over the years and “can’t-we-all-just-get-along” pap…. generally the stuff that sends Sandalista hearts aflutter. And by all accounts, things were going along swimmingly until the Q & A session after his speech.

He talked around the issues of denying the Holocaust and of wanting to destroy Israel but he veered wildly off-course when he was confronted about Iran’s treatment of homosexuals... and no, this "treatment" is not a medical reference, per se, but rather "treatment" of homosexuals that has terminal medical consequences:

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country.

(LAUGHTER)

We don't have that in our country.

(AUDIENCE BOOING)

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it.

(sound of record needle skidding across vinyl…….. woooopsy-daisy…)

We especially liked the transformation of audience reaction once they realized this guy wasn’t making a joke…. when they realized fully the implications of “We don’t have that in our county.”
It had to happen, though, right? Really, was there any doubt?

After performing admirably to that point in his little try-out to be Bush’s chief 3rd world foil, he stepped right in it. In this case, it wasn’t with respect to the Jews but rather homosexuals. Nice try, Mahmoud. Damn, you were right there, buddy.

“Is Hugo ready for his close-up?”

"Gee...uhhh... Thanks but No Thanks"

Proving that she is if nothing else, perhaps as shrewd a politician as the old man, click here for story in NY Times on Hillary Clinton (and other Dem frontrunners) steering clear of the fringe left-wing netroot crowd.

The article talks about how the candidates don’t really see how the anger and vitriol ginned-up by groups like the DailyKos and MoveOn.org and which are void any semblance of a positive or constructive message are going to actually deliver votes for them in November.

This phenomena can be summed up in the Rasmussen poll taken on the reaction to the deplorable General “BeTray Us” ad run in the New York Times (…for a discount rate!). The poll revealed that 23% approved of the ad but that 58% disapproved. The margin was even greater on the extremes as 12% strongly approved and 42% strongly disapproved.

This really should not have been a surprise to anyone, though. The U.S. military has traditionally maintained the highest approval ratings among American institutions and entities and discrediting many of these esteemed institutions are what MoveOn.org and their buddies are all about.

So, perhaps “shrewd” is a little too fawning. Maybe its giving these people a little too much credit. Maybe “doesn't have head lodged in ass” is a more accurate assessment of their wanting to run away as quickly as possible from the DailyKos, MoveOn.org and their ilk.

What do House Guests and Fish have in Common with This Guy?

Is it us or is it getting a bit ripe in here….? In what has seemed like a week-long circus, Iranian strongman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will be speaking at Columbia University today. Obviously, much has been made regarding whether or not Ahmadinejad really is or isn’t a Holocaust denier and then there’s the business of him alleging that Israel be wiped off the face of the map…. or was the comment taken out of context as part of some Zionist-media conspiracy? To us, its kind of a moot point. Whether or not he actually said those things doesn’t make him any less of a whacko in our book. We just wish the guy would leave… the stench is beginning to rise.

… but back to our man of the moment. The Dean at Columbia who is moderating the event, John Coatsworth has attempted to base his reasoning for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak there by infamously stating that he would’ve allowed Hitler to speak were that cantankerous ol’ rascal, Adolph still around. Hitler…? Hell yeah! We remain skeptical, though, of how enthusiastic he would be if the speaker were instead Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter or the thorn-in-the-side of higher learning, civil rights crusader, Ward Connerly.

And proving that once you start digging yourself a hole in these matters, the only direction you can go is down, Coatsworth attempted to clarify his position by stating that he wouldn’t have invited bad Hitler, only the nicer, more tolerable Hitler when “he had not started the war and the Holocaust had not begun.”… and stuff. Dude! Just shut up!!!

Of course, the whole 1st amendment/free speech argument we’ve heard thrown around is laughable in this situation. Ahmadinejad is not even a U.S. citizen and outside of the U.S. Senate and the Bush Administration, the vast majority of rationally-minded Americans know that Constitutional guarantees are not extended to non-citizens.

Nevertheless, the editorial staff here at BwD is split as to whether or not Columbia should’ve rolled out the red carpet for this bum. The majority camp is of the opinion that you don’t give a platform for lunatics like this to spew their rhetoric and wished that Columbia U. gave this guy a Bronx cheer on their way to running him out of the country as most of the townies there in the Big Apple desire to do.

The minority opinion bases its logic on the thought that sometimes the best way to expose these people is to let them have the bully-pulpit so they can sing to their heart’s content, giving everyone a full dose of their idiocy. You know at some point this guy is going to step in it… you just know it.

We’re interested to hear what you all think. Chime in on poll on right-hand margin and click on link here for story out of New York Daily News.

Kevin Federline is a Big Fan

Oh boy. We couldn’t pass up these beauties before shutting it down for the weekend. Right before Georgia Bulldog Matt Stafford’s game-winning touchdown pass against ‘Bama, ESPN announcer, Mike Patrick, decided to go all pop-culture on us with a bizarre non-sequitur on Britney Spears. Click here for YouTube clip.

The man who Patrick replaced as lead announcer for ESPN’s prime-time Saturday night games can be heard from time to time doing 2nd-level Big 12 games over on the Deuce. Its unfortunate because Ron Franklin is, hands down, the best play-by-play guy in college football. Yes, even better than the Figurehead. We assumed him to be a lock to move into the Keith Jackson role as college football’s GodFather upon Jackson's retirment. We assumed wrong. Too bad.

And then we have this from Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy in the press conference following his team’s win against Texas Tech. Gundy was expressing some slight dissatisfaction with a column written about one of his players and, well… Coach Gundy will explain things.

Not Quite There... Yet.

Some house-keeping first… To make it easier it comment, its been opened-up to “anybody” - you will not have to register with Google to post a comment. Just hit the "anonymous" button and comment to your heart's content knowing that your identity is secure and that you won't wind-up on Dick Cheney's or anyone else's watch list. Was advised to do so by the site’s defacto ombudsman, B-Daddy. Apologies for lack of blog-savvy in this matter.


Some throwback uniforms sprinkled around the NFL today…. We had heard that the Eagles were going throwback so we were expecting possibly the white helmets from the Chuck Bednarik days. But what were those…? And how far back did they have to throw to get them? Was Ben Franklin the GM…?

In watching last night’s demolition of Washington St. by USC, it was apparent that the game plan was to come out throwing…. Actually, the WAZU defensive scheme demanded that SC throw the ball. The corners were playing at least 10 yards off the Trojan receivers and quarterback John David Booty took advantage of this by throwing out to his big, physical receivers at the line of scrimmage resulting in 8-10 yard gains on every play.

This is one of the things we’ve always admired about the Trojan offensive philosophy these past few years. Yes, in nearly every instance, their skill position players are going to be better athletes than whoever they line-up against but the schemes and play-calling put those athletes in outstanding positions to make highly positive gains.

Offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian and his predecessor and mentor, Norm Chow are out of the Sid Gilman school of passing where you get the ball to your athletes ‘in-space’ and heading toward the goal line. This style has been used effectively by Don Coryell for the Charger in the early 80s and more recently by Mike Martz when he was the evil-genius offensive coordinator for the Rams during their “Greatest Show on Turf” run a few years back (thankfully, the Trojans have left the “Get your quarterback killed” pages out of their own playbook that Martz seemed to have in his).

So this is why the Charger's 1-2 start is so perplexing and frustrating. The team is absolutely loaded talent-wise. They have the best running back and tight end in the game, a young but accurate quarterback and as a set, the two best edge rushers in the league in Shawne Merriman and Shaun Phillips. After 3 games, though, its obvious that those talents aren’t being maximized by the coaching staff.

We did a search and found nothing in the California Penal Code that prohibits playing the team’s two best running backs at the same time. Apparently, the Charger coaching staff does because in what in our mind is a no-brainer, they simply refuse to put dynamic back-up, Michael Turner, in at the same time as LT. Why wouldn’t you do this at least occasionally? Why wouldn’t you put maximum pressure on the defense to devote resources to defending against the best running back in the league, the best tight end, perhaps the best back-up RB and a set of big physical wide receivers? Its baffling. There was a reason why LenDale White and Reggie Bush were on the field together so often at SC… who was the defense going to try to stop?

And on a critical 3rd and 3 in the fourth quarter, the successful conversion of which, probably ices the game, tight end Antonio Gates who had a monster game is kept in to pass protect. Huh???? We could understand if QB, Phillip Rivers went to one of the wide-outs as he did for an incompletion if Gates wasn’t open – but Rivers was not even afforded that option. If there was EVER a situation where you would look to this guy to preserve a lead, it would’ve been this…. and he was kept in to pass-block???? Baffling.

Coming into the game, we figured the biggest key to victory would be to get pressure on Favre. Despite all his greatness, when Favre is pressured he is still prone to bone-headed rookie mistakes. The pressure never materialized and thus the Charger’s Key Stone Cop secondary was even more exposed, especially in that god-forsaken cover-2 zone that they can’t execute.

During the pre-season, the word on new defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell was that he did not like to blitz much. We didn’t want to believe it because this defense, personnel-wise, was tailor-made for getting pressure on the quarterback. We didn’t want to believe it because we knew the secondary would be getting torched without that pressure.

Well… didn’t see a whole lot of blitzing and certainly didn’t see a whole lot of pressure and Favre subsequently went bonkers out there looking like a guy who would one day throw for the most TD passes of all-time. Again, baffling.

If coaches are supposed to put their players in the best position to win then this is not even close to happening for the Chargers, right now.

… that finger edging ever closer to the panic button.

Week 4.... and the Charger's New Mascot?

The maddening saga that is UCLA football continues Saturday at the Rose Bowl against the resurgent Washington Huskies. They followed up a 10-win season in ’05 with a 7-6 record last year. And in a two-game microcosm of head coach Karl Dorrell’s tenure, they stunned USC, knocking the Trojans out of BCS title contention in the last game of the regular season and then capitalized on that momentum by laying an egg against Florida State, 44-27 in the Emerald Bowl. This year’s team, chock full of returning starters, got out to a 2-0 start and then got destroyed by Utah last week, 44-6. UCLA is actually favored by 6-1/2 points… we’re not even going to touch this one. Yeah, we will. Take Washington and the points.

… and speaking of maddening inconsistency… Michigan St. (3-0) travels to Notre Dame (0-3) and is giving the Irish 13 points. Proving the popular perception of this squad, were this team to wear any other name on the front of its jersey than “Michigan State”, the line against the Irish would be 17-18 points.

We like the ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks getting 16-1/2 pts. at LSU. LSU will win but Darth Visor will keep it close.

We really like Georgia Tech giving 3 on the road to Virginia and we think Oregon will cover the 16-1/2 to Stanford at the Farm.

And now a few words about our Chargers…. How to put this politely….? They’re not a very smart team. Spanning the end of last season and the beginning of this, they’ve sandwiched a win against the Bears between a playoff and regular season loss to the Patriots and those 3 games have revealed the character and nature of this team. If they are called upon to simply line-up opposite a team and sock them in the grill as they were against another physical team in the Bears, the Chargers are going to win. If they are called upon, though, to use their heads against a savvy, veteran team like the Pats, they are going to lose.

One of the Randy Moss touchdowns in the 1st half was perfectly illustrative of this. In fact, the play, a simple skinny post that is a seam route against the Charger’s cover-2 zone has, by our count, been run at least 4 or 5 times now this season (including the preseason) against the Chargers first unit defensive backfield resulting in either touchdowns or long gains. And in every instance immediately after the play both the Charger safety (either Marlon McCree or Clinton Hart) and the cornerback (Quentin Jammer) whip their heads around to look at each other with the “I thought you had him” look on their faces. Every time… every…. single…. time. At what point do they figure this out? Short of that, at what point do the coaches who are now equally culpable figure out that the secondary is mentally incapable of playing zone and just start playing man-to-man?

We’re only 2 games into the season and its certainly too early to hit the panic button but this lack of smarts is an inherent flaw of the Chargers and its an immutable fact that dumb teams don’t win championships in the NFL.

A Few Quickies....

(gonna try something a little different today. We'll see how it goes).

Liberals: They’re smarter… just ask them. Click here for story from Slate.com about a study funded in part by NYU that proves just that. As noted here, libs have this near Pavlovian tick when it comes to them noting how much smarter they are… well, that and how much more open-minded… and caring…. and tolerant… and…..

Strange Hsu: It remains to be seen how much the unfolding saga of political fund-raiser Norman Hsu will affect Clinton Inc. and Hillary’s bid for the Presidency. One would suspect that if he continues to be referred to in the general manner,“disgraced Democratic fundraiser” that appears in virtually every news story on the subject, rather than what more precisely defines his purpose on this planet then Hillary may be able to walk away relatively unscathed in the court of public opinion. Click here for story in New York Times.

Your Rube Goldberg update: You were warned…. As a reminder, the continuing efforts of our elected leaders to wave a magic wand to confer rights and legality upon those that are illegal simply will not stop. It remains simultaneously baffling and galling to us that the well-being of people who are not even supposed to be here seems to have a higher priority than that of the citizenry. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning on resurrecting yet again something called the DREAM Act which would provide a “path to citizenship” for illegals who happen to be students. He intends on attaching it to the 2008 Defense Appropriation Bill because a few knucklehead suits at the Dept. of Defense think it would be a swell idea for boosting recruitment. Same language, same goal, different packaging. Freddy lives!

And lastly, Shotgun Annie's missive on those evil, money-grubbing U.S. doctors in the employ of Big Medical.

Could be Worse.... Could be Living in L.A.

Proving once again just how recklessly out of control the politics down here are, the D.A. is refusing to press charges in the forced evictions of residents from their homes 6 months ago in order to make way for a… yep, Indian casino.

Attached article out of the San Diego Union-Tribune is hopelessly bereft of any of the salient backround details that make this whole ordeal so appalling.

The Jamul Indians east of San Diego have been making plans to build a casino on reservation land and found that there was some property which they wished to develop that was inconveniently owned and/or occupied by its residents.

What the article doesn’t mention is that there was some confusion though on where the exact boundaries of the Indian Reservation were and in order to buy some time to clear up this matter (the properties in question were in this ‘gray’ area), County Supervisor Diane Jacobs brokered a handshake agreement between the Tribe, its financial backers and the residents of the properties in question.

Well lo and behold, that agreement didn’t last as on a Saturday back in March, something called the Tribal Reservation Police descended upon a handful of these residents and forcibly evicted them from their homes. What the article also fails to mention is that the vast majority of the members of this “police” force were no more than off-duty cops from around the San Diego area that signed-up for a little weekend fun playing jack-booted thugs while employing physical force and using pepper spray to roust U.S. citizens from their homes. All this while Sheriff Bill Kollender’s men just stood by and watched, and by some accounts, physically restrained friends of the residents who were attempting to come to their aid against these g*d-dammed Gestapo tactics.

At least one of the evicted residents, Walter Rosales, a Vietnam Veteran, is even a tribal member. Well…. he was until he voiced his objection to the casino plan and he was promptly relieved of his membership by the tribal elders, something else not mentioned in the article.

…and the D.A. Bonnie Dumanis… her hiding behind the legality of not getting involved in civil matters on tribal lands is bad enough but her refusal to answer any questions regarding this situation represents the height of arrogance and un-accountability. So you have a crooked sheriff in the back pocket of the tribe (tribes, actually as the area Indian tribes have been major contributors to his election campaigns for years) and an indifferent D.A…. who to turn to? In situations like this, it becomes apparent why the Founders placed the right to bear arms in the on-deck circle directly after the freedom of speech and religion in the Bill of Rights.

McCain-Feingold ticks us off, but Kelo v. New London makes our blood boil. There is just something about property rights that strikes a nerve. Freedom of speech, gun ownership, trial by jury of peers… these rights are hugely important… they represent the pillars upon which this great democracy is built. But Propery Rights…. there is something more visceral and real about that than all the others. One can crank out banned speech from a computer in the secrecy of one’s house or hide banned guns in that house. But you can do neither without sole possession of that same house.

Apologies for the way-too-serious nature of this post. We try to find humor or something in each of our subjects to parody or poke fun at. We tried but just couldn’t find anything remotely amusing about any of this.