It was near record cold and windy day for the end of March in the District of Calamity. But this did not deter the Celebrity in Chief President Barack Obama from hitting the links. He hopped on Air Force One to Palm City, Florida with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and partial owner of the Boston Celtics Glenn Hutchins to play the private Florida National Golf Club. Coincidentally, half of the foursome had close connections to the energy industry (including one from the much maligned Halliburton Corp.).
The Press Pool assessed that this was not a working trip as one wag reported: "You can tell this is a non work trip ... someone forward of the press cabin ordered 3 beers at 9:26 a.m.". Hmm. There were no reports on how Mr. Obama golfed on his 222nd round since assuming the Oval Office, as the Press Pool was relegated to maintenance shed at the Florida National Golf Club.
However, as President Obama returned to DC at Joint Base Andrews, in Landover, Maryland, President Obama was unsteady as he walked the ramp deplaning from Air Force One.
So what difference does it make how he handled his handicap if he had a good good time? Well, for taxpayers, the junket was estimated to cost $850,000 just for flight (which will be reimbursed for a fraction of the cost). But at least there was not a beheading in close proximity to the golf excursion as with ISIS execution of James Foley.
James Dolan, the CEO of Cablevision and owner of the New York Knicks (not the Archbishop of New York) has a reputation for being cantankerous. Dolan embodied that idiosycrasy in his email exchange with an angry Knicks fan.
Irving Bierman, a 73 year old Knicks fan sent Dolan a cri-de-coeur as the Knicks are 10-41, which is the worst record in the NBA. Bierman wrote:
60 year Knicks fan Irving Bierman [photo: Mike Spencer for New York Daily News
"I have been a Knicks fan since 1952. At one stage I
thought that you did a wonderful thing when you acquired EVERYTHING from
your dad. However, since then it has been ALL DOWN HILL.
Your
working with Isaiah (sic) Thomas & everything else regarding the
Knicks. Bringing on Phil Jackson was a positive beginning, but
lowballing Steve Kerr was a DISGRACE to the Knicks. The bottom line is
that you merely continued to interfere with the franchise. As a
Knicks fan for in excess of 60 years, I am utterly embarrassed by your
dealings with the Knicks. Sell them so their fans can at least look
forward to growing them in a positive direction Obviously, money IS NOT
THE ONLY THING. You have done a lot of utterly STUPID business things
with the franchise. Please NO MORE."
Granted, Bierman's critical sentiments must have been hard for the Knicks owner to hear. But Dolan would take no guff from a plebian fan of the Knicks. So Dolan retorted with a poison pen piece.
[Front-Center] New York Knicks owner James Dolan
"Mr Bierman. You are a sad person. Why would anybody write such a
hateful letter. I am just guessing but ill bet your life is a mess and
you are a hateful mess. What have you done that anyone would consider
positive or nice. I am betting nothing. In fact ill bet you are a
negative force in everyone who comes in contact with you. You most
likely have made your family miserable. Alcoholic maybe. I just
celebrated my 21-year anniversary of sobriety. You should try it. Maybe
it will help you become a person that folks would like to have around.
In the mean while, start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks don't
want you."
Wow. How to win friends and influence people--not! It might have been a satisfying cathartic to put an angry fan "in his place" and tell him to switch allegiance but to pull out from your nether regions an ad hominem insinuation that your interlocutor is an alcoholic is remarkable.
Irving Bierman offered a measured response as he noted that he has not drank alcohol since he was 18. Bierman still stands by his critique: "[Dolan] has the audacity to tell me to become a Nets fan - you got to be kidding me. He gets belligerent because I expressed an opinion. It's a valid opinion." Bierman's wife was a little more colorful calling Knicks owner Dolan "a sick puppy".
Assuredly this exchange was not private as it was shared via social media. Last season, the NBA forced Donald Sterling to sell his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers due to some untoward comments made in private. But Jimmy Dolan nixed a longtime Knicks fan in the arena of public opinion.
Dolan showed his contempt of longtime loyal fans in his bilious bloviation by put them in their place unjustifiable character smears. What a small man with horrible P.R. skills! What does that say about the man? With Dolan in charge, is that the sort of franchise you would want to spend your time and treasure?
In the land of the free, people should have the right to say what they want (as long as it is true) even if they sound idiotic. A league should not enforce political correctness as it did in taking the reins from Donald Sterling. That being said, that does not mean that fans do not have any sway.
The NBA is holding its All Star Game on February 15th and guess who's hosting it? New York City (Brooklyn) where Jimmy Dolan urges disappointed Knicks fans to cheer.
Dean Smith, the coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels from 1961 to 1997, died on February 7th, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the age of 83. Smith had been suffering from advanced dementia for years.
Dean Smith retired with 879 wins under his belt with the 9th highest winning percentage in college basketball (77.6%). During his tenure as the head coach of the Tar Heels, Smith's teams appeared in 11 NCAA Final Four games and won two national championships in 1982 and 1993. While the recent exposure of the Tar Heel Paper Courses scandal took away some of the luster from the 1993 championship, Smith's motto about mistakes offers a positive way forward.
Although Dean Smith did not have a set coaching style, his Tar Heel teams tended to feature a fast break half court offense that stressed passing along with a trapping defense that created turnovers and easy baskets. Smith's coaching popularized the "tired signal" of a raised fist, huddles before free throws, having point guards call out set defenses. Dean Smith innovated several defensive sets, including the point zone, double teaming the screen and roll and the run and jump.
Dean Smith was also known for employing the Four Corners Offense, which a team with a lead stalled. The NCAA instituted a shot clock in 1985 to speed up play and discourage ball control offense thereby foiling the Four Corners Offense.
Tar Heels and college hoops fans will mourn the passing of Dean Smith.
Wonder if the First Lady of the Outdoors who stars in the Sportsman's Channel's show "Amazing America with Sarah Palin" is suggesting politically hunting for RINOs with deflated balls.
After the 2015 Academy Awards nominations did not include any nods for black actors and actresses, the Reverend Al Sharpton grabbed headlines which racially acrimonious analogies about the Oscars.
As Americans celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, we should remember that the Civil Rights movement sought to allow the equality of opportunity not of achievement.
However, in the run up to the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers, Socialist Alternative Councilwoman Kshama Sawant railed against the restrictiveness nature of Seattle Seahawk season tickets preventing many unprivileged WeHawk fans from seeing the game in person.
Sawart organized some street theater to illustrate the divide between the Seahawk fans have and have nots with a "13th Man Initiative". The socialist rally on Capitol Hill gathered hundreds of blue and lime clad workers chanting "No justice, no beast". During their march to Pioneer Square, protesters carried signs reading "We are the 13" and "12th Man, aka Bequeathed Mode".
“With 3 million people in the Seattle metro area, that’s about 44 people
per seat. After this weekend, the Hawks will have
played 10 home games, or 41 quarters (remember the overtime versus the
Broncos). If you subtract infants and Sounders fans, that comes out
almost perfectly to one quarter per person."
It is a pity that rabble rousers and progressive political animals continue to use sports as a platform for forcing their politics into sports rather than allowing the teams to build unity among the community. Alas the 13th man initiative is the odd men as the are people who can not root for their team without playing victim (for not having tickets), "raising consciences" and politically dividing the Seahawks fan base.
During Charlie Day's appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the star of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", he shared a story about Major League Baseball's player Wade Bogg's propensity for drinking beer.
With a reputation like that, it's no wonder Boggs was depicted as being knocked out at Moe's Bar on the Simpsons for fisticuffs with Barney Gumble over who was the greatest British Prime Minister.
Stuart Scott, the longtime ESPN personality, succumbed to cancer at age 49. Scott was part of the ESPN2 launch in 1993 in order to bring in younger audiences. Scott incorporated pop-culture and hip hop catchphrases into his reportage. Scott popularized the utterance: "Booyah". He also coined some colorful metaphors like: "He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin' him to school" and "As cool as the other side of the pillow".
President Barack Obama interrupted his 17 day vacation in order to pay tribute to Stuart Scott's passing. The First Fan's expression of condolences seem sincere, especially since Mr. Obama gets his morning news from watching ESPN.
