SFA goes on strike: Attendance for NY v Boston, 324

Image via WikipediaI was listening to sports radio this morning as they were discussion the NFL Owners Association meeting to be held this weekend.  It was interesting to hear the analysis on what the owners were going to be discussing and then the follow up on what it would take to save the 2011 NFL season.  As a fan, you ultimately want the game to be played as always, but you end up taking sides and wanting one side to win or the other side to give in so we can play football.

One of the issues being discussed is the 18 week season.  This players don't like this because it leads to more fatigue, more injuries, and frankly, more work for them.  The owners like this because it allows them to charge full price for two more games without fans getting upset with having to pay for two more pre-season games.  Then I thought:  What would the fans want?  I imagine fans would want two more weeks of regular season football!!  But who is representing the fans?  Nobody!!!

Hence the creation of the Sports Fans Association!  This will be union of fans across America that will form a governing body, vote on specific rules and issues, and if things don't go our way, we will STRIKE!!  Can you imagine how quickly we would get owners and NFL players to agree on a specific deal or compromise if 0 fans attended the next big game?  Can you imagine going online and voting for whether you wanted replay on foul balls in baseball?  We could get specific rules in the sports changed, request pricing caps on tickets, or really start affecting the game in almost anyway we wanted.  I know there would be negotiation of sorts, but if it were to take off, the SFA would have more power that both the Overpaid Players Associations and the Greedy Owners Clubs.  

Anyone not think this is the best idea ever?  I think I might have to wright to Bill Simmons on this to see if he'll be NBA chair for me.  And once we figure out American sports, we can get something going for the World Cup and get something done about the excessive crying and horrible officiating.  We've got 4 years before the next one, let's get going.

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Traffic is Infuriating

Image via WikipediaI just can't imagine a bigger waste of time than sitting in traffic.  And this is a waste of time that spans socio-economic status, race, gender, and country of residence.  I just can't believe a world as advanced as ours isn't doing a better job of solving this problem.
Here's what I would do if someone handed me $50 million dollars tomorrow (give me a call).  Find an urban area with a large commuting population (almost any urban area).    Build a single PRT line from a remote area into the downtown of the urban area.  This line would consist of parking lots around stations every 10 or 20 miles.  A commuter could get into a vehicle at any of the stations and ride directly to the downtown (or other stations) at speeds of no less than 100 mph and possibly up to 200 mph with zero stops in transit.  Hopefully there would be a city/area that would donate at least some of the land to the cause.
Once this initial line is established and people realize the potential for this kind of system, we could expand these initial stops to other area stops.  The eventual goal would be to have a stop within .25 of a mile of all residences, or even a personal stop at each house/business.

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I am Happier than Tiger Woods

Image by Richard Carter via FlickrFor all my complaints and the difficulties in my life, all I have to say is that I am happier than Tiger Woods right now.

Phew, 5 Americans survived a plane Crash!!

Image via Wikipedia

There's a story out of Columbia today where a plane crashed and of the 130 passengers, only 1 died.  While this is generally a good story with a favorable outcome, it really bothers me that the media has to point out the nationalities of the people on the plane.  "130 other people aboard, including at least five American citizens."  I just don't see why that is important.  Would it be a bigger story if they were all American citizens?  Why are American lives more important than lives of the other 125 people on the plane?

This happens with a lot of disasters that are reported by the media.  Maybe the problem isn't with the media, maybe we as a people actually DO value American lives more than other lives.  Do other countries have this same kind of bias for their people?  

The other time this comes up and annoys me is when War breaks out somewhere.  One of the big things that's reported on is how the U.S. is sending war ships and military personnel to evacuate Americans.  I can understand that if someone is working for the U.S. in that country that we may have some kind of obligation to ensure their safety, but if someone's there voluntarily outside of government business, why should we use our resources to save them?  What about the people who live in that country, do they not deserve to be saved?

In the end, I believe this worlds problems with war, immigration, and racism all stem from the fact that we consider "our own people" to be more important than "them".  Those people who were lucky enough to be born within an arbitrary political boundary, regardless of any merit they may have, are special, protected, and god forbid they get killed in an airplane crash.  I wish the people of this world could open their eyes and see how exactly the same people in other countries are to you.  The last part that amazes me is how proud our country is for the civil rights movement that occurred here.  We're so just, and good, and we treat everyone like equals.  The shame is that for some reason, an imaginary line at our border makes it okay for us to forget the lessons of the civil rights movement and hang on to a "we're better than them" mentality that does nobody any good.

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