(Not) Missing Super Bowl 50

I did not watch the Super Bowl this year, primarily because I am 10 hours ahead of California time, and I had two important appointments the next day.  I needed the sleep more than the thrill. I could have gone over to a local establishment in my town, frequented by a largely Anglo crowd and possessing a large screen TV; I understand from acquaintances who did attend the all-nighter there that it was pretty good as far as Super Bowls go.  On account of the local alcoholic beverage control regulations, there were limitations on the service of intoxicating drinks during gametime hours.

I am not a fan of Lady Gaga, but, to her great credit, she at least did the National Anthem justice; unlike Beyonce, who insulted true Americans (and who was never a candidate for my adulation).  Quite frankly, I am more interested in the athletic aspect of the Super Bowl than in the show business aspects of the pre-game and half-time entertainment (though athletics has long morphed into show biz, including and especially at the Super Bowl.  The Romans had their Bread and Circuses, we have the Super Bowl and similar events).

The best football game I ever watched was back in the late 1970's, while I was in Georgia on business.  It was between two high school teams, and devoid of the hype and show production typical of major athletic events today.  Everyone on the field was there to play football, and the half-time show was just the respective schools' marching bands, who were there to play patriotic music.

Those were the days.

Remember Munich

Now that I will soon be in Israel for a while, I am paying even more attention to the Israeli news stories (not that I didn't pay much attention to them before).  And now that we will be leaving in a little more than 2 weeks, I'm quite preoccupied with all kinds of things.

So this posting will be limited to a short comment.  A question I have not yet seen or heard asked.

As is well known, the so-called Palestinian Authority's soccer league has just gotten a slap in the toochas in their ill-fated efforts to have FIFA ban Israel from international match play.  The dynamics of this have been alluded to elsewhere, and will not be rehashed here,

My question:  Aren't the Palis the ones who have actually committed acts of deadly terrorism, victim section based upon ethnicity, at international athletic events?  And by their own standards as whined to FIFA, shouldn't they be excluded from ALL international athletic events?

Out of Their League

I really shouldn't be writing this post because I have a whole load of papers to grade, and lots of other things to do tomorrow (my wife and I have already accepted the fact that our respective time constraints will preclude our attendance at a party to celebrate the engagement of a daughter of some good friends of ours). I have spent the past few hours grading assignments, and am not quite yet halfway finished.

But I am somewhat peeved, not so much by the late submission just e-mailed to me by one of my students, but by his attitude. He is attending college on an athletic scholarship, and seems to think that the demands on his schedule from athletic activities give him an automatic exemption from deadlines for submitting assignments.

I myself was a high school athlete, and appreciate quite well the positive influence athletics can have on a person's development. I am quite willing to make reasonable schedule accommodations even as I hold the jock students to the same standards as everyone else. And I certainly am pleased whenever my jock students win over their opposition.

But people who attend college (especially a college such as the one where I teach, which is heavily subsidized by public tax monies) should be there to pursue their educations.

I have had some students who played various sports, but who were also mindful of their academic responsibilities. These students approached me at the beginning of the semester and apprised me of their athletic obligations, and, where necessary, arrangements were made to accommodate the scheduling conflicts that inevitably arose. And those responsible and conscientious student-athletes used faxes and/or e-mails to submit their assignments timely when they were out of town to play their opposing teams. Some of them even pulled "A" grades in my courses.

This student(?) who now is submitting his assignments late while whining about his jock schedule is not in their league as far as I am concerned. Perhaps what makes his attitude all the more galling is that he has already taken a prior course of mine, and should by now know what my rules are and how I enforce them. He will be graded according to my well-publicized standards. Whether that grade is "A" or "F" or anything betwixt and between depends entirely upon him.

And I also have to wonder about what ever became of the real scholar-athlete. Senator Bill Bradley and Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White are not the only role models in that regard. My high school Biology teacher (advanced "Blue" version) was a working-class family's son who got out of Johnstown by going to college on a jock scholarship, and who was the school's football coach. One of his assistant coaches was a Math teacher whose courses I took for two years, who also escaped Johnstown via the jock scholarship route. A former business partner of mine, who has a postgraduate degree, was a national collegiate athletic champion and an Olympic Team alternate. Several teammates of mine from high school have gone into professions such as Medicine, Law and Dentistry.

As matters currently stand, this aforementioned student of mine is not going to be in their league any time soon.

Buying the Election only if He Wins

In 1898, the City of New York was formed from five counties, to wit, Richmond, Bronx, New York (Manhattan) Queens and Kings (Brooklyn). The eastern towns in Queens were loath to go along with the deal, so, following approval by the New York State Legislature, they broke off and became Nassau County.

Today, Nassau County is one of the wealthiest in the United States. It is also one of the most inefficiently run. So inefficiently, that in 2000, the New York State Legislature, itself no paragon of governmental efficiency, created the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority ("NIFA") as a nanny to oversee the County. NIFA has activated its nanny role by declaring a "control period," and now, the County government needs NIFA's approval when it decides how many sheets of toilet paper to tear off to wipe its toochas.

Nassau County owns a structure known as the Nassau Coliseum, which is, among other things, the home ice rink of the New York Islanders, and also a venue for various entertainment events and shows. But the Coliseum has, since its opening in 1972, deteriorated. There is no serious question that a complete rebuild would be more cost-effective than a massive large scale repair.

Charles Wang, the owner of the Islanders, has threatened to move the Islanders away from Long Island unless the Coliseum is rebuilt.

So now, the County proposes to float bonds for $200 Million to finance not only a new Coliseum, but also a major league ballpark. Such a bond issue must be approved by the voters, and also by NIFA. The electoral process for the vote would cost somewhere between $800,000 and $1,200,000.

Wang has said that he would reimburse the County for the cost of the election -- provided that the bond issue is approved by the voters.

I believe that the whole system of professional athletics is bass-ackward. I do not per se oppose professional athletics, but do not believe that the taxpayers should subsidize the business. This is particularly so in Nassau County, whose government has already demonstrated its fiscal incompetence.

Moreover, athletics at the high school level has similarly gotten to be too much of a burden on the taxpaying populace [Disclosure: I was a varsity letterman in high school.].

If the purpose of organized athletics at the high school level is to develop character of the athletes, then the high school teams do not need all of the expensive high end accoutrements which have become the norm. If, on the other hand, the purpose of organized athletics at the high school level is to develop professional athletes, then the big league professional athletes should subsidize the high schools' athletic budgets.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wang's conditional offer is, in my book, the equivalent of tendering a bribe.