As a SPORTS fan, let me chime in to say, an NFL Lockout or Strike would not be viable option. For one the team owners, players, and NFL in general are already OVERPAID. The economy could not absorb any further raises in revenue for these groups. I agree that extra games are nothing more than a money grab. But if they add more games where will it end. The NBA season already overlaps into the BASEBALL season. Football overlaps into the BASEBALL season. All seasons overlap. I was a huge Baseball fan. I watched the Chicago Cubs every afternoon on the Superstation WGN, I watched the Atlanta Braves whenever the CUBS weren’t on, and sometimes, I hate to admit this I sat up a second TV so I could watch when they were on at the same time. The BASEBALL STRIKE of 1994-1995 ended that streak. I have watched only one full game (CUBS) since then. I have only been to our local minor league teams game once. Before the strike it would be nothing to go a couple of times a week. I even got to know and sat with some of the players families. Yes I am only one person. But I have noticed many of my friends and acquaintances have had a similar reaction. This was the reason McQwire was in my opinion pushed along with other player to use steroids, Viewership hit such a low level MLB had to do something to grab the public’s attention. What better way than to use ‘livelier balls” and “super hitters”. Do I blame the players involved. Yes it was their choice. However, in their defense I think they were coerced in this move by MLB to regain interest in their industry. Now let us look at the NBA Lockout of 1998-1999. I again lost all interest in NBA. I had been a NBA fan an ABA fan. (I still prefer the old ABA). But I haven’t paid to see a game since the LOCKOUT. I don’t watch it on TV. I occasionally switch over during a commercial break to check the score of our local NBA team, just to get the score. But the NBA had to do the same thing as BASEBALL. To generate interest they had to create a SUPERPLAYER. A one time good player suddenly became a SUPERPLAYER, when he was no longer held to the rules. Let’s face how many people do you know can dunk the ball in a step and a jump from the 1o second line, or shove a player and get to shoot free throws. When some players got ejected from the game for an action, and he was free to do the same thing without any penalty. Yes their were more than one. But (I know) you who aren’t savvy on real basketball, will go up in arms. But the player I’m referencing is Michael Jordan. I’m not saying he wasn’t a good, maybe even better than average player before the lockout. But if you watch after the lockout you will see what I say is true. NBA marketing, just like the MLB got behind one player. Marketing is everything. You could take anything and with the proper marketing turn it into a SUPER WHATEVER. Who or What would be the hook to draw back fans if the the NFL does not play. That Is How I See It. Views: 140
Category: NEWS
Slam Dunk?
I recently read an article about wondering how many more points would Shaq have made if they didn’t have a 3 sec lane violation as they did in Wilt Chamberlain’s day. Excuse me. They did have the 3 sec lane violation, however in his day they actually called it. The topic of the day is the DUNK. The DUNK is in reality is an illegal move. Goal tending is contact with the ball when the ball is above the rim and has the possibility of entering the basket. The way it is interpreted in todays games. It is an advantage given to the offensive team. They are allowed to actually put their hands in the extended cylinder above the rim, and sometimes even inside the rim. However the defense is not allowed this discretion. Very unfair ruling. You are essentially handicapping the defense with this interpretation,. Here is the thing. With the height of the players today, many can stand flat footed and touch the rim. It takes very little skill to be able to be above the rim. I believe if they want to keep allowing this infraction, Dunks should only count 1/2 point. Or allow 1 point for DUNKS, 2 points for free throws, 3 points, field goals and 4 points beyond the arc. This would reward the difficulty level of the shot. Also defenders should be allowed to put their hands inside the cylinder area. I know many of you find the DUNK exciting. Why I’ll never know. There is no skill involved, unless you are a Spud Webb. Be honest with yourself. If you can reach the rim standing flat footed, isn’t that about the same thing as you standing over your trash can and dropping a wadded up piece of paper in. As for me. Raise the Rim. they have made so many changes in the rules already. No jump ball on tie ups, you can push and touch opposing players, (for those of you who are unaware Basketball was meant as a non-contact sport). Why not raise the rim to 12-14 feet. When basketball was invented the average player was about 5 feet 8 inches. Ten feet was a good height. But now with players 7 feet tall (give or take a a couple of inches), 10 feet is just not an adequate height. That Is How I See It. Views: 107
Illinois to raise Taxes
Illinois has a state sales tax rate of 6.25%. Now Governor Pat Quinn is elated to have had his lame duck law-makers pass a new income tax law. Although I despise the two party system which gives power to people with their own money making agendas. I must state according to the report this hike was passed without one Republican vote for. I must mention the voters in all but 3 counties were against tax hikes. Retroactive to January 1, 2011, Individual taxpayers will face an 67% increase in personal income tax. Business will face a 46% rise. This according to the governor will give $250 million a year to schools. However had they passed a $.98 Cigarette tax increase, schools would have gotten $300 million a year. The money raised was originally earmarked to reduce property taxes. But in the final draft this was dropped. NO property relief. I am sure you smokers will disagree with me here, but I feel if you can afford a nonessential like cigarettes, you can surely well afford a tax on cigarettes. I classify any nonessential a luxury. I suppose the economy and unemployment rate is healthier in ILLINOIS than any other state. Why else would they even consider a non logical move like this. Seems to me more people will have to leave the state, being unable to afford the tax hike. Business can you afford to stay in ILLINOIS. I suppose the Governor knows his State better than I. If you can’t cut spending raise income. Can the individual taxpayer do that? NO. Can business do it? YES! they just raise their prices, which also generates more sales tax money for the state, an covers the tax raise. Thus the business tax raise, is passed on to consumers making their total 113% raise in income tax. Without spending cuts and only raise taxes. Will the Governor bankrupt the state. Or will the tax base be forced to leave the state/ That Is How I See It Views: 118
NASCAR Sponsors
Before I begin let me say I know about competition in the business world. Advertising is what drives the business. But now with NASCAR losing more and more sponsors, shouldn’t their be limits set. Winston was the Corporate Sponsor, (the main sponsor who buys the naming rights), for 32 years, (1971-2003) Winston Cup rang in all NASCAR fans ears. Although they were not allowed to advertise their own product on racing cars, they continued to just use the name WINSTON CUP, still the name was linked with cigarettes. With R.J Reynolds owning the naming rights, non R.J. Reynolds cigarettes were not allowed to sponsor cars. This was before the ban of CIGARETTE advertising from being on Racing vehicles. From 2004 to 2007, Nextel held the rights and a special exception had to be made to allow Cingular/AT&T to run out their contracts. Beginning in 2008 Sprint has been the naming rights owner. What we end up with is in reality advertising censorship. Verizon’s sponsorship is up and will take their approximately $17 million dollar motorsport budget to the IndyCar series. This because of a clause in the naming rights contract that prohibits any company competes with SPRINT from sponsoring a car. I understand that because we are not talking pennies when we talk about naming rights. But let’s look at other sides. CRAFTSMAN sponsored the truck series for years. Yet I saw other wrenches being used. I think I even saw a SnapOn sticker somewhere. Should not all trucks have used CRAFTSMAN tools. No other names like on tool boxes, etc. The Corporate Sponsor’s name is the most prominent name. Just as SPRINT is the prominent name. To tell you the truth I didn’t even realize VERIZON sponsored a car. If the USPS (United States Postal Service) were to become the Title Sponsor, we would lose UPS (United Parcel Service), and FED-X. I know I’ve been all around the subject. Now to the point. In this economy owners are scampering to find sponsors to keep their cars competitive. We have less cars trying to qualify. Less cars means less competition. Less competition means less interest, etc. I can give you an excellent example of sponsorship. I played Softball and coached softball for many years. Our city has a population of about 15,000 people, counting the children. At one time we had; I want to say about 7-9 men’s leagues. Women had 5-7 leagues. Each men’s league had 7-10 teams. Each women’s league had 5-7 teams. We had no problem finding businesses to sponsor our teams. They paid our league fees and bought us shirts. Sometimes they paid for us to play in tournaments. As time went on our league fees went up. Now we are lucky to have 4 men’s league with maybe 5 team each. The ladies are way down too. Now we buy our own shirts with the sponsor’s name on it, and have to pay our individual memberships, and usually make up the difference for team sponsors. Ours is not that we have a Title sponsor. It is the cost has gone up so much, business is down and can no longer afford this little gesture of community involvement. Big business is in the same boat. Why handicap the racing teams by eliminating sponsors. We have what 5-6 Cell phone companies that even if they could afford to sponsor a car is barred from doing so. Less sponsors, less cars, etc. Many of the cars are using multi main sponsors for different races. Can NASCAR afford the loss of revenue? That Is How I See It. PS. Excuse my rambling this is a hard subject for me to put across. Views: 148
Postage Rates
This is a classic. What do you do if you own a business that is dying. Dying due to competition that is offering the same basic service for a much, much lower cost. Many of us use email to correspond with one another. We pay our bills online. We send our Christmas, Birthday cards, etc. Electronically. To stay in business we would make necessary cutbacks. That means like most business we close our less profitable outlets or manufacturing sites. We lay off people. We cut back on benefits. I don’t like any of these things, but that is what is really happening in the business world. The United States Postal Service is still a needed service, not just so much as it once was. I have not seen any of the aforementioned steps being taken. They are saying they will stop Saturday delivery. But they have not said anything about the employee’s pay being cut for the extra day off. We know that the pay scale for postal employees has always been higher than in the private sector. The Benefits better, the retirement better. Good for the employees. As long as the USPS can afford to pay all this, fine. But looking to the long term. If I own an automobile dealership, and I charge more than other dealers of like vehicles. Where would you go? Pay more at my dealership, or go across the street, and buy the lower priced vehicle. What do I do. The USPS says we’ll charge more and make up the difference. Now they don’t have to have as many customers, to maintain their profit. Meanwhile the guy across the street is selling more units at less cost per unit, but is making a larger bottom line profit, due to his increased volume. They even have unknown cost to customers. How many of you have mailed a birthday card only to find out you had insufficient postage. Why? Because the envelope is 1/16 of inch larger than allowed thus incurring a ‘SPECIAL HANDLING” charge. This means the card didn’t fit through the sorter, and someone had to actually pick it up to put in the bag. So is the answer keep raising prices. Or lower the prices and increase volume. That Is How I See It. Views: 109
Bank Fees
It wasn’t enough the common people had to bail the banks out of their pending demise. Now they want the poorest people to pay them more money, by raising fees that will injure the poor and help the rich. What are you talking about? I just read an article that stated Chase bank wants to charge you for having a checking account unless you deposit $500.00 ( or meet certain other requirements). These other requirements were not mentioned. Now I know most of you who live in high cost of living states probably make enough to cover the $500.00. However most people do not, and being able to have $500.00 to put in a checking account is a luxury. In fact these people probably don’t leave their money in a checking account long enough to justify paying anything. Yes I know the bank doesn’t make money when it goes in and back out. But the bank does make money on SAVINGS accounts, loans, etc. Most people will get their auto or home loan from the bank they have a checking or savings account. If all of these people pull their checking accounts and go somewhere else without all of these fees, where does that leave Chase. I recall a time when people knew their local banker. I remember looking for a new truck. The local banker told me to get 20% off the sticker price write a check, let him know how much and it would be in my checking account. Imagine doing that with banks today. I also recall when that same bank was sold to a larger bank. I noticed I was paying more to them to maintain my savings account than I was earning interest. When I mentioned this to a lawyer friend of mine, he checked and found the same thing. Word spread, soon there was a big rush to move saving accounts to a smaller bank. Was it any wonder the checking accounts soon moved too. Along new loans etc. But alas, the big banks bought all the small banks, and the rest is history. They control the economy. The closest thing we have now to a small local bank is Credit Unions. If worse come to worse I guess we could just put all our money in PayPal, and pay our bills that way. What is the answer. The people will have to make that choice and stand behind their choice. (FOR A CHANGE). People I get tired of being pushed around by the Haves. That Is How I See It. Views: 85
College Football Hall of Fame
The National Football Foundation has decided to move the College Football Hall of Fame from South Bend Indiana to Atlanta Georgia. South Bend Indiana. Home of Notre Dame. Can any school match the football tradition held by Notre Dame. Their heritage dates back to 1887. The actual name of the town where they are located is named NOTRE DAME. Bet most of you didn’t know that. A little history and facts about Notre Dame football. Did you know that Notre Dame has a winning percentage of .723. An all time record of 899 wins, 301 losses, and 42 ties. Their postseason record is 14-15. With 11 National Titles, 7 Heisman winners, 96 All Americans. Notre Dame may actually have 13 National Titles, as the 1938 and 1953 are in question, Notre Dame only claims the 11 that are not in doubt. Their record includes 7 undefeated seasons, and 4 single loss seasons. As for the 122 year history (No team in 1890 and 1891), Notre Dame has 103 winning seasons, and only 13 losing seasons. With 48 players and coaches in the Hall of Fame. The BCS even has a “NOTRE DAME” rule. Speaking of Bowl games Notre Dame is in another one this year looking to make them 15-15 in bowl games. Who can ever forget the Knute Rockne speech “…win one for the gipper….” Why would you want to move the College Hall of Fame from such a tradition laden area. Surprise “MONEY” that’s all it could be. I don’t know as a fact. But I figure Atlanta made it monetarily well worth the move. Oh well why fight it MONEY really does talk and those without it walk. That Is How I See It. Views: 136
Gas Prices
Try as we might, the consumer can never figure when to buy gasoline. I play this game every week. Do I fill up Monday or wait for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or is Sunday going to give me the best price. Whatever day I pick I the price will go down the next day. But I have an SUV, a Pickup truck. a sports car, and a motorcycle. (Don’t misunderstand my truck is 23 years old, My SUV is 16, my sports car was a gift for me to fix, and occupy my time, and the motorcycle was given to me by a friend who at age 77 decided it was time to quit riding). So I buy gas on one day then go back the next with the other 3 vehicles. (I at least can save a little money on 3 out of 4 vehicles). The gas companies have conspired to raise the price of gas to $3.00 a gallon ever since they reached $2.00. They drove to get the price to $2.00 ever since they attained $1.00. They always have an excuse. We didn’t produce enough gas. Crude oil prices are up. (which I feel they control to an extent). We had an oil spill. The demand for gas is too high. The gas demand is too low. And my favorite. It’s a Holiday. Whatever other reason they can think of. It is always “NOT MY FAULT” with them. A year or two ago our government was saying “we must curb our driving habits to cut down on gas consumption. Then when they realized the loss of tax revenue from our driving less,; using less gas. They wanted to raise our gas tax if we didn’t pick up our usage. We are in a catch 22. Not all us are able to go out and buy the electric cars that government is pushing. (They really don’t look that safe to me.) For city driving they may be okay, For those of us who live in a rural area and have to drive 50 plus miles to reach a city big enough to support charging stations. Retirees? Sometime they purchase one last car as they retire, knowing they can’t afford new car payments, taxes, plate fees, and insurance on a new car. Gasoline companies your days are numbered keep raising prices and you force people to switch to electric cars, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds. We once had steam cars and they could get us from point A to point B quite effectively. Horses worked pretty good for a long time. I could see a time when mini cities will spring up with all the things people will need can be shopped, bought and delivered to my house. The bygone (in some areas) trolley car can be revived to take people to anywhere they want within the mini city. That Is How I See It. Views: 137
NFL Tuesday Night Football
What is the NFL thinking? Football was created to play outside, in all kind of weather. But the NFL decided to postpone the Eagles Vs Viking game until Tuesday. This really ticks me off. I was looking forward to a real old fashion football game for a change. I really don’t like to watch the indoor games. Now I am not blaming the players. I’m sure they would have played if they were the ones to allowed to make the decision. But the NFL is in this protect the players mode right now, and they were probably thinking of the players. Maybe not. Maybe only that they may not sell out all the seats. That makes more sense, as they are so revenue conscious. I’ll bet the Lombardi led Packers were laughing their butts off about this call. When the NFL does things like this I think it would serve them right if everyone who had tickets for the SUNDAY game, asked for refunds. Some of these people have real jobs and may not be able to make an UNPLANNED Tuesday Night Football game. Will the Vikings be able to make the trek to Philadelphia again, or were they able to afford a stay in hotels. I think the fans should revolt and no one show up Tuesday. Wouldn’t that be a sight a game with only the Team members and vendors in the arena. I would love to see this. It would send a message to the NFL that without the FANS, they are out of business, and make them rethink the high cost of attendance. BOYCOTT Tuesday Night Football!!! One last thing regarding the Colts game Sunday. I know the media people say Manning’s slide was a really smart move. Baloney! He had an easy touchdown. just a step or two more. There would be no way Oakland could score enough points to win. I realize the Colts have had an injury prone season. But can we forget last year when they threw away a perfect season to protect players. I think the Colts are getting SOFT. If you are getting the money they are getting paid to put on a show. LET US HAVE A SHOW! BOYCOTT TUESDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!!! That Is How I See It. Views: 107
Social Security Receipients to Bear More Burden
I hate repeating topics but according to an article I just read, the Federal Government has decided that The retired people should pay more of the deficit. Now People have paid into this fund for more years than they will probably be receiving benefits. As I noted before The elderly have not received and will not receive a raise now for 2 years. Not only does this affect their current costs. Believe it or not every thing has gone up in cost while the Government denies a Cost of Living. Food, Utilities, Food, Gasoline, what has not gone up. That makes them paying for the Bailout. But two years without a raise goes deeper. An example of this would be…. If you are offered a 10% raise today and a 10% raise in 6 months. Or a 20% raise in a year. Which would give you the best deal? Let’s say you are making $10 an hour now. You get a 10% raise today. You are now making $11 an hour that on a 40 hour week equals $40 extra a week. take that time 26 weeks and you have made $1040.00 during the 6 months. You get your second 10% after that 1st 6 month period. Only now instead of a $1 an hour raise you will get a $1.10 raise now you are making $12.10 and hour a raise for that year of $2.10 an hour. Say you selected the 20% raise after the year. You have lost that $1040 from the 1st 6 months, and you are only going to get a $2 raise taking you to $12 an hour. In other the no raise for 2 years is carried on forever even if you get a raise the third year because it will be based on the $10 you have been making. Therefore you are still making less. I hope you understand my analogy. Never mind the Federal Government has for years, decades actually, loaned at no interest to other government agencies who have never paid principal or interest back into the Social Security coffers. They want to raise the age for full benefits to 69. Use a less generous cost of living adjustment. (Less than a Zero adjustment used now. Does this mean the elderly will have to start paying the government a cost of living adjustment). They want to double the gasoline tax to 15 cents a gallon. Also reduce corporate income tax by 8%, and stop taxing overseas profits of U.S. based multinational corporations. I think what President Obama’s gang wants is to eliminate the elderly and/0r make them dependent upon their children. After all they are filthy rich and plan to stay that way and take care of their corporate buddies. That Is How I See It. Views: 114
