I am not one of those people that believes in reverse discrimination, and that old white males are struggling for equality in a pitiless world run by women and people of color. (Affirmative action is a bad idea, but a necessary one to counteract a worse one, segregation and institutionalized povertization of the black underclass.) So […]
Author Archives | Otherwise
The NBA will find a way to make sure the Pacers lose
Every sports organization believes in something. For baseball, it’s tradition. For the NFL, it’s parity. The NBA believes in Major. Media. Markets. Now there’s some logic in this. Pro basketball is a niche sport played by minorities and Europeans, making it an intrinsically harder sell than baseball or football. Without a solid position in major markets, they’d […]
Tim Brando is an embarrassment to old white males everywhere
Tim Brando, the sportscaster, tweeted this yesterday. Tim Brando ✔@TimBrando @CallMeG_Unit Simple Being a a Christian White male over 50 that’s raised a family means nothing in today’s culture. The sad truth. Period. He got the most flak for arguing that Collins isn’t a hero. Obviously, he feels disrespected and undervalued. But why? Tim graduated with […]
Does Tim Tebow get a free pass because he’s a moron?
In the space of 24 hours, we’ve now heard three sports reporters finally come out and call Tebow stupid. There was the article yesterday that said that he was so dyslexic and ADD he couldn’t keep the letter-number sequence straight between leaving the huddle and reaching the line. Now dyslexia is one of those words […]
If Chip Kelly was a student-athlete, he’d be out of a job
Sigh, if there’s a greater hypocrisy in America than the college sports megapoly, it’s hard to know what it is. Whether it’s the fiction that great athletic ability means you have the ability to succeed in college or that tuition is fair payment for starring in a multi-billion dollar enterprise and risking a career ending […]
It’s time baseball players were allowed to carry guns on the field
Yesterday, the second best pitcher on the LA Dodgers, Zack Greinke, had his collarbone broken by an out-of-control Carlos Quentin. If Greinke had only had a right to carry a gun in the workplace, this all could have been avoided. He was denied that right because of an aggressive anti-Second Amendment stance by Major League Baseball. Zack Greinke, who […]
Guns, knives, pit bulls and the new Gallup poll
This morning I walked past a man about my age, sixty, who was wearing camouflage and a fatigue-style cap. He had two Bowie knives on his belt and was walking a ferocious-looking pit bull that had to weigh eighty pounds. My immediate thought was, “Who’s this guy and what’s he afraid of?” Who knows? Maybe […]
The La Jolla Canyon Run: down and out in the Malibu hills
I am flying across America to participate in a race that isn’t. The race is the La Jolla Canyon Run—31 miles of trails, up 5000 feet of elevation gain. It’s traditionally held in early March in the Santa Monica Mountains just north of Malibu. This year it was cancelled because the organizers got crossways with […]
Coming out as a male lesbian
Last week I flew to California. A middle-aged lesbian couple disembarked ahead of me. Looking at them, I suddenly realized we were dressed exactly alike—tee shirt, Patagonia fleece, baggy Levi’s, Merrill slip ons with a backpack (complete with carabiners) and a ball cap. When I remarked on this to my son, he shrugged, “This is […]
Postcard from Edge of the Earth: Tucson
We are a family that thinks “relaxing vacation” is an oxymoron. We have climbed mountains, kayaked, cycled and scuba dived our way around the world. Even though we’re no longer the youngest and strongest on these tours, my wife and I were pretty confident this year when her coach convinced us to sign up for […]
Ben Carson: the GOP’s great black hope
It’s logical in its own crazy racist way. The Democrats won the White House with a black candidate, so the GOP has decided they need their own black candidate. And now the GOP has the next great black hope. It’s a forum that isn’t known for making news – so Dr. Ben Carson says the […]
Rand Paul states strong case for hereditary nature of insanity
On one hand, you have to admire the Paul family, Ron and Rand. They’re smart, principled and courageous, willing to take unpopular stands on politically dangerous positions like legalizing marijuana or repealing opposing portions of the Civil Rights Act or getting rid of Homeland Security. It’s foul to suggest repealing gutting the Civil Rights Act, […]
ArtsWeek: Dinosaurs, dodo birds, books and novelists
After my first novel was published, I was invited to be on a panel at writing convention. In response to a question, I said that books and novels were endangered species. I was about to say the very act of reading might be as well, but I didn’t get to, because at that point the […]
Paterno empire strikes back
Now this: Sue Paterno, the widow of late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, has emailed a letter to hundreds of former Nittany Lions players informing them that a report, commissioned by the family in response to the Freeh report that followed the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case, will be released Sunday. The Freeh […]
Karl Rove vs. the Tea Party: heads progressives win, tails conservatives lose
Whee! Now this is fun. Here’s a quote from a letter from two dozen conservative leaders reported in an article by Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times. “You obviously mean to have a war with conservatives and the Tea Party,” the letter said. “Let it start here.” Nice allusion to Lexington and Concord there, […]
Why do we care about PEDs?
Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports is one of the smartest and most insightful sportswriters around. Today he wrote: Perhaps nothing upsets baseball fans and executives more than the double-standard reactions to PED use in football. The NFL is awash in this stuff, yet fans and media mostly shrug it off. In baseball every suspension is […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
- Saturday Video Roundup: “Imagine the Band,” by John Lennon and Wings
- The Rest is Noise (6)—Descent into the Maelstrom
- I hate handguns, but I have still considered owning one
- Redneck jokes are racist
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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Samuel Smith: One more thing. Re: Organizing for Action and othe…
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wufnik: I tend to agree. There are a couple of other thing…
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Jim Booth: May be much to what you say, here, Wuf. Think abou…
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Frank Dilatush: Interesting Sam, I thought I spoke _directly_ to t…
