The SoapBoxers

I’ve been working on my first novel for a few years now.  I got the first draft to about 10,000 (not terribly long) before deciding to completely re-baseline.  It’s hard to basically throw that work in the trash, but when I wrote it, I was basically trying to get some words down, knowing that I’d be heavily revising.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve had a lot of irons in my literary fire.  Recently, I’ve decided to shelve many of these ideas in order to work on the novel.  Here are some of the challenges I’ve been facing.

Finding time to write

With a 5 year old and a 2 year old in the house, much of my “free time” is already spoken for.  Simply finding a spare 20-30 minutes each day to write can be quite a challenge.  NaNoWriMo is looming in November.  Although I don’t plan to birth and develop and entire novel during the month, I am aiming to make significant progress on my novel during the month.  My goal is to add 25,000 words in November.  That’s a relatively modest word count compared to NaNoWriMo winners, but it would push me to the point of being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Baseball winds down around the same time, which will remove one competitor for my time.

Slow down

I’ve always had a tendency to race ahead in my story telling, focusing almost solely on the action.  I’d rather write a kill scene than anything else.  It’s always been difficult for me to spend any time describing the scenes or daily life.  Lately, I’ve been doing a better job of this, trying to get inside the heads of characters and looking around to see what they see and listening to hear what they hear.  Essentially, I have to tell the story telling part of my brain to pause while I stop and smell the roses (and describe them for you).

Exploring my feminine side

Although I’ve had strong female characters in many of my stories, my novel is my first longer work to have a female driving the plot forward (although there will be shifting perspectives in the book).  I have to take care in how I develop the role of Marina, a female detective.  As a homicide detective, I want her to be strong, but not over-the-top like Dirty Harry.  While I can write from a male point of view fairly easily, I actually need to put some thought into how my female characters act.  Marina is going to have to deal with situations that her partner Jake won’t ever encounter – and I need to make sure she handles them in a way that makes sense to my female readers.  Then there’s the matter of female clothing, accessories and makeup.  Dresses, skirts, blouses, stilettos, flats, mules, foundation, blush … Just getting a female character dressed and out the door in the morning can be a job unto itself.

How many of you are working on a novel?  What are some of the challenges you are facing?

This week is the Republican National Convention.  Anger seems to be the word of the week so far.  The convention got off to a rocky start when hurricane Isaac threatened Florida, forcing a very abbreviated first day session that lasted exactly two minutes.  Oddly, hurricanes also affected the 2004 and 2008 conventions.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul has always had very devoted supporters.  The average depth of support among his fans is certainly greater than that of any other candidate.  The only probably is that a “eh, I like the guy” vote counts just as much as a “I’d die for the guy” vote.  Paul has never been able to muster a strong breadth of support – and that’s what really matters.

While Paul was basically a non-factor, his supporters have claimed that while he didn’t win, this campaign was the start of a revolution, and that the Ron Paul 2012 campaign would set policy within the Republican party for the next generation, on par with Ronald Reagan.  Really?  A fringe candidate with support of a small minority of party members is on par with a two term president?  If Romney wins the presidency, I’d expect the GOP to close ranks behind him a bit and at least shift somewhat toward him. 

Paul supporters did cause at least one change, though.  State delegates will now be bound by the results of the state’s primaries and caucuses.  Paul’s support had been able to lobby to become delegates, such that their representation as delegation was far out of proportion with the percentage of votes Paul had received in primaries and caucuses.  In other words, they were essentially disenfranchising the voters by making the election results irrelevant.

The platform

The Republican platform is far to the right of where Mitt Romney stands.  It has been characterized as “activist written”.  The platform advocates making English the official language, banning all abortions (even in case of rape), and changing medicare to a voucher-based system.  So, basically, the platform alienates legal immigrants, women, and senior citizens.  Prominent Republicans such as John Boehner and Jeb Bush have spoken out against the platform.

I’d expect to hear the Romney/Ryan commercials tout their own platform, while essentially ignoring the official Republican platform.  There is a link to Romney’s plan at the bottom of this article – it’s a free Kindle download. 

It will be interesting to see what role the platform could play in congressional races, however.    A Democratic candidate could push an opponent to either embrace the platform (alienating independents and affected groups) or reject it (possible reducing voter turnout among their base).

This is how we feed the animals

One of the lowlights from the convention were two partygoers who threw nuts at an African-American CNN cameraman, saying “this is how we feed the animals.”  The two attendees were immediately removed by police.  I realize that a large amount of alcoholic beverages are probably consumed by convention attendees, but is it asking too much to remain civil?

The convention released a statement condemning the acts.  I’m sure that the vast majority of Republicans would condemn this behavior as well.

The national race

I always laugh when I hear people talking about the national polling number.  It’s almost as if they believe there is a national election for president.  That’s not really the case.  We operate on the Chuck E Cheese model.  There are 51 presidential elections.  The winner of each elections get a certain number of tokens.  If you get 270 tokens, you can trade them in for the big prize.

You can safely ignore the national polling numbers and the numbers from about 3/4 of the states.  A handful of battleground states are the only ones that really matter.
 

This is based loosely on the experience of Baseball Prospectus writer/podcaster/managing partner Kevin Goldstein.  He became fascinated with his weird neighbors, who were constantly throwing out mattresses on trash day – until they were evicted today.  Nobody ever saw mattresses coming in, but they always saw them on the curb waiting for the garbage truck.

If you’re a baseball fan and you haven’t checked out the Baseball Prospectus site, take a moment to visit.  it’s a great site.  And if you enjoy your baseball information with a heavy dose of pop culture, sarcasm, and non-baseball related content, be sure to check out the Up and In podcast, which often weighs in at a hefty 2+ hours.

“Another mattress!” Kevin exclaimed.

“How many mattresses is that?” Jason asked, half an internet away in Brooklyn.

“It has to be like ten?  They’ve put one out for the trash almost weekly for the past three months.  What are they doing that causes them to throw away that many mattresses?”

“It could be a brothel,” replied Jason helpfully.  “You know, the average life span of a mattress is probably based on an average of eight hours of use per night, with the assumption that most of the time will be spent sleeping.  If they’ve got a happening brothel, they might be keeping those beds active 24 hours per day.  All that rolling around and groping is probably pretty hard on the springs.”

“I think I’d notice the traffic if there was a brothel next door.”

“Maybe there’s underground parking with direct access to the inside.  Valet parking, maybe – guys with the funny little hats.”

“It’s DeKalb, Jason.  There’s not an underground parking deck with valet parking.”

“Maybe left over from the underground railroad.”

“It’s probably something mundane.  They’re probably a distributor for some knockoff mattress company, and it’s cheaper to just dump the defective mattresses on the curb.”

“That’s probably it,” Jason agreed.  “They’re probably selling Snerta and Stealy mattresses on the internet.  Wonder if they can use one of those fixed rate boxes from the postal service?”

Kevin rolled his eyes, but it was lost on Jason and the listeners.  Time to shift the conversation back to baseball.

The stocky man turned his head and yelled int the back room.  “Hey, Chas.  Come listen to this.”

The old man grumbled, but pulled back the lever on the recliner and slowly stood up.  “This had better be good, Harris,” he said and he ambled toward the front room.

Harris was busy doing something with the newfangled computer.  As Chas sat down, Harris hit a button and the computer began to talk.

At the end of the segment, Harris hit a button to stop the audio.

“Do you think it’s him?”

“Certainly sounds like him.  He always did go through mattresses as often as some people change underwear.  That massive bulk coupled with the insomnia – that man could demolish a new mattress in a few days.”

“What next?” asked Harris.

“We’re off to DeKalb.  Grab an umbrella and your Glock.”
 

 

And So It Begins…

Colgate 1895 college football team (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Thursday with a couple of games to kick-off the season. While most of the country will be focused on watching the big opening weekend match up of Alabama and Michigan, (Alabama coincidentally is a 14 point favorite over Big Blue) Thursday night officially starts the season. 9 games top the slate of action, with Ball State and Eastern Michigan likely providing the closes match up, at least on paper.

Play Like A Champion Today

Saturday morning you can awaken early (real early if you are on the left coast) and watch Notre Dame take on Navy from Dublin, Ireland. Yes the Golden Domers – if that is what we can call them after their new helmet designs – are headed overseas. I guess the Notre Dame Broadcasting Channel – NBC must really trying to be able to spike viewership of their beloved team….or maybe hoping that they can put a better product on the field. The main thing hurting Notre Dame is that they really are irrelevant since Cheater Lou Holtz was heading the club. While a lot of people will tune in to watch Notre Dame win or lose, they lose a lot of TV sets when they are just plain average, which is what they have been for quite a while.

Best Places to Watch Games

The USA Today is running an article all week, showcasing the best stadiums to watch a game from each conference. I don’t know what they have used as part of their criteria, but I guarantee most people will disagree with their voting. They are not all done with covering all conferences this week, but to date this week they have the following selections:

ACC – Clemson – hard to argue this one, I will agree this gains the top spot. Hokie fans likely disagree, but I think they got voted down to #2 due to their hideous chicken feet helmet design…..The only one approving of this new helmet is Foghorn Leghorn

Pac 12 – Oregon – so last year….but they get the top vote.

Big 12 – A big Shocker here…Texas…OVER-RATED – This would be behind Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska if they had not all gotten ticked off by the Longhorns and went elsewhere.

Big East – Does anyone really care? The article picks Cincinnati. I would go with Pittsburgh, Heinz Field is a cool venue.

Big 10 – TBA – Everyone will argue that it is the Big House or the Horseshoe…Come talk to me when you sell the place out 307 times straight and counting. Yeah, call me a homer, but Memorial Stadium in Lincoln Nebraska wins the conference on that stat alone.

SEC – TBA – A lot of great venues and rabid fan bases. I still love the fact you can take your boat to the stadium so I am going to Knoxville and choosing Tennessee. Plus that checkerboard orange and white end zone is still a memory from my youth.

Upsets of the Week

Iowa State over Tulsa…The only Hurricane working this week is Isaac.

Auburn over Clemson – I just have a good feeling about this one.

Ohio over Penn State – How will the Lions react in their first game in spite of all of the events and lots of losses?

Until Next time, stay classy Eek, Alaska!
 

Neil Armstrong

I worked at NASA during the Space Shuttle era. I missed the Apollo era mostly because of age. I was almost 5 years old when I stayed up all night to watch the first man on the moon. July 1969 and Neil Armstrong were major drivers that made me who I am today. Bad eyes prevented the ultimate goal of being an astronaut, but studying and dreaming lead me to a degree in Aerospace Engineering, a Cooperative Engineering experience at the Johnson Space Center, and the opportunity to support the space program with my talents and enthusiasm. All of this came from one man stepping onto the surface of the moon and stating “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

To be fair, twelve men walked on the moon, all of them are my heroes. Hundreds of men and women worked thousands of hours to build the machines that took them and trained them for the mission. Thousands more men and women developed the science and technology that led to those tools. Truly this was a case of standing on the shoulders of giants.

Neil had the opportunity to succeed and capitalized on that opportunity. It seems that all of history focused on him at that singular historic event. The science of rocketry had taken a thousand years to put a man made object in orbit around the Earth. A world war had been fought driving the final steps of that journey and setting up the industrial and technological infrastructure to allow the vehicle to be assembled. Colliding with these advancements was the conflict of two former allies in an all out race to achieve the goal of putting a man on the moon. Some would claim that only a democratic country like the United States could even try to go to the moon, and that may be true since we are the only ones who have sent men there to date.

Neil had trained to be a pilot in the military, but had retired to civilian life before becoming an astronaut. The civilian status added to his technical qualifications to make him the choice for that one small step. Were there others as qualified? Definitely. Were there any more qualified? Possibly, but it there were, they were not American Astronauts. When asked, he spoke of duty and responsibility, not of celebrity and renown. His humility was that extra part of his personality that made him by far the best choice for the job. He was supported by a talented team, including his pilot “Buzz” Aldrin. A lot of people cannot name the second man to walk on the moon, but Neil could not and would not forget him.

When I look up at the moon, I think of Neil and all of the others who walked on or orbited the moon. I still dream of doing so myself, although my age is making that dream less accessible. I also dream of the accomplishments yet to come. I dream of humanity’s (specifically America’s) return to the moon. I dream of man on Mars, the asteroids, and even the moons of Jupiter. I know we can do all of the things because we have already done so much. All we need is the will and drive to achieve, just like we did in the decade that was the 1960s.

Todd Akin

Akin; adjective. Of similar character. It is such a perfect last name for that new pariah of the Republican party, Missouri Congressman and Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin. That is despite all their faux outrage at his comments this week on legitimate rape and the magical woman parts during it, they really posses the exact same thoughts on the ideas expressed and have so for a while now. So why all the outrage then? Well Congressman Akin violated the first rule of idiot club, don’t express our batshit ideas to the public during a general election. That is the plain and simple reason. Just this past year and Akin along with current Republican Vice Presidential choice Paul Ryan (and 186 others) put forth a bill that would set the limitation for exceptions in an abortion bill to “forcible” or as it can be put by their terminology, real rape. Just like legitimate, just using a different word.

Now however in the aftermath of the Akin comments Ryan is all saying well rape is rape. Nice to know Congressman Ryan, but that is not how you felt the other day, and how am I to think this will be your opinion again when the heat is down on these recent comments. Shoot Mitt Romney even sought the endorsement of one of those doctors akin was talking about that try to peddle his pillow pants theory of special lady parts during rape, well real rape. If you got pregnant you weren’t actually raped is what one is made to believe by their misplaced and ridiculous “science” there.

Sure Akin has came out to apologize and I find it very heartfelt, at least in the since that he is sorry that there was the outrage over his comments, but I don’t find the man very sorry about what he said as it is still what he believes. In fact though I find his apology ad he is running quite humorous. I mean I keep on envisioning I am watching a disgraced televangelist crying “I have sinned” into the camera when I am watching the thing. I don’t really believe the apology, just like I don’t believe the outrage from the politicians on the right. Akin is sorry that he spoke what he thought and the politicians in charge are upset that it hurts their chances at winning, plain and simple. Listening to conservative radio the past couple days you find plenty of nuts defending him and even those trying to defend his theory on how not to get pregnant while being actually raped. It only seems to be the talking heads and politicians on the right that are upset, the evangelicals are standing up for the man. Give them their credit though, at least they are sticking to their beliefs there, no matter how misguided and inaccurate they are.

I am happy to see that Akin has did not bow to the pressure and drop out of the race (well yet that is) as he shouldn’t have to. Now your going to say of course you feel that way you are a liberal. Well him being the worse candidate now has nothing to do with my opinion on this matter, that part is just a bonus. Why I feel this is because he is who the voters wanted. He was selected by Missouri Republican voters who clearly knew who they were voting for in this race, this is why Democrats funnelled money into ads against his opponents in the primary.

Akin has notoriety for speaking his true thoughts and beliefs quite often and usually are pretty crass and out there. I mean the man said that if you are liberal you hate God. He also compared student loans to cancer, said there should not be a minimum wage and so forth. Get the picture? It is not like this is the first time he has put his foot in his mouth, its just this is the first time there was enough outrage and spotlight on them to make him have to “apologize” for it.

Now though the party bosses and talking heads seeing a chance at a Senate seat turn falling from their grasp and possibly even the electoral votes from a state they had locked down that they need to shun and outcast him, for now that is. He stayed in the race and for now at least they are promising not to put any money into his campaign from here on out. Which is fine, but they have no right to overturn the will of the party voters in the primary that was just held. They will try to distance themselves as the election draws near from both Akin and his comments, heck they even have forbade him from coming to Tampa for the convention now. I wonder if they will blame Hurricane Isaac on him as well?

Judge Tom Head

Well outside of Akin who obviously is a bad nut, my bad nut of the month is Lubbock County, TX Judge Tom Head, the epitome of why judges should not be elected. Head stated that if Obama is reelected he foresees civil war because Obama is gonna hand over the country to the United Nations and they are going to go out and try to put down resistance to them and he said him and the sheriff down there are gonna stand their ground in front of their UN vehicles and tell them they ain’t gonna have it. I hear and see this kind of nutbag conspiracy all the time on a pretty daily basis these days so it is not like the judge here is alone in his ideology here. Shoot if Romney though the general election crowd would believe it he would be spouting this off as talking points. I do wonder though now if Judge Head does not bow to pressure to resign, which I don’t foresee him doing, can those who go in front of him as for a mistrial on the grounds the judge is mentally ill?

Melky Cabrera

Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera has been one of the positive stories of 2012, building upon a solid 2011 season with another good season.  A $50 million contract extension was within grasp.  Then he got caught using synthetic testosterone and face a 50 game suspension.  Even if the Giants were to make the playoffs – a more difficult proposition without Cabrera in the lineup – he would be not be eligible to play until the NLCS.

If the story had ended there, it would be bad enough.  Later, news came out that Cabrera had blamed the positive test on a contaminated supplement.  Had this been true – that an unlisted ingredient caused the positive test – this would have been a get out of jail free card.  To bolster his case, Cabrera (or those working for him) created a web site promoting a non-existent supplement that was purportedly the cause.  Melky had engaged in a cover-up after the positive test.  Major League Baseball was not fooled.

In my opinion, Cabrera is getting off easy if he simply serves a 50 game suspension.  I feel that he should be punished both for the actual drug use and for attempting to deceive Major League Baseball.

As a tech guy, I’m curious exactly what Cabrera did.  Did he simply register a brand new domain under his named (easily sniffed out using a WHOIS) – or did he step up the level of sophistication by purchasing an “aged” domain and registering it under the name of a different entity?

Colon also busted

This week, former Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon also tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.  Colon had been pitching well for the A’s after a solid year last year for the Yankees.  Colon had encountered injuries after his 21-8 2005 campaign and was on pace to eclipse 200 innings pitched for the first time since that year.

Hamilton Breaks Record

Billy Hamilton – 148 steals so far this year

19th century player Billy Hamilton – #3 in Major League career steals.

Reds AA shortstop “Sliding” Billy Hamilton stole four based on Tuesday night and in the process broke Vince Coleman’s 30 year old single season minor league stolen base record.  Coleman’s record was 145; Hamilton is at 148 and counting.  Hamilton was promoted the AA in mid-season and has a chance to lead two different leagues in stolen bases in the same year.  He is now 3 stolen bases ahead of Josh Prince for the Southern League lead (despite playing only 40 games compared to 127 for Prince) and is 19 ahead of Rico Noel in his old league, the California League (despite playing 40 fewer games than Noel.

The question marks surrounding Hamilton are whether he’ll be good enough to stick at shortstop, and whether he’ll be able to walk at a decent clip in the majors.  He has a good walk rate in the minors, but his anemic power may cause pitchers to challenge him in the majors and take their chances on batted balls.  He’s a “not good, not bad” defender at shortstop, but his great speed could make him a very good center fielder.

Around the Majors

Other news of note:

Nationals GM Davey Johnson says that the Nats may sit Stephen Strasburg down in later September, causing him to miss 2-3 starts.  No word on whether he would pitch in the post-season.  Strasburg is coming off Tommy John surgery and the Nationals are trying to limit his workload in order to prevent future arm problems.

The Houston Astros fired manager Brad Mills.  While the Astros are certainly having a very bad year (36 1/2 games out of first place in their division), it could hardly be characterized as disappointing.  The Astros have traded away nearly all of their players in an effort to cut costs and stockpile prospects.  As a result, the team Mills put on the field every day was always outmanned by the other team.  Mills will get another chance to manage.

A surge by the Cardinals has dropped the Pirates into third place in the National League wild card race (the top two non-division winners make the playoffs).  It will be interesting to see if Clint Hurdle can get the Bucs into the playoffs.  At the very least, he needs to get them 15 wins so that they can finish with a winning record for the first time in 20 years.

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This is the 4th installment of the series of articles covering our move into our new home.

They Are All Together….

 The last article was written some weeks ago right after we had sold our house. A lot has happened since that time.

We had to pack up the remainder of our household goods and move to a new locale. Yep, I am back among those doing apartment living. This is a new experience for me since the last time I lived in an apartment I did not have any children, did not own any pets and did not have a ring on my finger indicating I was married. I am always reminded of the famous comedic line…why do they call them apart – ments when they are all together?

I was much younger, financially not near as well off, and frankly had a lot more going on so I really wasn’t in the apartment that much anyway.

Bonus Perks!

This is not Johnny’s apartment building.

Living in an apartment does have its advantages. I do not have to pay for all of the utilities and trash service. I do not have to worry about my lawn decaying and turning brown in the face of the worst drought we have had in my lifetime here in the Midwest – this also means I do not have to worry about snow removal and mowing either.

The apartment also comes with a nice pool and hot tub that I have been able to utilize on a few occasions. The location we chose for an apartment was very convenient as it allowed us to stay in the same school system with our son, and they also accepted pets. Since we have a dog, finding a place that allowed pets was a huge bonus. Finding a nice place that allowed pets that was in the area that we were wanting to live was even better.

I sure miss my fence….

Apartment living does come with some things that I have taken for granted as well. You have neighbors on directly on either side of you as well as below you. The younger gentleman that lives below me already blew a gasket as apparently we were being too loud at lunch time on a Saturday. He was banging on the ceiling reminiscent of Mr. Heckles from “Friends”. The only difference is this did not sound like a broom stick.

When you have a dog and a 6 year old abiding by the apartment rules of no running and keeping quiet can be difficult to say the least. As a homeowner this is never a problem.

Speaking of dog, that is probably thing that my wife and I are realizing we miss from being in the house. With the home and fenced yard, so when it is “bathroom time” for the pooch you simply open the door, wait for the friendly visage of your dog to reappear at same door and Voila’! Open door + Treat jar = happy dog.

Now we have to leash him up, put on shoes or appropriate warmer clothing if early or late at night, go down the stairs ( as we live on the 2nd floor) walk around until we get the business done, and then we use the secure entry to get back upstairs. Fortunately we are getting our dog a little more “trained” into a routine with this so we are all adjusting on the fly.

So Many Choices

A lot of our free time has been spent making the final selections on tile, carpet, paint, brick, countertops, fixtures, pretty much about everything you can name. The good news is that we have most of this finalized or very close to finalized as the framing is set to begin on our house very soon. Once the trusses start going up, the rest is going to keep moving along in a hurry.

In the meantime, it is a good thing I have college football to keep me distracted!

Until next time….stay classy Summersville, West Virginia

Time to “shut it down”?

The Missouri Senate seat held by Claire McCaskill was one being targeted by the Republicans this election.  Missouri historically is a swing state, McCaskill narrowly won in 2006, and she had been dogged by issues related to use of a private plane, including allegations that she failed to pay $280,000 in property taxes on the plane.

In short, McCaskill was vulnerable, and the Republicans were about to dump a ton of money into this race in an effort to tilt the balance of the Senate.  Representative Todd Akin emerged the winner of a three way primary and appeared to be on track to unseat the incumbent.

And then Sunday happened, and Akin uttered this quote in an interview.

It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare.  If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child. – Representative Todd Akin

If you’re not familiar with the medical science Akin is referring to, don’t feel bad.  The reason you haven’t heard about it is because it’s not true.  Akin later apologized, saying that he misspoke.  This wasn’t a case of someone misspeaking.  Mitt Romney accidentally introducing Paul Ryan as the next president of the United States was an example of someone misspeaking.  Akin’s comments seemed well rehearsed – he meant what he said.  He was simply wrong.

Republicans Distancing Themselves

Republican leaders have been quick to criticize Akin’s comments.  There’s a very good reason for this – this don’t want to be associated with Akin in any way.  Membership in a political party creates a guilt by association (on the flip side, party members can claim credit for the good deeds of other party members).  While many Republicans may have abortion views that are somewhat similar to Akin’s, most (all?) don’t agree with his comments about a woman’s body being able to prevent pregnancy after a rape and they find the use of the term “legitimate rape” to be offensive.

In or Out?

Until 5 PM today, Akin can withdraw from the race fairly easily.  After 5 PM, it would require a court order and he would be forced to pay for the re-printing of any ballots.  To this point, Akin has been insistent that he will stay in the race.  Republicans are trying to get him to withdraw so that they can replace him with an unsoiled candidate.  On CBS radio news this morning, they reported that a Republican operative was frustrated after conversions with Akin.  The operative was quoted as saying “you can’t reason with an idiot.”

His opponent, McCaskill, agrees with him, stating that the voters chose him and they have a right to have him on the ballot in November.  The fact that she’s be able to hit him over the head with this issue repeatedly definitely works to her advantage.

Senator Claire McCaskill

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has told Akin that if he stays in the race, they will not back him.  For those who aren’t familiar with this group, they raise a large amount of funds at a national level, and then spend it on races where the money can make a difference in determining the outcome.  (Yes, the Democrats have a similar group, and there are corresponding groups for the House.)  Without the support of the NRSC, Akin would be limited to whatever funds he can raise (or borrow) on his own – putting him at a decided disadvantage, since the National Democratic Senatorial Committee will almost certainly spend money to support McCaskill.

Even if Akin drops out of the race, McCaskill is likely in the position of advantage.  Whomever is picked as a replacement will not have received a plurality of support in the primary – and may not have even participated in the primary.  McCaskill could attack the Republicans as circumventing the traditional process by hand-selecting her opponent, rather than letting the voters decide.

In the end, the Republicans are between a rock and a hard place, although having Akin drop out would probably be best for them.

Effects on the Presidential Race

Missouri is one of just a handful of states that is truly up for grabs in the presidential election.  The majority of states are pretty solidly red or blue.  Recent polling in the state shows a virtual dead heat between Romney and Obama.  It’s possibly that Akin’s statement may cause some undecided voters in the state to have a negative opinion of the Republican party as a whole – causing them to either flip to Obama or simple staying away from the polls.  If Obama wins an electoral college squeaker due to a narrow win in Missouri, Todd Akin’s comments might be what puts him over the top – another reason why the Republicans are desperate for Akin to drop out.

Kurt Warner played in ArenaBall and NFL Europe before getting his NFL shot.

We are rapidly approaching a unique annual event in professional sports, the team down selects. Unlike other sports with the down select in the NFL, many athletes who were considered for the highest level of play will simply be unemployed. The NFL sets a specific limit of players who can be on an active roster or part of the practice squad (players owned by a team who can be called up to the active roster). As part of the preseason, that number decreases in steps to 75 players on August 27 and 53 players on August 31. Part of the purpose of preseason games is to determine who will be part of that 53 man squad for each team.

Unlike Baseball and Hockey, Football has on “farm” system. Some players can be assigned to NFL Europe to play over the summer, but are still subject to be cut with nowhere to go. They have to look in different leagues or the dream of playing professionally is over. In Baseball at least, if a player is having some issues, he can go down to the minors for a while to recover. If that recovery does not happen, then he is cut loose.

Part of the reason for the differences in sports is the limited number of games played per year in Football (16 regular season) compared to Baseball (162), Hockey (82) or Basketball (82). Part is because of the huge number of players available compare to teams. There are 117 Championship Series colleges (old Division 1A) each with up to 99 players. Even if we say there are an average of 60 and only a quarter of them are available each year, that is 15 x 117 or 1755. There are only 32 teams in the NFL which would provide 54 new players for each team, or the whole roster. On average, a player will be on an NFL team for 5 years after he makes the first cut.

This is not an all doom and gloom event. Many of the players who are given a chance during the preseason are just not ready for the big show. This is their opportunity to play under the light in the really big stadiums and where a real NFL uniform. Also, some plays, who appear to have little chance of making the team, shine is a way that no other venue would provide.

There are always stories of a player who seems to miss the chance and comes back to be a star. James Harrison is one such example. He was undrafted and actually cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers, signed by the Baltimore Ravens, cut again, then came back to be defensive player of the year (with the Steelers again). This is of course the exception rather than the rule.

Preseason in the NFL can be very exciting. Fans are looking for those players who can make their teams contenders. Players on the edge are trying to make the team. Everyone is making mistakes, either because they are new to the team or they are rusty from the off season. This year, there is a lock out of the normal referees and the NFL cannot take from the NCAA due to an agreement between the organizations. That kind of makes it even more of a free for all in the later stages of each game.

May the best players be found, all give their best efforts, and most important, pray that none of the players get hurt.